“The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism” (Norman Vincent Peale).
To say that Dr. Okey Ndibe does not think much of Dr. Andy Uba is an understatement. Heck, he doesn’t even think Uba has good sense, common sense, or an enlightened mind. He considers Uba a fraud, a featherweight, a man lacking in substance and morals. By way of a series of treatises, we all know what the former thinks of the latter, but we don’t know what the later think of the former. One can only guess. Really, one can only guess.
For a while now Ndibe has been doing to Uba what some people in my old neighborhood euphemistically call “rubbish am…throw am for gutter.” That is to say Ndibe has been rubbishing and making nonsense of Uba. He has been rubbishing Uba big time! In a way, I kind of feel sorry for him. You see I shudder whenever I mull over how Uba must feel considering the constant arrows from Ndibe. And those arrows are sharp and noxious.
The annoyance, the heartache, and the million pieces of needles on his skin or in his pores must be unbearable. It has to be. And the mere mention of Ndibe must have caused turbulent winds to brew in his heart and his soul. In three or so years, he must have suffered three dozen sleepless nights that lasted weeks. It can’t be that easy for him.
The more I think about his pain and his sorrow, the more I wonder whether he has ever considered buying off his nemesis. After all, this is a man he cannot sue in the court of law or of public opinion. This is a man he cannot slap around or boss around. This is a man he cannot make quiet. Ndibe, from all accounts, is a man that defies all interpretation and enticements. So, what’s to be done or said?
Uba and his associates must have weighed all options, legal and illegal. Common, what do you say or do to man who will not leave you alone? What do you say or do to a man who seems to be aware of your every move? What do you do or say to a man who, in so many ways, is like your shadow: he knows your thought; he is with you whenever and wherever. Kai, it has to be painfully annoying.
At the very least, I am interested in knowing what Andy Uba thinks of Okey Ndibe. From time to time, you can’t help but be fascinated by your enemies. And it is not even unusual to respect ones enemies and critics. In this case, does Andy Uba respect Ndibe’s tenacity, persistence, and audacity? Does he respect his nemesis’s brilliance and purposefulness? I wonder. I’d like to know.
I wonder what he says about Ndibe when no one is listening. Does he curse and spit at his name? Does he throw fits? Does he bang the wall, break glasses, and kick stuff in a fits of rage? I wonder. Walahi talahi, I wonder. If all else fail, he may want to consider buying a representative voodoo doll to stick pins on. I believe that’s that they did in the ancient time. Whether it works or not, I don’t know. It’s worth a try though. There is something else.
Something else came to mind: why, in heaven’s sake, has Uba not found it necessary to respond to some of the charges and accusations coming from Ndibe? Methink he is not helping matters by his long and deafening silence. Haba, is he just going to look the other way, turn the other cheek, and suffer in silence? Woah, not even his supporters and admirers are ganging up against Ndibe. Strange.
