Modibbo Kawu and the limits of insolence

AMONG the literary creatures of Ilorin emirate,
my brother, Ishaq Modibbo Kawu stands tall
in the contemporary generation and he has
never hidden that fact and the privileges it
attracts. I think one of such privileges was the
opportunity he had to speak to some members
of the PDP as he recalled in his latest literary
production in the Vanguard newspaper.
Of course, as one of the leaders in the media
industry, he has a veritable platform to
process his thoughts for consumption
sometimes, and very unfortunate, without
giving due consideration to the quality of such
products.
That is why reading through that piece, like
many others in the recent past, on rebranding
Kwara according to his dream and that of
some leaders of the PDP, one is left with no
other conclusion other than that he had
allowed what is now very clear as personal
hatred or what a colleague referred to as
pathological vendetta, for an individual to blot
the edge of his pen.
But upon all the literary assault unleashed
upon the person of Senator Bukola Saraki and
the incumbent government of Kwara State
which the PDP enlisted his support to unseat,
it is clear that Modibbo has failed the test of a
true critic.
A sincere critic will look at issues
dispassionately, not allowing personal biases
becloud his sense of judgement because he
knows that many would use his conclusions
as basis for further judgement and might be
unwittingly misled if the critic had thrown
away the garb of the impassionate observer
and don the cap of I-am-one-of-them
participant.
I was bewildered when I read from someone
with the literary pedigree of a Modibbo Kawu
that allowing private investors to undertake
businesses in the state where public
ownership had proved unfruitful is
misgovernance or illegal. Kawu, in basic
economics, I was taught that government has
no business in business, or have you forgotten
that elementary principle of economics?
Or was that not the basis for setting up the
Bureau of Public Enterprise by the Federal
Government, to transfer moribund and
unprofitable public enterprises to private
investors who can then manage them and
bring profit to government?
This is why I believe the government rightly
transferred the management of the diagnostic
centre for proper social and professional
management, while retaining ownership. It is
easy for Moddibo to dismiss the relevance of
the Harmony Advanced Medical Diagnostic
Centre since he can afford the luxury of
travelling abroad for medical examination, but
not the likes of Abdullah Abdulganiyu whose
detection of stones saved him from early
death.
Abdullah had suffered all weekend from what
he assumed to be food poisoning. A timely
scan at the Diagnostic Centre revealed he had
kidney stones which were flushed out during a
procedure at the centre. When a visiting
foreign radiologist saw the films produced at
the centre, his astonished response said it all:
“These are beautiful pictures. They must have
used the most current CTs”.
It is of course easy for a critic of Kawu’s
acknowledged political bias to see nothing
good in the establishment of the International
Aviation College. But I am sure in his heart
when he was stabbing his keyboard to write
that piece he must have struggled hard to
convince himself it was a necessary job;
particularly at this time when the most
convenient political decision anyone can make
is to side with Aso Rock.
But Kawu, the impact of having the aviation
college, solely owned by the state government
(to correct your deliberate distortion that it
belongs to private investor) in Ilorin cannot be
overestimated. Apart from providing jobs for
some indigenes of the state, it has added to
the social and economic influence of the state.
Khadijat Adigun who got her life time
ambition fulfilled as the first female pilot from
the state will definitely not agree with your
skewed position on the college.
Other trained pilots from the state now in the
fleets of both local and international airlines
will spit at your jaundiced and hatred-laced
opinion.  Just like the Shonga Farms, jointly
owned by the state government, the farmers
and the consortium of banks, which you
equally disparaged and threw away with the
wave of the hand in that speech.
I am sure there were applause for those
statements. Yes, you deserve the applause for
you were in the midst of men and women
whose only goal now is to bring Bukola Saraki
down. And his offences are very well known:
he has refused to side with those who believe
they should be the only ones he would, to
borrow from your words, Kawu, “cycle, recycle,
rehabilitated”, etc.
But Saraki has made local government
chairmen, members of state and national
assemblies, senators and governors from
children of those who hitherto were followers
and watchers of those of you who had the
privilege of coming from “renowned” and
“well-to-do” families. To you and your new
comrades, we should continue to be second
class citizens. God forbid.
Sir, I think that if you have any grievances
with the way Saraki ran the state in eight
years there are legal avenues to tackle him
which, I am sure you are aware, people
opposed to him have tried severally. And if
they have not succeeded in almost 12 years,
that should tell us there is something wrong
with them or their approach.
As an observer, I don’t think the problem is
with their approach; rather I think the problem
has to do with their persons; their inner
beings and what is actually pushing them to
seek a Bukola downfall. I think they actually
want to be like Bukola; they want to be called
leader, even if they have not done anything to
justify that appellation. It is an inner dream
being covered with the cloak of criticism
against the man Bukola.
And seeing that they could not achieve that
aim after the demise of his father, the next
most convenient thing is to descend on the
son and seek to destroy him.
If not sir, why would anyone claim Bukola has
done nothing, first for Ilorin and then for
Kwara State? Kwara State University is
nothing? Ilesha-Kosubosu Road which the
then Federal Government promised to do when
Bukola was a toddler but refused to do until
the then toddler came to the throne and did is
nothing?
Putting Professor Shuaib Oba in the Federal
Character Commission is nothing? Was it
wrong of him to have insisted in 2011 that
fielding another candidate from his family to
succeed him was unreasonable; that it would
expose the state and the family name to
ridicule? Kawu, do you sincerely believe
yourself when you wrote on that aspect too?
Do you believe it is right? As a social critic
would you have applauded that choice? So it
was wrong when in 1999 Nigerian political
leaders agreed to allow the south-west
produce the then president to assuage the
feeling of alienation the region had suffered
over the years?
I think the majority of those who gave you
that assignment, Sir, are not comfortable with
Bukola calling the shots because they believe
they also have what it takes to call the shots.
But I dare to say they are far from being
qualified. If Bukola is Leader today, was it his
making?
His father had many notable contemporaries
in the field of politics but Kawu, sincerely in
your heart, who among them could do what he
did and did for Kwara until his death? Is this
the first time to have a political hegemony?
Has vendetta beclouded your sense of history?
You are well read Kawu, please always review
your speeches before going viral with them.
Otherwise a piece like the one in reference has
done great damage to your reputation among
some of us who used to look up to you.
People now say you vowed to bring Bukola
down because he has offended you and as a
Fulani man you never forgive. Haba! Have you
forgotten the teaching of the holy Qur’an?
Even in this holy month of Ramadan? If the
path you have chosen for yourself is
vengeance, please separate it from Kwara
State’s liberation.
Abdulkadir writes from Ilorin.