Anyone who has been following with keen interest, some happenings in the country in recent weeks, in particular, the tawdry rape allegation against pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo of the Commonwealth of Zion Assembly (COZA) by Busola, wife of popular musician, Timi Dakolo, and the infamous video in which Senator Elisha Abbo, representing Adamawa North, was seen assaulting a nursing mother, identified as Bibra, who works at an adult sex toy shop in Abuja, may be close to heartbreak, and may be tearfully compelled to ask: What has gone wrong with our humanity? Yes, from every angle you look at these two revealed, horrifying and astonishing episodes, they are by every measure, narratives stocked with momentum of classic drama – all driving toward a conclusion that makes any sensible human being to feel inevitably, so sad and depressed.
Certainly, there’s a quirk in the personalities of these two men now in the eye of the storm that gives a rare, candid look at their public life. In the fullness of time, I hope to offer my candid opinion on the Busola rape saga. But, today, my focus is on Senator Elisha Abbo’s self-inflicted travails and his apology. Having watched the video several times, this is an inexcusable misdemeanor for which public apology cannot be enough, even if accepted and offence forgiven by all those he appealed to. Since the senator’s assault on the young woman became public knowledge, the floodgate has opened of his other trysts and grave allegations from other victims who have come forward to narrate what they and their families have suffered in the hands of the 4-year old senator. Eunice Tochukwu Ojukwu, the senator’s former sister-in-law, and Mr. Owolabi Olumuyiwa Tayo, have told Saturday Sun at the weekend, their chilling experiences. Tochukwu Ojukwu is the younger sister to the senator’s late wife, Eucharia, who allegedly died of HIV/AIDS in 2013, while Owolabi used to be Abbo’s long time photographer until recently when they split, because, according Owolabi, the senator refused to pay him his money for work he did for him.
Senator Abbo may have realised rather too late, the broad implications of his emotional outbursts on his defenseless victim, while the policeman attached to him looked on. His media handlers must have advised him, and indeed, drafted that apology statement, believing that was the best thing he could do in the immediate circumstance to mitigate the seriousness of the offence. It might be a sign of contrition, and perhaps an effort at making restitution. Again, that will not undo the damage and the psychological trauma on his victim. Let’s review the public apology he tendered last week and put it in context. He said, “it is with a deep sense of remorse and responsibility” that he profoundly apologize to all Nigerians, the Senate, the Peoples Democratic Party, his family, friends as well as our mothers, the Nigerian women”. He also apologize to his victim, Bibra, and her family for his action towards her, which he admitted has brought “immense discomfort to our body polity”.
He claimed he has never been “known or associated with such actions in the past”.Really? Tochukwu Ojukwu and Owolabi Tayo’s accounts say otherwise. Nonetheless, said regardless of what happened prior to his combustible behaviour, he is sorry, and pleads that “all men and women of good conscience should have the heart to forgive him, quoting the common saw, “to err is human, to forgive is divine”. He reiterated that he is seeking forgiveness from God and all those who feel offended by his action. Though, all bad misdemeanors are often “All too Human”, to borrow the title of George Stephanopoulos’s book, his firsthand account of human foibles and frailty in high places, with particular focus on former US President, Bill Clinton, whom he served for four years as advisor, a future without forgiveness will not be good for society.
However, forgetting what Sen. Abbo did that fateful day at the Toy shop will take a pretty long time. But he may have achieved something by his public apology regardless of the outcome of the investigations by the Police and the Senate. First, his public apology two main purposes: Institutional and moral purposes. The institutional purpose it may serve stems from the fact that he owned up to committing the assault. Secondly, the moral purpose is not only that he admitted his grave error but has asked for forgiveness and redemption from God and all.
Let’s see what psycho-historians have said concerning such an offence and the apology tendered by Abbo. According to Aaron Lazare, apologies have become a tactic public officials often use these days in an attempt to put behind them, at “minimal cost, the errors of their ways”. Also, Nicholas Tavichis in his book entitled, “Mea Culpa: A Sociology of Apology and Reconciliation”, has provided ample reasons why Sen. Abbo decided to take this course of action. Tavichis says that public apology speaks to acts that cannot be undone, but cannot go unnoticed without compromising the current and future relationship, especially when the public officials fingered in the acts calculate that staying silent or outright denial or lies concerning the offence in question threatens their future of remaining in that office. You can now see why Abbo’s handlers crafted that apology statement for him.
But, none of this removes the shame and shamelessness of what this senator has brought upon himself. Would he resign as Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria? I don’t think so, because a man who could do what he did and other unwholesome things he is alleged to have done to his late wife, and others, clearly does not have moral fibre to look into his own soul and quit. Look closely at his trajectories from how he became a senator. Check out the company that he keeps as a political jobber to some high-profile politicians in the country who engaged him as a consultant that brought him hefty monetary fortunes.
From what we have read of his political ascendancy, he had a close-knit, almost secretive group, much of his pals didn’t have much class or talent. Their philosophy is to win at any cost, and they truly believe that nice guys finish last. The truth of the matter is that, there are many of senator Elisha Abbos in our politics today. It’s just that many of them are yet unmasked. It speaks volumes about the nature of our pork barrel politics, about politicians who lack class and talent, little intelligence and energy, no glamour, no charisma nor radiance that make people glow when they are in their company, no moral strength to be great leaders.
The only currency of influence they have is filthy wealth and raw power. They ought to represent animals and not humankind. But, knowing that money is the lifeblood of politics, that happens to be the only arena they can excel. In the parliament many of them do little, ever learning, and not coming to the knowledge of lawmaking but earning so much than the best performers in the country. We blame our politics and our constituents.
The heart of the message from the misdemeanor of the young senator from Adamawa North is not to allow it become a kind of virus that may assail our political space. Nigerian politics and the character and conduct of those elected to serve leave little crumbs for comfort. But, the unbecoming conduct of the senator which heaves with hysteria, will only serve as a good lesson if truly others of his ilke and learn from his mistake, that politics matters when it is used to advance the more nobler goals of the society. Altogether, our politics is in dire need of good and honest men and women of noble virtues who know what public office is all about. If we don’t learn from the mistakes and missteps of Sen. Elisha Abbo, perhaps worse things will happen in the future. That, I believe, is the apprehension of many Nigerians.