The laconic literary giant, Chinua Achebe once opined, “It is difficult for a Man to talk well, while eating”. 2009, Dr.Reuben Abati had this to say of the erstwhile Chairman of the EfCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu: “… Nuhu Ribadu, the erstwhile Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission who lost his job under rather circumstances, and who is regarded as having been unfairly treated by the Yar’Adua government. I hugged him. He had lost nothing of his humility, his sense of humour and his humanity… a man who had just been rough-tackled by the unpredictable Nigerian state whose moral compass is subject to the whims and caprices of whoever is in charge, and not necessarily principles and values.” “Then they demoted him in what looked like a routine administrative exercise, but the political undertones were writ large. When he tried to resist the system, they shoved him out of the graduation hall at Kuru, and his employers, the Police sent him to Siberia what Nigerians would call the Ogbugbuaja treatment.” Sept.2012, a now occupied Dr.Abati remarked as follows on the same Nuhu Ribadu: “It is very unfortunate indeed that the once highly respected former EFCC Chairman has now taken to political prostitution and developed a penchant for irresponsible and reckless utterances aimed at improving the electoral fortunes of his new friends and “leader,” who he once famously denounced as crook who is “not fit to hold public office.” And then he descended on the Nigerian People: “…all the cynics, the pestle-wielding critics, the unrelenting, self-appointed activists, the idle and idling, the twittering, collective children of anger, the distracted crowd of Facebook addicts, the BBM – pinging soap opera gossips of Nigeria, who seem to be in competition among themselves to pull down President Goodluck Jonathan. This army of sponsored and self-appointed anarchists is so diverse; many of them don’t even know why or how they should attack the President.” Like it is said, those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it. August 27, 2010, this was what the then Dr. Abati said of Dame Patience Jonathan: “The wife of the President of Nigeria, or a state Governor, or a local council chairman is not a state official. The same applies to husbands if the gender is reversed. He or she is unknown to the constitution or the governance structure … under Jonathan presidency, Dame Patience Jonathan even got a special allocation in the original budget for the 2010 Golden Jubilee anniversary whereas she has no official financial reporting responsibilities.” “The Jonathans must be told that Nigeria does not have a co-Presidency. We have only one president and his name is Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. And by the way, what does Dame Patience Jonathan do for a living?” “The new First Lady likes to travel, party, and talk outside script. People are beginning to read her lips in order to understand her husband. Dame Patience must not push her Goodluck.” What an Elder sees standing, such is not given to a child even if he climbs the Iroko tree. Perhaps Dr.Abati willingly assumed the risk of dismissing the future, forgetting in a hurry that it is an incontestable fact that tomorrow is certainly a phenomenon richer in potentials than today. So maybe we should ask Dr. Abati, does he prostrate today, whenever he runs into Mrs. Patience Jonathan on the corridors? Can he dare not say “Yes Ma”, when she summons him into her office to order him to talk outside the script for her and her partying crew? African folklore is rich and it had settled the matter of Abati and himself, when it offered sagaciously saying, “If a man loses wealth, nothing is lost; If a man loses people, something is lost; If a man loses Integrity, everything is lost”. What has Abati lost?
Posted on: Tue, 25 Jun 2013 09:13:33 +0000
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