By Maduka Ochiobi
The piece on the sun newspaper of wed Aug, 31, 2016 titled ‘my conversation with those youths’ made interesting and funny reading. There is every indication that somebody ravenously intended to change his past. The stunning part is that the man is not satisfied being whom he is.
He admitted in the second paragraph that he is licking his wounds, a truth he has rarely admitted. That’s alright if it makes him feel good but it cannot change anything, especially in this computer age where records are aptly kept. The over repeated success story of his business life is not congruent with other records available. Some questions readily come to mind-
What were his business ratings before becoming a gov.? Did he own the Sun Newspaper and Slok Air and land then? What were his articles of trade, did he import or export? Who were the employees? Did he and they pay taxes and all? Were these big businesses quoted in the stock exchange?
All we can remember as published by Daily Times in the 80s that a Lagos high Court ordered that his belongings be auctioned as he could not pay his debt to Dike Udensi of DUBIC breweries.
The appellation of action Gov. by Obasanjo which he has taken to town like a title and national honor, was a little slip Obasanjo made by allowing his host’s team to write his speech as it is done in protocols and they smuggled the phrase and professionally delayed the speech which Obasanjo unsuspectingly was forced to read when he visited in Feb, 2000.
Further down in the mendacious script, he agreed that foundations are empaneled by leaders, but how many did our guy establish, where are they and what are they doing for the teeming poor in Igbere, Bende and Abia? All he did for the youth in Abia was that he gave them shovels and wheel barrows as empowerment components.
For once, he admitted being a Wharf Rat and we know what wharf Rats do in Lagos. Let’s leave him and you with the imagination and the real facts.
More inadequacies as we know that within the Aba circles where he lived with his mom that she wasn’t worth up to two pounds sterling from her Akara, street corner business let alone giving a startup fund of 35 pounds sterling for his business.
In his other false claims, I leave him at the mercy of great Yoruba people who I am sure are equal to the tasks of making a strong noose tighter. Our man claimed that he assisted great Awo in repairing his Rolls. And there are pertinent questions: Where was Awo’s faithful driver?
What about other Yorubas who thronged Lagos streets and worshipped Awo as a demigod?
Or was it a taunt to belittle the great sage whose words were laws?
Come to think of it, he claims that it happened in Lagos! Wonders unending!
If he was ever a guest of our legend, how many times was he welcome in a visit to HID who just died not too long ago? I am sure that Odia Ofeimu alone can ask him more questions.
Our man is a joker and I am sure that he is caught in the web of his lies because as one philosopher put it ‘figures don’t lie but liars will figure.’
Compounding his figuring are many unfinished businesses like Igbo Presidency, Njiko Ndi Igbo, false claims of PDP recall including forged documents, FIFA presidency and two failed attempts at the senate. Na Waa oh!
When will our man grow up and end his endless hobby of childish yarn spinning.