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| CHIEF BODE GEORGE |
Part of the
paradox of human nature is that those who made a career of putting others to
death by the sword always become uneasy themselves at the sight of same weapon
in the hand of a stranger.
Such would
seem the case of Bode George, erstwhile supremo of Peoples Democratic Party,
whose dream of becoming national chair of the party evaporated
like smoke last weekend.
How ironic
that BG, a retired Commodore, who was never shy to adapt martial language in
describing how political opponents would be crushed, ended up not being able to
even throw a single punch this time in what could be classified the most
important battle of his entire political career. Without the veto of gun and
bayonet, the old naval warrior looked so ordinary in the civil contest.
Rather,
after withdrawing from the race on the convention's eve, he lapsed into a
grumpy mode. In his bitter tirade, he lamented the influence of money in the
race. He took liberty to introduce himself as a long-standing apostle of
righteousness. So, the "Atona (pathfinder) of Odualand" should not be
expected to soil his nobility with the carnality of buying and selling
delegates at the bazaar called convention.
Ha!
Silence
would have been most dignifying after BG threw in the towel. To begin with, who
does not know that delegate election is euphemism for discreet "buying and
selling" of votes?
The bitter
truth is that the highest bidder often carries the trophy. Even in the
so-called advanced democracies, the inducement is only fancifully packaged as
"free lodging", "free transportation" etc bankrolled by
contestants. Such unwholesome tales were heard even in the United States last
year during the conventions by the Democrats and the Republicans.
Having
evolved with PDP right from 1998 as he rightly claimed, BG is certainly the
least morally competent today to decry money politics in Nigeria.
If now
outgunned or outspent by the young Turks, the least expected of a supposedly
self-respecting dinosaur like him is concede victory, in obeisance of the
unwritten oath of the political underworld that once benefited him. At 72,
clearly there are few political options left for the old mariner.
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| ODION |
For
effects, he launched into needless self-praise, reminding everyone of not only
his "Atona" chieftaincy but also the Yoruba definition of
"Omoluabi" (the virtuous citizen).
But such
obscenity of self-adulation would have been forgivable were it backed with
proven testimonial of political virility at home. In the last eighteen years of
elections and democracy in Nigeria, never has BG won his polling unit at Evans
street near the iconic Massey Hospital in Lagos island. Not even
once. Not even when his political lord and master, OBJ, twice deployed
"federal might" against Lagos in 2003 and 2007 in furtherance of
"operation totality".
So, to what
do we attribute this obsessive bragging?
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