(Written before the suspension of the industrial action by ASUU.)
Have you ever imagined how a man whose biggest ambition was to become a famous mechanic ended up ruling a huge country for three terms? Beats me.
I still can’t fathom what it takes to change a man’s mind set from small-think to a big achieving one though but here I am sitting on a palatable rock in my estate and viewing the whole neighbourhood. This is what I do every time I’m at home. It gives me this feeling of being on top of things which one really needs when facing big decision periods. Little wonder that I’d been thinking of the big man in Aso Rock.
I have always told my friends that the best way to make a humble man fill with pride is not by making him a millionaire, but by putting him on the peak of a mountain and letting him survey all there is around him. Naturally, there comes this feeling of elation and detachment that wells up from the deepest part of the reasoning faculty and this in turn brings pride to a humble man’s heart.
Take him away from there and he feels that he has just been withdrawn from a fit of dope. I watched President Obasanjo during his May Day speech and it was like the old man was giving an oration after the conquering of a despicable adversary.
His speech directed against ASSU and its leaders felt like a stinging personal blow on Dipo Fashina, considering the latter’s countenance as seen on NTA. OBJ reminded me of an old general declaring an all out war on his enemies telling his officers and men to make sure they get an outstanding victory.
I felt surprised and later angry with this man who is supposed to be the hope on which the pillars of the nation stood. I had turned on my TV that fateful day in anticipation that our dear OBJ would perhaps say something favourable to bring about a calming down of frayed nerves and a quick resolution of the industrial action embarked upon by ASUU which has run into some 6 months now though students of schools like Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife have been at home since June last year.
My hopes were all shattered by the mean stance of OBJ and I went back to hoping all over again.
Sitting on this rock at this moment has only enabled me have a glimpse into the old man’s dilemma. A man sitting on a mountain feels he can do and undo. He will even dream about taking flight if only he can race to the edge. If as I am right now imagining how to conquer the other larger mountains in my estate and neighbourhood, I can only imagine what the man sitting on Aso Rock is going through.
What with over N60 billion to finance the construction of a new stadium in Abuja (which is a beauty to behold), but without the will to commit some few billions to the resuscitation of education in Nigeria, I am having this feeling that OBJ is out to conquer larger mountains while he is allowing the mole hills become huge craters which may very well consume us all.
