This Anger Against Bwala Is Misplaced!…Can We Mellow Down?
OMOGBOLAHAN BABAWALE
Each time I remember some funny shibboleth or catchphrase idiosyncratic of HM Nyesom Wike, the FCT Minister, I smiled to myself. One of such is, ‘Melenbe Melenbe’ which to me is akin to saying, ‘calm down, calm down’, or alternatively put, ‘ease does it’. It is on this premise that I would like to quickly advise Nigerians, especially the APC folks and Obidient mob, to melenbe melenbe on their incessant onslaught or aspersions on the personage of Hon. Daniel Bwala.
I felt the need to address this issue again when I came across a post from my Ègbón from The Source, Chief Fani-Kayode, popularly known by the sobriquet FFK on his verified X handle, with pictures of him with the immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai this last Saturday. For those who have followed political events closely, one would remember how these 2 great men were at each other’s throats at some point, calling each other many derogatory and unprintable names.
Today, the same El-Rufai whom Ègbón described as a ‘devil incarnate’ is his ‘friend’ and ‘brother’. The former Kaduna State honcho had gone to visit his host ‘friend’ in his Abuja home. What does this suggest to us all? Politicians are driven by common interests. To a chunk of them, politics is a means to an end. To many, it is a game and should be played in the spirit of sportsmanship.
I therefore, shudder why APC folks would continue to attack the person of Daniel Bwala each time he speaks in support of the Tinubu administration. Let’s even agree with Kongi here, Prof. Wole Soyinka that the headless Obidient mob are mostly barbarians. All they know is to attack their adversaries even when the latter should earn accolades. How about the so-called progressives? Long before President Bola Tinubu declared to run for the presidency, Bwala had repeatedly rooted for him. I was not told this. I was fully involved because we worked tirelessly together. From 2021 through the APC Presidential Primaries, Bwala was everywhere possible, advocating for a Tinubu presidency even against his core North interest. This, Mr. President acknowledged in Bwala when he offered his hand of fellowship to all opposition members to join him in retooling Nigeria for all Nigerians. So, what offence has Bwala committed if he chooses to support again, a man he once supported during the fierce APC primaries?
Like Bwala said to which I concur wholly, we have a country to build. And everybody must forge a common front to propel Nigeria forward. Those who continue to claim he abused Mr. President, severally, the same Mr. President had chosen to invite him twice. So, why should you continue to take medicine over somebody else’s migraine? Yorùbás would say, ‘alára ní ara ò ro òun, ìwọ ní ó kú àìsùn, ó kú àìwo’ (why dissipate needless energy on a matter not of your concern?)
To the meddlesome interlopers, you will see more of Bwala in The Presidency. You had better start preparing to accept this reality. Bwala will visit again and again as long as Mr. President keeps inviting him. There’s no point ‘beefing’ a man under grace. Ẹ gbé jẹ́ ẹ́ f’órí. Ẹ jẹ́ kí Bwala ó mí o. Let Bwala breathe, bikonu.
Ẹ sinmi rascality!
©OMOGBOLAHAN BABAWALE
