When old age adds up to nothing

Retirement too has become a synonym of old age in some societies. Old age cannot be universally defined because it shifts according to context. While most developed countries of the West set the age of 60-65 years for retirement, old age could set in earlier than that in some parts of the world. Another factor […]

Retirement too has become a synonym of old age in some societies. Old age cannot be universally defined because it shifts according to context. While most developed countries of the West set the age of 60-65 years for retirement, old age could set in earlier than that in some parts of the world. Another factor that shifts definitions of old age is the fact that life expectancy beyond 80 is a common experience in many countries.
Beside chronological age, people can be considered old because of other dimensions of old age. For instance, people could be seen to be old when they become grandparents even when they are younger than those who by their chronological age are actually old. Today in Nigeria, anyone above 70 years is justified to be called an elder.
Because age is time and most things are not exclusive of time, no one (whether young or old) can claim to have been born with the wisdom he has today. Every day, one grows slightly wiser because of the knowledge and experience acquired in everyday life. It is difficult for an individual to remain the same person he was five years earlier. This is how wisdom goes with age. Older people naturally hold the greatest potential for wisdom.
It is also because wisdom sprouts from a person’s cumulative knowledge and experience spanning over a long period of time that some personalities are described as elder statesmen.  From the name, it is obvious that you cannot be a statesman without being an elder. An elder statesman is a person of integrity who does not only speak the truth but also leads by moral authority and represents all that is virtuous. This is why the advice of an elder statesman is highly respected; just as his opinions and actions strongly influence the course of events.
Sadly, however, some Nigerians who qualify to be labeled as old men or elder statesmen have in recent times become very unwise in their speeches and deeds. They have become political liabilities to the country rather than assets in the same amazing way they became arrogantly unprincipled rather than being inspiring models. The respective or collective idiosyncrasy of Alhaji Tanko Yakasai (aged 89), and Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark (aged 87), does not in any way portray them in the light of elder statesmen. They are today far from being elder statesmen by any conventional or cultural standards.
Alhaji Tanko Yakasai and his likes do not seem to be on the same altitude with majority of Nigerians on matters of common national interest. For instance, Alhaji Yakasai, in a full page paid advertisement on page 59 of the Daily Trust edition of Monday, March 2, 2015 declared on behalf of the board of trustees, the executive and the entire members of the Northern Elders Council (NEC) their endorsement of the candidacy of President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 presidential elections.
To support their endorsement of Jonathan’s candidacy, Alhaji Tanko Yakasai and his group wrote that: “Reforms and innovations introduced by his administration have yielded great dividends in all sectors – agriculture, power, railways, roads, job creation, poverty eradication, education, etc.” I am not sure if the administration referred to by Alhaji Yakasai and his men is the same with the one headed by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. With epileptic power supply in most parts of the country and the terrible state of many roads (including Mokwa-Bode Sadu and Lambata-Lapai-Agaie-Bida roads in Niger State), Alhaji Yakasai and his associates may perhaps be talking of another ‘Nigeria’ elsewhere. It is unfortunate to see old men become stooges to those who, by age, are children or even grandchildren to them.
But why should an old man convert himself into a mercenary? Ingratitude to God, greed and self-centeredness could account for such a bizarre deviation. When a man who should see himself and be seen as a statesman betrays common sense or symbolises self-contradiction, he becomes an irregular character. The Hausa refer to such as tsofo instead of dattijo. Both are qualitative descriptions of old age in Hausa language. While the latter is used for trustworthy old men, the former simply depicts dishonest old people. To the tsofo group of the elderly, old age actually adds up to nothing.
The Nupe would say, ‘what an elder sees while sitting won’t be seen by a child even when he stands on a hilltop’. Regrettably, the Yakasais of Nigeria have refused to acknowledge some of the barefaced truths which some of us as young people in their 50s have been able to recognise from the ‘foot of the hill;’ without even climbing to the top. The Yakasais are, perhaps, denying self-evident facts because their daughters are not among the schoolgirls kidnapped in Chibok; and neither were their sons among victims of the Nigerian Immigration Service job scam. The Yakasais appear to be proud that the allegedly missing $20 billion oil revenue is described as ‘common stealing;’ and that corrupt public officers enjoy presidential protection.
A man who has lived up to 70 years and above has no reason to go to hell. Why? Because God has given him sufficient period of respite long enough to ask, after having sinned, for the forgiveness of all the wrongs he committed against God and man. However, the Yakasais do not seem to be taking advantage of this respite. I encourage Yakasai to emulate the likes of Sheikh Ahmed Lemu (aged 89), John Olorunfemi Cardinal Onaiyekan (aged 71), and Emeka Anyaoku (aged 82) who are not only elder statesmen but have also proved their worth as men of personal discipline and integrity.
The moral compass of an old man or woman is believed to be rooted in a sense of absolute right and absolute wrong. When something is wrong, he bluntly says it is wrong and does everything within his human powers to fight against it. When a course of action or line of thought is believed to be right, he is ever willing to overcome any opposition to preserve and spread it. This is what Sheikh Ahmed Lemu represents. May Allah (SWT) guide us, the old and the young, against becoming puppets in the hands of the sneaking whisperer, amin.