Joe Jackson and Wole Soyinka: 2 Infantile Parallels

By Dr Spinoza | 01 Jul 2009

Imagine that your son or best friend died. Even if you hated your son or best friend in life, you would still show some sign of mourning when he is dead. This is not the case with Joe Jackson or Wole Soyinka. Instead of showing respect or signs of bereavement for son’s death, Joe Jackson is cruising around using the occasion of his son’s death to market his new record company. Instead of showing concerns for the cries of intense suffering in Kwara, Ekiti, and Oyo, Wole Soyinka is running around celebrating with those who unleashed the current darkness consuming his own Yoruba people. Yet, both of these old black men are operating under the strong belief that they deceive others rather than themselves.

According to Bill Zwecker of Chicago Sun-Times, “sources backstage Sunday night at the BET Awards tell me even Janet Jackson—and other Jackson family members—were “really horrified” when they learned Michael Jackson’s father, Joe Jackson, started plugging his new Ranch Records label as he walked the red carpet at the show, which was totally reworked to honor Michael’s memory and legacy. Catching up with a top BET insider backstage, I was told, “You know, it probably shouldn’t come as a big surprise. Well, that’s just Joe. He cares about Michael for what he can do for him—dead or alive.””

Inside his senile mind, Joe Jackson probably thought the rest of the world would not be able to cut through his delusions. He probably held to the delusion that by making up his own reality through self-deception he would deceive other people. But he forgot that self-deception is only a part of the story, since there can be no deception without a glimmering awareness of truth.

Similarly, Wole Soyinka will never understand that self-deception means concealing the truth to oneself in order to mislead oneself.  Rightly or wrongly, Soyinka is respected and rewarded by those who care about command of words in descriptive literature. But still, one can be a Nobel Laureate without self-deceptions, or, at least, without a dim awareness of logical thoughts; the ability to describe is not the same as the ability to reason. When you observe and analyze Soyinka’s descriptive thoughts objectively instead of reacting to them blindly through the lens of his status in the world of descriptive literature, you will begin to see through his self-deceptions. You will begin to see the same traits you see in Joe Jackson.

When Bola Ige was murdered by Yoruba thugs, Wole Soyinka mourned his murder more than the family members of Ige. He moaned and groaned like the current groans and moans of Joe Jackson – self-serving, self-glorifying, and a means to an end. As the report by Bill Zwecker implies, Michael Jackson always meant money and prestige for Joe Jackson whether Michael is dead or alive. Similarly, the death or personality of Bola Ige always presents an opportunity for publicity for Wole Soyinka. Hence when Ribadu was removed as the boss of the EFCC, Soyinka saw another opportunity to conceal the truth in order to mislead, in order to draw attention to his own self-importance. He saw another opportunity to show himself as a mourner for justice and freedom. According to Wole Soyinka, “this obvious attempt at crippling one of the two anti-corruption crusade agencies of the nation, unarguably aggressive and result oriented on an unprecedented scale, must therefore be read as an assault on the very bastion of democracy. Again, I refer to my earlier indications: that the riddle of most of the political murders in the nation will be solved when the anti-corruption project has attained its ultimate goal of unearthing the hidden”. Like Joe Jackson, only Wole Soyinka knows the secrets of how to unearth the hidden truths and treasures of the dead. They both know how to package reality through self-deceptions, so as to deceive those who are easily deceived – themselves and their tribe of infants.

The self-interested packaging did not work for Joe Jackson because Americans are smart enough to see through the delusions; they are not easily blinded by the emotions of the moment even when the emotions of the moment call for escape from reason and logic. In short, Americans do not react blindly or automatically to particular thoughts of particular senile old hags even if they are Joe Jacksons or Nobel Laureates.

Another way to say the same thing is that people are always expressing who they are in the choices they make. Joe Jackson chose to deceive himself because his life is a life of self-deceptions. Similarly, Wole Soyinka cannot change who he is because he has been the same way all his life. When he recently chose to celebrate 10 years of Yoruba democracy in the company of Ribadu, Wole Soyinka was showcasing the true Yoruba values that defined his existence and being. He was putting his words into action. Because he strongly holds the opinion that Nigeria practiced democracy under Yoruba Nigeria, that the EFCC was “result oriented” under Ribadu, and that removal of Ribadu was an assault on the brand of democracy discovered by Yoruba people, Wole Soyinka had to appear in London with Ribadu to make a pitch for either preserving or resurrecting this brand of Yoruba democracy. Like Joe Jackson, he operates from the belief that the dead can only be resurrected by those who falsely loved the dead in life.  Because he believed and still believes that Yoruba democracy died in Yoruba Nigeria the moment Ribadu was removed from the EFCC, Wole Soyinka had to appear with Ribadu in London as Joe Jackson had to appear in BET with Ranch Records.

Of course, Wole Soyinka’s freedom to make the choices he makes exists in finite moments, but he has to live with the consequences of his choices for infinite periods. Thus, if Soyinka and the rest of the Yoruba people are correct in their assessment of Nigeria under Obasanjo and Ribadu, if Nigeria practiced democracy under Ribadu’s EFCC, and if Ribadu’s EFCC was in fact “result oriented”, then we can go through the actions and thoughts of Ribadu and Obasanjo to discover how their actions and thoughts largely reflected the conditions of democracy as seen by Wole Soyinka.

It is important to remember that as Joe Jackson watched his son grew in fame, Wole Soyinka also watched Ribadu in action as the EFCC’s boss.

Wole Soyinka was there in Yoruba democracy when Ribadu kidnapped the lawmakers in Bayelsa State. Under duress and under gun points, Ribadu forced the lawmakers to impeach their Governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha. To Soyinka, this must be one of those good results achieved by Ribadu under Yoruba democracy in Yoruba Nigeria. If, by Soyinka’s wisdom, democracy is defined to include lawlessness and incompetence, then Ribadu did a good job here because Ribadu is not different from Alamieyeseigha and the thugs who murdered Bola Ige.

Wole Soyinka was a living witness when Ribadu showed his democratic credentials in Plateau State. When he could not kidnap the lawmakers in Plateau State as he did in Bayelsa State, Ribadu used five legislators out of twenty-four to impeach Governor Joshua Dariye, contrary to the stipulation of the Constitution of Nigeria – the Constitution of Nigeria requires no less than sixteen legislators to conduct an impeachment proceeding. Because Dariye and the rest of the legislators in Plateau State had learned a valuable lesson from the activities of Ribadu in Bayelsa State, they were able to evade the “democratic” antics of Ribadu. In fact, Dariye stated at one point that he was prepared to die defending his human rights to due process. To Wole Soyinka, this must be recorded as one of the results achieved in the annals of Yoruba Democracy.

Wole Soyinka lived while Lamidi Adedibu murdered many innocent Yoruba people in Oyo in his determination to control the public funds of the Yoruba State. Adedibu did not only kidnap the lawmakers in Oyo, he single-handedly used thirteen legislators to illegally impeach Governor Ladoja in order to install his puppet called Akala. This happened under the watch of Ribadu, and at no point did Ribadu utter a single word against this illegality because Obasanjo and Adedibu were his paymasters. Again, thanks to the literary genius of Wole Soyinka, for he has the mind of God to know how “democracy” was practiced in Yoruba Nigeria.

Wole Soyinka was right there in Oyo when Adedibu impounded several voting machines that belong to the people of Nigeria. This happened a few weeks before the presidential election of 2007. Ribadu saw no corruption, heard no corruption, and prosecuted no corruption, because Obasanjo and Adedibu were above corruption and beyond reproach. Ribadu neither detained nor questioned the 100-year old Yoruba thug because the Yoruba thug was carrying the orders of Olusegun Obasanjo, the incorrigible paymaster of Ribadu and Soyinka.

Wole Soyinka lived in the United States for more than 30 years. We can assert here that more than any other Yoruba man, he enjoyed the freedoms offered by the rule of law in the United States. Yet, Soyinka lived in the period when Andi Uba was caught and convicted of money laundering in USA while he (Uba) served as the Special Aid to Olusegun Obasanjo. This conviction is on the public records in the United States. Everyone has an access to the conviction record except Ribadu and Soyinka. Ribadu neither detained nor questioned Uba because Uba was an incorrigible student and friend of Olusegun Obasanjo and Wole Soyinka.

Wole Soyinka was in Nigeria when Ribadu constantly harassed, hounded, and persecuted Atiku while Atiku was in office as the Vice President of Nigeria. This was when Atiku openly challenged Olusegun Obasanjo’s illegal third-term schemes. Soyinka and Andrew Young of America openly spoke out against Atiku and in support of both Obasanjo and Ribadu because Ribadu was practicing “democracy” as defined by the Yoruba culture. Because he was stealing millions of dollars from Nigeria through Olusegun Obasanjo, Andrew Young played the reverse racism on Black children of Nigeria, which was contrary to the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King’s struggles for justice. This is the same Andrew Young who would later caricature Barack Obama as too young and too inexperienced to be the president of USA.

Wole Soyinka was in Nigeria when Obasanjo refused to obey the rulings of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. Ribadu and Soyinka were in alignment with Obasanjo either because they believed that “democracy” was incompatible with the rule of law or because they believed that lawlessness was a means to an end.

If Wole Soyinka and the rest of the Yoruba infants are correct in their assessment of Nigeria under Obasanjo and Ribadu, then the rest of Nigeria must be woefully incorrect. If the rest of Nigeria is incorrect in their assessment of Nigeria under Ribadu and Obasanjo, then the rest of America is incorrect in their assessment of Joe Jackson. Yet, compared to Joe Jackson, Wole Soyinka is more despicable because his existence and self-delusions helped to legitimize the enslavement and murder of more Black people than the self-deceptions of Joe Jackson.

Gary Indiana, where Jackson Five learned to make music, has the highest murder rate and highest youth unemployment when compared to all the cities in the human world. Yoruba youths in Yoruba Land, where Wole Soyinka learned how to read and write, have the highest unemployment rate and crime rate when compared to all the Black youths from all other world nations. 

Exit Ribadu?
By Wole Soyinka
The Guardian, 28 December 2007

I can only hope that Benazir Bhutto’s followers will forgive me for saying this, but the news of Nuhu Ribadu’s removal from the anti-corruption Nigerian organisaton known as the EFCC will have, in all likelihood, a far more devastating impact on the psyche of the Nigerian nation than the deadly event that now threatens to further destabilize the tortured nation known as Pakistan, through the assasination of her democratic front runner, Benazir Bhutto. Let me pause here to express my sincere condolences to the people of Pakistan.

What is at stake for us in Nigeria is not much different however: the restoration and consolidation of democracy, not in any sentimental or rhetorical sense, but as a lived reality that restores dignity to the people of any nation and guarantees their day to day security. The precarious socio-political condition into which the Pakistani people have been thrown echoes, in both parallel and divergent directions, the blow dealt to the Nigerian nation by the ‘assassination’ of the head of an organization that commenced the process of restoring dignity to a people whose nation has become a byword for the most breath-taking scam in high-places, for endemic corruption, a contempt for accountability and transparency and the abuse of national resources in the pursuit of personal and party power consolidation.

At every opportunity, we have stressed the obvious but ignored fact that the liberalization of political space is contingent upon the moral cleansing of such space. Thus the need to identify and contain – including by punitive means - individuals and organisations that operate on the open nexus easily summed up as : power derives from corruption which in turn fuels and guarantees power. The battle against corruption therefore goes beyond the walling out of illegal economnc advantages. Corruption is the very bedrock of political illegitimacy. The tree of democracy cannot thrive on the compost of corruption. 

This obvious attempt at crippling one of the two anti-corruption crusade agencies of the nation, unarguably aggressive and result oriented on an unprecedented scale, must therefore be read as an assault on the very bastion of democracy. Again, I refer to my earlier indications: that the riddle of most of the political murders in the nation will be solved when the anti-corruption project has attained its ultimate goal of unearthing the hidden. Let me refer yet again to the notorious case where a presiding judge on a politically motivated murder case threatened early to withdraw from the case. Soon after, he withdrew from the case altogether - the pressure, he openly announced, coming from the most unexpected quarters, had made his task impossible. That judge noted down details of monetary inducements that were offered to make him grant bail to a high-profile suspect. The upward spiral of that political suspect since his ‘acquittal’ says much about the umbilical cord that trails from material to political corruption.

The ruling party of Nigeria, the PDP has proved yet again that there is no reformist agenda possible within its ranks. The presidential incumbent bears the primary and ultimate responsibility for this grotesque reversal of the nation’s frustrated push towards possible redemption, but it is the ruling party itself, the PDP, that continues to suffocate the nation in its folds of corruption, negating every attempt to rid her of this incubus, since that party has exhibited itself, again and again, as the very quagmire of corruption, nurtured on corruption, sustained by corruption and dependent on corruption for its very survival. 

Let all sophistry be abandoned - the removal of Nuhu Ribadu is not about the removal of one individual. We are talking about signals, portents for future conduct, about the erosion of credibility, abandonment of principle, all of which of course transcends any individual. The timing, when viewed with the recent call to re-open the case-files of unsolved political murders, will be regarded as a coincidence only by starry-eyed innocents from space – good luck to them. Those of us who have the slightest knowledge of behind-the-scenes manipulations since the trail of detection moved ever closer to the very apex of governance under the past regime, know that the nation was being brought closer and closer to the dismantling of one of the most sinister and corrupt governance machines that this nation has ever confronted – including even the incontinent reign of Sanni Abacha. 

Ribadu’s removal is therefore not an individual predicament. The situation here does not permit of the familiar cliche of any one individual being less than an institution or agency – no, that is not the issue! The issue is that an effective agency has been tampered with, unnecessarily, but with transparent motivations that constitute an assault on the corporate integrity of the nation. The trust of the nation has been abused - that is the issue. Instead of reinforcing the autonomy of an organization that is clearly dedicated to probity and political integrity, notice has been sent to all four corners of the nation, and to the international community that, at the slightest threat to the hegemony of corrupt rule, the credibility of even the most laudable institutions will be eroded.

Is this the last word? Is Nuhu Ribadu yet another sacrificial lamb on the altar of success and promise of more and more success? If so, the nation has indeed been brought to an abysmal low. Confusion has been deliberately and liberally sown. The reign of vanishing files, denied directives and ambiguous legal advices has begun where dubious Attorney-Generals fill the vacuum created by high level movements of personnel in multiple directions where those in the most sensitive and knowledgable places vanish into the bureaucratic maze, with hardly a trace of the rewards of their long dedicated industry. Technical extensions of cut-and-dried prosecutions will now lengthen into eternity and of course – oblivion. 

What a dismal, contemptuous New Year gift to the nation! Again, I lament with the democratic people of Pakistan but, even in the midst of your grief, spare a moment of pity for that land of eternal missed opportunities and blighted hopes, that clay-footed giant sibling on a continent to your West, known as – Nigeria.

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Waziri faults Ribadu on corruption
By Chinedu Eze
ThisDay, 29 May 2009

Chairman,  Economic and Financial Crimes Commi-ssion (EFCC), Mrs Farida Waziri, yesterday said her predecessor, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu’s understanding of how to fight corruption is poor.

She said this in reaction to a statement credited to Ribadu, that the agency is dead. Waziri, who spoke to newsmen yesterday at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, alleged that Ribadu abused his office and committed atrocities, including illegal detention of suspects, arresting people before looking for evidence to charge them and sitting in his office to list the number of political candidates to disqualify before leveling allegations against them.

Ribadu and Wole Soyinka in London in May 2009, celebrating “result –oriented” EFCC and Yoruba democracy

“Yes, I can understand by his (Ribadu’s) own way of understanding the fight against corruption, he will classify it as dead. Because I am not going to sit down in my office and compile a list of Nigerians and say they are unqualified to stand for election, disenfranchise them, because it is only a court of law that can pronounce them guilty or innocent. I am not going to kidnap any member of the National Assembly and force them to impeach governors in the name of fighting corruption,”  she said.

Waziri also said she ought to act differently and follow the rules in fighting crime in Nigeria.

“And I am not going to arrest people and then force detectives to go and look for evidence with which to try them. By international best standard, suspect comes last. And, all of the illegalities of plea bargaining, I will not sell asset without records. That is the way that is. Of course, he will say anti-corruption is dead and I am not going to do any grand standing going from one media house to another pronouncing people on the pages of newspaper as guilty without evidence,” she said.

She reiterated the need to have special court, noting that it would quicken court processes. “Yes I think it (special court) is necessary. I think that is the only thing, because I have been saying that we have very good judges, we have some bad ones. But by nature of the judicial system, court process is very slow. We need a special court. South Africa , US, Australia, UK: they all have special courts. We need it here as well,” she said.

Waziri said the plan to extradite former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mallam El-Rufai, was on-going, disclosing that the case would come up next week. “It is on going. I think the case is coming up this week or next week. We are on course,” she said.

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Gov Bukola Saraki walks half–sister out, gives her 2 hours to leave Ilorin in her own interest
By Chidi Obineche, Daily Sun
June 30, 2009

Gov Bukola Saraki’S half Sister Oyinkansola has spoken of how her visit to him in government house Ilorin some yeas ago ended dramatically with the governor walking her out and giving her 2 hours to leave Ilorin in her own interest.

Her words:
“I met him before I decided to contest. Before, I was not interested in contesting. I came to Nigeria. I spoke to him. I saw him at the government house. I was to see him at 9’ o clock actually; but he didn’t see me until 3’o clock; though he was very busy that day. I saw him and we had a chat. And he just looked at me and said, is that what you come to say, and I said yes. That was 3’o clock in the afternoon. He looked at his watch.

He called his P.A, and said, can you escort my sister out here. And I give you still 5’o clock to leave Kwara State, or I don’t guarantee your safety. That was his exact words. Even at that, I didn’t leave. I am as stubborn as he is.

I visited the Commissioner for Women Affairs and a few of his commissioners to speak to them. I said, even if my brother is not doing things, try and do the right thing. But I didn’t succeed anyway. So, I left.

Fighting from the flanks
“Truly speaking, when you look at it from the outside, you’ll ask, why is it this family all the time? It looks like that but I am not on their side. I mean, if you read the papers, they have disowned me. Bukola came out publicly to say, I am not Saraki’s daughter; I’m a bastard; all because of all this. It is very painful when someone comes up to say oh, I am a name dropper. All because I am fighting this cause. It is a shameful thing.”

http://odili.net/news/source/2009/jun/30/500.html

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‘One Family Is Oppressing The State’ - Oyin Saraki
June 22, 2009
By Astro Jewoola

The daughter of Dr. Olusola Saraki, Kwara state Peoples Democratic Party political godfather, Alhaja Aminat Oyinkansola Saraki, has confessed to a cross-section of journalists that her 75-year-old father and her brother, Governor Bukola Saraki, are oppressing the state and they do not mean well for citizens of Kwara state.

She made the confession during her ‘Know-Me-Tour’ at the Nigeria Union of Journalists Press Centre (Ladi Lawal Hall), Ikeja, Lagos. In her words: “Even though, I love my father but I am quite ashamed to tell the world that my father and my brother, governor Bukola Saraki, have been oppressing the state and they have never meant anything good for the people of the state. “For close to three decades, they have bestrode the politics and economy of the state like the proverbial colossus and with nothing to show for it. Only now, an infinitesimal class of selected individuals are getting richer at the expense of the poor innocent people. These group of people are easily traceable to the bootlickers.”

Oyinkansola Saraki, who came in the company of a six-man group identified as The Kwara Patriots, explained how and why the Sarakis are still dominating the political affairs of the state. “But I am now determined to expose them so as to put a stop to it,” she said. The younger Saraki equally berated her brother, governor Bukola Saraki, describing his six years governance of the state as a waste and self-serving. “For the past six years since he assumed office as the governor of the state, nothing tangible could be recorded to his credit, Oyinkansola declared. “Take a closer look at the much advertised Zimbabwe farmers at Singini. It has been fraudulently converted to Saraki’s farm. How long will it take rice to get to the streets and markets of Kwara State? Kwara State consists of sixteen local government councils but the only viable one is Ilorin West, and that is the seat of power. All other local government councils have been completely emasculated. “There must be a change of guard in Kwara State, and the Kwara Patriots, of which I am a member, is ready to fight them with the last blood in my vein.”

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Joe Jackson’s shameless promotion leaves family ‘horrified’
Jackson family ‘horrified’ as dad plugs label at tribute show

June 30, 2009
BY Bill Zwecker, Chicago Sun-Times Columnist

Sources backstage Sunday night at the BET Awards tell me even Janet Jackson—and other Jackson family members—were “really horrified” when they learned Michael Jackson’s father, Joe Jackson, started plugging his new Ranch Records label as he walked the red carpet at the show, which was totally reworked to honor Michael’s memory and legacy.

CNN anchor and former WMAQ-Channel 5 anchor Don Lemon was practically speechless—and quickly changed the subject back to thoughts of the King of Pop—after Joe’s blatant boost of his new Ranch Records label. “We’ve got Blu-ray technology,” boasted Papa Jackson, who seemed more interested in introducing his business partner to Lemon than talking about his son’s unparalleled career.

Catching up with a top BET insider backstage, I was told, “You know, it probably shouldn’t come as a big surprise. Well, that’s just Joe. He cares about Michael for what he can do for him—dead or alive.”

As Katherine Jackson, as expected, filed for and received temporary guardianship over her grandchildren Monday, two reliable Jackson family sources told me they don’t expect Debbie Rowe, the biological mother of Michael Jackson’s two oldest children, will initiate any kind of big legal battle to win custody.

Reportedly, there already have been quiet conversations between Rowe’s camp and the Jackson family—basically boiling down to her continuing to observe her non-involvement with the children, per the original agreement with Michael when they divorced.

“Debbie’s made it pretty clear that mothering isn’t her thing anyway, and besides—you can bet she will be further compensated not to do anything,” said a longtime Jackson family friend.

However, both my sources say there could be some kind of interference from Grace Rwaramba, the children’s former nanny, who has been quoted in the British press about regularly pumping out Michael’s stomach, claiming he had taken too many prescription drugs. That’s an allegation the Jackson family has firmly denied. While there is evidence Michael had talked about Grace getting custody of the kids (or perhaps sharing it with his mother), I’m told several members of the Jackson family have said they never liked Grace, nor trusted her even when she was still the nanny.

Fans of Michael Jackson need to be vigilant—especially if they’re tempted to buy a piece of memorabilia being sold as a limited edition, or something signed by the music icon or touted as some other kind of collectible.

Steve Bernas, CEO of the Better Business Bureau serving this area, warns, “Great care should be taken by anyone who wants to buy Michael Jackson memorabilia at this time. There are many unscrupulous people out there betting that emotion will trump sensible buying to make money from people’s sorrow at a time like this.”

STAR STRUCK: Somewhat lost in the shuffle of announcements about all the changes for next year’s Oscars—including upping the best picture nominations to 10 and altering the voting on best song—was the news the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian and Irving Thalberg awards, plus honorary Oscars will now be announced in the fall and awarded at a November dinner in L.A.—rather than included in the annual ceremony next March. ... Kudos to the late Gene Siskel’s nephew, Charlie Siskel, tapped to be executive producer of two new projects—one at Comedy Central, the other for Showtime.

Siskel previously was a producer on “Bowling for Columbine,” and executive produced Bill Maher’s “Religulous” documentary about organized religion.

SEEN ON THE SCENE: No question about it, the new downtown, hipper-than-hip hotel the Wit has become an immediate celeb magnet. Just in the past week, Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Jakob Dylan, Sister Hazel, Antoine Walker and Reggie Bush were among the famous faces spotted at the Wit’s Roof—the amazing partially open-air rooftop lounge that is the new fave place for the see-and-be-seen crowd. ... Harold Ramis (who also has checked out the Wit’s Roof) slipped into Rockit Bar & Grill the other day. ... Sox broadcaster Steve Stone and Linda Yu were spied dining (separately) at Hub 51.

Source:
http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/zwecker/1644521,CST-FTR-zp30.article

Joe Jackson poses for photos backstage at the 9th Annual BET Awards on June 28, a few days after the death of Michael Jackson