Besides the trending old lyrics from Mike Ejeagha, gwo gwo gwo gwom, another issue that gained traction on social media platforms was the trademark diatribes from Mr. Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu.
In his statements, he portrayed Mr. Peter Obi as an incurable anarchist without any basis in fact. The beginning of Onanuga’s release immediately sets the tone for the entire message: “Obi should be held responsible if the planned protest turns into anarchy.” By this statement, he is implying that Obi is behind the planned protest of 1st August. Even his response to the threat of court action shows that he is enjoying the furore caused by his media outburst.
Although I have heard of Onanuga as the founder of The News Magazine, I had not taken the time to truly understand him until now. I viewed his recklessness and that of others during electioneering as influenced by the needs of the time. Yes, during elections, lesser minds seize the opportunity to hurl abuses, obloquies, and vituperations at people. However, the recent recklessness cannot be justified by any known rational principle.
Comparing Onanuga as the editor of The News and Onanuga as a Special Adviser reveals an unchanging pattern of recklessly driving wedges between people and setting institutions against one another. The practice and propagation of lies have remained the consuming interest of his life. This is disheartening because the man we are discussing is almost seventy years old and is expected to have matured from impulse to thoughtfulness.
On the surface, Onanuga appears to be a great journalist when measured by his long-standing visibility in the field. However, from seeing him as he is, he has continually shown us that he was overrated all along. He is becoming a victim of his own undoing. They now make us view with suspicion those who pretend to be democrats.
Come to think of it, why would Obi plan a protest? Show me any of his speeches or releases where Obi calls out anyone by name. He consistently addresses issues and offers advice. Thus, linking him to any planned protest is an attempt to divert attention from the real issues. They are simply revealing the secret of their guild: seeking to stop Obi at all costs.
Who in Nigeria today does not know that there is hunger in the land? As it is said, ‘a hungry man is an angry man.’ If you do not want unrest, tackle the enemy of the people —hunger — and leave Obi alone.
Those who follow him and his tweets would know by now that his consuming passion is not the destruction of Nigeria, but how the country can be rescued from the highway robbers who have hijacked and destroyed it.
Judging by Onanuga’s remarks, one can conclude that he is an active member of the gang. This publication many Nigerians are reacting against is just one item in a hundred irritations that have come to characterise him. Among those that work with Mr. President, he is the number one in promoting tribal hatred and granting imprimatur to foolish decisions.
No nation loves or enjoys protests of any type. Engaged and happy citizens would not even protest in the first place. What Onanuga should have looked out for are the conditions provoking Nigerians into protest. Are Nigerians hungry? Are Nigerians secure? Are Nigerians treated like citizens with full rights and as human beings? Can we gauge the government’s sensitivity or the lack thereof to the hunger in the land by its decision to purchase jets costing billions of naira?
In the history of nations, protests, whether peaceful or destructive, have always been the product of grievances and are therefore part of history, which we may support or condemn but cannot stop. Once you push a people to their elastic limits, they are bound to react. In our dear country, growth is impeded because there are chaos, disasters, and obstacles that need to be thoroughly cleansed.
We fought the civil war and experienced many coups in the past. These deaths achieved nothing because attempts at rebirth ended in stillbirth. The country is again begging to be killed on all fronts, so that it may be reborn. But the fact is that Obi is going about preaching his own version of how the country can be reborn through implementing the right policies and getting the leaders to behave as true leaders in both word and deed – anarchism is alien to him.
Other Nigerians with opposing viewpoints cannot be annexed as Obi’s promoters.
Peter Obi is a treasure, not just to Nigeria but to humanity. We cannot strive to demonise him here when the entire world is celebrating him. He remains one of the leaders who can now only be found in the pages of Plutarch.
Obienyem is Peter Obi’s Media Adviser
