.jpeg)
_By Busuyi Ojo-Jobus_
Two different university students had a debate on Friday about the Edo Governor and Davido saga in one of our students social media group. One was right while the other was completely wrong. Therefore, I realized this mess is still ongoing, and I would like us to analyze something together.
Let us all imagine if our parent has two children. There is one who did not really do very well in his WAEC exams, and the other one passed it very well. This other one who passed very well did not end there, he can also speak good English, but he is not really doing well in life.
He can't feed his family. He is a liability to the same parent who is supposed to be receiving help from him at their old age. But the one who didn't pass the WAEC very well when he was younger is also not as outspoken as people desire, but he is successful in life.
He sends a huge amount of money to his parents, builds houses, buy vehicles, and takes them round the world. He takes care of his younger ones which you and I would be glad if we were related to. Who between them will your parent prefer? I believe it is the one who can speak but is not successful, right?
Do you remember the childhood, those our uncles who promised us bicycles but could not redeem the pledge? They seemed to be poor but spoke Queen's English, yet there was nothing to show for it. Do you know how much we did not like them around us? What exactly do we want?
I know many of you know this, but because you like to cruise just like me, you like to shake tables as I do most time, and you are looking for who to laugh at. Oya, let's all be laughing at it then — hahaha hahahaha😂😂
It's finished, right? Then let's go back to our daily life. What is my account balance? What's yours? Personally, I do not have shame. My account balance is below N100,000.
Yours may be higher or lower than mine. Then it means that both of us may not have sense. Instead of facing our business to increase our income or speak to our needs to this government, we are busy shouting over one man who is extremely better than our parents or uncles who dodged us for not being able to afford a bicycle for us. We laugh at the one who made roads for us, who governs over four million people, is it easy? The one who is concerned when there are kidnapping issues — the issue which we caused. Is he the kidnapper? No, the kidnappers are among us.
Many of us are more corrupt than these politicians. Go to the market, they will not rest until they extort you. Go to schools, from primary to tertiary, you will see a high rate of corruption, sex for grades and other related crimes. I need someone to answer me: what is the essence of collecting 'Acceptance fee' during admission into tertiary institutions? Is this not corruption we are not talking about? They are still teaching the students. Those that speak good grammar use it to steal money.
Let us remove the dust from our eyes before removing it from another person.
In conclusion, I asked Meta AI some weeks ago on my WhatsApp: "What advice is generally good for Nigerian politicians?"
Then the answer is funny to the context we are discussing here. You can also type the same thing to Meta AI on your WhatsApp to fact-check. But let me share a few lines with you: "For Nigerian politicians, the advice that actually helps you win trust _and_ deliver is usually the same everywhere, but it hits different because of Nigeria's specific context: big, young population, tough economy, strong community/ethnic ties, and high expectations for visible impact.
Here are the principles that tend to work best:
1. Service over optics
Deliver basics first: Electricity, water, roads, primary healthcare, and security. Nigerians are tired of BIG GRAMMAR without boreholes or light. Projects people can touch daily build more goodwill than 10 press conferences."
Now, I am confused. Are they the same Nigerians who are shouting for grammar like that's what we want to eat? My advice to all Nigerians is to know what we want and stop confusing ourselves.
Governor Okpebholo is not an English Governor, he is a working governor, go to his state and see how he is fixing the abandoned roads by the previous government, stop following social media critics, follow what you can see.