OPINION: Prof., Where Are Your Homers?

By Valentine Obienyem

Recently, my attention was drawn to a barrage of invectives from the Prof’s underfed minions. I understand they have even begun serialising my long exchanges with Prof. Okey Ndibe. I recall those days with clarity: we crossed swords with the hatred of two enemies meeting face-to-face in war. It was so intense that the Management of The Sun resolved that nothing Ndibe wrote against Mr. Peter Obi, nor anything I wrote against Ndibe, would be published again.

Those serialising it today should, at least in faithfulness to objectivity, publish the exchanges side by side. Anything short of that is pure mischief. What they  are doing now is a classic case of “nwoke nuchaa ogu, nwaanyị enweru akụkụ.” Let them go on.

I have also seen their desperate attempts to compare Mr. Peter Obi with Prof. Charles Soludo. Why waste time on such irrelevancies? When Obi said he governed as a trader and that our brother should govern as the professor he claims to be, was that the voice of a man seeking comparison? Obi is far too mature for that sort of nonsense. Following in his footsteps, let the little-minded continue to throw tantrums. May they not infect great minds like Dr. Mefor.

We reiterate that Obi is now playing in the Champions (Presidential) League, having left the lower league (Gubernatorial League) over thirteen years ago. This is an existential fact that cannot be controverted by any known logic.

If the professor is anxious to be proclaimed the best among Nigerians, we have no problem with that. But he should at least find credible voices to make such proclamations – voices that command respect. When your heralds are men who are themselves demented, such as Ejimofor, Adichie, Machi, Paji, and other little demons without respect for holy water, how seriously can their announcements be taken? A man is not crowned by jesters and expect his crown to shine.

Let me explain myself with an image from antiquity. When Alexander the Great visited the tomb of Achilles, he placed a wreath upon it and exclaimed: “O fortunate youth, to have found Homer as the herald of your victories!”

Achilles was a warrior of unmatched prowess, the central figure in the war against Troy. Yet his greatest fortune was not merely his triumphs in battle; it was that Homer – the most credible voice of his age, a poet incapable of announcing false victories – was the one who proclaimed them. Achilles’ deeds endure because they were sung by a man whose word carried truth, majesty, and immortal authority.

So when those I earlier mentioned- “achikota Ekwe onu”- take it upon themselves to compare, to proclaim, or to dress a man in borrowed robes, their verdicts cannot be taken seriously. Their praise diminishes. Their words confer no honour; they only dilute it. Their rants are made far worse when characters like Mrs. Ethel Obiakor, ever an unserious mind, are the ones cheering them up.

In the same vein, the simpletons who malign Mr. Peter Obi and his aides behave exactly as I recounted of those who once hurled abuse at Buddha. When a fool insulted the Enlightened One, Buddha listened in silence. When the man had finished, Buddha asked:

“If a man declined to accept a present made to him, to whom would it belong?”

The fool answered, “To him who offered it.” Buddha replied, “I decline to accept your abuse, and request you to keep it for yourself.”

So it is with Obi’s detractors. Their foul words, their petty invectives, their desperate attempts to demean, are theirs alone. They cannot touch a man whose character, actions, and intellect stand beyond their reach. Just as Buddha declined to accept the simpleton’s abuse, so too does Obi and his aides refuse to be dragged down by the vulgarities of the Prof.’s simpletons. Let them keep their anger, their envy, and their foolishness; it is theirs, not theirs to impose upon greatness.

Contrast this with Obi. Those who speak of his character and his leadership are the Okonjos, the Achebes, the bishops, the imams, the Obasanjos, the Jonathans, etc.

What does that tell you?

Obienyem, a Lawyer, writes from Awka, Anambra State