In a frantic bid to save face, following the verbal obliteration by Governor Nyesom Wike over the weekend, Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State committed a considerable sum from the state coffers to the articulation and advertisement of a response, in which he called the Rivers Governor a bully and accused him of sponsoring discord in the Edo State Chapter of the PDP.
However, as is typical of the MOU Governor, the advertised response was just another pointless drain on the state treasury owing, among other reasons, to the poor and porous arguments it contained and the lack of rhetorical strength capable of satisfying the intended purpose for which it was commissioned.
Governor Obaseki opened his response with a tacit admittance that the threats of his Deputy Governor, Mr. Philip Shaibu, which provoked Governor Wike’s verbal onslaught, were indeed out of place and reckless. However, in an amusing attempt at infantilization, which is insulting to the man he claimed to defend, he attributed Shaibu’s conduct to youthful exuberance.
Invoking his leadership of a student body, Obaseki implied the rant of his Deputy Governor was no more than an immature tantrum from a man-child who requires the understanding and indulgence of proper adults.
The obvious problem with this is that Mr. Philip Shaibu, born in 1969 and thus 52 years old, does not qualify as a “youth” by any standard and should have long learned the etiquettes of speech and public conduct fitting for a leader in his position.
If he hasn’t by now, as his principal suggested in the response, then perhaps he deserves to be thrown out of leadership to make room for adults capable of necessary restraints and conduct that reflect their age.
