By Frank Meke
Brazilian football star, vinicius, claimed he lost the global football didiam, Ballon d’, or because of racism. If you know the Spaniards, just like the racist trump of America, you possibly would understand why some Yoruba people in Nigeria believe that Lola Ade John sacking from the Tinubu government as Minister of Tourism allegedly instigated by tribalists in this government who against every empirical and evidential facts on ground gave Hannatu Musa Musawa a clean bill of health against a Yoruba, Ade John during the just concluded ministerial shake up.
I usually don’t drink from the cup of conspiracy burukutu , nor do I eat from the Amala table of owambe apologists. It feels good to a Nigerian, not a tribe advocate.
However, I worry about an examination to which we were nudged to be examiners, supervisors and in the end we submitted our findings ” online ” and even in the public space, yet we found that a ludo game marking scheme was adopted without publically telling us how the headmaster scored the candidates.
To me, and I have no apologies to offer anyone. Both Hannatu Musa Musawa, Minister of Culture, and Lola Ade John of Tourism were failures. Their very poor records in this administration are out there in the public space, but I found it very disturbing and disheartening that lola Ade John was sacrificed for Hannatu Musa Musawa. To add to the Burukutu poisoning, Lola Ade John’ cake was handed over to her failed sister in the crime of non performance, Hannatu Musa Musawa, without anyone trying to at least tell us polished lies as truth.
I recently wrote and confessed that I don’t understand the Hadiza Bala Usman magic, just as most football followers all over the world can not believe that one Spaniard midfielder is a better footballer than the artistic master dribbler and goal scoring machine, vinivius from Brazil.
Now, the influential France based private sector football support system organisation that owns the Ballon d’ Or is being accused by soccer followers of doctoring the award against the Brazilian soccer wizkid, a development that has put a red clip on the once respected award.
In contrast to our political ” soccer ” game or if you like political performance metrics supervised by Hadiza Bala usman, those who still have time to watch the shame of performance failure by some ministers in this government, have simply witnessed a ballon d’ failure replica as ” Yoruba and igbo” girls ” were given red cards by Hadiza Usman led referee team at Tinubu’s villa.
A friend of mine who struggled through law school and practices beer palour legal advocacy is threatening to approach the courts to seek public display of the results of the ministers of Culture, Arts and creative economy, Hannatu Musa Musawa and that of Tourism, Lola Ade John.
My friend deeply ‘alamarised’ grouse is well established, but I am confused about how he, as Nigerian, a Yoruba for crying out loud would approach a Nigerian cultural tourism court with intent to address the Honourable court in a Ghanaian language( Akwaaba) meaning “welcome” in a typical Nigerian judicial language setting.
The igbos would, as usual, lick their wounds and move on. After all, it is better to go sell stock fish and Egusi at oyingbo market than brooding about Hadiza Bala Usman balloon ‘ d failure award. Seriously, governments all over the world are the instigators of most judicial interventions in purely simple issues as straight as black and white.
If my lawyer friend succeeds in his legal adventure to force the hand of Hadiza Bala Usman to make public the performance result of Hannatu Musa Musawa as Minister of culture, arts, and creative economy, there’s no doubt that the entire process may end at the supreme court, thus impacting negatively on governance and possibly cause a tribal uproar as already being parroted by national tribal advocates.
Just yesterday, Lola Ade John went to Abuja to hand over to Hannatu Musa Musawa, and I ask, maka, why?
If the president merged Tourism Ministry to Culture Ministry , when and where did the president tell us that Hannatu Musa Musawa must head it, not even when my friends in tourism who mentored lola Ade John are up in arms, threatening thunder and brimstone as if they influenced lola Ade appointment in the first place.
Apart from the ” silence ” on who now must head the remerged ministry ( some say new Ministry) from the presidency, what exactly( biko) are there for a failure to hand over ?
Just immediately after the results were out last week, Lola Ade John mentors and sympathisers, including opportunists who have been praying to replace her but were disappointed by the president not looking their way sang like canary that Ade John had no office, no official car, no staff, no security details, no this , no that and as such should have emerged the 39th tourism wonder of the world and be allowed to finish her work which started with stupendous ludicrous speed.
Abeg, please, what exactly did Madam Ade John hand over to another Ballon ‘ d failure in Hannatu Musa Musawa? I can’t understand this deciet and public ridicule of our industry. Can you imagine what type of baton a sacked non performer of a minister handed over to another confirmed failure, and we are just watching the tale by the moonlight drama, just like that!
I am going to write an open letter to my good friend and the only surviving Director General under the spiked Ministry of Tourism, chief ( Baba Eto of Lagos) , Folarin Coker of Nigerian Tourism Development Authority ( NTDA). I didn’t see him in that Ade John to Hannatu Musa Musawa hand over drama yesterday, and I know he has the “why”
I am not in the mood for the funny fellow at nihotour who is allegedly holding brief for the former ” expired” head of the government tourism and hospitality training school. That ” aboki” self also failed in his four years misadventure in NIHOTOUR, pursuing transactional projects instead of pushing for new frontiers in Nigeria tourism education curriculum.
His poor performance in nihotour also helped nail Ade John while the groove lasted. Honestly, I pity Hannatu Musa Musawa, who has no clear-cut purpose and direction to our cultural and creative economy revival and to pretend and wish to add tourism her many failings in this government, is walking with her eyes open into frying pan. It is going to be very choking, maybe both culture and tourism will have any new developmental destination soon. God forbid!
Going forward, to engender good governance in our culture tourism space, I and a few of my friends have set up an industry watch dog, Centre Against Trators in Culture and Tourism( CATAT) . Our mission is to list and publish the names of our sectorial players who will suddenly shift attention to courtesy visits to the office of Hannatu Musa Musawa. Others are job seekers for ntda and nihotour leadership positions, the mentors team, and propagandists who swore that culture and creative arts are not the major enablers of tourism in Nigeria, flamboyant fly by night operators with borrowed agbada and portfolios, babalawos and dibias in tourism, oyingbo market tourism journalists and the various ex ballon ‘d failure award-winning companies. We dey watch una!
