By Sunny Igboanugo

Onye oha n’ekili ekili adiro mma ikpo ntu. Loosely translated, it means a man supposedly being admired by the public, has no business with packing ashes. It is a popular Igbo proverb that tells you to stay away from an igbo (Indian hemp) joint, if you don’t want to be seen as a hoodlum.

I’ve just finished watching a short video clip in the social media in which Tony Elumelu, Chairman of Heirs Holdings, hosted Bola Ahmed Tinubu at his home and the drama that went with it. I was practically pinching myself to see if indeed I was not dreaming.

Why do I say so? There’s something completely wrong with the image that outing cut. What I saw, simply did not fit into the persona of the multi-billion business mogul, arguably one of Nigeria’s influential men of stature. There was something clearly odd out there.

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Of course, Tinubu, a man well-advertised as possessing very “sharp” brain, has been up and about, since he was declared victorious in the election, visiting members of the top echelon – the billionaire world in Nigeria – players in the exclusive club of Nigerian celebrated fat cats.

Before now, images of him with African richest man, Aliko Dangote, had surfaced. I had also seen him with Femi Otedola, another member of that club. I’m sure that within this period, there would be more of such visits. After all, as a sharp man, the Jagaban Borgu, might just be putting what his admirers confer on him at play.

While I didn’t have any problem with the previous images, knowing that in their world, it is what it is, as people are wont to say these days, but with the Elumelu joining in the fray and in the manner he did to boot, I do have a problem – plenty of it. There’s something that tells me that the Delta State-born billionaire, was either play-acting or following a script meant to send a message out to the public over the event of last two weeks. Was that scenery meant to contrive a image of fait accompli on Nigerians regarding the 2023 presidential election? Nobody would doubt with his status, he would not be well-acquainted and there might be plenty of such visits in the past, with Tinubu, who is also one of the most influential Nigerians around today, arguably. So, I wouldn’t have any issue of the two of them visiting each other or even running things together.

Like I do know many wealthy men actually spread their wings around in obvious political game. I know of one particular one, who distributes his money to as many politicians as possible in the hope of reaping dividends at the end of the day should some of “investments” hit target. There is no telling, that Elumelu might as well have contributed to Tinubu’s political slush fund.

Much as it might not really be morally acceptable, I might not have any problem with that either. What I find completely odious, if not reprehensible is what appears to me like a mockery of Nigerians. I’ve tried to put it in context, but unfortunately, there seems no other interpretation I could give this than the banker willingly stepping into the morass of objectionable conduct.

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Now, why do I pick Elumelu out of the bunch? This is a man, who has somehow connected with youths of Africa or makes a show of doing so. While others might either be keeping quiet with their own programmes, or fancied using their money to enjoy the best life has got to give – cruising around the world in expensive yachts or buying expensive cars – the bank chief has gone beyond that to establish The Tony Elumelu Foundation through which he has promoted, established and empowered thousands of African youths.

Now, is it the same man that would act in such a manner that obviously negates the same ideal he seems to be promoting by conducts clearly diametrically opposed to the clear message the same youths have passed to the entire world through the February 25 presidential election?

Don’t get me wrong. Though the youths have shown their preference and the direction they are headed in the current Nigerian socio-political firmament, nothing compels or impels him to follow in that direction, being an older man, widely travelled and widely connected to know much more and much better.

But what is on ground today goes far more than just making a political choice. He cannot say he is not aware about the general feelings not only among Nigerians, but specifically the youths about the election that produced Tinubu, his guest the winner of that election. Why descend into the arena, when everything is still oozing of bad smell? That’s the point.

What I saw in that video, might as well be likened to a star-struck kid facing a Cristian Ronaldo, Roger Federer or Davido. He was not only seen exhibiting what could only pass for obscene excitement, but had the temerity of recording it in a video and sending it out to the social media, for the consumption of the same youths he is supposed to be mentoring. What a contradiction! couldn’t he have kept the outing private, knowing the present mood of the nation until the coast at least becomes clearer? What indeed calls for such level of laughter and joy in Nigeria today, with the INEC performance? As I said earlier, these issues are relevant because it is about Tony Elumelu and what he represents. Else, nobody would bother.

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Yes! Plausible as his TTEF may be, it is still a one man show and the effect pales completely to insignificance compared to what a country with good leadership could give to the same youths, which is what the youths are pursuing at the moment. In other words, he could do more for Nigerian youths if he helps in enthroning good leaders in Nigeria or at least does not encouraging implausible electoral processes that will produce doubtful products, such as we have in Tinubu, his guest. Is it lost on him that the 2023 presidential election is being seen as the worst in the history of Nigeria or does he belong to the group that are applauding INEC today or are saying it doesn’t matter?

On Wednesday, Olawale Rhodes-Vivour, father of the governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP) for this year’s election, captured the essence of the Nigerian youths in recent years thus: “It is true that there is this momentum that commenced at the point of #EndSARS and that momentum is the flood that is pushing up a lot of people that we’re talking about now. The momentum itself is a momentum of character. Nigerians have just had enough. They wanted to have good government. They just want to have normal decent people in power. that’s all they’re asking. We’ve had so much of the negatives that the Nigerian people have been pushed to the wall.

“At the point of #EndSARS, there was nobody who was the face of the momentum. So, the momentum began to look for its own officials. On the national level, they found Peter Obi and Datti Ahmed. You know their antecedents – they’re people that we can be proud of. If I go anywhere in the world and Datti or Obi is my President, I will not be ashamed. But you can imagine when I go into Heathrow and the person who won is my President, you know my passport, I begin to see if I could turn the green to yellow, because what usually happens is that they just move you – you’re from Nigeria -oya, stay there and let’s deal with legitimate people first.”

This is indeed what seems to be at the heart of the current struggle in Nigeria today, the reason the message in that imprudent, if not thoughtless Tinubu-Elumelu mocking video seems quite obvious. It is even so, when the issues surrounding that election are still live.

What Elumelu seems to be saying is that he is satisfied with the election that produced Tinubu. In other words, he’s giving his endorsement to the outcome, regardless of the notorious, if not squalid details flowing from the entire exercise. It is either that or that he just doesn’t care as long as it is good for business.

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Again, it is not that as a private citizen, he doesn’t have the right to host any visitor of his choosing or even support a political candidate he fancies, but it is about the message that he seems to be sending and consequences thereof.

Already, the reactions are coming with the social media currently abuzz. I’ve just read one of the reactions entitled: Nothing hidden that shall not be revealed, which is literally linking Elumelu to the current cash crunch in the country using the Tinubu affair as evidence.

It reads: “A a rare video clip that speaks volume. You may choose to call it a thank you visit. These are the evil bankers that frustrated CBN and the Nigerian masses. Made sure all CBN cash released where diverted to one man. Yet the public were deceived. A classified visit of Seyi and his father Tinubu’ to Tony Elumelu. In the next video you could hear him propose a ministerial appointment for one of his daughters.”

Of course, notwithstanding that the veracity of this claim, could be ensconced in the bowels of fiction than reality, the accomplished banker and businessman will have to devote many of his time to do more of explaining henceforth, except he is no longer interested in maintaining his rather pristine public image.

For certainly, he will not be smelling roses, now, in the near future and probably for a long time, if not forever – a byproduct of momentary indiscretion of gathering the axiomatic ant-infested faggots. The way the cookie crumbles, you might say!  .

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Igboanugo, a journalist, wrote from Lagos