THE PRESIDENT and THE PUNDITS

To avoid criticism do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.
--anon.
In _Photo-era magazine: The American Journal of Photography_, vol. 23 [1909]

Censure is the tax a man pays to the public for being eminent.
--Jonathan Swift (1667—1745)
Anglo-Irish poet and satirist.
_Thoughts on Various Subjects_ [October 1706]

All over the world, everybody knows that Presidential seats are hot seats, except perhaps the village idiots and the ditto-heads in our midst, who do not know their backsides from their elbows; who rush in where Angels fear to tread. 

Undoubtedly, the main reason why the seats are so blazing hot is the barrage of criticism (constructive or otherwise) that the occupiers get from the public, especially from the blowhard oppositions, civil rights organisations and many self-acclaimed political pundits. And, from what I can scoop from the public domain, this criticism most and generally arise from failed expectations and extinguished hope. 

For instance, in Nigeria, within weeks or months of a President's inaugurations, he is expected to perform miracles on the economy, wave a magic wand that would stop infant and childbirth mortality, crank out employments from his brainwaves, make the country an investors haven and holiday destination. If he fails to fulfill all these people-centered expectations within their time frames, the public, most notably, the pundits descend on him like vultures and begin to rip him apart.  

Well, do you blame the people at all? Everybody wants a President that would hit the ground running. Nobody wants a slowpoke (a go-slow) who uses almost forever studying a situation before coming to grips with it. Given the insensitivity of the past administrations to the grinding hunger, the degrading poverty and the horrific suffering of vast millions of (Nigerian) citizens who live daily on less than a dollar, one would expect a new President to be down to earth, wrap his brain around the matrix of issues bedeviling the nation and spring into action pronto!  


Frankly, it is kind of a head scratcher as to why a sitting President, in a democratic setting, would pick a bare-knuckle fight with political pundits. As far as I know, it would only draw more attention to their criticisms, elevate their status and the President, at the end of the day would come across as a thin skinned, run-of-the-mill autocrat. An image that's not too good for the party he represents and the country he presides over. After all, free speech and plurality of opinion form parts of the canons of a flourishing democracy. Moreover, if the President cannot stand the heat, let him sprint out of the kitchen! 

A friend of mine, apparently referring to a spiky relation of his, on his Facebook wall, said "This sort of flippant commentary gives a view to the problem of Nigeria, we don't analyze things, our collective thinking is on auto-pilot, it has become fashionable to abuse the President, so we must all indulge in it without thinking". He went further to say, "He is standing up to you all and saying he is his own man, that his style is different. Get used to it or relocate to Ghana". Still talking, he said "Anyway, it's not surprising since you people were eager to put us at the mercy of a despot and your idea of nation building was to create a police state". He ended his post by saying "There has hardly been any other leader that has been as articulate and inspiring, go and read his speeches if you are capable at all not making flippant commentaries while glossing over the kernel of what is being said".

Of course, my reactions to his post went thus: " Arigbs Baba, I don't know if you voted for him like I did o! But all we are saying is: GEJ, wake up and smell the coffee. Enough of empty rhetoric and sophistries. We have had leaders before him who were all sizzle and no steak; all mouth and no trousers! We don't want him to join their ignoble lists! And what are we asking for 'self'? Decisive action on these terrorists and at least 15 hours of electric power everyday.  I don't think these are too much to ask by people who queued in the sun; in the rain to vote him into Aso villa. Thanks".


I actually brought out my friend and I Facebook conversation to highlight the fact that criticism is part of democracy and it is even part of life. Just like the Quotation above rightly points out, "censure (criticism) is the tax a man pays for being eminent". Nobody would derisively mention my name or blame me at any local bar for the problems of Nigeria. Why? I am not Mr President! I don't even serve in his cabinet. The buck stops only on his table!! Truth is, since he's the de facto President, everybody blames him for the ills of the society (just like he would have cornered all the praises if things were going well). As a matter of fact, some men who could not get it up or enjoy a night of steamy passion with their wives (maybe due to power outage ) would still go ahead and blame the President for their bedroom woes!!! So, there goes the blame game again. But the President has no one to blame!

I think it would be delusional for anybody aspiring for the highest office in the land to think that everybody would like him and fall in love with his policies (no matter how benevolent or people's oriented they are) and take them hook, line and sinker. From the day he picks the form signalling his intention to run for the presidency, he should just know that he would be the cynosure of all eyes, the envy of everyone (especially the oppositions) and the very object of criticism and verbal attacks of both the scum and the pundits.

ADEDAYO GABRIEL FATOKI

GADDAFI: MY OPINION.

"Oh, Gaddafi! Mixed feelings! Misty eyes!!!!"

That was my immediate reaction, on my Facebook wall, to the news of Col. Muammar Gaddafi's capture
before I learnt some minutes later that he might have been killed. Of course, not too long, he was confirmed dead.


Trust the global news media, especially the Western lots which have visceral revulsion for the man they have variously described as a dictator, a narcissistic totalitarian and a megalomaniac! As expected, they all went into a frenzy of some sort, treating us to the disturbing video of Muammar Gaddafi's bloodied, mangled body being dragged on the street of Sirte, his home town, and a scene of frenetic jubilation of NTC (National transition Council) soldiers and excited Libyans who were happy about their new found freedom.

Since I know that human memory could be treacherous even verging on mutiny a lot of times, I write this piece to jog the memories of all my friends ( who have been at the mercy of Western media, which daily force-feed them with falsehood, half-truths and propaganda) about the positive side of Col Muammar Gaddafi  who has been portrayed as a heavy-handed eccentric leader. For the good of the world, I think a bigger slice of humanity should know that Gaddafi was just not all about brutality and draconian rule and Libya under him was not a living hell and high water as the West and its prudish media frantically want us to believe. Let me state upfront, that I detest human right abuses in whatever form or shape and I condemn in strong terms, barbaric and extra judicial killings of fellow citizens (under any guise) of which Gaddafi was accused and summarily executed. And then, for good measure, I hate it when somebody under the guise of being a leader seeks to control every neuron in their people's heads and every aspect of their lives. That said, let me go straight to other side of Gaddafi that are not making headlines at the moment and that might never make any headline in any tabloid in the future given the deep-seated hatred the West and its allies have for Gaddafi (he didn't open up his country for another rounds of colonisation!!). Just a Google of "the positive side of Gaddafi" and you would be thunderstruck to discover that:



      1. There is no electricity bill in Libya; electricity is free for all 
        its  citizens.

      2. There is no interest on loans, banks in Libya are state-owned 
           and loans are given
           to all its citizens at 0% interest by law.

      3. Home considered a human right in Libya – Gaddafi vowed   
        that his parents would not get a house until everyone in Libya
         had a home. Gaddafi’s father has died while him, his wife and
          his mother are still living in a tent.

      4. All newlyweds in Libya receive $60,000 Dinar (US$ 50,000 ) 
           by the government to buy their first apartment so to help 
           start  up the family.

       5. Education and medical treatments are free in Libya. Before  
          Gaddafi only 25% of Libyans are literate. Today the figure is 
           83%.

       6. Should Libyans want to take up farming career, they would 
          receive farming land, a farming house, equipments, seeds and           Livestock to kick- start their farms – all for free.

        7.  If Libyans cannot find the education or medical facilities 
            they need in Libya, the government funds them to go abroad 
            for it – onnot only free but they get US $2, 300/month   
              accommodation and car allowance.

        8. In Libyan, if a Libyan buys a car, the government subsidized
            50% of the price.

        9. The price of petrol in Libya is $0. 14 per liter.

       10. Libya has no external debt and its reserves amount to $150 
             billion – now frozen globally.

       11. If a Libyan is unable to get employment after graduation the
             state would pay the average salary of the profession as if he 
             or she is employed until employment is found.

     12. A portion of Libyan oil sale is, credited directly to the bank 
            accounts of all Libyan citizens.

      13. A mother who gave birth to a child receive US $5 ,000

      14. 40 loaves of bread in Libya costs $ 0.15

      15. 25% of Libyans have a university degree

     16. Gaddafi carried out the world’s largest irrigation project, 
           known as the Great Man-Made River project, to make water 
            readily available throughout the desert country.

Furthermore, Gaddafi contributed greatly to the liberation movements in Sub-Saharan Africa when the West would not be bothered. If according to Mo Ibrahim "governance is a basket of political goods that governments are responsible for delivering to their citizens", why do we vilify and try to make a villain out of Gaddafi who had delivered political goods to his citizens, why do we sprint to conclusion when we know little or nothing about him, except what we are being daily fed with by the Media?

But what I still find hardest to understand is why subjecting the man (Gaddafi) and his son to jungle justice after they were captured live in the joint operation of NATO and NTC  forces. According to a respected  Lagos lawyer, Mr Femi Falana, "they should have been handed over to the special prosecutor of the International Criminal Court who had declared them wanted for crimes against humanity. By killing them in a barbaric extra-judicial manner the NATO and NTC violated the Geneva constitution and other relevant human rights instruments in the treatment of war prisoners". Falana went on to say "The shameful endorsement of the brutal killing of Gaddafi by heads of Western government is capable of promoting reckless assassination of political opponents".  

No doubt, Gaddafi ruffled a lot of feathers while he was alive and held the reign of power: he called for Jihad (or arm struggle) against Switzerland; he blamed J.F.K assassination on Israel, he once asked Nigeria to divide along religious lines and many more. But, despite his bare-knuckle confrontation with his perceived enemies ( most times the West), his rough-and-tumble style of government, his oddball notions and banal assertions on global issues, Gaddafi, still remain one of the best leaders Africa has ever produced in its checkered history. Therefore, any attempt, by the Western Media to railroad or bait us into a rash verbal attack of Gaddafi and his 42 years rule should be resisted by all, for the man was not as evil as they have maliciously painted him. 

ADEDAYO GABRIEL FATOKI

ADIEU, MR STEVE JOBS

Wao!!! I can never forget Thursday October 6, 2011 just in a hurry. That was the day almost all Facebookers and subscribers to other social networks momentarily suspended their stock comments and jaundiced viewpoints on mundane and serious issues that have continually hugged the global headlines, to pay tribute to one of American foremost inventor, computer engineer and industrialist. It was a day all vertebrate mammals with the faculty to reason and ability to use personal computers, iPads and iPhones and the like became so effusive in their praise of one man who gave a new meaning to computing in his relatively short but fulfilling life.

Almost all the television channels I switched to, that day were awashed with the news of Steve Jobs' death, the story of his struggle with cancer of the pancreas which later claimed his life, his humble beginning and his sterling innovations which make life more meaningful and less harrowing. In fact it was as if the whole world stood stock-still to pay tribute to the man who, in the words of President Barrack Obama, put "internet in our pockets" and "made the information revolution not only accessible, but intuitive and fun". Obama would end his tribute to Steve Jobs' life and legacy by saying, "The world has lost a visionary. And there may be no greater tribute to Steve’s success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented". How true!!!

Steve with Bill Gates

A friend on Facebook, in his grief laden tribute said "Strange! I'm fighting back tears for someone I never met. I don't even use ANY apple products! Boy, this is sad. #Steve Jobs". His statement resonated with me and I'm sure it did with many other Facebookers who had never met Steve, yet loved him to the point of showering on him flowery compliments that were almost verging on hero-worship. But what really caught my attentions and prodded me into writing this piece was his numerous searing and inspirational quotes that were flying around in the media immediately after his demise. While some of these quotes depicted a Steve Jobs that knew the sands are running out and he needed to push out many innovations within a fairly short time frame, many others portrayed him as a Life coach on the touchline, shouting out instructions and inciting the next generation on how to think out of the box, how to be quick on the uptake, how to persevere in the face of difficulties and how to put the best foot forward and seize the day.

Steve at Stanford University, 2005

One particular quote of his that got me thinking and reminded me that time marches on and I'm still lagging behind the original Me, was the one taken from his commencement address at Stanford in 2005:  

" Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary "

Honestly speaking, I see the quote as a clarion call to challenge the status quo and crush out stereotypes wherever they exist with the creative jackboots of a genius! It becomes absolutely clear from the address that, to amount to greatness in life you have got to be ready to step out of line and break the traditional mould that want to stunt your growth and impede your march towards your goal.


Another quote of Steve with subsisting life lessons, which as a matter of importance should be etched in the memory of creative weirdos (all over the world) because of its flaming radical bent, is the one from the Apple - Think Different campaign of 1997:

Steve and his wife, Laurene

“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

As if he knew he was on the home stretch, Steve was forever harping on the need for young people to follow their hearts, find the niches that increase their demands, swim against the tide, shun the line of least resistance and beard the Lion in his own den, after all, there is nothing to lose:   

“Almost everything–all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure–these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

 Indeed, there is nothing to lose except your fear!!! Thank you Steve for making computing an idyllic experience and more importantly, thank you for all your inspirational quotes which have made a huge impression on me.  Adieu, Mr Steve Jobs.

ADEDAYO GABRIEL FATOKI