Dele Momodu’s ‘before everything falls apart’
I read Dele Momodu’s article published on the back page of Thisday on Saturday, 26th November, 2016 and was totally confounded by the malice therein. I think that it is in absolutely bad taste for Dele Momodu to position himself as some kind of clairvoyant and begin to tell us “fellow Nigerians”, in his own […]
I read Dele Momodu’s article published on the back page of Thisday on Saturday, 26th November, 2016 and was totally confounded by the malice therein. I think that it is in absolutely bad taste for Dele Momodu to position himself as some kind of clairvoyant and begin to tell us “fellow Nigerians”, in his own words that “something big is about to happen in our dear beloved country. I wish I could foretell a pleasant development. I truly wish. But what I see is total confusion. I refuse to see mayhem out of faith and not by conviction. I’m praying, fasting and hoping that our benevolent God would avert yet another dangerous crisis hovering over our great country.”
How much of this bunkum had been wished and peddled by another disgruntled element called Femi Fani-Kayode?
“I wish I could foretell a pleasant development”, said our lazy fortune teller, Momodu. Like his friend, Femi Fani-Kayode, for whom business is bad, Dele Momodu, has begun to see “dangerous crisis’ hovering over Nigeria. As long as they are out there in the cold, unable to get the kind of patronage they expect, then the world will have to come down crashing on us. Since it dawned on him that he may not find a job with this government, Dele Momodu has increasingly been writing to condemn Buhari for one thing or the other, under the guise of constructive criticism.
Meanwhile, the article is badly titled; instead of the writer to demonstrate how “everything falls apart”, he largely discusses Olusegun Obasanjo and I counted about eleven paragraphs dedicated to the former President. It would have been more appropriate to give it such title as “Obasanjo’s metamorphosis” because the article mostly traced the trajectory of Obasanjo first as a military leader who voluntarily handed over power to civilians, how he established a lecture forum in Ota, Ogun state, how he came “close to becoming the United Nations Secretary General”, his criticism of and imprisonment by General Sani Abacha’s government, his return to power as civilian President, his attempt to change the provisions of the constitution and extend his tenure, his support for the emergence of Muhammadu Buhari as President and how he has now “ started talking in sinister overtones.”
Don’t mind Dele Momodu when he says he is praying, fasting and hoping “that our benevolent God would avert another dangerous crisis hovering over our great country” because it is simply not true. He has run out of patience with this government, he actually wants a quick end to it and if it ever happens, he will say ‘I told you.’ He is enamoured with his prediction of how “the romance between Buhari and Obasanjo would soon evaporate.” Dele Momodu and his ilk think that any government that doesn’t have their support or that of Obasanjo will collapse.
According to Dele Momodu, “Nigeria is dangerously haemorrhaging to death on all fronts.” Which fronts? Is it the Fulani that are sabotaging pipelines and crude oil export? Is it the Hausa-Fulani that are bombing pipelines, thus denying power stations the much needed gas for electricity supply? Can anyone deny that President Buhari and his troops have shown gallantry against Boko Haram and won crucial battles against insurgency? Which territory does Boko Haram hold now and where do they say is the capital of their proclaimed state?
It is true, if a seriously ill person is brought to a doctor, the only way he can prove that he is a professional is by curing the patient. If the patient gets worse, the doctor is not good; God saves him if the patient dies. Otherwise, the only thing acceptable to the anxious relations is the recovery and the wellbeing of the sick person. This is where Buhari is with the problems he inherited along with Nigeria. People have forgotten for example that before Buhari was elected, dozens of states could not even pay the salaries of their workers. But no matter, Buhari must solve that particular problem. Even when he found some money and gave it out in form of a bail out to these insolvent states, some people were still opposed to it. They want Buhari to do nothing about it so that there could be some form of civilian insurrection that will bring down the government.
In a previous article written on Saturday, 12th March, 2016, Dele Momodu had sought to incite some parents whose children were studying abroad. Momodu had misinterpreted Buhari’s lamentation that there was no longer enough foreign exchange to be given on concessionary basis to those studying abroad; Momodu described any withdrawal of such concession as anti-poor. But in all fairness, can we describe parents or children of those studying abroad as poor?
Dele Momodu is happy at the prospects of antagonistic relations between President Buhari on one hand and former President Obasanjo and Bola Tinubu on the other, and he pitched in gleefully: “I don’t know who is deadlier, a voluble Obasanjo or a taciturn Tinubu”, and then begged “powerful forces to allow President Buhari and his Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, to run their full course of four years.”
He had lost hope in the government and in his 12th March, 2016 article, Dele Momodu quoted a Yoruba adage thus: “if the Gods cannot make our lives better, then they should please leave us the way they met us.”
Dele Momodu has now rediscovered hope: “As for me and my house, I’m willing to exercise some patience hoping that a miracle can still happen in the life of this government.” Well, nothing will fall apart, Dele Momodu (You really think President Alassane Outtara of Cote d’Ivoire is young?). President Muhammadu Buhari will last the distance and Nigeria will be the better for it.