J.K: Omoluabi Eko

Before you start reading, please take a few minutes to watch this video

A few days ago, I penned my thoughts about the peculiarity of picking political bedmates in Nigeria. I wrote here about how it was usually a case of means and ends by citing Nuhu Ribadu, Jimi Agbaje and Muhammadu Buhari as references. Since then, as typical of Nigerian politics, a lot has happened and this includes President Jonathan's rendezvous with young people in Lagos. During this event, Mr Agbaje addressed attendees and naturally tried to garner votes for the visiting President. He said many silly things like asking people to vote for President Jonathan because he was better looking than Buhari. It was a show of shame no doubt but each time I listen to Mr Agbaje when he's not in the company of the Abuja brigade, I get confused. I find it very difficult to reconcile the Jimi Agbaje in this video with the one who dances and sings songs of idiocy on stage with the President during campaigns. I have a strong feeling that Mr Agbaje goes home on those days and hates what and who he sees in the mirror. He probably detests the man he is forced to be on the altar of ambition. He probably has many hats and picks each based on who is visiting Lagos for his campaign. He probably curses under his breath each time he has to surrender his intelligence to fan the flame of his ambition. Thus, he speaks like he is also in KG-2 when he is in the midst of adults at that level of mentation. It must hurt very much.

I still think Mr Agbaje is a better candidate despite last week's public dance of shame. This is an opinion I had even before I saw the video you watched at the start of this post. It was an opinion I developed the minute I listened to a debate between him and Mr Akin Ambode. No doubt, Mr Ambode is an intelligent man and a seasoned Accountant but with all due respect to him, each time I listen to him speak, he sounds bland and uninspiring. He is not an assertive person, at least he does not sound like one and he honestly comes across like someone who isn't entirely prepared to lead Lagos. A job you would, of course, agree isn't really one of the easiest around and certainly not one for the timid. Mr Agbaje, on the other hand, sounds like a leader. Like a man who you'd revere in a place of work and is more likely to galvanize people around him to deliver on their tasks. He has an aura of command and leadership around him. If you listen to him objectively, I am sure you'd agree he seems more likely to hold his own in a room of intellectuals. I dare say, that he probably would have been picked ahead of his main opponent were he an APC member and were the decision solely Mr Babatunde Fashola's. But, we know this is not the case; he is a PDP member and it was Jagaban of Borgu's call.

This campaign video gave me goosebumps. It is quite distinct from the nonsense that persistently insult our senses and sensibilities via radio, television and newspapers. Here was a man, appealing to the humanity in any reasonable person by telling you HIS OWN life story. He wasn't telling us how Ambode is originally not a Lagosian or how APC is bad or who worships Obatala or Sango. He focused entirely on the Jimi Agbaje brand and I found it wholly refreshing that campaigns could still be done with such civility and courteousness. After watching 'political appendages', according to Professor Wole Soyinka, refer to other people as being brain-dead (an assertion which I found hilariously ironical), I was excited by the content of JK's video. You see why I can't reconcile this with the JK that accompanies President Jonathan? I'm more inclined to see it like a dog that occasionally gets infested by fleas. When the fleas are away, the dog doesn't itch in public. The dog, however, isn't so lucky when the fleas pounce.

This should serve as a lesson to President Jonathan and his media handlers. This video was done by a PDP candidate so we know it is possible to make cultured campaign videos and documentaries. Another salient lesson that must not be missed in the video is the self-focus. When you want to sell a product, tell people why your brand is good and possibly better. You cannot tell me to keep using a product because the alternative is bad. It's akin to asking a terminally ill man to pick between cancer, which he already has and a heart attack. He knows the cancer is going to kill him anyway but he's not quite sure about the alternative and is wondering why he shouldn't take a chance with it. What you should be telling him is the chance of a cure and how he may have time to make/cross a bucket-list and possibly find peace before his demise. You can't keep harping on about how a heart attack is bad! The question is about Goodluck Jonathan, the answer CANNOT contain Buhari, except it is now Mr Jonathan's middle name. That immediately tells me you're not a serious person.

The President's camp recently released a documentary solely to advertise Bola Tinubu's sharp practices. The video is supposed to intimate us on how those who advocate change are themselves thieves. Again, I was left underwhelmed. If the Presidency had solid evidence to prove Bola Tinubu misappropriated funds, why not prosecute him? Instead of making propaganda videos to score cheap political points, why not show the world you have the will and chutzpah to fight corrupt past office holders. Send him to jail and make an example out of him! That, in my opinion, earns you greater respect home and abroad as long as the evidence is incontestable and he is found guilty in a competent court of law to rule out political witch-hunting. You are the government in power! If you have evidence to establish an open and shut case against the man, what are you waiting for? Or is it just to justify the fact that your linen is soiled also?

Unfortunately for Mr Agbaje, I still don't think he has enough to defeat the APC candidate. I fear the political machinery of Asiwaju Tinubu may just be too powerful for him to fight and win even with Abuja's backing. My advice to him, however, is that he doesn't need to belittle the achievements of the outgoing administration to make his campaign points. Acknowledge where the government has done well and emphasize that you believe more can be done. Whether he likes it or not, many people appreciate the small achievements of Mr Fashola's government and will consider attempts at running these down as petty and laughable. Besides, he is not contesting against Mr Fashola now; his opponent, like him is a gubernatorial greenhorn. Expound additional developmental plans you have to the electorate while you remind them of your accomplishments in the private sector as an employer of labour and an astute businessman. Address  and engage the middle-class and the indigent electorate directly. Explain to them that you understand the perception that the outgoing administration seemed elitist and tell them how you wish to develop better infrastructure to cater to them besides gardens that made for good pre-wedding photography in Lagos.

I pity men like Jimi Agbaje though. Very much so. To hold hands and fellowship with men like Olisa Metuh, Doyin Okupe, Ayodele Fayose and Femi Fani-Kayode can't be easy. He probably sobs in the solitude of his private chambers that history will never forget the era his name was mentioned in the same sentence with such characters. But you see, that is the game and this is what such esteemed professionals may have to endure to achieve certain goals. 

I wish Mr Agbaje well in all his endeavors including the upcoming elections. I hope to see many more 'omoluabi' campaign videos like this one. It exuded class and poise. It clearly depicts the Jimi Agbaje many intelligent people I know (my mother included) hold in high esteem. Certainly not the alter ego that appears anytime he has to share the stage with President Jonathan!