Reuben Abati, Sola Adeyeye and Aso Rock spiritual side by Yinka Olaito

Reading Dr Abati’s treatise on the above initially made me laugh. Especially when one came across the lines where he wrote ‘male officials at the villa had a sense of losing something below their waists and how many Madams in the house had to consult diddlo or whatever to help their husbands’.


Dr. Abati went on to discuss in detail how many of his colleagues lost loved ones or were permanently on surgery plans amongst others. He shared a near death experience especially a peculiar situation when the  helicopter nearly crashed or something close to that in Germany. I read about road accidents and mishaps that happened to the President’s advanced team. He also talked about Aso Rock needing redemption or  a need to build another Presidential Mansion which foundation is not laid with blood and where ‘spirit of errors’ will not have power to operate.

My initial response was to say if the situation was and is still such bad, why do people still struggle or lobby to be Aso Rock tenants? Also if the situation painted by Dr Abati is that true, why did he remain a staff  for four  years and why he did not run for his dear life? Or do we just agree with the Yoruba  narrative which says ‘ Money is usually found in the mouth of a lion’. Permit to use direct translations  for wants of proper translation.

I also moved on in my mind’s dialogue by saying why would the situation not be so if it is true to be so? At least if going by Dr. Abati ‘ s narrative. When one considers the amount of bloodshed caused by Nigerian leaders in the past either intentionally or unintentionally. This include approving funds for roads that were never constructed? What about alleged conversion of  money meant for construction, purchase of modern hospitals and facilities which were always in the paper but there would be no trace of one in the physical space?.

What about imaginary Millions of electricity poles, metres, cables,transformers that were  budgeted for and could not be found?  How do we explain how less than 50  Nigerians destroyed lives of soldiers and allowed hundreds of thousand of people killed through senseless wars, terrorism because they did not buy or purchase the right Military equipments?

With all these questions on my mind, I concluded if Dr Abati’s position is true, then Aso Rock residents deserved a just recompense for their lifestyles. I maintained then this  can only be corrected if the right thing is done. To me that will serve spiritual cleansing Dr. Abati called for. I also concluded why is it that our failure always find an ‘excuse route’ instead of finding ‘responsibility in one man who can acknowledge he failed?’

Why these thoughts were going on in  mind for days. Then I stumbled on another article by Prof. Sola Adeyeye,  if I am correct about his tittle.  I ready with open mind some of his submissions and conclusions which emphasised how we  ‘spiritualised’ things instead of facing hard facts of reality. Prof Adeyeye said there was nothing like ‘Spiritual’ aspect of Aso Rock but a figmentation of Dr Abati ‘ s imagination and his cronies who would not take responsibility for failure.

Prof. Adeneye said Nigerians are very spiritual or too religious to acknowledge the truth. According to him, China, Japan, Singapore and possibly India are not religious Nations as it were and they had all made economic progress. I thought about that and I concluded he may be right in some ways. Whether an individual is pagan,  atheist or whatever, if he follows the principles which governed life like  hard work, vision,  planning, long time investment, giving and all of that, it is a matter of time, such an individual with patience will surely arrive at the door of success.

Like my initial thought, Prof. Adeyeye concluded we must face the hard fact and do the needful as a nation so we can become what we have  potential to become.

Good lines of thought. But on a second thought, and this is not because anyone brainwashed me. I think about some of the experiences I have had in the past which seem to support the Yoruba adage which says ‘ the world is not as straight as a local gun’. With hard facts, we must acknowledge most of our leaders are not prepared for leadership.

They find themselves in the position because of greed, desire without building necessary competence, capabilities, character   and required grooming which can help them  maximize the opportunity as well as responsibility thrown at them. For instance many of them had not worked for money, engaged in strategic thinking which give capacity to help create or  reproduce  wealth before and here they are with Billions of funds at their disposal.

We all remembered one of our leaders once said ‘ Nigeria’s problem is not money but how to spend it’. He must have been overwhelmed with what he saw then. Also, our concept of leadership here is in disarray. Leadership is lordship and not service. Serving in any position of power is an opportunity for close family and relations to share in the national cake amongst others. Our institutions are also weak. May be that was a good strategy adopted  by former and present leaders to perpetuate their wickedness or something.

But despite these realities, I have come across a real professional with a Doctoral degree in one of the relevant Governance related degrees with all the specs and understanding of governance, international exposure and dynamics of changing any economy becoming ‘another man’ after been elected as  a local government Chairman.

The evidence at our disposal showed a negative transformation of this individual as he started drinking himself into stupor and he had to be carried home many times from office or a drinking joint. How does one explains that? My conclusion then is to offer advice to people like Prof Adeyeye. Prof. Adeyeye must realise that in research, even the westerners understand the difference between hard science (natural science) and social science research.

They understand that social research needs a level of considerations which hard science must admit. They suggested entering the shoe of the participants,  observed to understand and see from their perspective if we  must acknowledge and posses all the facts needed in interpreting a situation.

The observed may have a reality which outsider may not understand. For instace, looking at a marriage from the outside,  it may be easy to see and recommend what can make Mr and Mrs.  Jones’ marriage work better but when we move closer and understood the dynamics we often offer a better perspective.

Also by saying that China, Singapore and Japan amongst   other nations are not religious but to acknowledge some of them are   Hindu worshippers speaks volume about hypocrisy, judgemental or lack of recognition that such is also valid way of worship and reaching out to the spiritual worlds. It may not be well pronounced or carried too far as we do Christianity and Islam here, but closer observation will reveal such do serve as means to touch base with abstract world. So who says that may not help?

This is not an acknowledgement of any power in them but an opportunity to raise debate. What am I then suggesting? It may not be out of place then to suggest we need to borrow some concepts from the Victorian age where a form of success in spiritual world can transform into a form of outward success.

Only that we must not stop here. We must encourage skill, capacity, competence, character developments and  mentoring for people who aims for leadership position in our Country. Lack of these was the undoing of victorian age and the reason for the advertising Agents of those days to come out against the Victorian age belief system.

One of the reasons while I often considered Prof. Osinbajo, Dr. Oba Ezekwesilli as  perfect fit for the ”Nigerian Politics context’. A balance of character,  competence, capacity and religious views. We do have thousands of them in both religions in Nigeria and they should be pushed forward.