Prof.
Ogungbemi, your reaction was right and proper were this to be an ideal situation, and the occupier of the office had carried himself with dignity and self-respect. But can we honestly say that we have an ideal situation on our hands? Respect, they say, begets respect. The Arab Spring revolution is a pointer to the effect that certain assumptions can no longer hold. If a subject has no right to call his President "a liar" when indeed the allegation of the President lying can be proved to be correct, Presidency does not confer on the President the right to lie against a subject too.
Besides, we must not lose sight of the context too, it was at a political rally where the President was alleged to have said those things. In my candid opinion, he spoke like a politician and a member of PDP, not as the nation's President. In other words, he spoke NOT as the Father of All that his office conferred on him. So Sylva (no link, no relationship) also retorted as a politician too, showing the contradictions in the logic of Mr. President's statement.
How many of our Presidents in the past really knew that they occupied a hallowed position and must, therefore carry themselves with dignity? Each of them, military and civilian, had allowed the office to get into his head and daily insulted us in action, by inaction and utterances. Sometimes ago, it was Obasanjo calling Mimiko "a bastard"! As President he had no such right. I commend the patience and the endurance of Dr Mimiko, the current Governor of Ondo State. He did not utter a word. I confess, I don't have that kind of patience.
Again, many years ago, the young military Head of State, General Gowon was at the convocation ceremony of the University of Ibadan as the institution's visitor. Prof. Oritsejolomi Thomas had just read his address in which he appealed to the then Head of State for adequate funding of the institution. Guess what he did in response? He got up from his "hallowed seat" removed Prof Oritsejolomi's "hallowed academic cap," turned the inside up and took it round for donation! It was a mockery, and he did not see anything wrong with his out-of-normal "military sense of humor." Of course, the then Vice-Chancellor only opened his mouth wide, dazed by the sacrilegious desecration of the academia. I am sure, now that he is as an elder statesman he would long have known better, since he also had the baptism of a doctorate degree much much later.
The essence of what I am driving at, sir, is that leaders that are truly leaders impact positively their society; rather than heap more burdens on them they make great sacrifice through denial of personal comfort or gains; they are many years ahead of the society they lead; they are truly in charge of situations and masters of circumstances; they carry themselves with dignity. They do not demand respect from their subjects/followers, rather they command it, and effortlessly too!
Ademola Omobewaji DASYLVA,PhD
Professor of African Literature & Oral Literature
Department of English,
Director, General Studies Programme, UI.,
& Co-coordinator, Ibadan Cultural Studies Group,
Room 68, Faculty of Arts,
University of Ibadan,
Ibadan, Nigeria.
Mobile: +234 (0)802 350 4755
+234 (0)706 226 4090
Web: arts.ui.edu.ng/aodasylva
E-mail:
a.dasylva@ibadanculturalstudiesgroup.orga.dasylva@mail.ui.edu.ngdasylvang@yahoo.comSent from my iPad
On Feb 5, 2012, at 6:01 PM, "
Seguno2001@yahoo.com" <
seguno2001@yahoo.com> wrote:
> I think it is outrageous to call our President a liar. We must respect the office and not disparage it whatever the provocation. Political office holders must learn some decorum because that is part of leadership and maturity.
> Prof. SegunOgungbemi.
>
> Biodun Sowunmi <
sowunmi@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> The President lied -Sylva
>>
>> FEBRUARY 5, 2012 BY MIKE ODIEGWU
>>
>> The crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party ahead of the February 11 governorship election in Bayelsa State has snowballed into a verbal war between President Goodluck Jonathan and the deposed Governor of the state, Mr. Timipre Sylva.
>>
>> Apparently angry at the comments of Jonathan against him and his administration during a rally organised by PDP on Friday, Sylva in a daring move on Saturday said the President "goofed and told lies."
>>
>> Jonathan in the rally had accused Sylva of poor performance, claiming that the former governor was once stoned during one of his presidential visits by protesters who were angry at the lack of development in the state.
>>
>> The President specifically accused Sylva of abandoning a five-star Tower Hotel project at the level he (Jonathan) left it as the governor, adding that the project had become a monumental disgrace to the state.
>>
>> But in a swift reaction, Sylva, in a statement signed by his media aide, Mr. Doifie Ola, which was made available to our correspondent in Yenagoa, said it was sad that Jonathan would publicly justify stone-throwing which he said was carried out by a few misguided elements.
>>
>> He said Jonathan's statements on Friday had confirmed the speculations that the president was the brain behind his travails and his disqualification from contesting the party primary on November 19, 2011.
>>
>> He said if stone throwing was an indication of non-performance, the president had fallen short of international standard as he was stoned by protesters in Uganda.
>>
>> He said, "The world now knows better. Everyone is now perfectly well aware of the mastermind of that insult on the Ijaw nation. But let us state that it was not the governor who was disgraced by the stoning. Instead, it was the president himself.
>>
>> "Now, if stoning is a yardstick for non-performance, are we also right to say that the burning down of the president's house in 2007, in the run-up to that year's general elections, was also an act of rejection by the people of the state?
>>
>> "A lot of people believed that the burning of his house and the action of militants in 2007 were an expression of rejection. Is the president now confirming that wide belief? In addition, can we also say that the stoning of President Jonathan in May last year in Uganda was a global act of rejection?"
>>
>> Sylva further said it was after the stoning incident in Yenagoa in late 2010 that the president came back to Yenagoa, raised his (Sylva's) hands in public and spoke glowingly about his achievements.
>>
>> "It was after the stoning that he came back and voted in the January 2011 PDP governorship primaries and gave a glowing report of Sylva's performance. So what suddenly changed from January 2011 to later that year when President Jonathan manipulated all the institutions of state, including the armed and security forces, the judiciary and critical organs of democracy like the political parties leaving the security and economic challenges which he faced, to embark on Operation Remove Sylva as the sole mandate which the people of Nigeria gave to him?" the ex-governor said.
>>
>> On the hotel project, Sylva said the president's comments were "barefaced lies and misrepresentation of open facts."
>>
>> The statement said in part, "Sylva agrees that the job has been delayed, but explains that the reason it has been delayed is because the contractor, whom Jonathan himself chose and awarded the contract to, asked for a variation of N5bn.
>>
>> "Let Jonathan tell the world how much he paid this contractor and how much Sylva has paid the contractor. Far more than Jonathan's tenure, Sylva has performed given the challenges he faced. It is unfortunate that President Jonathan could have such a disgraceful outing last Friday."
>>
>>
>> Sent from my BlackBerry® Smartphone, from Etisalat. Enjoy high speed internet service with Etisalat easy net, available at all our experience centres
>>
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