The Festus Adedayo They Thought They Could Pull Down -By Festus Adedayo

I was just informed a few minutes ago of the withdrawal of the
appointment offered me as the Special Adviser on Media and
Publicity to the Nigerian Senate President, Dr. Ahmed Lawan. I had
hitherto enjoyed every of the diatribes provoked by the
appointment.

I was told it was the most discussed issue in Nigeria in the
last few days. Of course, it was not humanly possible for me to
read the over 5000 tweets and thousands of comments on other social
media. As at the time of writing this, the issue was said to be the
most-discussed in Nigeria on the social media. Said to be the
brainchild of some hired Rottweiler dogs loyal to some lords in the
APC, a campaign dubbed #sackfestus adedayowas mounted immediately
and within hours, had given birth to thousands of recruits. Many of
the commentators who took liberty to harangue me have no idea of
who I am and went on a railroaded binge to dress me in an alien
robe.

Of a truth, I am a venomous critic of President Muhammadu
Buhari, with no apologies. Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Adams Oshiomhole,
Ibikunle Amosu, Bukola Saraki and several others have been on the
receiving end of the unkind temper of my pen. But call my attention
to five pieces I did in dispraise of Tinubu, I will call yours to
the three I did in his praise, at very grave danger to my life and
career, even though Tinubu can’t pick me up in a crowd.

Someday when he and I meet, I hope to tell him the consequential
bullet I once bit for his sake. Since 1998 when I began
column-writing, I have a graveyard of public personalities whom my
cudgel has whiplashed for perceived infractions in power. Give me
10 pieces I wrote in uncomplimentary review of President Buhari, I
will give you 20 I did in utter vilification of Jonathan, his
ministers and those close to him. Jonathan never raised a voice
against me. One thing my traducers don’t know is that I have no
attachment to those criticisms. I am like a prophet; once I deliver
my message, I move on.

What those who are vilifying me for always writing against
government should have done was to rise from their laziness and
conduct an x-ray of my writing. In my close to 20 years of public
sphere intervention, I am a rabid anti-establishment person. I
believe that in establishment lies the plague of the Nigerian state
and my writings reflect this much. Even though I am everything but
a saint, I believe that government should reflect the highest moral
echelon of society and those who run it should make covenant of
chastity and fidelity with themselves.

More fundamentally is that my pen knows no friend or foe. Very
early in my writing career, I learnt that I could go far in the
people’s heart if I sided with the public against government. This
was abetted by my philosophy degree background which teaches me to
always look for disorder, even in order. I am a natural pessimist
and see pessimism in optimism. Anyone who does a critical
assessment of my journey as a columnist will see this without any
equivocation.

I doubt if any government has received greater unfavourable
reviews from my pen than the Olusegun Obasanjo government. His
ministers were weekly captives of my acidic pen. His Chief Press
Secretary, Chief Tunji Oseni, upon once inviting me to the monthly
Presidential Media Chat, told me to my face that he regretted
inviting a rabid anti-Obasanjo journalist like me to the event.
Chief Bola Ige, God bless his soul, was the first recipient of my
column’s bile in the government. He wrote Page 9 while I wrote Page
3 of the Sunday Tribune, with his Uncle Bola’s Column, even as
Attorney General of the Federation.

A few weeks after the ministers’ inauguration and they were
given Wardrobe allowance, I flagellated all of them, including
Chief Ige, a known acolyte of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who owned the
medium. When Chief Ige reacted to my attack and spoke of me in bad
light, I took him up again and almost insinuated that he was
senile. Rather than take further umbrage, he apologized to me. This
was the Ige who, one day when I went to his house, in the company
of other colleagues, once commended my writing.

Very scant people know that the governor of Oyo State, Seyi
Makinde, is my friend. A few weeks ago, I rudely dragged him to the
public square over his decision to cancel the N3000 school fees in
the state, so much that those who know my association with him
asked if there was a dissonance in our relationship. If you rummage
through the archives, you would see lacerations on the body of
former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, products of my unkind jabs.
It began from 1999. If I have written 100 articles referencing
Abubakar, we may barely find three that are positive about him.
Apart from seeing him on the television, I probably saw him once in
my life in the crowd.

Former governors Niyi Adebayo of Ekiti State, Olusegun Osoba,
Adebayo Alao-Akala, Rashidi Ladoja received unkind tackles from me.
I am very close to Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State; the day
I felt his decision was against my people of Akure, I wrote against
him. Rummage through the archives, you would see how I pounced on
Senator Bukola Saraki severally with my pen; you would think we
once sparred over possession of same woman. The truth is, my
writings are political party and tribe-blind. I detest injustice,
politics and run away from politicians as much as I can. One thing
you cannot accuse me of being complicit of is the vermin that has
eaten into the fabrics of my journalism profession. While I am not
a saint, I have never blackmailed anyone in my life and I have very
scant veneration for the god of Mammon.

The person who nominated me for this office under contention
will bear me witness: I told him point blank when he intimated me
of the proposed nomination that I had sworn never to do the job of
a publicist again in my life, after my two experiences in
government. It is a job that almost asks for your life; where you
have no respite of any kind. More importantly, all my life, I have
never lobbied for any office. Second is that, I believe that my
stints in government have almost killed the deposit of writing
talent in me. Judging by my beginning as a writer, today I should
be one of Africa’s most-read fiction writers.

Meeting Senate President Ahmed Lawan in Abuja rekindled my hope
in Nigeria. Like me, he is tribe-blind. He is also very unassuming
and cerebral. He interviewed me and another candidate as if we were
in a doctoral defence class and settled for me as his choice.
Nigerian politicians have a lot to learn from that gentleman and
his politics of blindness to tribe and political party affiliation.
He told me he wanted excellence and would pick whoever among us he
saw as equating that score.

I have read all manner of lies concocted against me on the
social media by politicians, all because they want this job at all
cost. I do not have any problem with that. One post said Tinubu
gave me a Lexus jeep. Those who are close to me know how mendacious
this is as I have never even entered such Luxury in my life. That I
was considered for the job is enough happiness for me and that, in
my life, I would see a Nigerian like Lawan who has such
pan-Nigerian mindset, is a great accomplishment.

I was told the job has been withdrawn. I thank Lawan for the
offer. He will be my model of a good Nigerian forever. If those who
spearheaded the attack thought it would silence me in my bid for a
good country, they have another think coming. I can never be
silenced. I will always advocate for a good country; whether it
hurts Buhari or anyone.

If I had finally settled for the job, I would be doing it at a
great cost. I am right now a student of the Nigerian Law School and
the rules forbid my working while a student. I would have had to
walk away from a painful studentship I embarked upon last November
that will come to an end in about two and half months from now. It
is providence in action that I am not going to have the job.

To those who spearheaded it, I have no space in my heart for any
acrimony against them. It has further strengthened my belief that
we must rid Nigeria of hate and politics of the stomach. One thing
that Nigerians who read my column should be rest assured of is that
I will never waver on the side of power or any politician in
government for a pot of porridge. According to Bob Goldstein, “a
principle isn’t a principle until it costs you something.” I am
happy that this is what my quest for a good society, through my
writing, has cost me. This is my creed.

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