Utomi’s spirited effort to extricate himself from the ‘Soludo Affair’ falls into the genre of belligerent mendacity. His nihilistic, not to say audacity, to round up on his Diaspora based critics through the flagship, The Guardian, Tuesday May 20, 2008 in a piece titled “Nigeria Public Space and Reason Embattled” and the Village Square amount to a long drivel of whinging waffle of self-indulgent rubbish. It is a waste of time and a pointless pursuit of imagined enemies which borders on paranoia. At a time when a little capsule of calm was descending on the ‘Soludo Affair’, then bang, warrior Utomi took to the sky with his B52 bomber to rain insults on those dangerous detractors who are targeting his intellectual jugular.    

His mawkish exercise of self-flagellation was too much to bear. He succumbed to moral correctness which had been the bane of our so called intellectual class. Utomi who should have rather endured the ‘scandalous abuse’, so it seemed, from the ‘Diaspora based internet warriors’, re-armed his muse for battle and behaved like a one-man PR squad, or to put it brutally, like an arrogant pioneer in the study of public propaganda, his prime instrument since 1977 for waging endless battles of hearts and minds of gullible middle class Nigerians. 

An intellectual who is worthy of the name should, as collateral for invading our public space, so frequently, be ready to be a target of obloquy and vilification when concern is raised about his professed moral astringency. In the post-modern milieu in which we all live, work and die, when there is clearer articulation of animating visions, we recognise, respect and pay homage to the articulators. However, when a hiccup occurred in the life and impressive curriculum vitae of a supposed public commentator as happened in the now famous ‘Soludo Affair’, it is needless to now prettify or justify clear mental and moral somersault.

The piece is fastidiously studded with dozen of Utomi’s contentions; if anything, more than are required to prove that he is still the king of the manipulative polemic which had been his instrument of public coercion since 1977 when he entered into our public universe. He recognises how the ability of writers to offend could take prisoners of whom he is now a hapless, famous convict.    

He trenchantly delivers a disturbingly unpersuasive indictment of shortcomings that have corroded the ‘Nigeria’s public space’ which has now fallen to such dangerous level that ‘nuanced engagement’ is about to be neutered by London based ‘beer parlour pundits’ and the other band of ‘nattering nabobs of negativism’ who inhabit the suburbs of America.

The Nigeria public space is still imposing, welcoming, unsparing and has at its heart a divine agenda setting for the Nigerian state in its search for emerging alternatives, stable democratic governance and social freedoms.  

It is people like Pat Utomi, a self-proclaimed defender of the moral realm who obfuscates and demeans the public domain, that market place of sacred ideas, through his offensive Solomonic appropriation of wisdom. The picture he paints is of an arrogant, grasping and malevolent public-seducer gifted with an uncanny ability to hoodwink many of those who are still over-awed and overpowered by his overrated intellectual omnipotence.   

Dissent over his views by ‘beer parlour pundits’ of which clearly I am a torch bearer, as I could not do without a cold bottle of ‘Baba Dudu’ is seen as treason. And again, what is blatantly noticeable is that desire to intimidate the ‘internet warriors’ into obsequious worshippers of his glittering generalities about rational public discourse, the responsibility of public intellectuals and his vision of the Nigerian Project.

Utomi admitted that his consuming passion or what animates his genius is anchored on the time tested sagacity of his belief that ‘democracy is about accountability, not just in terms of financial propriety, but also in terms of stewardship for responsibility’.

This belief is poxed with myth when you weigh in the Soludo Affair. Much as I would prefer to dismiss this as fawning shibboleths that have been tossed about like a deflated football from time to time by uppity and ambitious huggers of our public space, it does not require special talent to know that virtually all our publicly disrobed thieves have used the same manipulative rhetoric to hoodwink the masses.

In another vein, Utomi pre-empted and shot himself in the foot when he reasoned that, “The enthronement of unreason while enough to encourage flight from the public space must be the very reason for patriots to enter that space and reclaim it in the interest of progress lest it be one more excuse for Nigeria to remain great potential 200 years hence”.  We have to garland the neck of our virtual writers, beer parlour pundits or Diaspora based internet warriors with roses for rescuing Nigeria public space from the hand of doctors and professors of semantic gibberish.

Assuredly, and this must be said, the new mandate is to hijack our vandalised and abused public domain through methodical and restorative renaissance and ensure that a rearguard is in place against future abuse and despoliation. A kind of Jihadist approach to refocus and re-conceptualise nuanced discourse on our terms.  

The momentum that brought about Internet journalism was anchored on the need to offer genuine and robust alternative ideas and most possibly, dredge out the cobwebs of public corruption, fight medieval privileges and ruffle the feathers of few fiends who regarded themselves as colossus and untouchables in the nascent Nigeria’s public space. The internet has heralded a new dawn for trenchant advocacy and if any of the old hacks now suffers from polemical concussions, we offer no apologies.

What has come to distinguish the fervour of Utomi’s yawning political dream could be seen in his vaulting illusion to enthrone a ‘business state’ in which businessmen and women would rule the Nigerian realm to the exclusion of all else. His nation building programme is anchored on the assemblage of VGC, Lekki and Victoria Island errand boys whose material and cultural idiosyncrasies are atrociously opposite the aspiration of the common man on our streets.  

Perhaps in ending I must return to a nagging thought which needs proper conceptualisation. By the way who is an intellectual? Are intellectuals that motley crew of gobsmackingly good writers who delight us with the fecundity of their genius? On his part, Edward Said posited that an intellectual must have an ethical commitment to relentlessly and unflinchingly speak out, against all odds, against all grains and against all hegemonies—real, imagined and self-proclaimed. Can we give this honour to all holders of Ph. Ds who could string words together in the public domain? Are university teachers intellectuals?

When we flatter writers and called them intellectuals, we give them a blank cheque to behave like a matador, an arrogant ass hole and before we all know it, they morph into narrow-minded, know-it-all, on your face charlatans, and not to say, roaming cultural vagabonds who could not contest our public space with a beer parlour pundit.

Warning! This piece was written from the trenches of war zone in Harrow and under the influence of a cocktail of ‘bolugi’, ‘paraga’ and of course, chilled Guinness.

Robot  Villager

# 1 Utomi’s spirited effort to extricate himself from the ‘Soludo Affair’ falls into...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 23.05.2008 00:50

tanibaba  Villager

# 2 You brought the memories of late Bob Marley to my mind when he sang "you can fool some people sometime, but you cannot fool all the people all the time" It is good that we are questioning those who have been reverred in this village for so long a time that opposition by some of us was regarded as madness. We were even told that the subject of your essay is the Best President for Nigeria. But the good thing is that we are beaming the light on "our own" this time and applying the same rules and yardsticks in evaluation. This article, just like the recent ones on the same theme are pointers to the fact that information, especially about public figures have to be evaluated before being assimilated if such information is emanating from this village thank you taslim Posted by tanibaba| 23.05.2008 04:27

ILN TOO  Villager

# 3 Taju Tijjani, You spoiled a good rejoinder to Utomi by employing Soyinkaism, the art of using too many high-sounding words and windy sentences to garnish an intellectually shallow argument. that method is now hopelessly outmoded; it was enough to win Kongi a Noble prize in the olde days but not a wooden spoon today. i will advise you to rewrite this rejoinder employing the succinct and effective method of Achebe. Thanks Posted by ILN TOO| 23.05.2008 05:25

beambolla  Villager

# 4 =ILN TOO;4295045589>Taju Tijjani, You spoiled a good rejoinder to Utomi by employing Soyinkaism, the art of using too many high-sounding words and windy sentences to garnish an intellectually shallow argument. that method is now hopelessly outmoded; it was enough to win Kongi a Noble prize in the olde days but not a wooden spoon today. i will advise you to rewrite this rejoinder employing the succinct and effective method of Achebe. Thanks< did you read the last line of the article :lol::lol::lol: Warning! This piece was written from the trenches of war zone in Harrow and under the influence of a cocktail of ‘bolugi’, ‘paraga’ and of course, chilled Guinness. :D Posted by beambolla| 23.05.2008 05:58

RAYNOSA  Villager

# 5 Good article One tin i tin with our politicians wey i no understand be say how dem dey us grammar confuse people as if na grammer poeple won chop. See Utomi wey wan become President of Naija and claim to be dey peoples man yet em site no dey easily accesable to much grammer and acada. To me all dis na intellectual and political fraudsters. How do you connect with the people you intend to serve with too much grammer. Our leaders if truly they have good intention should be able to rech out to the people in simple english (BROKEN/PIDGIN) Just my view Simple Posted by RAYNOSA| 23.05.2008 07:16

omo naija  Villager

# 6 ahbeg internet warriors may una take am easy with Utomi, enough bashing, please channel this venom to those that ruined and still ruininng Naija. Stay bless ya all. MAY GOD CONTINUE TO BLESS NIGERIA AND AFRICA, AND HAVE MERCY ON THE TROUBLED CONTINENT, AMEN. Posted by omo naija| 23.05.2008 07:23

akuluouno  Villager

# 7 Esteemed Villagers, You read TJ's article at your own risk unless you take cognisance of the cave at the end of it.:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin: Fire on dear TJ if I may quote same Soludo at a hearing in the House where one honourable member from Edo known for his grandoise remarks almost baboozewhelmed him with his questions:eek::eek: Articles like this are what make this village tick:D Posted by akuluouno| 23.05.2008 07:59

RAYNOSA  Villager

# 8 =omo naija;4295045610>ahbeg internet warriors may una take am easy with Utomi, enough bashing, please channel this venom to those that ruined and still ruininng Naija. Stay bless ya all. MAY GOD CONTINUE TO BLESS NIGERIA AND AFRICA, AND HAVE MERCY ON THE TROUBLED CONTINENT, AMEN. FOR ALL I CARE PAT UTOMI SHOULD BE BASHED AND CONTINUELY BASHED UNTIL HE GETS HIS ACT TOGETHER. BECAUSE OF TOO MUCH GRAMMER HIS PARTY FAILED TO WIN OR AT LEAST BE A RUNNER UP,WE WOULD HAVE HAD A GOOD OPPOSITION IN NIGERIA TODAY SEE HOW OBAMA IS CONNECTING WITH THE POEPLE IN US,EVEN THOUGH THE POLITICAL SCENE IS DIFFERENT. LET THE BASHING CONTINUE,HE HAS FAILED THE PEOPLE . Posted by RAYNOSA| 23.05.2008 08:01

Jagunlabi  Villager

# 9 Thank TJ for your very insigthful and colourful response , even if, some of the grammar pass me. However it does cut to the chase as per Utomi's rejoinder, i take very great exception to his 'diaspora based internet warrior, beer parlor based pundits who inhabit the suburbs of America. Abba, Oga Utomi, to say the truth you have benefitted from being a member of the ruling class, albeit in a responsible manner. To now turn round and accuse some people of been based in suburb america(ie the middle class) which you claim to champion is as TJ as rightly said, cutting your nose to spite your face. From what i've read from you over the years, i expected a more thought out response from you, rather than fall into the trap of verbal intimidation. Posted by Jagunlabi| 23.05.2008 10:08

igwe  Villager

# 10 If I'm not mistaken, I didn't hear Pat Utomi say anything substantial about the "Soludo Affair". All he did was spin. And all the rejoinders have joined him in the spin. Both sides want to show us how well versed they are in the Queen's mother tongue. Can we please return to the basics and really analyze this "Soludo Affair" as thoroughly as we can to know the different positions taken thereof? If Pat Utomi thinks that what Soludo did with the AFC $462m fund is excellent and therefore that instituting a probe into that (never mind that probes have become charades) is a distraction, then for the sake of the Nigerian public space he needs to furnish us with more explanations. Equally, those who think that Pat Utomi's stance on the issue is questionable should develop their case. The discourse as it is is degenerating into who is an intellectual and who is not. Whose language is more sophisticated and therefore more confusing and whose is not. Worse, who can subtly insult the other using some sophistry. Let us please return to the very, very important issue at stake here. Tijani's first article on the issue was to tell us that what Pat Utomi did was wrong without telling us why and Pat Utomi's two rejoinders have been to say that he was right without telling us why. Other articles and commentaries on the issue have followed the same tortured path. Did Soludo abuse the trust reposed in him by the way he (mis)managed the AFC $462m fund? Why and why not. That is the question! Enough of this sophistry! Ka Chineke mezie okwu! Posted by igwe| 23.05.2008 10:29

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