Ahmed Yahaya Joe
“Covid no dey fear native doctor.” – DJ Neptune ft. Patoranking (2021)
Courtiers. Dignitaries. Clerics. Others.
Not all Villa visitors are equal. Some are more equal because they ruminate before arriving.
Hear John Cardinal Onaiyekan about the build-up of theirs; “the statement read to the President was not just put together at random. It was carefully researched with wide consultation. Wrote and re-wrote, wrote, and re-wrote. It was not written at random, nor did we deliver it with levity.”
That notwithstanding PBAT has at least two courtiers that are not of Darfur extraction as they have embarked on a more innovative defence mechanism.
First is Senator Shehu Sani stating; “From the era of military rule and throughout the period of civilian governments, the Catholic bishops have a consistent history of telling truth to power.
“They have never been partisan. Every leader they visited, they bring him a gift of bitter kola instead of olive oil.”
Second is Senator George Akume assuring of the FG’s “sustained partnership with faith communities” despite the raging controversy.
Both obviously better students of history than their counterparts under “renewed hope” rabble rousing; “A nineteenth-century Arab traveler to the court of Darfur, in what is now Sudan, reported that courtiers there had to do whatever the Sultan did: If he were injured, they would suffer the same injury; if he fell off his horse during a hunt, they fell off too.” – p. 179, 48 Laws of Power (1998)
But what is even the main issue involved in all the “bulablu…bulaba” in the very first place?
Is it actually over the contents of the presentation by the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) that took place last 28th July or the still ongoing fall out of the Cardinal’s appearance on Arise TV that followed 3 days later?
These immediate foregoing questions are pertinent not only because Churchill admonishes that “A day is a long time in politics,” but Bonaparte cautions that “Space we can recover, time never.”
By idling for 72 hours, the Villa apparatchik unwittingly dropped the narrative ownership ball.
Little wonder Lucius Aemilius Paulus maintains; “Commanders should be counselled, chiefly, by persons of known talent and whose knowledge is derived from experience those who can see the advantages that occasions offer.”
Admittedly, according to Machiavelli;
“It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle than to initiate a new order of things.”
Perhaps why the French president 1959-1969, Charles de Gaulle’s political response template remains very instructive for us.
This is because not unlike Asiwaju, he initiated an awful lot new order of things in the process, becoming a constant scapegoat of change.
That maverick, however, knew exactly when and how to deploy “Je vous ai compris” (I have understood you) as often he had to.
He was also famed for borrowing from Louis XIV, that famous of “Je verrai” (I shall see) reply to almost every petition, request, and / or criticism.
Through diligent rumination of writing and re-writing the CBNC’s veteran fishers of men in cassocks none with less than 30 years of vows of canonical obedience, personal chastity and life-long poverty under their clerical belts delivered a coup de grace with such devasting impact.
Asiwaju predictably faltered, losing control of the dynamic resorting acerbically with “There had been hunger in Nigeria before I was born,” among other unpresidential vituperations.
This is uncanily reminiscent of how clueless the 10th President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos, played political chess with Jaime Cardinal Sin, Archbishop Emeritus of Manila to no avail.
With the benefit of hindsight, PBAT should have just simply replied to the visiting clerics; “thank you for the visit, gentlemen. I understand your concerns, and I shall see.”
Then, assumed complete and unambiguous speechlessness as de Gaulle goes on;
“Nothing more enhances authority than silence. It is the crowning virtue of the strong, the refuge of the weak, the modesty of the proud, the pride of the humble, the prudence of the wise, and the sense of fools.”
If then Candidate Tinubu could wisely refuse to engage at Chatham House under the cover of “teamship” he should have exactly done same when CBCN came calling.
Avoidably, Asiwaju, or is actually Akinrogun in the attached picture, went ballistic;
“This is the problem with the angry response. It neither intimidates nor inspires loyalty. It only creates doubts and uneasiness about your power.
“Exposing your weakness, these stormy eruptions often herald a fall.” – p.327 48 Laws of Power
Who really is this “Cardinalis” wearing a “zucchetto” receiving his “biretta” from Pope Benedict XVI in 2012?
Soldierly in disposition, priestly by vocation at 16, he became the Northern Region’s best performing student in the General Certificate in Education Ordinary Level examinations of 1962.
This was after attending a known primary school and passing through a verified secondary school.
The “Papabile” (fit to be Pope) did not just fall out of the sky in Kabba – the epicenter of the Owe-speaking area of Arewa where “Omoualabi” (the ethos of integrity in the Yoruba worldview) meets “Mutumin kirki” (the concept of a good man in Hausa) in warm embrace.
A crucial intersection where “asali” (one’s underlying background) and “tushe” (one’s foundational basis) matter very much and not adulterated by “tasiri” (influence, power and or benefit) in Okun land one of the least Hausanized areas of the erstwhile North regardless.
What is the moral here?
It takes more than “native intelligence” to wrestle to the ground a “capax imperii” (someone capable of ruling an empire), but as Defoe forewarns;
“If the cap fits, let them wear it.” – The Commentator No. 7 (1715)
