Dele Momodu insists: I have deliberately gone through this long preamble to establish a few facts. One, that I’m a fan of Rotimi Amaechi. The support he’s enjoying today was not by accident. He worked laboriously for it. I have been in activism since 1978 and in politics very actively since 1982. I have interacted with all shades of politicians and I’m proud to say Rotimi Amaechi is a rare breed. There is always a reason to be biased and I have more than enough for him. This does not make him a perfect human being. No nation or state is governed by Saints but good ones are run by performers. Amaechi is one. I have been in a room where Amaechi was grilled like a Christmas turkey by very senior publishers and was very pleased with the manner he responded to all questions. Many have called him a tyrant but not all tyrants are negative. It is in the nature of traditional politicians to wait for hand-outs from public officers; money that should have been used for general development. They often get angry if a leader comes with better ideas of how to do things. Amaechi’s master-plan of building a modern state out of the present squalid one is part of his major problem. The second point I want to make is that Amaechi has done nothing to warrant the all-out attack unleashed on him by those pretending to be working for the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan. Their strategy should be clear to Mr President; they needed to paint Amaechi bad in order to gain relevance. These guys have succeeded in poisoning the mind of the President almost beyond repair. On a personal note, I would be wary of a Minister who desperately wants to be a Governor and fights the incumbent the way he does because the motive is crystal clear. Someone also needs to tell such a Minister of a Yoruba folktale that goes thus: Once upon a time, an elephant went berserk in a particular village. The elephant caused so much havoc that the king ran away with his queens. But there was this brave hunter called Afifilaperin who came from a neighbouring village and boasted he could easily kill the elephant and the village would instantly return to normal. At the appointed time, the hunter came out just as the elephant was busy destroying everything in sight. Everyone ran helter-skelter but the hunter stood ramrod in the market place waiting anxiously for an encounter with this crazy elephant. The elephant must have sighted the lone figure and wondered who the man was who did not recognise its supremacy. The elephant approached the hunter and surprisingly the man stood calm. A few villagers peeped from wherever they were hiding. As soon as the elephant jumped to crush the hunter, the man quickly removed his cap, dodged to the side and hit the elephant with the cap. Behold, the elephant collapsed. “Impossible,” many screamed in bewilderment. But true it was. The hunter soon climbed on the evil elephant and beckoned to the timid villagers to come closer. He was joyous in victory. The people spilled in like locusts from every direction, including the king and his family. Words travel at the speed of light. At that moment the hunter felt he was king. Some hefty men lifted him up in the sky and carried him round and round the village till it was dusk. The king even invited him to a dinner of original pounded yam and fresh bush-meat washed down with concentrated palmwine, and gave him a nice room in the palace. The excited hunter was pleased with himself. He woke up the following morning expecting to see a crowd as usual to hail him like they did last night. He couldn’t believe how desolate the village had become. When he asked around if another elephant had come out of the wilderness to destroy the village, the palace people whispered that he indeed was the elephant. The logic was if he could kill such a ferocious elephant with an ordinary cap, it won’t take him much to mangle any human. That was how Afifilaperin learnt that his day of glory was only for one day.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Jul 2013 11:20:54 +0000
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