Thoughts on Ladoja’s thoughts @ 79– Femi Adeoti Column

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For more than one and a half hours, he was ruminating. Practically thinking aloud. He spoke to our collective concerns. That was September 18, 2023.
He is heavily burdened, even at 79. He didn’t hide it. He couldn’t have. And he poured out with all the strength in him. He was bold, frank and honest.
His assessments were factual, apt and distinct. He was in no mood to compromise. He neither minced nor mixed words.
He picked his choice words with great care. He was deliberately intentional. And he achieved maximum effects. He displayed zero patience for ambiguities, frivolities and trivialities.
Even in all of this, he was simple sincere and down-to-earth. He knew his bounds and stayed in his lane. Simply put, he was himself; in one of his best elements.
He admitted failure where necessary. And proferred a way out where needed. He took in a deep breath. Then breathed What a self-inflicted verdict!
He told Daily Sun in that interview: “I am 79 (on September 25. But what’s there to celebrate? There is nothing to celebrate. This is not a Nigeria of our dream.
”He remembered those glowing old days of yore: “Our generation is unique. In the generation of pre and post-independence, we served our parents. We were not selfish.”
The singsong continued: “Today, the story is not the same. How we came to where we are, I don’t know.” Confused? Not at all: “May be, it is our fault.” Really?
He agonised further: “Our values have changed.” ⁰oò⁹⁰pòIn those days, a child would look up to become a professional. Nobody would say he wanted to become a singer. ⚽️ was not a professional thing then”.
Fast forward: “Today, a child wants to become a footballer. He wants to become a rapper.” Pity us. That is how low we have sunk. And there’s no stopping us anytime soon.
We have lost our core values in the real sense of it. Ladoja confirmed that as much. “Most Nigerians are looking after themselves more than looking after common interest.”
The reason our politicians are greedy and selfish. They plant their children and grand-children in government. Reason; to replace them when they expire. And keep their dynasties alive and relevant.
Very parochial in thoughts and reasoning. They are wicked from the bottomless pit of he’ll. Theirs is “me, self and myself.” They care less if our ox is gored or even brutally bruised.
It is their devilish strategy. They even take what does not belong to them. They corner all positions of authority for their offspring. Born, unborn and the ones that will never be born.You find them in the legislative and the executive arms. They are in reckless abundance.
Ladoja detests irresponsibility. It’s the hallmark of these eerie leaders: “We like privileges than responsibilities. The advent of the media changes a lot of things.” How?
His spontaneous replication: “In some cases, the more noise you make, the more you are appreciated than working silently.” What a misplaced priority. That is why we continue to miss it. And forever wallow in this mess!
He proudly beat his chest: “Those of us who saw the civilian regime before 1966 knew that we were doing well. Yes, we had hope. We knew where we were going. We knew the values we supposed to pursue.”
And they did pursue the values. They did it vigorously without looking back. Great pity! All that gone with the whirlwinds. Who did us in so soon?
Ladoja was fair without fear: “If you look at the crop of leadership at that time, they were less selfish. We can’t say they were selfless. But they were less selfish. They saw the values and were modeling on what they saw.”
His samplers: “Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Chief Ladoe Akintola, Chief Rotimi williasms and so on. Most of them were trained abroad. They saw the values and they tried to instill those values on us.”
Our own crop of leaders are the exact opposite. They are polls apart in intents and purposes. Most of them too were perharps trained abroad. They saw the values the Awos, the Ziks saw. But that’s where the “similarities” end.
Ours came back home to do the unthinkable. They won’t instill the values they saw on us. Why? They never in the first imbibed them. They only saw the values; the values have no positive impact on them.
They would abide by the rules and regulations while there. But immediately they step on Nigeria’s soil, they become monsters unto us. They break laws at will. They obey laws in utter disobedience. And they flaunt it.
Lawlessness is their norm. Their new normal. They become tin-gods on to us. Stiff-necked and heedy. Very lousy and empty. They make the loudest noise. They pride themselves above the laws they themselves make. They showcase arrogant pomposity in doing the “un-needful.”
They are power-drunk. And it intoxicates them to their peril. They talk down on us and not to our plight. They blatantly take us for granted.
Once again, Ladoja rolled out memories from the mills: “When we were young, brilliant student would not voluntarily choose to go into the Army. The Army personnel were not trained to be administrators.
“They were not trained to be liberal in approach. They were not trained to be democratic. Their opinions would always be right, even if you give them advice.”
He nailed it where it mattered most. He insisted ours “is a dilemma of someone who has everything but does not have anything. We’re the largest oil producing state in Africa. But no functional refinery. So, you see there are many things making me sad.
“Where are all our companies?” Vanished. Nowhere in particular. He sincerely queried: “How do we create jobs?” Honestly we don’t know. And we are being sincere!
He moved discourse to one of our most vexed issues: “If he (the President) has sat down with his advisers, he could have gotten a better scope of the problem (fuel subsidy).
“If the President has exercised some patience to understand the issue of subsidy at that time to know the best way to go about it. He wouldn’t have floated the naira at the same time he removed subsidy.”
Certainly, he is not done yet. Imagine! “We spend a lot of money on nothing. We don’t make paper and ink. But we are spending good money to print money, incurring costs those who make paper and ink are not incurring.”
Ladoja was passionate and emphatic. He spoke to the throne on Sunday Igboho: “What offence did Sunday Igboho commit? If someone is becoming dangerous in a town. And the people decide they don’t want such person, what is wrong in that? I don’t see what he has done wrong.
“President should look at his (Igboho) case and pardon him if they feel he has committed any offence.”
He didn’t speak in isolation on Igboho: “Have you not read about houses being bulldozed by a governor because they were used as kidnappers’ hideouts? Did anybody arrest the governor?”
He didn’t wait for an answer. He threw the second poser: “There was a time an emir in the North gave the Bororo (Fulani) ultimatum to leave his town. Nobody arrested him.”
These incidents would make any sincere elder statesman sad. And Ladoja is no exception.
Yes. These are the pointers that break-up of a nation. Nigeria cannot be indifferent to these cases. They need to be tackled squarely. And in good time.
Let’s get serious. We can’t feign ignorance that they don’t exist. They do.They are even thriving.