By Mohammed Adamu
They say that he ran to Chatham House in London, to avoid the Arise Tv ‘debate’. And I was like: which is the more difficult of the two? Is it the Chatham in London or the ‘chatter’ at the Arise theater? It is like alleging that a mountaineer has gone to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania to avoid climbing Udi hills in Enugu. Abi?
But if what you mean by an ‘escape’ is that Tinubu has ‘escaped’ the malevolent partisan mischief of conniving moderators at home to face the idyllic debate situation at Chatham, then you are right! He is on the run! But you can still chase after him, like you always do! The courageous dog is the one that says ‘let’s meet me on the outskirts, and we see who returns home on all fours!’ Go meet him at Chatham!
But why would a candidate have to run to London to evade a debate in Nigeria that he had not only previously avoided while still around at home, but that he had in fact publicly assured everyone he would NEVER attend?
If Tinubu did not have to run out of town when the egwugwu clowned around town at its earliest zest, why does he have to run out of town after the egwugwu has lost its intimidating mojo? Why run away only after the Arise TV ‘chatter’ has become such a theater of the absurd as to be attended only by non-starters?
And to suggest that a candidate can just go to Chatham House at the prompting of such ficklest tickle of the whim as to avoid a TV debate at home, is to make going to Chatham House as idly-commonplace as when you just whimsically pick your otumokpo and go to Ariara or Onitsha market -whenever and however! Nothing can be more ludicrous!
In any case the Jagaban had not only previously issued statements saying he would not attend the Arise ‘debate’ (or any other), but after watching the poorly moderated on-air charade where participants were freely at each others’ jugular, he had in fact re-stated that his town hall meetings were better than the “ballyhoo” and the “hullabaloo” he saw, with a PDP thug trying to suffocate an enraged, sonorously-speaking Labor Party candidate!
This is beneath the Jagaban! And here’s to hoping that they do not take this uncivilized Endsars-chatter to Chatham! Because you know they can!
