Bisi Akande’s pathetic doublespeak

Between former Osun state governor Bisi Akande’s newly released book and the comments he made at the presentation of the same last week are loads of revisionist posturing and outright hypocrisy unbecoming of a man his age, and self-acclaimed political inclinations.

As it concerns his book, yet undenied media reports make preliminary comments immediately possible and advisable. In weeks to come, however, a detailed analysis of this book and the contributions it will genuinely make to the country’s political history will be practical.

But from media reports, the two things are possible, even from the standpoint of a casual observer of Nigerian politics. One is the impeachment of some claims by the elder statesman, and the second is the interrogation of the motive for such manipulation of facts.

One of the facts that has become contentious is how the Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, got nominated as the running mate of Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) ahead of the presidential election in 2015. To start with, it is curious that anyone would want to make political capital of the nomination of Osinbajo, whose tenure has not brought any significant improvement to the polity or the lives of the people. While, at least on the surface of it, the VP radiates competencies you may desire in a national leader of this century, six years on, little or nothing of that reflects on the country. Then, is the essence of attempting to be the champion of his own emergence. Whether Pastor Tunde Bakare, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, or Senator Ibikunle Amosun introduced the Osinbajo idea to Buhari, those people should be mortified that hope has diminished for Nigerians, rather than regard their recommendation as a medal that they should flash in our faces all the time.

There is also the question of whether former President Olusegun Obasanjo supported Buhari’s candidacy in the 2015 elections or not. While it is impossible to speak about what may have transpired before Buhari’s emergence as candidate of the All-Progressives Congress, Obasanjo made no secret of his adoption of Buhari in the general elections. At that time, the former President’s mantra was, in fact, “anything other than Jonathan”. This was in reference to his total disapproval of his erstwhile protégé, Goodluck Jonathan, who had then become persona non-grata with Obasanjo. When the question of Buhari’s inability to present his school certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission came up during the campaigns,  Obasanjo rose to defend his former subordinate, wondering if Buhari would have gone through the military staff college and attained the equivalent of a master’s degree without a school certificate. He capped it all by lampooning those asking for Buhari’s certificate that: “Instead of campaigning on real issues, we have degenerated to campaigning on trivialities.”

In December 2013 everyone who was anyone in the then-burgeoning APC visited the Ota home of the former President.  This same Bisi Akande, then interim national chairman of the APC, said to Obasanjo that: “We have come to introduce our party to you; we are in support of the 18-page letter written to Jonathan; you are capable.” That was after Tinubu had praised Obasanjo for his role in developing the country and invited him as “navigator” for a new Nigeria! So, how is it that Obasanjo, with whom most members of Akande’s political family have always been in a cat and mouse game, became a saint in 2013-2014 and then reverted to his demon status a few years later?

This question brings Akande’s character and his capacity to speak with two sides of his mouth to light. For instance, at the presentation of the book, you must wonder exactly what he was trying to say to the president.

At a time when most of the nation’s institutions have collapsed and life is becoming increasingly depreciated, one of Akande’s major preoccupations that day was the fact that Buhari should spend more time in the south-west and, “let our children eat with him, touch his clothes, and let him know that we love him.” Akande, one of the promoters of the party, which threw the President at Nigeria, a country where over three thousand people are said to have been killed and close to another three thousand abducted in the first 11 months, sees nothing of more importance to say to the president than this nauseating trifle.

But it didn’t even end there. Baba Akande painted the image of a venerable Buhari governing over a degenerate citizenry in what may be something between sarcasm and sycophancy. Hear him: “…we accuse you of all that is wrong, even though we know we are not honest ourselves… We know we are fraudulent; we know we are deceitful; we know we are cheaters; we know we are doing wrong; we blame you…”

Now, if this rambling were coming from a person of any stature less than Akande’s, you would excuse them for being so star-struck to the point of blabbing. It is, however, unimaginable that Baba Akande would join in the attempt to impugn on millions of honest ordinary Nigerians who invested their hope in the promises that the APC made just six years ago.

If not for any other reason, Nigerians expect people like Akande, who lay claim to some progressive criteria and pedigree, to speak truth to power. It is even more so in the former party leader’s case, given his advanced age, for which he should have nothing to fear. Rather than patronising the president or speaking tongue-in-cheek, the old man would have been expected to wake the president from his slumber or disconnect from the Nigerian people. Given the Awolowo political ideology that he likes to flaunt, Akande should have spoken about the multitude of Nigerian children that are out of school and the dangers they constitute to the future of the country. He should have talked about the parlous state of the health sector, which Buhari and his cohorts cannot submit themselves to, and the level of insecurity in the country. But none of that got his attention.

In the ideal sense, however, Akande should be in a more sombre mood than the gregarious disposition he displayed last week. The man and his friends preached the sanctity of federalism and restricted Nigerians for years during and after military rule. They gave the impression that Nigeria would become an Eldorado the moment their party took power. They hoodwinked Nigerians into believing that they had it all together, but six years later, the contraption they put together took Nigeria several years back. If these men do not have the courage to own up to their errors, apologise for them, and speak truth to power, they should ease playing with the intelligence of Nigerians. That would be a high, unpardonable crime against the people.

Niran Adedokun can be reached on Twitter@niranadedokun