Tag Archives: wailing wailers

Bob Marley and the Wailing Wailers – By Simon Kolawole

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There are many reasons you will never find me in politics — either by election or appointment. The one that is relevant to our discussion today is “groupthink”. Have you ever wondered why people are so reasonable and principled… until they join government? And then a few weeks later they are telling you: “Things are not as simple as you people outside think. Forget all these things you are writing.” Their ideals begin to disappear. The philosophers begin to distance themselves from their philosophies. The moment they enter the State House, they have crossed over to another world. They now belong to a new group where everybody unconsciously thinks alike.

A major disservice caused by “groupthink” is to treat any dissenting voice as that of the enemy. President Muhammadu Buhari had hardly settled down when officials of his government derisively tagged those who criticised him or held a contrary opinion as “wailing wailers”.  An alarm went off in my head immediately. It was this same mentality that got President Goodluck Jonathan boxed into a corner from which he never recovered. He treated every criticism that came his way as the handiwork of his political enemies. He became paranoid. The end result was that he lost his balance, went on the defensive and got snookered.

By the way, it is very unfair to use “Wailing Wailers” as a pejorative term. For those who may not know, the Wailing Wailers was the debut album by The Wailers released in 1965. It was a compilation of recordings by Neville Livingston (Bunny Wailer), Robert Nesta Marley (Bob Marley, Livingston’s step-brother) and Peter McIntosh (Peter Tosh). They planted reggae as protest music and put the genre into international reckoning against all odds. They were the voice of the voiceless. After Macintosh and Livingston left the The Wailers in 1975, the group became known as “Bob Marley and the Wailers”. Tosh and Marley must be turning in their graves at Nigeria’s aspersion.

Let’s face the fact without beating about the bush: in the real world, Buhari will face criticisms. The motives will always be different. It is all too natural. Criticisms will come from those who want him to succeed — as well as those who are desperate to see him fail. Criticisms will come from those who think he can do better than he has done since May 2015 — as well as those think or wish they have already seen the best of him. Criticisms will come from those who have nothing against him but think his policies so far are uninspiring — as well as those who think he needs to be discredited now in preparation for the 2019 presidential election. Motives.

However, wisdom dictates that: one, don’t lump all your critics together (as “groupthink” tends to do) because you may become unnecessarily touchy and miss the point; two, listen to even the worst of your enemies because there may actually be some substance in their criticism that you can use to your advantage; and three, the beauty of democracy is the diversity of opinion, and people must never be cowed into shying away from voicing their views. When people become too scared to talk because of DSS and EFCC, the beauty of democracy remains unexplored. The classification of critics as “Wailing Wailers” is, in the end, not helpful to the progress of the president.

Criticisms are in two categories: constructive and destructive. Constructive criticism is often done with concern. It could be harsh. But it is more like: “You’re not getting it right. Try something else. Do it another way.” Implicit in constructive criticism is a desire to see things done in a different and better way, even if outright suggestions are not always offered. Ultimately, there is goodwill. Ultimately, the motive is never selfish. Agreed, nobody likes to be criticised. It is only human. But when people criticise me, no matter how uncomfortable I am and how bruised my ego feels, I try to examine my ways. And it has helped me tremendously in my life journey.

There is, of course, destructive criticism. We don’t need to google that. Destructive criticism can hide under altruism and fair comment, but the motive is difficult to disguise. Clearly, some people are out to destroy Buhari for political reasons. It is certainly legitimate — after all, APC came to power by destroying Jonathan and refusing to recognise any achievements recorded by him. It would seem then that the PDP is serving APC some tablets from their own medicine by trying to cast Buhari as a failure less than two years in office. Some are also criticising Buhari because they have lost out or are completely uncomfortable under the new dispensation. It is all normal.

Unfortunately, the contents of public criticism are virtually the same. Both the constructive and destructive are saying the same thing. So when both camps say, with different motives, that the power situation is getting worse, is it a lie? When they say there is still corruption, is that not true? Is the economy not contracting — even if Buhari inherited a mess? Is the DSS not detaining people without any legal basis? Has there been any legal justification for the continued detention of Ibraheem El Zakzaky, Nnamdi Kanu and Sambo Dasuki? Are state agencies not disobeying court orders? But does it mean anyone who says these things is automatically a “wailing wailer”?

I am so eager to see Buhari succeed as president. Aside the fact that I genuinely believe in him and trust his integrity, I am insanely desperate to see Nigeria move up the ladder of development. The world has left Nigeria behind. We are still discussing Introduction to Physics when the world is already doing laser brain surgery. My theory all along, dating back to the military era, is that Nigeria was not developing because of corruption. I’ve always believed that if a patriotic leader puts together a competent team, there would be no stopping our progress. We’ve had brilliant leaders whose brains got poisoned by the lust for filthy lucre.

Some of Nigeria’s problems are so basic yet they look insurmountable. What does it take to have constant power? Even if there was no single cable anywhere in Nigeria in 1999, we could have done it in 17 years with all the petrodollars that flooded this economy. Even if there was no road anywhere in 1999, we could have paved 50,000 kilometres by now. Even if there was no single refinery in 1999, we could have built 20 by now! There has been a lack of seriousness and sincerity for ages, and in Buhari I believe we have someone who can still offer true leadership despite a very slow start. But of what use is a competent team if they don’t have access to him?

I would love Buhari to pay closer attention to criticism — both the constructive and the destructive. Everything has its value. Criticism represents a strand of opinion, no matter how acidic. You may say my shirt is dirty because you want to ridicule me, but what if it is true? I would have to ignore your motive and change the shirt. That is the point. If Buhari makes positive use of criticism, he will only become a better leader. I know every leader has his or her strategy in dealing with critics. Some believe in fire-for-fire. It may work. It may not work. Jonathan did fire-for-fire, arrow-for-arrow, and bullet-for-bullet. Whatever it is, people must be free to voice their opinion in a democracy.

In Rebel Music, Bob Marley sang: “Why can’t we be what we want to be/We want to be free.” Those values are at the core of constitutional democracy. Once these freedoms are curtailed, it takes away the “demo” from democracy and replaces it with “auto”. And can we deny the fact that many Buhari supporters are losing their patience and singing “I don’t wanna wait in vain for your love” along with Marley? The Wailers famously sang: “Get up stand up/stand up for your rights.” If you legitimately demand for your rights and you are classified as a “wailing wailer”, that should be taken as a compliment. Buhari’s team members must consciously deal with the pathologies of “groupthink”.

AND FOUR OTHER THINGS…

MANGLING MAGU

Satirist and singer Tom Lehrer famously said political satire became obsolete when “war criminal” Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973. Now that the National Assembly is at the forefront of the fight against corruption in Nigeria, satire has gone into coma. The same National Assembly that lampooned the DSS for raiding the homes of judges, insisting that financial crimes are not under the agency’s purvey, has now used a “financial crime” report by the same DSS to halt the confirmation of Mr. Ibrahim Magu as EFCC chairman. I’ve not said Magu is a saint, but I have lost my sense of humour since Thursday when the lawmakers joined the anti-graft war. Hilarious.

‘CRACK YA RIBS’

Two of my favourite Nigerian comedians are currently in President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet. One is Comrade Solomon Dalung, minister of youth, sports and comedy. The other is “Pastor” Babachir Lawal, secretary to the government of the federation and laugh-master general of the federation. There is no time he talks that I don’t laugh away my sorrows. So an engineering firm founded by him got N200m payments from a grass-cutting contract awarded by an agency under his office and people are calling on him to resign. Can’t people see that he has disengaged from the company? The only thing he does now is sign the cheques and collect dividends. Balderdash.

MY, MY, MY (MMM)

When I was a tiny little boy, I heard about the activities of “money doublers”. If you gave the native doctors one naira, they would double it to two naira, I used to hear. I always wondered how they did it — and why they were not doing it for themselves. But I was not intelligent enough to know that I was not supposed to understand how it works. Now, money doubling has gone online. From your smart phone, you can double your money. All you need do is go on a website, register, transfer money to some account and your money will double in no time. As easy as ABC. The seduction by native doctors has gone digital. My, My, My. You sure look good tonight. Greed.

SWEET MOTHER

All (the bad) roads lead to Umuokoro Eziama, Ngor Opkala LGA, Imo state, on December 27-28, 2016, when my friend, brother and partner-in-crime, Chidi ‘Uzor, buries his sweet mother, Mrs Grace Chinyere Uzor Anugwa, who recently died at 101. The real story, though, is that Mama, through sheer tenacity and courage, sponsored all her five children in school — singlehanded. This was after the devastating civil war when nobody in the south-east had food to eat, much less scholarships. Chidi clearly inherited his mother’s never-say-die gene. He has moved from being a journalist to owning a microfinance bank — by hard work, discipline and imagination. Inspiration.

JJ, Omojuwa: An Exposé, Critics versus Wailing Wailers

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I felt led to drop this note against the fact that some Nigerians, especially on social media, just do not get it.

 

My criticisms of President Buhari and his administration are often met with statements like, “come and collect your Wailers form,” or “Wailers form has finished,” or “welcome our new wailer” or “Aso Rock has delayed your alert” amongst other predictable inanities. It has become necessary to define the context of some of the terms in the subject matter.

 

It is the right and responsibility of every citizen to hold the government accountable, this right does not suffer any limitation based on whether you voted for the government in power or not, it is your fundamental human right. Citizens who genuinely care about their country never fail to do same. Holding government accountable includes calling out public officers when they are wrong, continually demanding for transparency and accountability in the running of government and putting the government to task at all times. Take what the Bring Back Our Girls advocacy group are doing for instance, that is a classic way to hold your government accountable. You demand for your rights and that of others until at times you are seen as a pest.

 

Being a government critic is being a government critic irrespective of who the head of government is. When the government gets it wrong, it is your responsibility as a citizen to call them out. As usual, the so called Wailing Wailers decided to go petty yesterday after I called out the Buhari government saying, “Change begins with selling the presidential jets. ONLY a genuinely rich country should think of having up to 3. We have about 10 jets.” Now, irrespective of who is president, Nigeria has no business owning and maintaining 10 jets for the presidency. This particular statement came on the heels of the “Change-Begins-With-Me” campaign launched by the Buhari administration. An unnecessary campaign in my opinion and the reason for this position has since been treated on my @Omojuwa twitter timeline. No, criticizing the government does not make me a wailer, it makes me a normal citizen.

 

I do not know what was going through Mr. Femi Adesina’s head when he called out a group as “wailing wailers” but I do not know that its definition cannot wrap up everyone who rises in criticism against president Buhari. The reason is simple and intuitive enough. If you spent five years deifying and praising a largely corrupt and clueless Goodluck Jonathan administration, an administration whose high point was the fact that it left in peace when it got voted out by the Nigerian people, how do you justify your intentions on the altar of national interest when you suddenly realize just months into a new administration you were already calling for miracles, the miracles you did not expect with record breaking oil prices?

 

A wailing wailer is different from a regular critic in that the regular critic sees something wrong and points it out, he or she even gets to point out ideas to make change happen and the position of the regular critic does not change just because the head of government has changed. The wailing wailer is one who does not care about anything other than to show that Nigerians were wrong to have voted Goodluck Jonathan out. Period. For them, it is about proving a point; you all were wrong to have voted Jonathan out. If you regularly see those who voted Buhari often posting messages like, “even though Buhari is not impressing me, I do not regret voting Jonathan out,” that is because these wailing wailers wake up dialy reminding people they should never have sacked Goodluck Jonathan. For them, it is about nothing but Goodluck Jonathan.

 

This is why all of us cannot be wailers. Like I tweeted in July after another round of criticisms against the Buhari administration and the so called wailers came with their, “oya come and take form” pettiness again, “I am NOT a Wailer. I do not criticise govt because I hate those who run it or because of appointment, I do it because government needs it.”

 

I hope the so called wailing wailers continue to have the strength to wail against Buhari – it hurts to lose power but they should focus on that and not look to ascribe the I-lost-so-I-am-crying mentality to others who are just about our country’s collective progress. In the end, whether you wail or you criticize just because you care about your country, every administration needs to be called out when it gets things wrong. You cannot excuse maladministration for 5 years, praise a government globally renowned for corruption over the same period, suddenly find the eyes to see that government can actually be wrong after a government you worshipped got voted out and expect that your wailing against the new government and my criticism of the new government should have us get called the same name. Nah, I am not a wailing wailer and one million criticisms against this government or any other one after it will not make me one, because I am not crying over spilled milk, I just want a better country, irrespective of who is president.

Sunday Osanyintuyi: Wailing Wailers Academy Of Nigeria ( WWAN), Presidency & The People

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I was one of those who took President Muhammadu Buhari’s assistant on Media & Publicity, Femi Adesina practically to the cross when he referred to the Nigeria main opposition party, PDP, as wailing wailers in May this year. I took that position for many reasons; one of which is name calling has no place decent democracy.  In very sane climes, oppositions are meant to put ruling administration on its toes towards viable and tangible developments. But same appears not the story here, Nigeria.  
Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, had the honour to lead (if you like rule) our nation for 16 years without interference. The party held sway with a stamp of being the strongest political party in Africa nations.  During this period, needless to remind you that there were opposition parties among which the current All Progressive Congress emerged.  So, there was never a time any members of PDP referred to opposition party members as wailing wailers.  I stood against Femi Adesina for these and other reasons meant for another day.
But recently, the events among the two major political parties, APC & PDP are making me think Femi Adesina may be right after all for referring to his arch enemies as wailing wailers.  Femi took over the media assistant job from yet another competent, vibrant and dogged media warlord, Dr. Reuben Abati.  His touch of professionalism to presidency’s activities will be reported on this page another day.
Opposition, like I said earlier, is meant to be an alternative government in waiting. Hence, providing quality and well thought out directions on policies would be positive moves. Sad to say that just less than four months as a leading opposition in Nigeria, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has failed to maintain decency.  From internal rumblings to national show of shame, the recent news from the Wadata National Headquarters, Abuja of the PDP confirms the party has been injurious to us collectively in the last 16 years. Or please how do you explain a party in power for almost two decades unable to pay staff salaries under four months of losing power? An allegation of internal corruption is disheartened.  It amounts to pure charade having such jokers running the affairs of our country for this long.
Back to basics. The wailing wailers now have an academy with a serving governor in the south west as provost.  The same guy picked issues with President Muhammadu Buhari during the electioneering campaigns. He was bold wishing him dead.  Like Japheth Omojuwa puts it “The governor cursed and abused Muhammadu Buhari during the campaign, Buhari said nothing. He has been on PMB’s neck since he became president. Again, silence. I am sure when Buhari begins to bully him, let no small wailers wail”.
Up till now, the funny governor has not relented.  Hear him: “If President Mohammadu Buhari knows exactly where the stolen funds are kept and who looted the funds, he does not need all these public announcements. Rather, he should make public names of the looters and bring back the purported stolen funds, location of which he has identified. It is when he is able to bring back the money that he should make announcements of recovered funds.
“You don’t announce a process to the public; rather, you announce the results because that is what is of interest to the people. It is like you are announcing that you know where armed robbers reside, won’t they change their location?
“What the All Progressives Congress spin-doctors and their collaborators in the Presidency are doing is simple. It is such that when there is nothing to tell the people as per the rising Boko Haram attacks, dollar and other foreign currencies exchange rates, petrol pump price and other seeming failed promises of the APC Federal Government, they will accuse former President Goodluck Jonathan and his men of corruption, insult Peoples Democratic Party and make noise about fighting corruption.” If this not wailing, what is it?
Surprisingly, the governor with almost a year in the office without any tangible, concrete and visible achievement in his state but takes pleasure in attacking the president. He started by begging the president to allow him nominate a minister from his state when in actual sense such is not the story under his immediate past “hero”. I sincerely think the people of his state have to rethink him as a governor or they will live with the consequences of their decision pending his exit.
While I speak not for the presidency, the body language of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s towards corruption is clear. He had said both members of his party and any other party will face the music if found guilty of corruption. Was this the same under the immediate past administration? Can this provost point to one case of corruption fought by his boss to a logical end? Why shouldn’t this man be patient to allow President Muhammadu Buhari fail on his promise? Can the elites in his state call him to order to save the state from these national embarrassments? I think as a forward looking governor, he should find some alignments with the federal government for the overall benefit of his state rather than standing as a clog on the state’s wheel of progress.
Just today ( August 10th) the same governor has lashed out on President Muhammadu Buhari over the appointment of Mrs. Amina Zakari as acting Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, saying that her appointment does not conform with the 1999 Constitution. When did his man become a lawyer leaving his state crucial matters to suffer? He further stated that Zakari’s appointment “was dangerous to democracy” because she is an in- law to the president. How low can a state executive go to stay relevant? Leaving state matters to address non essential matters speak volume of the governor’s priorities.
 
Yet another wailer note for mentioning is the embattled National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Oliseh Metuh. From the visit of PMB to USA and yet to be appointed ministers, this spokesman has defiled every sense talk. He sees nothing right in the administration despite the no scandal enjoys so far by PMB’s administration.  Little wonder why he lamented recently on an online TV show: “It is cold out here. It is cold because people that have been with you for the past 10 years now decided to change because we are no longer in power. It is cold out here because people allowed themselves to be used against the party. It is cold our here because you are subject to the machination and conspiracy of the ruling party. But in terms of service, being in the opposition renews your commitment.
“The week that we lost the presidential election, some members changed. They are no longer committed and even the staff of the party are no more disciplined because there is no benefit to get. This has, however, separated those who came to reap from the PDP and those who want to really serve. Politics is about service. Those who want to serve will remain.” Wailing on the anti-corruption programmes of President Muhammadu Buhari, Metuh maintained that the government was selective. He described recent probes embarked upon by the government as political lynching. It is clear that most Nigeria politicians feed fat on the people. They barely can make a living outside government. Other wailing wailers are rife on social media parading ignorance.
To the presidency, it needs to be restated that power belongs to the people. The power that brought these set of men there will be invoked and deplored accordingly if the right things are left undone. The quality of lives must improve. Our decayed educational system must be revived with needed speed. Just today, West African Examination Council (WAEC) released May/ June 2015 results with almost 70% failed core subjects. For a thinking government, this should not only call for immediate actions but declaring emergency in the sector while reprioritizing our curriculum better. It appears the current academic curriculum in our schools do not reflect the realities. With the current trends in our educational system, the future is blink for Nigeria. Governments, at all levels, must give a clear stand on this.
 Our politicians should get it straight that the era of stealing us dry is forever over. Accountability is the word. Every citizen is alive and sensitive to government policies and programmes. Every policy not beneficial to the entire citizenry will be resisted, refused and rejected. The current shenanigan at the National Assembly must be halted as soon as possible for proper administration to begin. It is rather dishearten to hear some elements are already scramming for 2019 elections as if they hold their lives.
The mission to rebuild Nigeria has started and must increase in speed. The train of progress has no party affiliation. The idea of new Nigeria should be inculcated into our school curriculum for the sake of our children as these old structure cannot sustain the house called Nigeria. The question will be when will these wailing wailers stop? I am sure the answer is until President Muhammadu Buhari stop to do the right things and join the band wagon of how politicians and corrupt civil servants used to do things for the past 16 years. Until then, I wish the Wailing Wailers Academy of Nigeria (WWAN) “Ijeoma” on their journey to abyss.
 
 
 Twitter: @SundayOs
 
 Views expressed are solely that of author and does not represent views of www.omojuwa.com nor its associates