By Dr Alex Adedayo
“For the innocent, the past may hold a reward, but for the treacherous it’s only a matter of time before the past delivers what they truly deserve.”
– Emily Thorne
Ibrahim Magu is not an innocent soul. Proving his innocence is akin to the deployed efforts of the blind man in the dark room searching for a black hat that is not there. Apologies to Lord Denning. It is a futility. The nausea oozing from the trails of his trajectory as the anchorman of the Economic and the Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is like the stench that sonically induces puking.
As the Chairman of that anti-corruption body, his era exuded an aura of effluvial. It was not just ugly, it ceaselessly rained moral pain on the polity. Rather than the edification of the mural of our morality on the public wall of our values, with unguarded gusto, Magu’s era magnified the morass of our maxims, licentiously lacerating the laws and rules that are frameworks for justice, fairness, balance and equity.
As a good steward to the former Assistant Inspector General of Police turned traditional ruler of Eko, Magu had found favour with the Jaggaban of Borgu, Asíwájú of Ìdúgànràn, former Governor of Lagos State and the National Leader of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu who in his heydays as an “influenza” in the early days of the Mohammadu Buhari administration, had nominated him as the Chairman of the EFCC.
But the Senate led by Dr. Bukola Saraki who had always harboured contempt for the “Lagos Boys” of Bourdilon Axis and had refused to show respect to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, referring to him as “ordinary Commissioner,” refused to entertain anything that has any faintest aroma of Tinubu. He would not allow the Senate to approve Magu for the Chairmanship of the EFCC. So, Magu remained acting.
Meanwhile, the Cabal in Aso Rock whose public face was late Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari had lived in mortal fear of Asíwáju of Ìdúgànràn whose ambition to be President and its morbidity was well known. As a result, VP Osinbajo’s every step was watched with an eagle eye. His loyalty to the Jaggaban made him a prime candidate for suspicion. He was repeatedly locked out of security meetings among others. He was repeatedly humiliated. He was incessantly demeaned, degraded and disgraced.
There was no intention on the part of the Cabal to avail Osinbajo of any useful information or insight that he could pass to Bourdilon to appropriate for the Presidential ambition of his master. This was until Osinbajo himself was about to be sacrificed by the Ìrágbìjí born Lagos Landlord to placate the livid Cabal and Mohammadu Buhari who had been very upset about some acts by Osinbajo himself. To the Jaggaban, everyone and everybody is dispensable for his morbid ambition.
Osinbajo who had fired Mr. Lawal Daura as the Director of the State Security Service over the invasion of the National Assembly had been thought to be nursing Presidential ambition by Bourdilon. Bourdilon had moved to have him replaced unsuccessfully. He turned up in the bad books of Bourdilon as well as those of the Cabal who were leery of any ambitious person for the post of President.
Lawal Daura had investigated Magu and sent damaging reports about him to the Bukola Saraki led Senate. The Cabal didn’t want Magu because of Tinubu. Saraki did not want Magu because of Tinubu. So he, Saraki, refused to confirm Magu as Chairman of EFCC. The Daura’s DSS’ report was a valid ground to deny Magu. On this, the Cabal who considered Saraki as a stubborn migraine to the Presidency were united.
Then the selection of 2019 took place.
Every known opponent of Aso Rock whether in APC or PDP were kicked out. Adam Oshiomole with his toddleric tantrums was indulged and allowed to prove that he was loyal to Aso Rock. He became swollen headed and thought he was not vulnerable. He worked well with Prof. Mahmood Yakubu of INEC to carefully select those who “won” and those who “lost” during the 2019 Selections.
Meanwhile, the Asíwájú of Ìdúgànràn was giving the Cabal sleepless nights as 2023 appeared in the horizon. The Cabal had intermittently yawned scarily at the direction of Bourdilon, but the Jaggaban was not jagged. The Cabal used bait and switch methods. They use carrot and stick, while holding on to big rod to break Jaggaban’s head at the right time. They would bite and then blow sweet breeze on the injury. The Jaggaban, made of tough skin, did not pay any mind to the scars.
Right now, the Cabal is set for 2023. The early chapters are focused on weeding out any tentacles of Tinubu where he could be an influenza and caused a pandemic that could prove damaging to the plans of the Cabal. When Babatunde Fowler was disgraced out, the handwriting ought to have been on the wall. But when one was immersed in the morbidity of anything, it is a suggestion of an “unhealthy mental state or attitude, unwholesomely gloomy.” The victim, impervious to his limitations and the reality, keeps knocking his head against the wall to break it rather than looking for a hammer.
In order to satisfy the Cabal and Buhari, Tinubu has consistently betrayed his Yorùbá people. He has been nowhere to be found when his people needed him. When the properties and lives of Yorùbá came under fiery assault and they were being burnt alive in Ketu, Lagos, he pretended nothing happened and kept silent. When the Yorùbá were being murdered in Ile-Ife and the rest carted away to Abuja for trial, Tinubu pretended to be in Russia. When Yorùbá were resisting the heinous RUGA, Tinubu pretended to be in Peru.
When Yorùbá farms were being destroyed by Fulani herdsmen and were being murdered, Tinubu pretended to be in Cyprus. When Amotekun was the main issue, Tinubu pretended to be in Guinea – Bissau. When he finally showed up, he was like an apparition whose essence could not be grasped. When Chief Olu Falae was kidnapped and his security murdered, Tinubu pretended to be in Argentina. When Pa Reuben Fasoranti’s daughter was murdered, Tinubu pretended to be in Luxembourg asking, “Where are the cows?”
Tinubu has made it clear over and over that he was not interested in the well being, progress and existential survival of Yorùbá Nation and its peoples. All he wanted is power and has sold the Yorùbá Nation into slavery for power that is only God’s to give. Repeatedly, he was advised to contextualize his ambition in the dreams and aspirations of his people, he refused and even ignored the guidance of History, believing himself to be the “smartest politician” in history.
All that is happening now to Tinubu and his crowd was not unanticipated. Anyone familiar with the rudiments of anthropology, sociology and politics with bias to the nature and character of Nigerian milieu would foresee all this. He and his crowd were warned, but they deliberately refused and rejected the warnings. Tinubu and his crowd in their folly have made George Santayana, the Spanish – born American essayist, look very good. He had warned that those who failed to learn from history always repeat the mistakes of history.
The Cabal is determined to decimate Tinubu. Tinubu has been turned to the enemy of his people whom he had repeatedly betrayed. He had built his power on the quicksand of crude accumulation of wealth via mercantilist politics. He is like a naked man now. His coterie of supporters are very fustian across the Yorùbá Nation. They are loud and lousy. They have eyes they couldn’t see. They have ears but are unable to hear. They’re unable to read the handwriting on the wall, not to speak of being able to dissect such with critical analysis.
Anyone who is in Tinubu’s corner now must watch his or her back. Apart from the power play that caused Tinubuists to lose to Senator Bukola Saraki in the Senate after the 2015 elections, Femi Falana was the first person to realise that the tree he was resting on could not carry his weight. He lost his bid for the position of Attorney General because of Tinubu’s connection. He had a better chance of succeeding if he had done it on his own.
As the streets continued to be littered with the victims of Tinubu’s toxic touch, from Femi Falana, Yemi Osinbajo. Babatunde Fowler, Adam Oshiomole to Ibrahim Magu among many others, the lessons that ought to have been learnt would be re – learnt again: that only your people could serve as buffer of defence for you in troubled times. Cronies would be gutless. Sentries would be spineless. The people who have been betrayed over and over, and mindlessly stolen from, would be glad that they are free.
Those who are currently at loggerheads with Tinubu would have a temporary reprieve. From Babatunde Fashola, Kayode Fayemi, Rotimi Akeredolu to Rauf Aregbesola and others. But their reprieve would be temporary as long as they remain apostles of mercantilist politics that would be ready to sell out their people for personal ambitions and personal riches. The benefits of perfidy against the people are always ephemeral despite its initial glow.
There is limit to the power of money. Even at times when money seems effective, it is temporary. In the long run, it would not work. The love, affection and loyalty of your people are the only things that could endure. Treachery against them, never pays.