DELE MOMODU: THE SWINGING PENDULUM

"…I wish to note that the level of discourse in Nigeria is abysmally low, and, usually, garnished with character assassination. We allow our personal frustrations to becloud reason…"              -Dele Momodu, In Search of Literature Teachers; Pendulum, Thisday, Thursday Sept. 2007.

In his newest article titled IN SEARCH OF LITERATURE TEACHERS, one cannot but acquiesce in the fact that Dele Momodu’s proverbial cup is full. Dele in the second paragraph of the article lamented the dearth of brilliant Literature teachers in Nigeria. He tried to view Nigerians as a bunch of intellectually bankrupt people just because they refused to see things from his perspective. But I think Dele does not need any counsel to know that he is academically qualified to take up a teaching appointment at the Ministry of Education since he was groomed in the field of Literature at the University of Ife, except that he was not trained to ‘Literaturise’ in English Language. Yet with the benefit of his UK exposure, expressing himself in English in class rooms should not be much problem. So, Dele, why don’t you shed the toga of a journalist and embrace chalk? More especially when your type of journalism is laced with celebration of mediocrity and conjecture, as espoused in your perception of the supposed "Mad Man in Paris." Doing this would somewhat help reposition the level of our intellectual discourse as wished by you.

Ever since I read Dele Momodu’s TO THE BULLY AT OTA, AN EPILOGUE- a piece on OBJ’s alleged vituperation on him (Dele) in Ghana over a ‘silly’ question on the Vaswanis deportation - I have always been ambivalent about Dele’s sincerity of purpose when he writes on issues of human dignity vis-à-vis national importance. On such occasions, I have always had to wrestle with my inner being to dispassionately disentangle myself from this seemingly pessimistic attitude towards his present day write-ups; but no sooner had I achieved being dispassionate than he would again and again display his sensational epistolary porosity, which has come to characterise his present-day intellectual outputs.

Let me state without any equivocation that nothing more depicts the purported "abysmally low level of discourse" in Nigeria than Dele’s article published by ThisDay of Thursday September 12, 2007. I noticed Dele’s cerebral lassitude first in TO THE BULLY AT OTA… where he laboured unsuccessfully to reduce OBJ ‘legacy’ to naught over his (OBJ’s) resistance to accept "paid insults" Dele was about to mete out to the then unsparing President. OBJ might be correct when he alleged that Dele must have been paid by Vaswanis brothers to launder their already battered image. The Vaswanis brothers, owners of Stallion, Honda Place, and so on, duped Nigeria to the tune of forth billion naira (N40b), through tax evasion and many other dubious business transactions. Thanks to The News, which exposed and did a world exclusive on their tricky and shady deals in Nigeria- futile attempts were made to prevent the story from hitting the news stands.

Dele classified the Ghana event as the worst experience of his life. He went ahead to castigate other Nigerians who sang the ‘achievements’ of OBJ to the high heavens; even though he himself agreed that he had started his fury-inducing speech with sycophantic praises of OBJ administration. Dele accentuated his porosity when he claimed in the piece that it was "From that little encounter" that he "knew clearly OBJ’s tenure would end up in disaster." His position showed that while most Nigerians were wailing under the grip of harsh economic conditions, to Dele, OBJ was doing well; but immediately he tasted (not even swallowed) from the bitter bill of OBJ acerbic tongue, the former president instantly chose the path of doom. To buttress his seemingly clairvoyant position, he mentioned inter alia, failure of tenure elongation, failed economic reforms, vindictive anti-corruption crusade, as the resultant effects of OBJ’s show of unstatemanly behaviour in Ghana. Was Dele insinuating that if OBJ had not lambasted him, chances were that he would have ended well? Dele’s pendulum is on the right swing when he is being counted among the high and mighty, while the pendulum swings left when he seldom partakes in the daily hardship which confronts Nigerians on an hourly basis.

Dele’s abysmally low level of intellectual discourse was further noticed in his characteristic resolve to debunk or refute some of the issues raised against his quixotic ideals. His rebuttal comes in more ferocious measure when such issues are related to his consistent celebration of every moneybag filthily rich enough to pay exorbitant fee for ostentatious display of their ill-gotten wealth on the glossy pages of OVATION magazine. Every avid reader of ‘former’ OVATION magazine knows beyond any form of ambiguity that the magazine at its insipient stage, set out to celebrate the exploits of Africa’s best, most resourceful and great achievers, with a view to bringing out the entrepreneurial and heroic spirit of its readers. Dele deviated from this lofty ideal when OVATION became the first and only journal to celebrate and showcase the stinking opulence of the Abachas.

Nigerians may be perceived as a forgiving people but certainly would not forget the terror Sani Abacha forced down their throats in a hurry. As such, Abacha was never adjudged a hero or an exceptional achiever, whose rancid ovation was made loud by Dele. I stand to be corrected if I insinuate that money did change hands as a condition for coming up with that exposé on Abacha, which Dele, in his subsequent editorial, tagged as one of his best productions. Convincingly, Dele’s brainchild is truly "loud for a purpose" but I also stand to be educated if that purpose was not pecuniary benefit(s). It was on record that that edition drew the ire of many Nigerians. The then popular irate feeling among Nigerians prompted Dele to quickly come up with a distorted and prolix editorial in the following edition to exonerate him. He tried to whip up emotional sentiments but he lost it all when he inferred that Late Chief M.K.O. Abiola of blessed memory would not have objected to celebrating Abacha under whom Abiola suffered a life-terminating incarceration. What a bizarre way to ‘immortalize’ a benefactor!

Another instance of Dele’s swinging pendulum? Okay! Dele’s pendulum swung after the ‘election’ of Babatunde Raji Fashola (BRF) as Action Congress gubernatorial candidate. Dele, whose unflinching support for Tokunbo Afikuyomi’s guber ambition was known even in the quietest graveyard, was unsparing in his war of attrition against Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT) over his (BAT’s) role in ‘scuttling’ his friend’s ambition of ruling Lagos State. In an interview he granted Dupe Ashama, I have never seen Dele in such a daring ‘fight’ against ‘injustice’. The interview was not only character-assassinating, it was also legacy-destructive; Dele tore the perceived achievements of Bola Tinubu into obliterating shreds. Thanks to a formidable political machinery, popular goodwill and strong media package in the arsenal of Asiwaju, otherwise the interview was damaging enough to have gotten Asiwaju brushed aside.

To those who could not see beyond their nose, Dele meant well, was for good governance and principled. I was not a bit carried away by their (Dele and Tokunbo) obvious delusions of grandeur for I knew deep within me they belonged to a type of bird, whose feathers are so weightless to stand the lightest wind, let alone the raging storm of astute strategist called Tinubu. I did not have to struggle with burden of proof over my seeming subjective position; Tokunbo was the first to help me prove their inconsistency, when rumour started flying high that he had been made to swallow his pride. The rumour went further to highlight some ‘package’ put together for him by ever methodical Tinubu. Today, S.T.A., as Tokunbo is known within Lagos political circle, is Lagos Commissioner of Tourism. What a despicable and insatiable quest for political relevance, after Tokunbo had been a two-term Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria from 1999-2007; he even emerged a Principal Officer in the Senate of 2003-2007). He had to be tacitly excused from Lagos State House of Assembly screening exercise in Alausa. Well, I understand the ‘Nigerian Factor’ syndrome; after all, scores of millions had been sunk into his gubernatorial project aborted by Bola Ahmed Tinubu Campaign Organisation. There should be a way of replenishing his draining pocket.

Opportunity to lend credence to my points came for the ever swinging pendulum at the last Notting Hill Carnival in London. Dele, standing side by side with his soul mate, ‘Honourable’ Commissioner of Tourism, told the joyous audience of Nottinghill Carnival that they have drawn up a plan to package and sell Lagos State tourist attraction to global world and bla, bla, bla. It was an opportunity for him to comprehensively and systematically state the successes of Babatunde Fashola (present Governor of Lagos State), whom Dele had earlier adjudged a puppet and Tinubu’s surrogate.

OVATION today certainly does not enjoy its former days’ rating among Nigerians, why? The reason is not far-fetched: it is directly linked to depreciation of ideals that form the foundation upon which its olden days’ glory hinged. I went to drop a London-bound friend at Muritala Mohammed Airport sometime in 2006; I, in company of my friend, went to the airport book store at the departure lounge to pick some dailies for the reading pleasure of my travelling friend. We were still going through the headlines of some displayed dailies when we heard a fellow beside us murmuring on proliferation of soft sell magazines. This fellow could not conceal his frustration when he said in Yoruba language: "Awon ara ibi ko m ba oja je fun eniyan ni", which literally translates to "these people are just bastardising market for one". These ‘mortal’ words elicited curiosity in me and I looked my left side to behold the big frame that just muttered these words. Believe me, the man turned out to be Dele Momodu.

It is glaring to Dele himself that the acceptability of OVATION is on the decline in Nigeria but he would make us believe that proliferation is responsible for this. What a defeatist excuse. This reason could not hold water because we have a very classic example of healthy market rating and general acceptability in Seye Kehinde’s City People. Believe me, City People has become an institution for soft sell journalism; that is why the likes of Reuben Abati would wake up every day to bless the work of Seye as evidenced in what I call ‘Abati’s Testimonial Speech’ during Seye’s 40th birthday sometime last year or 2005.

No ill-feeling towards Dele Momodu as an entity but events unfolding in Nigeria ever since her return to democracy in 1999 have indicated a new trend of stewardship. There have been days of reckoning for big players in Nigeria socio-political circle; we have seen the mighty men of yesterdays folding harms and being asked questions about their stewardship to their fatherland before our own very eyes. You started out as a role model to some of us then at the prestigious University of Lagos. We used to see you as a principled and staunch agent of social change but take it or you leave it, you have derailed from that path which you used to lay for us when you occasionally paid us visits at UNILAG JC meeting. 

The reason for this new path of his can only be better appreciated in a lecture given to him by same former President Obasanjo on socialism theory, when Dele made reference to one Julius being on Obasanjo’s political divide at the august occasion in Ghana. Deles said and I quote: "OBJ grabbed the microphone again: "Look, look, Momodu, I have a theory on socialism. If a man is under 30 and he’s not a socialist, he must be a wicked man. But when a man is over 40 and he’s still shouting socialism, he must be a big fool." I quickly changed the topic to something more fundamental."

Dele did not only change the topic; at that moment, the cowardice inherent in you blew open for the world to see. He also assimilated OBJ’s parochial view of socialism and changed your entire world afterwards, which now moulds Dele’s journalistic philosophy. Ironically, Dele never raised this issue until OBJ retired to his Ota farm probably for Dele’s paranoid and illusory sense of witch-hunting. Yoruba adage says: "A ki i wi sibe ka ku sibe."

Let me rest my case with the age long maxim: "Cowards die many times before death comes calling but the valiant taste death but once"  

By ‘Jide Aluko

jidealuko@gmail.com