OBJ’s birthday dance

Those who attended Baba Iyabo’s splash report that it was second to none, not only were there music, dance and drama aplenty but there were also spectacular events. After everyone has had much to eat and drink, the man himself took to the floor and became the cynosure, in the sense of a virtuoso dancer […]

Those who attended Baba Iyabo’s splash report that it was second to none, not only were there music, dance and drama aplenty but there were also spectacular events. After everyone has had much to eat and drink, the man himself took to the floor and became the cynosure, in the sense of a virtuoso dancer displaying intricate and energetic dance steps with the accompaniment of bata drumming, fit to put people 40 years younger to shame. But OBJ did not stop at that, to show that age is mere number having little to do with ones sinewy staying power, he cast himself a roving role in a scintillating novelty match for the occasion.
You do not have to be a soccer buff to know that those assigned a roving role in soccer matches are masters of the game. Theirs are the unenviable task of snatching the ball from the opponents and initiate a purposeful move towards scoring: and so, at one time OBJ took the ball, dribbled past four people that included Ibikunle Amosun, the Ogun State governor, some 20 years younger, who was left sprawled and flailing in the wake of Baba Iyabo who slotted the ball into the net.
At the beginning of the novelty match, as I understand, Iyabo herself had to seek the assistance of the Iyaloja of Egbaland–a powerful and revered woman in Egba Kingdom to talk OBJ out of this idea of donning the T-shirt and shorts bought for the match. But it was Iyabo who was dissuaded from intervening, with the adage that -Ohun ti oba nwu omo je ki run omo ninu (whatever a toddler craves to eat would not harm him). It was Iyaloja’s way of dodging an assignment that would have failed anyway. Since when has anyone succeeded in dissuading OBJ from what he has set his mind on? As it turned out Iyabo’s apprehension was misplaced, OBJ outplayed every other person on the field with deft touches, dribbling runs, dazzling pirouetting skills and brutal illegal studs -up tackles that would have put the combined soccer wizardry of Kanu, Jayjay, Babangida and Keshi to shame.
Many who attended the novelty match could not help but marvel at the spectacle of a virtual octogenarian’s ability to kick the ball around with such mastery, artistry and strength like some new born Pele. Being OBJ, no matter what he does there would be people, particularly at Aso Rock in Abuja who, animated by pique would sneer at all his display as mere showmanship, indeed exhibitionism-of trying too much to outdo everyone else. To those people I say they should swallow their bad belle and let the man be; he should be left strictly alone. Baba Iyabo has done well by being able to do all the physical exertions he is doing at his age. He must be the envy of many a younger man who would have collapsed into a heap, prostrate and panting like some Christmas goat tethered for sacrifice, if they did half what OBJ has put himself through, the bitter result of licentious and lascivious life style.
It is well known that the man’s sturdy staying power has all to do with his brutal exercise regime-including punishing squash sessions and gruelling tennis, but also not to forget- ehm the other well known one, which is beyond my place to name! All have combined to help build a man of legendary physical energy, a quality which he brought to bear to his presidency, particularly the frenetic pace at which he flew to world capitals during the early days of his tenure in 1999 in pursuit of Sani Abacha’s loot and also to assure the world community that Nigeria was ready to leave behind the sordid past of the Abacha era and return to the path of civilised governance.
Trust Baba Iyabo, he did not allow the august opportunity of his 78th birthday to pass without taking a swipe at his estranged protégé. At a lecture held in the OBJ presidential Library he underscored what he saw as the one thing lacking in the current administration as leadership. It is all so sad that a relationship that started on the amicable note of the falconer and the falcon has so deteriorated to the point of no return. There is so much bile and bad blood that in one moment of fury OBJ theatrically tore his PDP membership card to shreds and effort to make him rethink the renunciation of his PDP membership has been to no avail. His exit from the party caused it to flounder, careering drunkenly and wildly like a molue on Lagos streets, threatening everything on its path. To re-establish the party’s health many in the rank and file want him back badly. They even wanted Nigerians to believe he never left, that the card he tore in full glare of the public was his old membership card and that a new one has been sent to him.
I think the PDP should stop attempting to coax the man back into its fold. The party members should read his body language; he no longer enjoys being pigeonholed as a member of one party or the other. Having served Nigeria two times at the highest level, he is trying to step up into a non-partisan role of a statesman-albeit combatively. Many of his acolytes would want him to tone down his acerbic criticism of Goodluck Jonathan, whom he had preferred over and above other better prepared candidates for the presidency. Had OBJ allowed the party the needed leeway in picking its flag-bearer in 2011, perhaps Nigeria would have been spared the anxious times it has been put through under Goodluck Jonathan.
Surely, OBJ’s open dalliance with the All Progressives Congress (APC) cannot be only because of the rift between him and Goodluck Jonathan, on the one hand and the PDP machinery on the other; it is also because he is so alarmed at what passes for governance these days, making him come to the realisation that never again must the ship of state be given to neophytes, if he can help it. And he sees that General Muhammadu Buhari (MB) fits that bill perfectly of an experienced and committed individual that could give the ship of state an even keel, and take it safely to harbour and this has made him not only to root for his fellow general but to actively promote his candidacy.
In MB, Nigerians expect a purposeful government where decisiveness and forthrightness are brought to bear on policies and their implementation; where morality and ethics will underpin government business to make it  transparent and accountable. These and many more may be what animated OBJ to make him break ranks with a party that has given him so much-including making him Nigeria’s first post military era president. Happy birthday,  sir.