Let’s go straight to the heart of this troubling matter: the role of Fate and Karma are intertwined as the one affect the other. We are all given an opportunity by fate and the way we use them is our karma—the reward of our actions in life is our karma. In the simplest sense, we are also familiar with the phrase “whatever a man soweth, that he shall reap”. Therefore a person can create his own destiny with his karma and likewise, the fate of a person may affect his karma! This explanation is necessary for readers to get the real picture of what is playing out in the case of Lagos strongman and acclaimed “national leader” of the All Progressive Congress (APC). As of the moment, the iconic leader variously described as a “Lion” who has survived many crucial battles in and out of the jungle—true to his billings—is right now facing the biggest battle of his life—how to muster enough support for his presidential ambition! If it is money or foot soldiers alone that can win him the prized ticket, then, his dream would be easy meat–a walkover; the asiwaju of Lagos has that in abundance. Instead, standing in the way of his much-vaunted political ambition is that seemingly ordinary word—karma. And this is sadly a bad omen for him.
How did this happen? To answer this, again, we will rely on wise saying: “you may tell little lies, small as a thorn, but they will eventually grow to the size of a spear and kill the victim”; this is one; secondly, it is a known fact that “those who live in glass houses do not throw stones” and lastly “when the roots of a tree begin to decay, it spreads death to the branches”. These preambles are necessary for a thorough justice to be done on this topic of the omen that is encircling around the once great and popular leader. Until he made that fatal error of judgment in 2018 Lagos state governorship elections he had little to worry about. Now, not anymore. At the height of that self-contrived conspiracy against the former governor of that state, prominent men of repute, including governors, ministers, industrial heavyweights, clerical overlords pleaded for the asiwaju to “spare” the former governor and allow him to complete his tenure; tried as hard as they did, their pleas were unabashedly turned down.
The worst was when a serving governor from the northern reaches of Nigeria told the “Lion” who had his “prey” firmly in his grip and was pouting to devour him: “where I come from, we do not prostrate to beg; but for the sake of this young man—our colleague—we are going to prostrate before you to forgive and let him be!” This also fell on deaf ears. Like Okonkwo in the fabled “Things fall Apart” who used his cutlass to slaughter Ikemefuna—a child who called him father, the Lion—not the one in the forest but in Bourdillion—sent the former governor packing! This was notwithstanding the glaring record of his performance and the fact that they were in the same ruling party! A national leader of the ruling party fighting the governor of his own home state! This is what they call “the double shuffle!” We will move over to Edo State where the same scenario was replayed with the then national chairman who fought a needless battle with his own state governor.
He has since been bruised—badly. Something must be seriously wrong with the way some people behave. Now, almost two years down the road, the former governor who quietly withdrew—oh, yes—as some would say into what is known as “political Siberia” to cool off has continued to dumfound critics and foes alike with his deafening silence to the extent that no one can fathom how deep he has been hurt. And in reality, the injustice meted to him by asiwaju and his click is indeed unfathomable; in fact, it is doubtful if restitution alone can redress the thick pall of anger that is now a metaphor in Nigeria’s political landscape—that a first time serving governor who wields authority was “maliciously” dethroned by powerful forces outside the reins of government. They will need to do more than Restitution to get things going again. But the former governor is actually in the heavyweight bracket by virtue of his extraordinary wisdom and understanding of the sign of the times; he knows that “no matter how long the moon disappears, someday it must shine again”, so his excellent character kept his mouth shut and unruffled. As things stand today, what man finds difficult to do, it appears “karma” is about to do —and easily so. It so happened that to win the presidential ticket, you need to curry the favours of kingmakers from the north, east, south and west. Among those, the asiwaju approached for support are the same that pleaded for him to spare the former governor! What goes around comes around. Incredible natural development! And as the story goes, they took a short look at him and chuckled: Hmn…you are actually looking for our support? They asked him; they shook their heads left quietly.
Not only this, elsewhere, the long arm of karma is also active: a former boss of the apex tax institution in the country with ties to the asiwaju is allegedly also “spilling the beans”. Man! Are these dangerous times! Listen to someone’s reputation being torn to shreds! Our deeds are here finally to torment us. We have been warned severally: whatever is done in the dark will, in the end, be splattered openly—especially corrupt practices! Of course, the vultures have begun to encircle above. It seems like yesterday, but now, in the process of time….this is becoming like the story of Jephthah in the bible who was wrongly sent away, but at the height of a plague, they sent for him saying: brother, we have wronged you…..! Can this be said to the former governor…only time will tell.
