Azubuike Ihemeje
Pa, my own attention has been drawn to your widely publicized condemnation of the content of the lyrics, in the viral video of members of the National Association of Seadogs, otherwise called Pyrates Confraternity, which was obviously targeted at Pa Yekini aka Pa Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
In your response, you descended heavily against your members involved in that gyrations and disassociated yourself from them. But you didn’t just stop there Pa. You added extra.
Pa, you invariably, and undisguisedly appointed yourself as the defender-in-chief of Pa Yekini, your kinsman and close political ally. For you threw everyone under the bus to vigorously defend your pal Pa Yekini, as you advanced against every single logical reasoning in your defence of your very own, several disjointed emotional blackmails, and false equivalence.
No problem Pa. It’s all within your rights to say whatever you deem fit. And it’s also within our own rights to engage you upon the very issues you’ve raised, especially when your right to reply becomes inimical to our very existence such as in this case.
First, I don’t want to dwell on your very uncharitable recent antecedence and unwholesome political involvements that enthroned our present calamitous realities. For all, those ugly recent memories of you are already within the public domain, and posterity is already here and judging you very harshly.
As a literary giant, you were the conscience of Nigeria and the African race, or you ought to be. But you decided to blow all that into the winds by the political choices and preferences you’ve already made since 2015. And since then, you’ve ceased to exist as the true conscience of Nigeria.
Pardon my digressions.
Back to the real issues Pa.
You condemned the lyrics of that gyrations on the basis that they violated your own personal culture and tradition as a Yoruba man. Pa, let me respectfully remind you that the whole gamuts and imports of that lyrics dealt with the entire Nigerian secular society and not your own narrow cultural persuasions. It’s about Nigeria and not just a Yoruba thing.
Pa Yekini didn’t hold out himself to govern a Yoruba nation, otherwise, your logic would have been valid. It’s still within your rights to conscript yourself into some provincialism and speaks from that narrow myopic prism as a Yoruba elder. It’s fine. But the issues being deliberated here are beyond your cultural agenda.
Secondly Pa, your attempt to blackmail them for alluding to Pa Yekini’s physical health is most unfortunate and goes to no issues at all.
Pa, nobody is mocking every random person’s health or age.
Here’s the huge exception. Pa Yekini wants to be president of Nigeria and Nigerians reserve the exclusive rights to interrogate every single thing about him, his health and age inclusive.
Pa, in that gyrations, people were rather expressing their displeasure over the old, obviously frail, sick man that insists he wants to govern them. When you hold out yourself for public office, you don’t expect the public to keep quiet about your life, looks, health, age and everything. Nobody will say anything to an old responsible grandpa at home, resting and attending to his grandchildren.
For the interim, because I may do further dissections on you, if you Pa Soyinka, don’t find it as much more “Distasteful”, that sickly octogenarian Pa Yekini, should still be struggling to lead an ailing Nation at this crucially auspicious times, then, You have equally lost ALL moral rectitudes and intellectual integrity to criticize the lyrical Truths in that gyrations.
Pa Soyinka, you really deserve some rest right now and stop talking, before you do further damage to your already battered public image.
For you indeed smacks of a highly sophisticated but integrity-challenged old man.
You don’t deserve to erode every single honour remaining of you at this age.
But in the unlikely event, you choose to persevere in this error, the natural concomitance shall be to resist your reckless conscience, by all means.
Pa Soyinka, Nigerians’ lives matter most now than keeping your honour, you’ve serially destroyed.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are that of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Standard Observers.
