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This parable of Tortoise, the trickster came to my mind
as I was thinking about current events in my dear State;
Ogun, the Gateway State. The
wiry ex-general has confounded us on many issues in the
past to the extent that one must be careful not to
assume that he has
learnt from history or has
the capacity to perceive reality.
History tells us that many
egoistic
and greedy
ambitious leaders
met their doom
due to their inability to decipher the time to stop and
listen. Talking about history has brought my
consciousness to the
world of folk tales. As usual the tortoise always
occupies centre stage. From time immemorial, this
animal, with its own unique
way
, has always fascinated
me.
Tortoise is ugly, slow, and
sneaky.
I was told from childhood that Tortoise
harbours
many existential secrets.
No folk tale was ever told without a didactic
meaning.
In one of the tales,
Tortoise made a noisy preparation and announced that he
was going to the market. His curious neighbour, seeing
that the day was far
gone,
asked: “When will you return?” tortoise replied, “Not
until I’ve been disgraced.”
I thought of this parable when the timeless story passed
to me by my father came to my memory once again. My
Grandfather’s village is called ‘Idi-Ori’, one of the
numerous villages around Abeokuta. My grandfather until
his demise was a very rich farmer. His wealth was well
known not just in his village but other villages around.
He was a generous giver. But despite his generousity, he
was much envied for his wealth and his charisma. A well
endowed, tall handsome royal looking gentleman with
money and large expanse of lands for farming and
harvesting was well loved by the masses that are
recipients of his goodwill. In comparison, there is this
story of yet another farmer not as old as my father but
older than me. This Particular farmer though very rich
now was not born rich. God bestowed on him greatness
through his chosen career of defense before he became a
farmer. He is well known for his love for women of all
shades and class with many children as a result of
sexual philandering.
Through his chosen career, he became No 2 and then No 1
as a result of a failed Coup that killed his immediate
boss. He disengaged at the promised time and handed over
to a civilian government that did not have clear winning
votes which made people to perceive the election was
rigged towards a chosen candidate. Some will swear that
he did this because of his aversion to having another
Yoruba man in the same position he once occupied. He
wants to be the only one celebrated at that level.
Despite the flaws in the election, people embraced the
result in order to have democratic government. After
this, the man, I will simply called ‘JBO’ became a
farmer. As a farmer, he started secretly to play
politics though he was not known then as a Politician,
his greatest wish is to be the only one Leader known and
recognized from his area.
When a free and fair election produced the symbol of
democracy called OKM and this election was annulled, he
rose to defend the annulment against his kith and kin
telling whoever cared to listen that the man, OKM was
not the Messiah of the people. The people never listened
to him, they rose against the annulment, many were
killed, many were maimed and many more were sent on
exile. During the Beastly & Gestapo reign of another
autocratic leader from JBO defense Constituency, the man
JBO was sentenced to serve a prison term. As a prisoner,
he turned to God, asked for forgiveness of his numerous
sins and the ever loving, ever merciful God did forgive
him and gave him a miracle of second chance, he never
envisaged. Did he use his second chance well? That is a
debate for another day. From prison, he went back to his
dilapidated farm, and thereafter got lucky.
The North wanted to assuage the feelings of the West and
amend for the crisis the annulment of election caused by
looking towards the region the acclaimed winner came
from. He was chosen to carry the new torch and with the
support from the North got back to position No. 1. This
leadership was handed over on a platter of Gold & of
non-resistant though he failed woefully at home and lost
his deposit even at the ward level. It is worthwhile to
mention here that his embrace of politics did not change
the mind of his kith & kin from his betrayer of a fellow
brother. His first coming as a leader after his prison
experience as stated earlier recorded electoral defeat
from his homestead; the historical victory his party
recorded in his second term was not as a result of new
love for him but through the hard work of the then
governorship candidate, Ogidi Omo. A known enigma and a
visionary most loved by his people for his freshness and
documented ‘Contract with the People’. Ogidi Omo
injected new ways, new ideas, young vibrant
professionals in politics into the game and the people
embraced him. DGO style of leadership is spiced with equity, justice,
fairness, and compassion. His style of leadership is a
blessing from God, and very few leaders possess these attributes.
No wonder the envy and hatred. DGO unique leadership style makes
him tower over and above his peers. It is no wonder then, that
he got the massive votes of Ogun State
not just for the first term but also for a second-term in office.
Yorubas’ are sensitive people and highly enlightened
voters. The Yorubas’ from
NUGO
State in particular are traditional and historically
sought to be led by leaders with high moral credentials.
In more ways than can be enumerated;
DGO is like the late sage and leader by his actions and deeds.
DGO has transformed
NUGO State and opened investment opportunities never enjoyed
before in the State.
The
Agricultural Policy of
his administration
is one of the best in the world.
DGO
service to humanity
was
started when he set up the Gateway
Front Foundation (GFF). Prior to GFF,
he
has been an individual philanthropist and he has touched
several
lives, the needy and the poor not only in
Nugo State but in the whole of Federation,
no wonder his people loved him and will follow him
unlike JBO the farmer. The fortunes of the largest party
swelled up and changed for better in NUGO state only
when DGO and his associates joined the party.
The victory the State and the entire SW states recorded
initially gave JBO false sense of acceptability. He
became meddlesome and dictatorial; the result is the
loss of some of the SW States through judgments of the
Judiciary. As with these lost States, he has started
creating confusion, chaos, and division in Nugo state
that have all elective offices from the same party. He
forgot that it was not his personality or hard work that
won those elections and gave the party victory. JBO’s
indiscipline and rude daughter is also compounding the
issues and eroding further the trust of the people. She
forgot the person that first gave her the taste of
political power and constantly misbehave as if she is
the only president’s daughter. The sing-song of the duo
is “Not until I’ve been disgraced”. I
sincerely hope JBO listens to the word of wisdom, come
down from his high horse before he is totally disgraced
by delegates and electorates. I know when people get
old; they face many health and psycho-social challenges
like dementia, acute confusion, depression, paranoia,
suspiciousness, phobia, and social change in status to
mention some samples. No matter how much he tries to
deny it, JBO is an elder, an old man. Some of these
psycho-social challenges are confronting him and he
truly needs to slow down. JBO need to control his social
challenges as a result of his real not declared age. As
a sister, I plead with him to confront his status
changes since he is no longer No. 1 either at the
National level or State level. The idea of fostering
candidates on the party cannot work. We know ourselves,
we know genuine party members that have been sustaining
the party through hard times financially and other forms
of support.
The story of David and Goliath is recorded in the Holy
Scriptures and taught to many children in the Sunday
school. It is very apt now to quote the sayings of
David to Goliath; David said to the Philistine
(Goliath), “You come against me with Sword and
Spear and Javelin, but I come against you in the name of
the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom
you have defied. This day the LORD will hand you over to
me, ……………… All those gathered here will know that it is
not by Sword or Spear that the LORD saves; for the
battle is the LORD’s and he will give all of you into
our hands NIV.” In the battle of Supremacy in
Nugo State, the Will of the LORD shall prevail. It is
not JBO or even DGO that will install DGO’s successor
but God. It is necessary here to sound a note of warning
that the LORD will arise and let all his enemies be
scattered; enemies of progress and protector of ‘Me’ and
‘Me’ only. DGO is God’s anointed and chosen by Him to do
His Will. He is today No. 1 in Nugo State; anyone who
attempts to rubbish him or plan against him shall and
will be thoroughly disgraced. A word is enough for the
wise.
In conclusion, let us refresh our memories with some of
the folk tales of Tortoise:
There was a party in skyland to which winged animals had
been invited. Not one to be left out of any kind of
merriment, tortoise negotiated with the birds to take a
bunch of feathers on
loan to
enable him fly with them to the party. On reaching
skyland, tortoise announced that he had changed his name
to ‘All-of-you’. The birds laughed at him not knowing
what was coming. When the stewards brought a giant tray
of food, they told the visitors that the food was for
‘All-of-you’. Tortoise grabbed the tray and wolfed down
the food. Next came drinks for ‘All-of-you’; then
dessert and take-away, all for ‘All-of-you’. Tortoise
grabbed everything. At this stage, the birds saw through
his trick. In anger, they retrieved their bunch of
feathers from him and flew back to earth. Featherless
and friendless, tortoise had no
option
but to fall back to
the
earth. His shell broke into a thousand pieces but he was
still alive. He begged an army of termites building a
mound nearby to come to his aid. They proceeded to start
re-assembling the shattered pieces of his shell. While
they were at it, tortoise wondered aloud if any of them
had fouled the air. They said no. He then asked why they
smelt so badly. Astounded by his ingratitude, they
decided to assemble his broken shell in ridges, thereby
ensuring that generations of the tortoise would forever
remember
the day their ancestor opened his mouth too wide.
A wise
sage
once said that
an ingrate is but a robber in disguise.
Another Tortoise story says:
After a heavy bout of drinking at a funeral party,
tortoise bared his mind to his co-revellers. “I wish
there would always be a party like this every weekend.”
The others warned tortoise not to say such a thing
because funeral parties could only be held when someone
died. Tortoise retorted, “I don’t care if somebody
has to die before a funeral party can be held. What’s so
strange about anybody dying anyway? I’m not bothered
as long as there is a big party where I can make merry.”
The following week, the town crier did his usual rounds
of announcing new developments in the community. There
would be a funeral service and party over the coming
weekend, he announced. “Who died?” asked an elderly man
in the gathering. “It is my painful duty to announce
the untimely death of Mr. Tortoise,” said the town
crier, “May his soul rest in peace.” Didn’t one
other wise man say what you wish for others can overtake
you?
A word is enough for the wise; here I draw the curtain
for now. Shikena!
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Published
October 31st, 2010
