On Tuesday night, President Bola Tinubu took a front-row seat to watch the stage production of a play titled ‘Abibatu Mogaji: An Opera’ held at the Aso Rock Villa to honour his late mother, Hajiya Abibatu Mogaji.
Not even a careful observer would have captured the President’s countenance as aptly as his photographer did that evening.
When the usual statement and photos were released after the event, I could not help but spot the first picture which showed an emotional Tinubu watching a screenplay of a woman he described as his first caregiver to whom he owes everything he has become today.
For some reason, the President’s countenance morphed from that of a Commander-in-Chief to that of a little boy looking up in admiration to the highest human authority figure in his life.
At that moment, the moving pictures began to trigger old memories, which adulthood, politics and the cares of daily life had relegated to the extreme rear of his memory.
In that moment, we experience our most vivid recollections of a past we long for. We sometimes wish to travel back in time to reenact moments we may never get back, to hold conversations with someone who no longer lives. You can’t call it nostalgia — that description will be too simplistic. It’s a cocktail of emotions overflowing from a cup too small to contain it. And mothers, good mothers, can stir such when thoughts about them occasionally take hold of their grateful offspring.
For instance, former United States President, Ronald Reagan, often spoke emotionally about his mother, Nelle, attributing much of his optimism and values to her influence.
He mentioned her in his autobiography and speeches, reflecting on her strong faith and support during childhood.
His distant successor, Barack Obama, often spoke about his mother, Ann Dunham, with deep emotion, particularly in his books ‘Dreams from My Father’ and ‘The Audacity of Hope,’ reflecting on her influence on his values and his grief over her death from cancer in 1995.
President Bill Clinton also often spoke with deep affection and emotion about his mother, Virginia Kelley. In his autobiography “My Life,” he reflected on her strength, resilience, and the sacrifices she made for him, particularly after she died in 1994.
In those instances, even 72-year-olds become boys again, and they talk like this, “My first restaurant was her breast, my first toilet was on her lap, and my first-ever bedroom was on her back. There is no way I could have come this far and become this old without her care.”
Tinubu commended what he called a “thoroughly researched’’ play, which reflected her moments on earth, saying, “I could see that they know her very well. She was tough. She was a disciplinarian. I can thank God for the gift I got from her. It was an enduring gift of character and determination. Never to give up!”
Hajiya Mogaji passed away on June 15, 2013, at the age of 96. Tinubu said his son, Seyi, who sat by his side all the while, and other family members would benefit from the production because it contains lessons from history through re-enactment.
The President eventually left the State House Conference Centre midway into the stage play/presentation, pleading for the understanding of guests as he must honour an appointment with other ECOWAS leaders, whom he said had been waiting for the meeting for three days.
What cannot be taken away is that he walked into that hall as a man and left feeling like a mommy’s boy again.
Two days later, Tinubu welcomed what can pass as the most significant Supreme Court ruling in Nigeria since 1999, granting fiscal autonomy to the 774 local government councils.
The Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional for state governors to hold funds allocated for local government administrations.
In the judgement delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, the seven-person panel declared that all local government councils in the country should manage their funds themselves, insisting that the government’s power is portioned into three arms: federal, state and local.
In fewer words, the Federal Government sued its states over an old dysfunction involving [the lack of] local government autonomy and won.
Tinubu welcomed the development, saying, “By virtue of this judgement, our people – especially the poor – will be able to hold their local leaders to account for their actions and inactions. What is sent to local government accounts will be known, and services must now be provided without excuses.
“Our people must have relief and today’s judgement will ensure that it will be only those local officials elected by the people that will control the resources of the people.”
Wearing this victory like a body armour, Nigerians must now hold their Local Government Chairmen responsible for elements of underdevelopment in their communities. That bad road, rotting primary healthcare centre and those schools where pupils sit on mats to learn now have a face to it if it remains so in a few months or years. Let citizens exercise their power under true federalism.
An ode to a Colossus at 90
So, Prof Wole Soyinka turned 90 on Saturday, July 13. To celebrate the icon, President Tinubu announced the decision of the Federal Government to rename the National Theatre in Iganmu, Surulere, as the ‘Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and the Creative Arts.’
To underscore the global relevance of the literary giant, a symposium, along with poetry reading, was organised in Rabat, Morocco on July 9 by the Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco and the Pan African Writers Association.
Tinubu said Soyinka, the first African to win the Nobel Literature Prize in 1986, deserves all the accolades as he marks the milestone of 90 years.
“Having beaten prostate cancer, this milestone is a fitting testament to his ruggedness as a person and the significance of his work. It is also fitting we celebrate this national treasure while he is still with us,” said the President.
Happy Birthday to the icon!
