Nigeria is in an electoral season. There are consultations, alignment and realignment in different political camps. As the political shenanigans are going on, every issue and every event is subjected to different interpretation depending on one’s political affiliation. This was what resonated within the week when the National Association of Seadogs (NAS) also known as the Pirates Confraternity in their street procession after their annual convention sang a song entitled: Emi Lokan. The said song is a satire with clear message. And expectedly, ever since the song went viral on social media platforms, reactions have been pouring in from different quarters. Some have converted the song to their ringing tones while some have reproduced and copyrighted the song. But while some hail the Pirates Confraternity for the gift of a theme song, some in blind or hypocritical show of solidarity have condemned the song. In particular, those in the camp of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential flag bearer, who felt the song was mocking the health condition of their principal, are crying blue murder even though Tinubu’s name was not expressly mentioned in the trending song.
Among those who expressed umbrage at the Emi Lokan song is Prof. Wole Soyinka, a renowned social critic and master satirist himself. In strong terms, Soyinka had condemned the composers of the song. His reasons among other things are that the Pirates Confraternity is politically neutral and that it is against our socio-cultural mores to mock the sick. While I do not deny his rights to air his views on any issue of interest to him, I think that his remarks are hypocritical and in bad taste and it is an attempt to muffle public discourse. The composers of the said song did not in any way identify with any political person or group. The message encapsulated in the song is simple: the one who said it is his entitlement to rule over us is ill and therefore not healthy enough to run for the exalted office of the president of Nigeria. Truth be told; Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has serious health challenges and therefore cannot cope with the requirement of running the affairs of the nation. If that is mockery then it is unfortunate. Truth is sacred but odious in the ears of the hypocrites. To some people the truth is only truth when it is in their favor otherwise it is irrelevant.
President Umar Yar’Adua died in office because he was ill and did not heed his doctor’s advice to reduce his hours of work. Nigerians including Prof. Soyinka kicked when it seemed that the Aso Rock cabals were keeping Yar’Adua’s health status secret. Buhari’s lackluster performance is traceable in part to his deteriorating health condition and now the Soyinkas of the Southwest Nigeria want us to keep Tinubu’s health status secret so that they will foist another liability on the nation. This is not only hypocritical it is wicked!
Clearly, the Emi Lokan song is a song that captures the mood of the nation, the season and the year. To me, this is the song of the year and it will continue to resonate and reverberate throughout the entire season. I am not a member of NAS neither do I belong to any confraternity except Church Confraternity and do not wish to join any but I am a firm believer in the truth. The Pirates have told us the truth of the moment and we have to acknowledge and accept it. The country’s presidency is not for the sick and the dotard neither is the country the demesne of any political demigod.
My grouse with Soyinka and his ilk is their propensity to discriminate in their criticisms. Recently, one Sam Omatseye of the Nation Newspaper wrote the obituary of Peter Obi, the Labor Party presidential candidate who is still alive, but our own Soyinka did not condemn that act as reprehensible as it is. Is it part of our social mores to write the obituary of one who is not dead? In 2015, Tinubu and his team of rabble rousers danced at Ojota Lagos carrying coffin and the effigy of President Goodluck Jonathan for burial. What did Soyinka say to that execrable act? He cheered them in the name of activism. Is it part of our culture to perform the funeral rites of a living person? Where was Soyinka during the Osun State gubernatorial campaign when Tinubu made imprecating pronouncement about the Labor Party laboring without result till death? And if the Pirates satirical song was against Atiku Abubakar the PDP presidential candidate, would Soyinka have condemned the act?
Interestingly, it was Soyinka’s own creation the Pirates that composed the song that miffed him. Soyinka has to put up with it philosophically. Wole Soyinka should advice his kinsman Tinubu to withdraw from the presidential race to take care of his health. To rule Nigeria is not by force. Nigeria is not his private estate; it is not his entitlement. It is not a do-or-die affair. He does not need to fight dirty with his health. Eight years ago when Tinubu unleashed his horde of area-boy activists on Jonathan, he did not envisage what is happening to him now. Today, he is on the receiving end. What goes around comes around indeed.
Our celebrated laureate and his co-travelers should throw away the ethnic toga and decipher the true situation of things. It is luminous; Nigeria will not repeat the Mistake of 2015. Nigeria cannot elect a sick president. Tinubu was hiding his health status until the viral video footages show him at different occasion shaking like a reed in a storm. Nigeria cannot trust a leader whose identity is shadowy. The Tinubu family of Lagos where he claimed to belong has issued statement repudiating his claim. Nigeria will not vote for a president whose life is riddled with unresolved scandals. Nigeria will not trust one with incredible desire for primitive accumulation. How can we trust one whose life is shrouded in lies and subterfuge? Nigeria will not want an irredentist whose primary allegiance is to his tribe. Nigeria will not elect a president who pledged to continue with Buhari’s obnoxious policies. Nigeria will elect a patriot who will see the whole nation as his constituency.
In fact, Nigerians have to make this clear to Soyinka and his ilk that misled Nigeria in 2015 for primordial reasons. Before 2015 Soyinka and his group were vociferous in vilifying President Goodluck Jonathan and then foisted a terrorist government on the nation and thereafter remain taciturn while the APC regime ride rough shod on the nation because they hoped that power will be handed over to Tinubu. But unfortunately for them they never envisaged the turnout of events as it is today. Nigerians are tired of people paying lip-service to our problems. We are indeed tired of self-seeking activists and ethnic jingoists masquerading as nationalist. The Emi Lokan song of the Pirates is a clear indication that Nigerians are vigilant this time and will not want any interloper to mislead them into repeating the Mistake of 2015.
Nevertheless, I am not unmindful of the challenges and the precarious situation in Tinubu’s camp at present. I do not envy them; Tinubu’s camp is feisty and desperate for obvious reasons. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a hard product to sell given the supervening circumstances and his health status. As someone who has done marketing, I appreciate what they have to grapple with selling a hard product like Tinubu who for everything he says or does, exhibits his vulnerability and exposes himself more to sucker punch. And that is why when they are not blaming the social media, the Igbo, the PDP and others for their woes, they are making odd and preposterous comparisons like comparing Tinubu with the Pope of the Catholic Church or Zik of Africa thereby flagrantly exposing their ignorance and hypocrisy in the process.
It is really nauseating to hear Tinubu and his group growl and whine about defamation of character when that is their stock in trade. I did observe in an earlier essay that Tinubu and his group revel in mudslinging and smear campaign and he will get a full dose of the product he has ordered. This is just the beginning. Let the music play on. Second base O’ jare!
Gozie Irogboli
goziei@yahoo.com
