THE abandonment of ethics in the articulation of private fixations and resentment for Chief Tony Anenih was quite evident in Is’haq Modibbo Kawu’s column, entitled: “Anenih: The political dinosaur returns”, published on page 17 of Vanguard of Thursday, February 28, 2013.  It was also published the same day on the back page of Blueprint newspapers, where Kawu is Chairman of Editorial Board.

Curiously, he had about two years earlier, in the August 11, 2011 issue of Vanguard newspaper, expressed the same fixations and resentment in an article with the title: “Chief Tony Anenih: A political dinosaur at 78.”    Can you, here and now, spot the difference(s) in both titles?  Except for the words “returns” and “at 78” which explicate the contexts of his writings, the titles of both articles and their theses are largely the same: To demonise Anenih.

In Kawu’s voyage of demonisation, the crux of his paranoia, which he desperately wants us to relate with in his argument ad-hominem is that Anenih is a political dinosaur, whereas he had on both occasions failed to offer explanations to justify his position.  A quick check on the word “dinosaur” in a dictionary explains it thus: “Somebody that is hopelessly out of date or incapable of adapting to change.”

If that is so, it then means that, Kawu’s assessment of Anenih, as incapable of adapting to change, is defective.  For Kawu and his cohort to view Anenih from that prism is promotion of irrationality and seeming lack of knowledge to adequately appreciate the changing nature of politics.  Have they forgotten that the only thing that is permanent in life is change?

How could Kawu have suggested that a man, who has so far been of, and lived for all times, as has been shown by his return to the position of Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which was crudely wrested from him in 2007 by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, is a political relic?  This is standing logic on its head! Anenih is not outmoded as Kawu would want us to believe; he changes with the times.  If, however, the good fortunes of Anenih explain how to be a relic, not a few would consider it a complement.

Whereas, in the capacity to change his approaches, strategies and/or tactics to solve knotty issues lies the political dexterity of Anenih; otherwise, he would have been unable to always rebound in the fast changing and intriguing world of Nigerian politics where the name of the game is duplicity, treachery and tyranny, the last being the sort that Kawu has constantly demonstrated as a columnist.

It is this tyranny of columnist Kawu that has enjoyed a vast flourish on the pages of Vanguard (and lately Blueprint) each time the world around Anenih has a good reason to celebrate him.  Abusing the privilege of his chance meeting with Anenih in his Asokoro residence where he holds court like an archetypal political leader in 2006, he has simply resorted to declassifying in his column, in a bid to disparage him, details of that meeting. Kawu’s tyrannical bashing of an innocent man without giving him an opportunity of defence in the body of the column is unfair.

When Anenih celebrated his 78th birthday in 2011; and, the volume of paid congratulatory/goodwill messages in newspapers by associates and loyalists was high for a man who was not holding any executive office in the government of the federation at that point, Kawu complained because Anenih’s influence transcended public office and because he has been able to deploy his wealth, which sources are legit to defend his followers and protect their interests.

THE columnist’s disposition, as a pseudo-
member of the faded clan of self-acclaimed Marxian apologists/socialists, perhaps, stemmed from the despicable chicanery of a patron-saint picture of him that readers are made to glean from his writings; whereas he and his cohort have the innate tendencies to acquire powers within their spheres of influence and exercise it even ruthlessly to preserve their selfish interests.  But because he wields the power of the pen, he has derogatorily put his subject under public spotlight.

Kawu despises the ability of Anenih to survive, in his words, “in the dark, smoke-filled inner recesses of the cloak-and-dagger world of politics, where he wields effective powers of influence and control.” Is Kawu a politician and is he angling to dislodge or take over from Anenih?  Would he have been happy if Anenih had been long consumed in the world of politics that he so gruesomely depicted above? It seems so.

In his latest article on Anenih’s return as Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees, Kawu anchored his anger on the platform of his claims that Anenih has resided for too long in the inner recesses of “the cloak-and-dagger world of politics (and) within that stuffy, hot-as-hell redoubt, what they cook is conspiracy against the best interests of the Nigerian people” and yet he is a survivor.

The conclusion that “what they cook is conspiracy against the best interests of the Nigerian people” is certainly not correct.  Again, he failed to explain this; and it is therefore difficult to speak to some particulars.  But successive governments since 1999 have been working to build a virile and prosperous nation.  Nigeria is work in progress.

The Federal Government under the able leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan is making significant progress in the various sectors of the economy.  The nation may not have got to her Eldorado yet, but there are prospects that she will get there and this is in the best interest of Nigerians.

His further claim that “the broken and dysfunctional country in our hands today, is testimony to the politics which Anenih has represented since 1999,” is also fallacious.  What is patently dishonest in Kawu’s verdict was the cruel attempt to re-invent the wheels.  How could he have suggested that 14 years of democracy have left the country “broken and dysfunctional”? That we have democracy, in the first instance, is functional.

This, no doubt, is the language of a member or an apologist of the opposition party.  Perhaps, the newly-formed All Progressive Congress, APC, should consider appointing him as its publicist or media consultant.  And, again, to reinforce his proclivity for the opposition parties, Kawu had tried to condemn the PDP for taking steps to checkmate the excesses of its governors in the Nigeria Governors Forum.  He also spoke about the alleged de-robing of his friend, Obasanjo, whom he had bashed on several occasions in his columns when he was in Daily Trust.

In the process, he exposed his lack of understanding of the essence of the recommendation by Professor Jerry Gana-led Committee that streamlined the membership of the Board of Trustees.  There was no script, as he claimed, to remove Atiku Abubakar from the BoT.  Atiku, by his act of leaving the PDP to AC to contest the 2007 presidential election, removed himself from the BoT.  Therefore, he could not return to continue his tenure that he abandoned.  Atiku and someone like Ghali Na’Abba who also left the party and the BoT would not, punitively, be readmitted into the Board until 2014, when a new tenure is expected to begin.  Both are respected leaders and members of the party.

Again, I laughed at Kawu when he naively suggested Anenih and co were aware “that President Jonathan cannot go to the Nigerian people on the basis of his record of performance.”   Although he did not give particulars to prove his claim, was he saying that the Jonathan administration has not done anything since coming in the saddle?  This, again, was playing the trump card of the opposition.

This government has built administrative infrastructure and frameworks that will drive the transformation process in the critical sectors of the economy.  The critical work being done in the power sector with the building of independent power plants to boost generation and the privatization of the electricity distribution through the recent coming on board of Distribution Companies (Discos) are clear indicators of remarkable progress.  President Jonathan had promised that the power situation would have remarkably improved by the end of this year.

What of the road infrastructure that government is building through the instrumentality of the Federal Ministry of Works and the rehabilitation being embarked upon by Federal Road Maintenance Agency, FERMA?

Well, back to Anenih, columnist Kawu should know that there is nothing he can do about the personality of this experienced and influential politician who is committed to his party and loyal to constituted authorities.

Mr. JOHN AINIOFENOKHAI, a commentator on national issues, wrote from Benin, Edo State.