By Hope O’Rukevbe EGHAGHA
Speaking truth to power is as old as mankind on earth. Also as old is the reaction of power holders to bitter truths told them! Dictators, whether civilian, thrive on instilling fear in the populace. And when a person is bold enough to speak the truth about social conditions, dictators descend on such persons with fury. Prophet Elijah fled town when King Ahab wanted to deal with him. King Herod imprisoned John because he condemned the monarch’s action when he married his brother’s wife. He later beheaded the man of God as a souvenir to his daughter.
Freedom of Speech is crucial in a democracy. Indeed, it is the bedrock of democracy. The capacity to freely express one’s views on any subject is at the core of the scathing denunciation of Cardinal Onaiyekan’s revelation of the details of the meeting between the president and the Catholic bishops. At the core of it, is freedom of speech. We have had a long history of such encounters!
In 1973, Navy Commandeer Alfred Diete-Spiff as Military governor of Rivers State caused Journalist Minere Amakiri to be flogged for publishing what the government considered embarrassing – a report about teachers’ unpaid salaries came out on July 31st, the birthday of the governor! Human Rights layer, the late Gani Fawehinmi took up the matter in a court of law and damages were awarded to Amakiri.
In 1984, as Head of State, military dictator Major General Muhammadu Buhari sent journalists Tunde Thompson and Nduka Irabor to jail for publishing a story that embarrassed the government of the day – a scoop about diplomatic postings became a problem.
I want to capture all sides of the divide in an imaginary conversation between ‘agents’ of both sides!
RABATA: I heard some bishops went to see Mr. President last week and reeled out a litany of woes bedeviling the country.
AKPATA: Yes oo. They didn’t see anything good in the Tinubu administration. They complained about hunger, insecurity, a level playing field in the forthcoming elections, a feeling of new despair in the land, and more and more.
RABATA: What’s wrong with the bishops’ assessment of life in Nigeria today?
NIMOTA: They ought to have commended Mr. President for all the good works he has done so far in the land.
OKONKWO: Good works? How? Where?
NIMOTA: Like what? Are they not obvious?
OKOME: I agree. His good works are obvious. Even with half a eye, we can see the good works of Bola Ahmed Tinubu all over the country.
NIMOTA: Don’t be sarcastic my friend! We are discussing a serious matter.
OKOME: Sarcastic! Saka died last year na! Hahahahahahaha!
OKONKWO: Kindly spell out one good thing which the Tinubu administration has done.
NIMOTA: He has improved the nation’s reserves! He has also solved the lingering crisis between ASUU and the government.
OKONKWO: Nation’s reserves my foot. What does that translate to in real terms for the hungry people of this country?
RABATA: That reminds me of a statement credited to Mr. President about hunger being in the land before he was born. Did he really say that?
NIMOTA: Has hunger not been in the land for decades? Didn’t Nigerians complain about hunger when IBB was president? Is it Tinubu that brought hunger into Nigeria?
OKONKWO: Tinubu didn’t introduce hunger. His policies have aggravated the level of hunger in the country. Besides, when a leader is told that his people are hungry, what the people expect is compassion. He the president should not act like one-time governor of Bendel State who asked striking teachers whether they expected him to use his blood to pay their salaries. He lost the next election!
RABATA: When a complaint is made to a leader that his people are hungry, it is insensitive to say that there was hunger in the land before he was born. Is that the President’s mindset? Hunger has always been there; so, it must continue to be there.
OKONKWO: What we expected was an explanation of steps he has taken to end poverty, disease, and hunger. We expected compassion. Not a ridicule.
OKOME: He has shown compassion na!
RABATA: By asking churches and mosques to feed the poor the way Christ did! Hahahahahaha!
NIMOTA: There you go again Mr. Comedy! I’m not surprised. You are from Delta State, home of comedy!
OKOME: In this harsh economy where the cost of living is killing the living, we must try to joke and laugh. I don’t want to die of hypertension.
OKONKWO: You have a point. Laughter is good medicine.
OKOME: You see, the president is a joker!
NIMOTA: My friend, mind your language. The President is not your mate!
OKOME: Abeg, carry your mumu talk commot for here!
RAMATA: Back to the subject at hand. After the meeting, Cardinal Onaiyekan granted an interview in which he revealed what transpired at the meeting with the president. The latter has taken exception to that interview.
OKONKWO: The president’s team was overreacting. It shows panic. Cardinal Onaiyekan has been consistent in drawing attention of leaders to the plight of the ordinary people. he is not a politician. He has no wife or children. He is not fighting for himself. He is speaking the minds of ordinary Nigerians.
NIMOTA: You can say that again! What if the president hadn’t granted audience to the bishops?
OKONKWO: The bishops would have spoken from the pulpit as Onaiyekan did to late Sanni Abach in 1994 when he told the military strongman that he had created unnecessary tension in the land after the June 12 crisis. Abacha did not see Onaiyekan as an enemy. When the the latter lost his in 1993, Abacha sent his handwritten condolences and sent a Major General to the funeral in Kabba. In December of 2005, in the Ecumenical Centre in Abuja, Onaiyekan told then President Obasanjo to resist the temptation of seeking a third term in office.
RAMATA: In addition, he also did not spare El Rufai as Minister of FCT when the latter was destroying houses of the poor without providing an alternative for them. Did he spare President Jonathan? No. he condemned the level of corruption in that government. President Buhari also received attacks from this gentleman’s tongue. So, he has been consistent is pointing out flaws in governance from time.
NIMOTA: Do you mean he is a habitual, chronic critic of governments?
OKOME: You may twist facts the way you like as politicians always do. All I know is that the presidency has overreacted to the situation. Is the government in Panic Mode?
NIMOTA: How and why should the government be in Panic Mode? The man in question won the presidency when he was outside government and when President Buhari was sending mixed messages about him. Is that the man that should be in a panic mode?
OKONKWO: But you know he didn’t really win the election; the election was rigged because he had the resources to do so!
NIMOTA: And what makes you think that it will different this time?
OKOME: The master rigger at work!
RAMATA: Let him try it. The people of Nigeria are waiting for him. A man who doesn’t feel the hardship in the land, does not sympathize with the hardworking people of the country!
NIMOTA! The people of Nigeria my foot! What can they do if we go all to win the elections?
OKONKWO: Are you directly saying that you guys plan to rig the elections?
NIMOTA: Before nko? Is there any election anywhere in the world where rigging doesn’t take place? Ask President Donald Trump who has asserted that the Democrats manipulated the election that threw him out of the Whie House at the end of his tenure!
OKONKWO: This conversation is over!
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