There’s hope for Nigeria, however faint. I reached this conclusion after watching a video showing Dino Melaye, an out-and-out buffoon, coming across as the voice of reason while responding to Ayo Fayose’s claim that the applause he got where he ate amala and sank his teeth into ponmo was an indication of public affection for him.
Dino, a star of numerous idiotic videos and gaudy exhibitionist who once claimed to have spent the night or something like that on a tree while fleeing from law enforcement agents, was put in a fit of pique by Fayose.
He accused the former Ekiti State governor, his equal as a cartoon character, of reducing the Nigerian presidency to eating amala and cowhide. Fayose is allegedly running for president and he’s opposed to Atiku, the man Dino is promoting for the job. Dino was so angry that he struggled to be coherent.
I thought that was close, very close, in terms of being dramatic, to the Damascene conversion.
If he managed that, there’s a chance that Fayose, who once spent less than 10minutes presenting a budget to the state legislature while appropriately dressed in T-shirt and khaki shorts. But they are peas from the same pod. It’s startling that Dino is unaware.
Even then, one can take encouragement from Dino’s recovery from a protracted bout of buffoonery. It shall be permanent. Amen. We can also do the same from the spunky campaign of Nyesom Wike, who is a legend in his own mind.
His chances of clinching the party’s ticket may be dim, but he’s making a fist of the contest through unabashed self-promotion, including as a mad man. TV stations seem to love him for soundbites that often seem to be coming from a place of inebriation. As coarse as he sounds, he’s managed to be genuinely entertaining with his molue conductor’s voice and trademark dark glasses (presumably medicated), which make him look like a blind pianist.
On a visit to Anambra, he laid into Peter Obi, whose resume is widely believed to be better than those of others in the PDP. The lamb-like Obi did not think he deserved a response. Curiously, he didn’t do that when he visited Kogi where he was received by Yahaya Bello, a screwball in his own right, whose party he hopes to dislodge.
Aside from Tinubu and Osinbajo, Wike’s campaign-going nowhere, actually-is the most vigorous. It’s a lot more entertaining with his extravagant claims. Can’t bet against him claiming to be a founding father of the PDP. It may, when he does, have the ring of an ExxonMobil trainee saying he’s a C-suite guy.
