Courtesy of @seunfakze & @olaoluwakite
Just what
Twitter ordered
The picture above came up on my Twitter timeline; a Tweet
by @seunfakze one of the highly
commended minds on Nigerian socio-political commentary spearheading a number of
future-looking initiatives for good governance in Nigeria.
It looks like it was originally posted by @olaoluwakite and shared at http://yfrog.com/ki3cfdzj
When I reTweeted it, I added the postscript, “Almajiri
of the South”
RT @seunfakze: FRIEND OF THE GOVERNOR indeed. http://yfrog.com/ki3cfdzj *sad times* "Almajiri of the South".
Mustering
disgust
Now, Almajiri means emigrant in Hausa, mostly spoken
in the North of Nigeria and in the belt towards the West all the way to Ghana
and possibly beyond.
In reality, the Almajiri today who are supposed to be
young Islamic scholars are more or less hungry street urchins, beggars, easy prey for peddlers
of influence in mobs or for abuse as depicted in this Times
article [1] and a child rights emergency as I highlighted in this
blog [2].
Nigeria is a country where titles matter, the moniker
of Chief has become too commonplace, people now use the particular chieftaincy
title they have received even if it is from a hamlet of 3 huts. Beyond that,
religious titles abound from the Alhaji meaning someone who has in a majority
of cases had a subsidised journey for pilgrimage to Mecca to Christian ones
like Elder so-and-so who is a minister of the federal cabinet and not to forget
the Dame, the wife of our President.
Heirs of royalty no matter how remote from the throne
are styled Prince or Princess and this is where our Prince comes in, son of
some royal father and no doubt an influence peddler who has printed a calling
card that suggests he has the ear of the governor.
Pulling the
governor’s ears
In our federation, states have a latitude of autonomy
under the management of an Executive
Governor [3] who is the patron-in-chief for a patronage system that
supports an endemic corrupt enterprise much of which has been exposed in poor
development and infrastructure for health
[4, Graphic], education
[5, Graphic] and economic
growth [6, Graphic] despite the fact that the states share in the largesse
of oil money that floods their coffers every month.
Prince Ade Adesanya exemplifies a societal malaise for
sycophancy, nepotism, hedonism, prebendalism and neo-patrimoniallism all of
which are tributaries for corruption in the most odious form.
It is interesting, that the Governor of Ogun State has
not seen it fit to appoint his friend to some ministry, committee or advisory position,
but the friend has probably in delusions of grandeur with the very possibility
of being a confidence trickster printed a calling card with gilded edges, golden lettering and the coat of arms of the state – surely, there should be a
few charges to decorate a rap sheet on sighting this card beyond censure.
Scam Alert!
Sadly, some gullible and naïve person will be
presented with this card and assured of the ability to short-circuit due
process for a fee just because Prince Ade Adesanya is a Friend of the Governor
with the address of Government House – now, it is not clear if he is a friend
of all governors, the past governor or the current governor - the fact the card exists is enough cause
for excoriation.
Anyone with two brain cells will know that a yahoo
email address on such real estate of identity name-dropping is as good as standing
under a peel of ringing church bells, be alarmed and touch him not with a
10-foot barge pole and that is longer than a spoon to dine with the devil.
It is just so rotten and disgusting; we need to put an
end to this kind of atrocious influence peddling and patronage that relies on
circumventing every transparent and meritorious act necessary to make our democracy
work.
Call him
The task is simple, Prince Ade Adesanya needs to hear
from us all; call him and email him; let him know that this is reprehensible at
best and nothing will be too extreme in making a public show of this nonsense
just in case some other idiot is planning to print a Friend of Dog card to have
a gnaw at the bone.
Prince Ade Adesanya can be contacted on princeadeniyiadesanya@yahoo.com
and if you need a deal to make your eyes water before you cuss down the phone,
call +234(0)8086683619 or +234(0)8098312640
Call him now.
Addendum: A news story in October 2011 here appears to suggest that the prince is the Special Assistant on Political Matters and is indeed a friend of the governor but it does not take away from the odious peddling of influence that informed the printing of that calling card. Such acts should be held in utter contempt at this time and any other time.
Addendum: A news story in October 2011 here appears to suggest that the prince is the Special Assistant on Political Matters and is indeed a friend of the governor but it does not take away from the odious peddling of influence that informed the printing of that calling card. Such acts should be held in utter contempt at this time and any other time.
Sources
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