As Bayo Onanuga’s recklessness trends and amid the foregoing questions, he reminds us of the need to resort to history. 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
By Valentine Obienyem
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, as sadists often do.
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 electioneering, 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 TheNews 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. With this in mind, my immediate reaction came in the form of a Facebook post, where I wrote:
“Yesterday, Bayo Onanuga claimed that Mr. Peter Obi was behind the planned protest. My relief upon hearing this was that it did not come from Chief Joe Igbokwe. Ordinarily, he would have loved to break such news as a way of reassuring them of his continued loyalty.
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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 – in his nakedness, 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.”
Many supporters of Obi are not even aware that a protest is being planned, for the simple reason that Obi always urges them to focus on finding ways to make Nigeria great. 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 characterised him. Among those that work with Mr. President, he is the number one in promoting tribal hatred and granting imprimatur to foolish decisions.
Reading his release raises many questions about him. Consider his analysis here, clothed in perplexing buffoonery: “The protesters’ call for revolution and ending an elected government is a civilian coup which amounts to high treason.” Rarely do we witness a man approaching seventy speak in such an uncouth manner.
Onanuga is worried that some Nigerians are planning a peaceful protest against the hunger in the land. But it has not occurred to him that those planning the protest were said to have even written to the security agencies requesting police protection, as they are determined to do it within the law. What this implies is that they are not faceless, nor are they wearing masks.
No nation loves or enjoys protests of any type. Engaged and happy citizens would not even protest in the first place. What Onanuga’s 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 lack thereof to the hunger in the land by its decision to purchase jets costing billions of naira? Was Nigeria as bad as it currently is when the current President, under President Goodluck Jonathan, called for a revolution, understood as weeding out bad things and hastening the rebirth of society? Is the response an offensive display of their depravity? These are necessary questions that we may find appropriate to start from.
As Onanuga’s recklessness trends and amid the foregoing questions, he reminds us of the need to resort to history. 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 roughly cleansed.
Revolution, like cleansing, is the removal of rubbish, the surgery of the superfluous. It comes only when many things are ready to die. Nigeria, in truth, has died many times before. 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.
The American Revolution was caused by, among other factors, economic hardship. Whether we talk about the French Revolution, the Haitian Revolution, the Russian Revolution, the Chinese Revolution, the Cuban Revolution, or the Arab Spring, the recurring causative factors are corruption, economic hardship, economic inequality, injustice, and political repression. In Nigeria today, the question is: To what extent are these factors at work, and what are the solutions to get the country working again?
For some, part of the solution is to bring these issues to the consciousness of those in power by making them hear about it since they are hard of hearing. For people like Peter Obi, as he has effectively demonstrated over the years, the solution lies in identifying these anomalies, bringing them to the attention of those in government, and offering advice on what to do to get the country working. In doing this, he is infinitely ready to engage anyone in a duel of minds, showing his fertile intellect.
At every engagement, he impresses everyone with his range of knowledge of the economy, his tenacious memory, intellectual acumen, penetrating judgment, and understanding of governance. It is this brilliance that troubles people like Bayo—the fascination with his polymorphous mind. Selfish men, they are already worrying about what such brilliance would do to them in 2027, while Obi is simply concerned with how to uplift the country today.
At almost 70, Onanuga is a poor role model to Nigerians and particularly to his Ijebu people. The Ijebu people on average are renowned for their industrious traits and versatile minds, not given to extravagant lies to attract attention and feed from the crumbs. They generally take things in stride and are paragons of management and consistency, virtues that seem directly opposite to Onanuga’s, who lacks his people’s gaiety and grace, the humour and wit, the refinement and manners of a cultured Ijebu man.
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.
Valentine Obienyem, Obi’s Media Adviser, wrote from Awka, Anambra State