A long time ago, sometimes in 2009 when I first spotted Professor Abdulraheem loitering around the Ilofa way residence of the Sarakis (Ile Loke they used to call it, then it becomes Ile Arugbo and now Charity House!), I published a piece titled ‘Oba Abu: the Loner of Sodom’. I had taken a cue from my teacher and literary mentor, Prof Pius Adesanmi. The article was written with so much anger and indignation. As a student of political history, and especially the history of how empires rise and fall, I knew Oba was on a journey of no return. I posited then rather sadly that we had lost another moral compass, another mentor to the political class. For as much as I cherish his integrity and finesse, I couldn’t nevertheless possibly reconcile that with his ‘ill-informed’ romance with the Sarakis, especially Bukola Saraki (of all people!). I was disappointed that Oba Abu’s cerebral mind did not grasp the ideological implications (short and long term) of his infamous political association. But just about the time I was tossing the pen, my phone beeped and to my eternal dismay, came a call from my whip boy! ‘Shedadani, Mallam Bature? My name is Oba Shuaibu Abdulraheem’, the voice on the other side of the line declared rather humbly. Momentarily, I lost my voice, much to the fear of why he called than my holding his person in awe!

Then the tutoring began: Oba took me on a long voyage of his mission in politics. How he had been invited by Dr. Olusola Saraki and how after his eventual retirement from the academics, he grudgingly accepted to be closer to the man, albeit out of respect for the elder Saraki. He confessed that he had enjoyed a long relationship with Baba, however discreetly, before then. Why not take it a little further, especially when the mind of the former was willing, he retorted. But all along, as he laboured to explain (exonerate?) himself out of the public outcry that greeted his formal initiation into the ultra murky waters of the Kwara politics, I refused to be cajoled. My mind was made up; Oba was either for us and against them or with them and against us, period!

But he took the argument a little further, and this time, I was swept off my feet! Oba Abu, for almost thirty minutes, regaled me of his disdain for the quality of the minds in power - and in government - in Nigeria. He confessed that his likes bear enormous responsibility for either vacating the space of governance and leadership for minds only slightly equal to the morons’. ‘We are thus saddled with a situation in which ideas and matters of the intellect are permanently banished from the space of governance and public service in Nigeria’, he said. Like a lone ranger that he was then (and still is?) he gave an insight into the good old days when ideas and matters of the intellect used to be the hallmark of the Nigerian politics. As a teacher of African thought himself, it has become very difficult for him to ignore the fine writings of the generation of Mbonu Ojike, Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Mallam Aminu Kano, LAK Jimohs, Akanbi Oniyangis and so many others. These were men who read. They read the books that must be read, to borrow a phrase from Odia Ofeimun. They fed and nurtured their minds. To enter into the epistemic world of these men is to stand in awed contemplation of the power of erudition and ideas instrumentalized for public service and the envisionment of society. It is to be in painful contemplation of the tragic aridity of the minds now in charge of our lives both at the state and national level. Too much turenchi, you would say, but those were all his epistles. But I was no way convinced! Politics for politicians!

Who would be the politicians’ watchdogs, their moral compass if we all venture into politics? Who would be on the side of the people? Who? Is education and certification alone enough? That Oba Abu is a Professor is beside the point. Kwara, and by plausible extension Nigeria, offers far too many examples of trained minds rendered intellectually impecunious by the soporifics of power, intellects gone prurient after feeding continuously on offal in the corridors of power. Dr. Bukola Saraki is a case in point, and to all those who I have had the privilege of arguing with about this prodigal son, Bukola’s expensive education vis-à-vis his less than sterling performance in office (and especially his pedestrian educational policy direction while his tenure lasted) has been his tragic flaw and the sour point of our relationship, no more, no less! His expensive education might have been a blessing for him and his family, but it’s a flat waste for the state he governed for eight harrowing years. Bukola’s enviable University training is sufficient indication that formal education is not always coterminous with visionary, progressive, and refined leadership. His business-as-usual reign in government is a tragic indictment of the Kings College and the London University which he attended. Goodluck Jonathan is another ready instance, but that is a topic for another day.

So, to those (including Prof. Oba) who had argued for years that things would begin to change once a mind that has been humanized and instructed by the University got a shot at the political office in the state, the Bukola Saraki’s case should be an eye-opener. If he would but be a little circumvent, Prof Oba should by now have come to terms with the stark reality that while the learned are sermonizing quality service to humanity the politicians are only interested in boosting their legitimacy by the integrity of the few learned that stray into their camp. This is why I was not surprised when early this week, rumour started filtering in that Prof. Oba had gone to ‘beg’ Bukola Saraki. How feasible, was what first inadvertently came out of my mouth. But what would a politician not do to boost his ego? What would they not do to clothe themselves with the garb of legitimacy? Indeed, isn’t it rude to tell that kind of silly lies to more than three (3) million people? No attempt to spin, misstate, misspeak, or misrecollect the facts?

This explains why the Bukola Saraki’s spin doctors would go down in history as the world’s most prolific manufacturers of the senior brothers of lying. To them, the fear of the consequences of lying to Kwarans is easily dispensable. But beyond the lies lies an underlying societal malaise; the civic culture which makes you respect the citizen so much that you don’t look straight into the camera and lie to them is almost vanished. When you flat out lie to the citizen, you are doing more than insulting his intelligence. You are, in fact, undermining his civic right. But this is luxury enjoyed only by the Americans! In American political culture, as once espoused by Pius, when a lie is dangerous, you seek solace with its younger siblings. The lexicon and the registers of American politics boast the world’s largest collection of euphemisms for lying. Because he cannot be seen to be lying outright to the American people, because he fears consequences, an American government official has options such as “spinning”, “misspeaking”, “misstating”, “misrecollecting”, “telling an untruth”: anything but lying outright. But here, in this clime where anything goes as long as it is the ‘leader’ that says it, lies are being dished out like the Amala and Ewedu that caused the Ile-Loke tragedy. And this is why Professor Oba and his camp should brace up for more of this as the battle enters its anti-climax.

So, before night falls on what has the potential to be a brilliant political legacy (since he is irretrievably lost to politics), before he is stung by the ‘Amunibuni syndrome, can anyone please advise Prof. Oba that he does not need the ‘dealer’ to mount the ladder? They are only out to use and dump him, while also tarnishing his hard earned image. Any close contact he has now with them will be maximally used (through blackmail and outright public misinformation) to their advantage. Prof. Oba would do well to consult Hon. Iliasu Ibrahim on this bitter part of the Sarakis. While Hon. Ilyasu harmlessly but foolishly sought to ‘reconcile’ with Bukola Saraki after a protracted battle with Bukola’s stooge and Speaker of the State House of Assembly, thinking albeit naively that he was doing so in secret, the latter took advantage of the scenario, took pictures of him while laying flat before the emperor, and published it the following day on the front page of Bukola’s newspaper, the National Pilot!

So, if a week is a lifetime in politics, as the saying goes, Professor Oba has had plenty of political lifetimes since I initially penned the article above mentioned and had my first interactions with him. And if Prof. Oba himself is reading this once again (unfortunately, I have changed my phone line!) he should realize that the challenge lies not in mere pali (certificates) but in forging a society where the decent, informed, and humanized minds like himself, who are enamoured of service, does not have to travel on morally-challenged and ethically-tainted routes to office as the Sarakis are now laying claim to!

Abdullahi B. Bature wrote from Ilorin