CHIEF BODE GEORGE: "JAPA" WHEN NIGERIA ELECTION STORM IS OVER?
Chief Bode George
By Taiye Olaniyi
Chief Bode George shall continue to remain an issue in the geopolitical history of Nigeria just as lovers of history shall remain in detail to draw some sketches of how weathering the storm individually or/ and collectively as Nigeria goes by.
I remember as if it were yesterday, Chief Bode George's immaculate white uniform as a naval officer, and military administrator, his Bismarkian black and ever-shinning mustache which made him one of the most handsome military officers of his era. He was such a handsome military administrator that I used to admire from afar when he was the administrator of Ondo State during the military era.
It was so disheartening to me when sometimes a media report alleged that one of his drivers eloped with about five or ten million naira from his car boot when he was an administrator.
That did not stop my admiration for him even when as a staunch member of the Peoples Democratic Party he was Kujerized for one reason or the other and had to initiate a thanksgiving in the church after the brief spell in the Nigerian Correctional Service "Big Man's Dormitory.
Of course, Nigeria's political terrain is full of accusations and counter-accusations," Temblekun, bi o ba ko pa, bi o ko ba ko bu lese" which are innumerable destructive syndromes typical of average Nigerian politicians in our Nigeria.
My closest encounter with Chief Bode George was when I was privileged to be part of those that interviewed him as the Managing Director of BODGEE which was established in the late 90s.
The company was expected to source for business mail and operates franking machines in GPO, Surulere, Apapa and Ikeja Post Offices before the establishment of Bulk Post Venture. For merely franking the mail items, upon the establishment of Bulk Post, NIPOST insisted on a review of the agreement. It also decided to establish Bulk Post Franking centres at Lafiaji, Shomolu and Ikoyi where mail sourced by venture are processed. His company that was later awarded the franking of mail at selected postal formations of the Nigerian Postal Service.
The contract from inception around 1997 or thereabout must have partly been responsible for either the fortune and/ or otherwise of the revenue base of NIPOST maybe to date. As a retired Postman and an apolitical middle aging elder statesman after 35 solid years in the service of fatherland through the portal of the Nigerian Post, the downward trend in the postal service today continues to sadden us retirees and other people of like minds. One day, one day, "Conscience" which Uthman DanFodio has described as," An open wound only truth can heal it" will prevail in the geopolitical and socioeconomic fortune of the Nigerian Post
.
In recent times, pre, during, and post-presidential elections of the year 2023 have seen Chief Bode George always granting one television interview after another, especially on Arise and Channel Televisions that he would also embark on volitional emigration from Nigeria if Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu becomes the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria come May 29, 2023.
The question is, what if Chief Bode George's perceived unbecoming eventually becomes and the current president-elect emerges victorious after all said and done?
Thank God that the Son of Man, an apolitical elder statesman, the man who did not partake in this year's election for none availability of PVC, and also that none of the aspirants exhibited the philosophical and idealistic wizardry of old-time politicians such as the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe and Sir Ahmadu Bello the Sardauna of Sokoto, one detests with passion the commercialization of politics and the obliteration of service for selfishness amongst the Nigerian politicians of years back, today and maybe rolling to the future.
Politics, politicking, and politicians in their two decades of democratic dispensation are tantamount to money bagging, baggages, and money begging.
I admire Chief Bode George for his dexterity in quoting Yoruba proverbs and scriptural messages but then, his recent decision to "Japa" or emigrate from Nigeria because of the success or otherwise of a fellow mere mortal, which we all are on this Mother Earth no matter the position(s) held or the none of it to me shouldn't be thought of.
Yoruba do ask and aptly too, "Bawo ni inaki ti se ori ti obo ko se ori", what differentiates or makes superior or inferior a chimpanzee's head from that of a monkey?
Is it not a truism that the sky has cast a space enough for every bird to fly? By the way, what should compel anyone to flee from his place of origin or residence if, in the true sense of it, one is truly law-abiding and strongly adheres to the principles of natural justice golden in the rule of law, "Do unto others as you would want them do unto you."
Yoruba are apt to say, "Agbalagba ki wa ni oja ki ori omo tun tun wo," which in a literary sense means that a wise elder must remain an epitome of wisdom for the younger ones to follow in this marketplace of life. No matter the storm Bob Marley says, "He who fights and runs away lives to fight another day," especially in this world of tests, trials, and tribulations.
In our world today and judging by the political trends in Nigeria, it is safer and more golden to remain silent as an elder because Yoruba aptly advise that, " Agbalagba ki i se obere, bi oju ba ri enu a dake", one should watch before one leaps.
No matter who we are, what we are, and where we are, every mortal is imperfect and so late Major General Agbazika Innih once affirmed to us in Kwara State College of Technology after a demonstration as we decried the military administration, his statement: " A man with a big head can as well have nice legs. If you concentrate on the big head you overlook the nice legs."
In this context and content of media interviews, no one should "Japa" because the current generation of Nigerians and even the upcoming ones have no other country to call their home. Nigeria belongs to all and we must all remain here to salvage it together."
In this Bob Marley's lyrics, I incline and recline: "Running Away"
You running and you running
And you running away
You running and you running
And you running away
You running and you running
And you running away
You running and you running
But you can't run away from yourself
Can't run away from yourself.
Taiye Olaniyi, a retired Postman of the Nigeria Postal Service, lives in Lagos