Blessed are politicians when out of power. They reveal all the things which those in power labor to hide from us. Since December 2013, I had warned My Fellow Nigerians, about the inevitable collapse of crude oil prices and its consequences. Obviously, nobody listened. In May 2014, out of sheer frustration, associated with talking to the deaf, I wrote a column titled SO YOU WANT TO BE GOVERNOR IN 2015.

In that now forgotten long poem, which we memorized in our secondary school days, Kipling listed several instances of forbearance which would, in the end, qualify anyone to be called “a Man, my son”. But Rudyard lived in a different age than our own – which is increasingly becoming the Age of Uncertainties.

“An excellent plumber is infinitely more admirable than an incompetent philosopher [PHD holder]. A society which scorns excellence in plumbing, because it is humble activity, and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy, because it is an exalted activity, will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy. Neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.

Back in 2010, a few days after late President Umaru Yar’Adua passed on, former President Obasanjo thundered: “Jonathan, you must run; don’t tell me you won’t run.” One would have thought that the man was patriotic enough to recommend someone competent to run the ship of the Nigerian State to us and the world. Two weeks ago, the same Obasanjo launched a book he titled My Watch.

“Once to everyman and nation comes the moment to decide; in the strife between truth with falsehood, for the good or the evil side.”

I met Obong Umana O Umana, October last year at the Catholic Church in Uyo, when he attended the first year memorial service for the late first Lady of Akwa Ibom State, Alison Attah. He had only recently ceased to be the Secretary to the State Government, SSG under conditions still shrouded in mystery. Until then, he was regarded as one of those on the other side by those close to Obong Victor Attah, the former Governor; including me. We got together after the service and exchanged cards. Something told me that this was a man to watch closely. Thank God, my instincts, on matters like this, never deceive me. It is already news that Umana had emerged as the flag-bearer for the All Progressive Alliance, APC, in the state just a few weeks after decamping from the PDP where he had been a member since 1998.

On Thursday, November 27, 2014, the PUNCH, on page 14 reported as follows: “Don’t blame me for naira devaluation – Okonjo-Iweala.” In the report, the Minister of Finance, was quoted as saying that “Nigeria has what it takes to manage its way through. Benchmark for the budget 2015 had been lowered to more realistic $73 per barrel. Never in the history of budgeting in Nigeria had a Finance Minister been so often wrong as Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala had been this year. But before presenting the irrefutable evidence, a quick remark is needed about her self-acquittal from blame for the devaluation. Certainly, the Finance Minister cannot be blamed for devaluation.

I was warned by Tusser and by the Yoruba adage about borrowing clothes. But, what can a guy do when a call came “from above” that the VC (Emeritus) of UniJankara who had bested virtually the best economists in government, by being so accurate in his predictions, can no longer be allowed to have the picture of a “Palm Wine Tapper” at the top of his columns. “Go get a suit” said the voice “from above”. That was easier said than done. I had no suit to get.

It was no news that Jonathan would seek another term in office. Never mind that well-orchestrated deception about going to Jerusalem to seek “divine guidance”. Obama did not go there for the simple reason that nobody has ever seen God in Jerusalem. Even the “merchants of miracles”, who accompanied new “prayer warrior” know that. It was just another opportunity to collect bountiful estacodes from a depleting national treasury by the “Haves”. The former “shoeless boy” has discovered new friends – they are the jet owners. He has abandoned all those poor people gullible enough to buy his “sob stories” in 2011.

“And Samuel spake unto all the [house(s) of Nigeria] saying, “President Jonathan had not been able to perform the most basic responsibility of any leader, which is provision of security to the people of this country”. I Samuel 7:3 joined with the third paragraph of the Declaration Address by Samuel Nda-Isaiah, APC, Christian, Northerner, presidential candidate, Minna, Tuesday, November 4, 2014.

Aribisala, in an astonishing demonstration of arrogance of ignorance piled more falsehoods into one paragraph than any respectable columnist and public opinion molder should be allowed to get away with in two years.

Generally, you can assess the quality of a man, especially a politician by observing those who rise up against him. General Buhari (rtd) is a shinning example of such a person. Expectedly, his declaration for the Presidency, more than that of any other possible opponent of President Jonathan, had thrown a lot of people into a manic frenzy. Some of them are my co-columnists in the Lagos/Ibadan axis – as papers like PUNCH, THISDAY, GUARDIAN and VANGUARD are called.

Thank God October 21, 2014 came on schedule and it was a glorious day in every way possible. Threatening rain gave way to a bright sunshine and a cream of the Old People in Nigeria assembled at the United Nations Information Centre, UNIC, to celebrate the Older Persons Day, 2014. To Allah be the Glory.

Long before Niccolo Machiavelli, 1469-1527, warned people in politics that “he who abandons what is done, for what ought to be done, will rather bring about his own ruin than his own preservation”, Critias, an Athenian statesman, had already foretold the use of murder as a political weapon. Since 1999, Nigeria had experienced political murders as we approached the Presidential and governors elections – in 2003 (Marshall Harry, Bola Ige), in 2007 (Funso Williams) and again in 2011( ten, in the “Arc of Evil” (Abia, Akwa Ibom and Imo alone). The bodies are about to start falling before the 2015 elections.

By Dele Shobowale “Life is brief; a little hope; a little dream and then – good night.”Leon Montanaeken, 1859. “Ah make the most of what we may yet spend/ Before we too into dust descend/ Dust unto dust…Omar Khayyam. Dying is a serious business; as much as living – believe me. With it, the Grim […]