The patriarchal counseling of the former President, Chief Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo to members of the Peoples Democratic Party on the issue of discipline within the party was widely reported in the media. Without being economical with the truth, the advisor is highly qualified for the duty he has undertaken to perform and there is no doubt that very few elders, if any, within that party, possess better credentials to do so than the statesman who was with the party at inception and made immense contribution to its growth.
The sensibility that prompted Obasanjo’s utterances must have emanated from a long-term scrutiny of the conduct of the members and the need for self-appraisal. As if to reaffirm the decadence and high level of indiscipline in the party, the Publicity Secretary of the Ogun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Waliu Oladipupo was reported in the media (see for example, The Nation of Monday, October 20, 2012, page 8) to have rebuked the elder statesman saying, “We agree and disagree with the former President… He is the worst advertisement of the product he is trying to sell. He is not fit to talk of indiscipline in any political setting.” The Yoruba says “Alufa s’oro, ojo kun, o ni Olorun j’eri oun” literally meaning “the thunder strikes when the prophet predicts that rain would fall and he says –“God has testified to my statement.” By his utterances in the media, the Publicity Secretary has inadvertently reaffirmed Chief Obasanjo’s concern about the party. He has shown that he is the bad advertiser of “a very bad product.” No wonder their political party, the Peoples Democratic Party, is leading Nigeria to the edge of a bottomless gulf.
Indeed, there are very few political parties in the world where an underling in a party would issue insult on a party leader of Chief Obasanjo’s stature and status without dire repercussion, democracy notwithstanding. The fact that the family head and children dine in the same plate does not mean there is no divide in age. It is more disheartening that the Publicity Secretary is Yoruba, a tribe that treasures her senior citizens to an extreme degree. The party leaders in Ogun State, irrespective of political differences should immediately intercede to ensure that such unquantifiable disregard for our tradition is forthwith abated. They should not forget that “whoever buries his elder brother without shroud (naked) and takes along his younger sibling, is leaving a precedent on how he too would be buried.” If the Peoples Democratic Party is so devoid of decency and discipline, it should please, avoid dragging the Yoruba tradition along the path of its destruction.
It is sickening to see the level to which Nigeria has degenerated, not only in terms of its socio-economic life but also in the decadence of its culture. The young no longer value the old, forgetting that very soon, sooner than expected, they would also get to that stage of life. According to his media adviser, the President has to reconsider his appearance in the social media — the facebook — because of insults from the citizenry. Senseless and uncensored utterances are the vices of ignorant people who believe that aggressiveness is a way to settle personal scores with people who are divinely placed above them.
We are overstretching the canon of politics beyond the dictation of common sense. Liberty of expression does not connote lack of self-censorship just as freedom should always be accompanied by responsibility because where the freedom of one person ends, is the beginning of the freedom of the other person. The unique feature of African culture is that it places high premium on age and the exposure acquired by the individual as a result of it. In most African cultures, the person who was born first enjoys certain privileges as a result of that hierarchy of birth. In the Yoruba culture, for example, the older person shares the meat and takes the larger chunk, if two people dine from the same plate. He takes a bigger portion whenever the family has something to share and no member of the family should address him by his first name. In fact, if he shares the same name with outsiders, younger members of the family would rather address that outsider by a nickname. In some cultures in Nigeria, he inherits the entire property of his father and decisions on issues concerning the household are not finalised until he joins the discussion. Such is the value of order of birth in our culture. This is what makes happenings in Ogun State abominable.
One is not advocating that the Peoples Democratic Party should not self-destruct by its lack of discipline but at the end of it all, our culture should be intact and unadulterated, Chief Obasanjo is a symbol of Africa and the Nigerian nation and dragging him along the path of ridicule and dishonour is itself a dishonour to the African race. He has served Nigeria to the best of his ability and must be accorded the respect that he deserves as a leader.
The Yoruba race and the Nigerian nation would be the overall losers if political officeholders shun decency and decorum on the field of play as it is being demonstrated in Ogun State by its Publicity Secretary. Unfortunately, these leaders drive the engine of the nation and we do hope that they would not grind it to a halt.
By Prof. Ojikutu
