By Remi Oyeyemi
“ ….there is need for the competence and character of public men to be subjected to severer and stricter scrutiny…”- Chief Obafemi Awolowo
“Nothing is politically right which is morally wrong.”- Daniel O’Connell.
One of the challenges of building a country or if you like as in the case of Nigeria – a Nation- State is the inability of all the players to agree on the definition of political lexicons such as fairness, good, bad, consistency among several others. The dishonest desire to apply different definitions and rules in all situations that concern segments of the same people in the same country is what often causes problems and challenges for the building of a prosperous and united country.
The recent Dele Momodu’s article on the subject above really raises the spectre of partiality and unfairness as an instrument of political management of and in our polity. The article, an epitome in subtle double-speak, dexterous meandering as well as an exemplification in flagrant double standard is also an invitation to lowering the standard of integrity in public offices in the name of political correctness. Coming from a respected colleague like Mr. Momodu is very disappointing, and indeed very scary.
I am sure that Mr. Momodu would agree with me that there are universal basic definitions of “good”, “bad”, “fairness”, “treachery”, “greed”, “perfidy”, and other lexicons. So, it should not be difficult to identify any “bad” and “treacherous” behavior(s) for what they are. Thus for Mr. Momodu to suggest in the referenced article that the victims of the treachery of Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara have the responsibility of allowing peace to reign in the APC and the country is not only disappointing, it is shocking. Rather than address the real issues and the implications of treachery and undue brinksmanship, Mr. Momodu was speaking in “tongues” from all sides of the issue at stake.
If political correctness is the path that people like Mr. Momodu are championing in rectifying the impasse that are evolving within the APC and the country at large in the glare of all, then it is either he is not sincere in his admonitions or he is really angling for the destruction of the APC house that took the sweat of many to build. The ability to speak the truth “as is” is a challenge that those who sincerely wish President Mohammadu Buhari success must adopt and practice. Even, those who are going to be his critics could not afford to be pejorative or propagandist, since such would devalue from the integrity of the issues at stake.
Mr. Momodu had written inter alia:-
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