"Over time however, ostentation and the vulgar display of wealth underlined by decadent societal values which glorified little work and easy money became the norm. Surprising still is the fact that across the political class and perhaps with a few honourable exceptions, one does not discern a consistently reformist and sacrificial mindset along the lines of the just retired president of Uruguay. This writer, noticing this syndrome among both the ruling party and the opposition has often lamented the tragedy of reforms without reformers. Too often, the establishment is not authoritative enough because of a moral deficit while the opposition does not interrogate in any fundamental sense prevailing values because it does not bring to the table a new set of norms or any different ethical profile. Hence, in contrast to the outrage where our legislators appropriate obscenely high salaries and emoluments, Mujica offers a refreshing paradigm of governance by empathy with the majority."
"The other lesson that Nigeria can learn from Uruguay's hero is the power to make a difference by simply being yourself rather than a mirror image of others. Too many times, Nigeria exists only as an echo of the prevailing fashions in the industrialised West. Overlooking the fact that the state as an emancipatory project is in serious recession in the West, Nigerian leaders are hooked to the latest governance fashions and economic models from countries that are themselves in throes of self-doubt and turmoil of failed experiments."
"Part of the trouble is that our political culture is not articulately fed by a vigorous intellectual system that can challenge established assumptions. This is not the case in Latin America where a robust intellectual tradition has produced for example liberation theology and the recent "no capitalism." The shallowness of Nigerian political conversation manifests itself in the current avoidance of debate on policy issues and the resort to sharp verbal polemical exchanges and the threat of law suits. In Mujica, we encounter an unrepentant bookworm and a mind consistently replenished by an active reading culture and intellectual debate."
-Ayo Olukotun
"Over time however, ostentation and the vulgar display of wealth underlined by decadent societal values which glorified little work and easy money became the norm. Surprising still is the fact that across the political class and perhaps with a few honourable exceptions, one does not discern a consistently reformist and sacrificial mindset along the lines of the just retired president of Uruguay. This writer, noticing this syndrome among both the ruling party and the opposition has often lamented the tragedy of reforms without reformers. Too often, the establishment is not authoritative enough because of a moral deficit while the opposition does not interrogate in any fundamental sense prevailing values because it does not bring to the table a new set of norms or any different ethical profile. Hence, in contrast to the outrage where our legislators appropriate obscenely high salaries and emoluments, Mujica offers a refreshing paradigm of governance by empathy with the majority."
"The other lesson that Nigeria can learn from Uruguay's hero is the power to make a difference by simply being yourself rather than a mirror image of others. Too many times, Nigeria exists only as an echo of the prevailing fashions in the industrialised West. Overlooking the fact that the state as an emancipatory project is in serious recession in the West, Nigerian leaders are hooked to the latest governance fashions and economic models from countries that are themselves in throes of self-doubt and turmoil of failed experiments."
"Part of the trouble is that our political culture is not articulately fed by a vigorous intellectual system that can challenge established assumptions. This is not the case in Latin America where a robust intellectual tradition has produced for example liberation theology and the recent "no capitalism." The shallowness of Nigerian political conversation manifests itself in the current avoidance of debate on policy issues and the resort to sharp verbal polemical exchanges and the threat of law suits. In Mujica, we encounter an unrepentant bookworm and a mind consistently replenished by an active reading culture and intellectual debate."
-Ayo Olukotun
I have read and re-read this piece. It is quite simply, beautiful writing, from a beautiful mind. Contrast it with the nonstop bleating of 95 percent of Nigeria's public talking heads, all of them braying at the command of their respective masters' voices. At "Sai Buhari!" or "Transformational agenda!", like drunken puppets they proceed to foul our space with their nonsense. God help us. Oya read, and weep for us. Ask APC what they have for us, and you get bullshit. Ask PDP and you get the same nonsense. All of the bs marketed by used car salesmen with PhDs. Are we stuck or what? SMH "Sai Buhari!" or "Transformational agenda!", like drunken puppets they proceed to foul our space with their nonsense. God help us. Oya read, and weep for us. Ask APC what they have for us, and you get bullshit. Ask PDP and you get the same nonsense. All of the bs marketed by used car salesmen with PhDs. Are we stuck or what? SMH
Oya, read!
- Ikhide
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