Femi Akintunde-Johnson
As to be expected, reactions to our Perception 2023 series attracted diverse reactions across those nine editions which ended in the last edition. While many were warmly appreciative of the efforts, others were dismissive, downright petulant, vitriolic or, in few instances, combatively uncouth. We took it all in our stride, understanding that it was normal that people react to negative or positive declarations based on their current fixations, affiliations or allegiances.
Since a column is a pool where ideas and positions contest for space and prominence, it is not unusual to read contrary submissions that seek to deflect your analysis, or even attempt to denigrate without any shred of verifiable evidence. Our style is to let people vend their positions, and let the discerning skim, stir and scoop what makes sense to them.
One suggestion stuck out of the warring pile for its strangeness, and ultimately its drawing energy, for us. Roughly paraphrased, it goes thus: after all these your ‘long-long’ analyses, can you cut to the brass stacks, and give us what will be your percentage scores or ratings of all the 12 people you chronicled? Hhhhmmph!?
It bears repeating, briefly, what was being referred to here, for some context: we wrote a series initially entitled “My Perceptions 2023” between January 15 and March 19, 2022 in this column, which ran for nine editions, involving 12 presidential ‘suspects’. Therein, we detailed our perceptions of their electability and general acceptability ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Well, the challenge was a little awkward, yet compelling. Of course, we appreciate the fact that there is no angel or saint in politics…certainly not among Nigerian politicians. Arguably, the most ambitious of us have often disappointed us…in spite of our prayers and wishes. Nonetheless, we have decided to give it a shot. Here are our perception-performance quotient in percentages (%), including some ‘pros’ and ‘cons’ – in order of publication:
ROCHAS OKOROCHA – 25%
(Pros: colourful, gift of the garb; cons: impetuous, flighty, bombastic, ostentatious, weighed down with corruption allegations, etc)
BUKOLA SARAKI – 35%
(Good composure, firm, unflappable ambitious, hardworking; disingenuous, unpredictable, hamstrung by the weird zoning prerogative of current political reality, weighed down with corruption allegations, etc)
KAYODE FAYEMI – 40%
(Strategic, fairly young, erudite, ambitious, good comportment; restless without landmark results, limited gravitas, may have to deal with corruption allegations post immunity cover, etc)
KINGSLEY MOGHALU – 45%
(Erudite, exposed, ambitious, good composure; lightweight organisationally, bereft of requisite cash cow, largely a fish out of murky waters, etc)
NYESOM WIKE – 20%
(Energetic, fairly young, relentless in pursuit of goals, flush in unidentifiable wealth; irascible, pugnacious, prone to violence and vitriol, a cantankerous persona designed to polarise and disintegrate, may have to deal with corruption allegations post immunity cover, etc)
YAHAYA BELLO – 25%
(Young, affable, business-like, ambitious, unidentifiably wealthy; hamstrung by the weird zoning prerogative of current political reality, no record of landmark actions in ongoing assignment, currently saved by immunity from sundry corruption allegations, etc)
AMINU TAMBUWAL – 40%
(Fairly young, good composure, primed for leadership, ambitious and urbane; often swept under the radar, projects ambivalence, hamstrung by the weird zoning prerogative of current political reality, etc)
RABIU KWANKWASO – 30%
(Popular amongst his people, philanthropic ina strategic sense, unflappable; hamstrung by the weird zoning prerogative of current political reality, hampered by corruption allegations, slightly disadvantaged by age, etc)
BOLA TINUBU – 50%
(Popular amongst his people, flush with serious wealth of debatable sources, media savvy, astute HRD buff, serious nationwide affiliations, ambitious, hardworking, visible, relentless; hampered by sundry corruption allegations, open to wild opposition mudslinging as the most feared pacesetter, susceptible to occasional gaffes, strong suspicion of unstable health status, disadvantaged by age, etc)
PETER OBI – 65%
(Astute, seemingly upright, unusually prudent, ambitious, plenty of credible hands-on experience, proven record of public accomplishments, a sense of seriousness in policy and advocacy, closest to a genuine political article in contemporary time; prone to go under the radar, have to shoot down tax-evasion and non-asset declaration allegations more decisively, needs to build stronger crossover appeal, etc)
ATIKU ABUBAKAR – 20%
(Relentless, very wealthy of debatable sources, well connected nationwide, experienced, affable, composed; tainted by his boss’s tar brush despite damage-control measures, heavily weighed down by sundry corruption allegations, fond of going under the radar off-election season, uncontrolled coverage of his matrimonial shenanigans, hamstrung by the weird zoning prerogative of current political reality, disadvantaged by age, etc.)
YEMI OSINBAJO – 60%
(Composed, erudite, likable, gift of the garb, hands-on experience, relatable earthiness, seen as an outlier of the crass political culture, pragmatic; tainted by past high-level political relationship, hampered by the less than average performance of incumbent government, may be upended by reliance on political structures of others prone to switches on allegiances, stunted by the likelihood of regional backlash for checkmating the lifelong ambition of his godfather, slightly disadvantaged by age, etc).
The End.
SONI IRABOR: A TITAN AT 70
On Wednesday, March 23, 2022, the golden-voiced darling of radio listeners hit the great 70th mark. There’s a substantial gap between us – age wise, professionally, socially and economically – yet he conducts himself around my family like a dotting uncle and eager benefactor.
He has a way of transporting his sunny, cheery disposition to his listeners, viewers and those in his physical space. Soni Irabor is the quintessential radio man, a natural on TV…and exemplary in training and molding the next generations.
To honour God on that day, he shared his remarkable story, and a painful secret. It is worthy of our contemplation:
“As I turn 70 (three score and 10) today, the 23rd of March, I would like to reflect on the last two years of my life. Right in the middle of a pandemic I had a stroke! Dr Seyi Roberts, my friend and doctor described it as an evolving stroke. Our home was turned upside down momentarily. When you have a great family you can rise faster against all travails. When I count my blessings, I count my wife, children and big sister.
I won’t lie, it has been very challenging especially as I also began to suffer from vertigo.
However, I am grateful to God for making me see and mark this milestone. I thank Him for my journey to recovery.
I was 17 when I left Benin for the proverbial greener pastures in Lagos. I always wanted to be a radio presenter having been inspired by Dele Olowu on Midwest Radio.
My dream of being on radio didn’t manifest until I was 22 when broadcasters like Patrick Oke and Jones Usen encouraged me to be the voice on NBC mail bag (now email). I was told I had a radio voice.
I got my lucky break when at 24 I got auditioned for the role of an announcer at Radio Nigeria. While at RN I created Radioscope and later Radio Link (still running on Radio)
In 1981 I was drafted to the Radio Nigeria Training School to train Announcers (which I still do to date). I didn’t even realize I could become a trainer.
In 1979 I bagged the much-coveted Radio Nigeria Best Announcer of the year. This was so surreal. I have since then received several other awards to the glory of God. I am the host of Radio and TV talk show, Soni Irabor Live, which was inspired by the late Larry King whom I met in Washington DC in July 1986.
I retired from Radio Nigeria at the age of 48 in 2000 to set up my businesses in advertising, broadcast training, broadcast media establishments and PR & media services. I am passionate about broadcast quality and standards although so much has changed.”
We join your friends, fans and families worldwide who paused to felicitate you on your 70th anniversary… Happy Birthday, Sir!
