And Trump’s cookie will continue to crumble, by Hassan Gimba
This write-up is not new. It was first published on January 18, 2021. Considering his recent court case, I find it relevant to republish it today.
Those familiar with novels, especially before the advent of the internet, can remember a famous novel recalled in my headline. The book, The Way The Cookie Crumbles, first published in 1965, is one of the ninety or so thrillers written by Rene Lodge Brabazon Raymond, better known as James Hadley Chase.
Ordinarily, a cookie represents many things, ranging from the inanimate to the animate, but The Way The Cookie Crumbles in Chase’s novel means “how things worked or panned out.” It is a plot in the author’s imaginary millionaire’s playground called Paradise City. A sinister criminal called Ticky Edris was planning the “perfect heist.” It had taken him years to plan a bank robbery in broad daylight with only two accomplices: a smooth conman and a streetsmart, beautiful blonde.
As Ticky’s plan gets put into action, luck is on his side, but as people start dying and disappearing, Detective Tom Lepski picks up the trail. Suddenly, Ticky’s plan is in danger, and if there is one thing he didn’t count on, it is the personalities of the very people who are most vital to his plan. At the end of it, his planning came to nought, and the cookie crumbled.
The moral of the story is that good triumphs over evil in the end. No matter how far the hurricane of falsehood carries the people, the rain of truth will ultimately halt the hurricane’s borrowed time.
But then this is the nature of the world from the beginning of creation. The God who never sleeps makes it so. In the Holy Qur’an 5:100, believers were told, “Not equal are evil and the good, although the abundance of evil might impress you.” No matter how impressive or intimidating the toga of wrong looks, ultimately, like the cookie, it will crumble.
In this, there is a lesson for humanity—both leaders and the led—to ponder. The led must think good, live nobly, and see each other as brothers and sisters from different parents. He must wish no one bad, and he should be his brother’s keeper. The leader must lead based on justice, equity, and fairness. A leader of a people is like a father in a household. Just as a father should not be unjust to his children, a leader must shun unfairness toward those he leads.
It is bad leadership for a leader to treat particular people better than another or love another more than the other and show it clearly. It is wrong leadership for a leader to exult over the pains of the led or treat those in his class as humans and take others for granted. It is the leader’s responsibility to give his people a sense of belonging. How he leads can encourage followers to live his dreams: if noble, a nation is built, and if evil, a country is destroyed.
The founder of the Sokoto Caliphate, Sheikh Usman Dan Fodio, spoke of this. In his book, Bayan Wujubul-Hijrah alal Mukallafi, he wrote: “A kingdom (nation) can endure with unbelief, but it cannot endure with injustice.” Frederick Douglass, an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman, also spoke in a similar vein. He said: “Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organised conspiracy to oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.”
Any leader who governs tangentially to the above truism has no escape route but to come a cropper. The Holy Bible in Revelation 12.9 says, “And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old, who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.”
Donald Trump’s fall from grace is a lesson for not only leaders but humanity in general. Unwarranted hate based on religion or skin colour will not be left unpunished by the Creator of the man of colour.
However, some people may not know that Trump’s ascendancy is traceable to the 1850s split of the Whig Party (precursor of the Republican Party). It had a progressive side that elected Abraham Lincoln four years after that split, trouncing a regressive pro-slavery side. The beaten side seemed to have resurfaced with his Phoenix-like rise with his band of ‘rednecks’ to the presidency.
Therefore, it is not surprising he appeals to the slave masters’ sentiments—those who think they are the best of creation and have to take their country back from non-whites who, to them, are no more than slaves. Supremacists are shallow in thinking. That is why Trump and his mob forget that America is the land of the Red Indians, which their fugitive grandparents plundered from them by the bullet. No wonder some of the Capitol invaders dressed like Vikings that pillaged the coasts of Europe between the 8th and 10th centuries. No wonder the police department described the attack as ‘medieval.’
Blacks are scum, and Africa is a s**t hole in his supremacist ego. South Americans are criminals, and a wall is needed to stop them from entering America. Highly resourceful Asians are predators to be pauperised, and he must make fiercely independent Iranians, Cubans, Venezuelans, and North Koreans bend. Because of his hatred for the black race, he got consumed with destroying his more successful predecessor, Barack Obama. Were it in his hands, he would have obliterated Obama, the black man, from the face of the earth, and his legacies and memory wiped from the minds of mortals.
It was this unbridled hatred that made him issue the battle cry to like-minded Americans to “fight like hell,” warning them that if they did not, “you are not gonna have a country anymore.” The problem with any form of tribalism is that when the proponents are allowed to be themselves, they turn on themselves.
But tribalism is frowned upon by the Creator of tribes. Unlike even religion, which takes one to Elysium or the netherworld, no one can choose or change his tribe. You are what God wants you to be, so why fight over what was not even your choice but done by the Most Wise for a purpose? In chapter 49, verse 13 of the Holy Qur’an, God, in His Majesty, said, “O mankind! Lo! We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the noblest of you in the sight of Allah is the best in conduct; surely Allah is knowing, aware.”
When a person decides to be opinionated and go against the grain, that person starts fighting the Creator of man and tribes. While it is left for people to remain intransigent and continue telling God they know better or turn a new leaf based on love for all humanity, Trump’s ending is a lesson for all to learn that God does not tolerate rivalry. Our God is “a jealous God”. He rubbishes His rivals so much that they wish He had not created them to start with.
Today, Trump, in an attempt to play god—he is always the best and most perfect in everything—has become a pariah in a world that was his oyster yesterday. Nations, world leaders, cities—at least New York City—banks, social media platforms, corporate bodies, and responsible people have all turned their backs on him. He has set records, albeit ignoble ones, and broken some others so that mothers in the future would caution their sons not to behave like him to avoid ending up like him.
Apart from becoming the first American President to be impeached twice—a new all-time low record—he is among 12 American presidents who could not get more than a term. He is also among six others who contested for a second term but couldn’t win it. He is again one of five in the history of America’s 58 presidential elections to have lost the popular vote but became president through the backdoor offered by the Electoral College. He is also among the only three who lost popular and electoral votes twice. You see, if democracy were a game of numbers, our man was just a pretender because he never won an election.
Yet this kind of man has an immense following. But so were Hitler and Mussolini. He has taken hold of his party by the jugular, and sadly, it has lost in places it has been winning for years. While the veil is lifting from his supporters’ eyes in America, with some crying for pardon or committing suicide, his Nigerian supporters are further digging in. As if afflicted with a slave mentality, they will choose Trump over their fellow African, Obama. They will hail the racist, who didn’t want a Nigerian to head the WTO, over Joe Biden, who has so far appointed three—and counting—of their countrymen into his administration.
They mimic Trump even in speech and writing. Coming from a background that always sees village people, witches, and wizards as those hindering their prosperity, they claim Trump is a saint fighting the Illuminati! They shuffle around Ajegunle or Surulere, Aba or Kano, everywhere they are, in bathroom slippers, wearing three-quarter-length trousers, hustling to survive to the next day. Yet you hear them calling Joe Biden “sleepy Joe” in mimicry of their Illuminati fighting deity. They can insult their parents over the gadfly. Those trying to stop him from bumbling are hated by them. If they could have their way, Nancy Pelosi would not be breathing today.
Between November last year and the first week of January this year, they were all over the social media space. They were the ones shouting, “We have won Pennsylvania; the Supreme Court will declare us; wait and see.” Or that they had burned the midnight incense for victory, behaving as if they could command God. Their self-delusion makes me recall Musa, a Manchester United supporter in Damaturu. He will look at me in the face and say, “We will buy Ronaldo” or “We will win the League Cup.” We!
Trumpism will remain in America because of the supremacists who see “others” taking over “our America.” But the Republican Party will regenerate and, in doing so, do away with its Retrumplicans if it hopes to survive. As for the Nigerian Trumpideens, they will soon find another renegade to latch on to.
By and large, Trump’s stormy life is a book written by God for people, especially leaders, to take heed and learn lessons. No matter how long it takes, no matter the applause, just as life on earth is temporary, so are the trappings of office.
God, the Ever Wise and Ever Strong, can bless any man He feels like with all blessings and place him among the stars, high above all others, to show that only He can. After all, Trump did not win the election in the strict sense of the word the first time, but God gave it to him, and his opponents accepted His will, saying, “May thy will be done, oh God!” God does everything for a purpose. If the man acknowledges the Lord’s favours and does good, he does good for himself. If he does bad, he does it to himself too.”
But the Creator of man always yanks the rug of blessings from under the feet of the narcissist leader who loves people or hates them based on tongue and, as a result, causes division among them. His curse will visit them either in power or out of it. And like the cookie, they will crumble in humiliation. And the people will witness it until another comes on stage. It is cyclical—the history of the world.
Hassan Gimba is the publisher and editor-in-chief of Neptune Prime.
Precisely 365 days today at about 6. 45am, a telephone call I first received came from the home of Alaba Oluwaseun Lawson. My heart skipped…and listening to the voice from other end of the phone, It was sad news… Mama has gone to the Lord.
Honestly, I was immediately confused and still on my Jalamia, (Pyjamas) I drove straight to her private residence at Quarry Road in Abeokuta. Reality dawned on me on arrival and I couldn’t hold back tears which rolled down my face and I became speechless.
It was a Saturday I used to appear on live radio program on fresh F.M between 9-11am. When I regained my consciousness, I put a call across to management of the station, that I can’t make it because I was bereaved. As I was still trying to comport myself and further regain my strength as a man, there were torrential phone calls from my colleagues in the pen profession, knowing that I was her media adviser, trying to confirm authenticity of the sad news.
I had no choice I had to issue a press statement early enough to avoid speculations and wrong news dissemination. I must confess in my career as journalist of over three decades that was my first time I will be writing a press statement on a demise of any individual.
I must again openly say this, late Iyalode Alaba Lawson, Iyalode of Yorubaland, I knew for over 30 years was my great benefactor and I will continue to appreciate her even in death. She was there for me all time, a reliable mother, a sister and aunty from another womb.
I have no regret knowing her, if there is opportunity to keep relationship in heaven, I will keep that relationship with Alaba Oluwaseun Lawson (Omo Jiboku Tanatana). Its exactly a year today you left this sinful world to rest in the arms of the Lord. The legacies you left behind speak volume. I pray you continue to rest in perfect peace. Adieu
Prince Dimeji Kayode-Adedeji is founder of Penpushing Media and Media Adviser to late Iyalode of Yorubland, Iyalode Alaba Lawson
I saw Makkah and wept; you would, too, by Hassan Gimba
My recent visit to the holy city was the second time I was there, courtesy of the benevolence of Honourable Mai Mala Buni, the governor of my state, Yobe. The first was when I was practically wheeled there as a result of a debilitating illness that required first-class medical treatment.
Gimba
The recent visit was for a follow-up treatment, and happily, my doctors attested to my improved health condition.
The governor has made it a state policy to provide free medical services to anyone who can come to Yobe State. To that end, he has upgraded the state health system to among the best in the country and, most likely, the best in the North, as attested to by no less a person than the Katsina State Governor, Alhaji Umar Dikko Radda, in an interview with the BBC Hausa Service.
Where the medical solution for an indigene can only be found outside the country’s shores, Governor Buni’s administration has implemented a policy to facilitate that opportunity for those who apply and receive approval from a competent medical advisory committee.
Yet, in both instances, I wept for Nigeria, my country. Yes, it is possible, desirable, and acceptable for a Muslim to shed tears, especially in the presence of the Ka’aba, driven by longing and love for Allah and the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad (SAW).
However, my tears were for Nigeria and the feeling, or fear, that we were not getting it right. I found myself questioning whether we might have lost direction and are just groping in the dark with evil lurking at every turn.
First and foremost, there is no fear of insecurity whatsoever in the place. There was a time I was at the hospital until 1 a.m., sensing that I might have to stay the night due to various tests being carried out on me. So, I asked my son, who was with me, to return to the hotel, about 70 kilometres from the hospital, to bring some medication for me.
I felt no fear or doubt in allowing him to return to the hotel alone in a taxi, Bolt, or Uber ride that late at night because I knew no evil was lurking about. In this place, you can go to bed with your doors wide open.
In Makkah, it is common to see a motorist park in front of a shop, leave the engine running with the air-conditioning on—which means the key is in the ignition—and go in to buy necessities, returning to drive off after loading their purchases in the boot.
There is even a strong assurance that any person who stole the car, or anything for that matter, would be apprehended quickly. Not only does a criminal never remain free after a crime, but their justice system is a real definition of justice because it is meted out appropriately.
Everything works almost perfectly there. The hospital staff carry out their duties without expecting any appreciation from patients, and the patients themselves do not feel pressured to offer anything in return.
Regardless of one’s ideological, religious, or political beliefs, one cannot deny that the welfare of citizens is paramount in their leaders’ policies. A good example of this was when the Kingdom’s leadership responded to the global increase in oil prices, which particularly affected oil-producing nations and pushed up the cost of imported goods like food.
Among many other far-reaching measures to ease citizens’ lives, the government imported essential items, stabilising prices. This stability extends to their currency as well: it holds its ground against the dollar or euro. Unlike the naira, which trembles before them, the value of the Saudi Riyal six months ago is the same as today.
I witnessed fully air-conditioned pedestrian crossings with lifts at both ends! I thought to myself that in Nigeria, such facilities would be turned into makeshift homes or places for selling wares and for beggars. That is if the lifts and air-conditioning units had not already been cannibalised! Do we even have working air-conditioning units in key public offices and facilities, let alone for pedestrians?
Only a benevolent leadership imbued with empathy would contemplate putting in place such facilities to make life easy for citizens. And so we ask, can such edifices be erected in Nigeria by its leaders in the first place?
But then, one must ask, “Why?” And once you find the answer, you too will cry for the country as I did.
This is because there is a significant difference between Nigeria’s and Saudi Arabia’s leadership styles. One is focused on deliberately withholding what makes life easier, while the other prioritises making life better for its citizens.
When people understand that nothing that makes life worth living will be made available to them by those with authority over them, they lose their sense of self-worth. Anyone in this state can descend into moral depravity. Furthermore, they often scramble to meet their needs by any means necessary. This is why we see people, like locusts, descending upon warehouses, broken-down trucks carrying foodstuffs, and scooping petrol from fallen tankers, even though they know they are just a hair’s breadth from horrible death.
What is the way out? Everything boils down to leadership. Our leaders must recognise that sauce for the goose is also sauce for the gander. No one will begrudge them their ₦160 million SUVs if ordinary citizens can easily and affordably move from point A to point B.
No one would care about their salaries and allowances as long as putting food on our tables does not feel like a struggle. Most importantly, we must feel secure in our land and no crime should be overlooked or criminals allowed to roam the towns or forests freely.
Hassan Gimba, anipr, is the publisher and editor-in-chief of Neptune Prime.
“The trade of governing has always been monopolised by the most ignorant and the most rascally individuals of mankind.” — Thomas Paine (1737-1809).
Last week, we examined how certain leaders tend to overlook their inadequacies while scrutinising the failings of others. We likened them to individuals whose cerebral configurations had been exchanged with those of donkeys upon their ascension to leadership. Consequently, one may never succeed in restoring their cognitive faculties, no matter how fervently one endeavours to reboot their senses.
One such leader endeavoured to persuade his audience that Nyesom Wike’s appointment as a minister in an opposition party government was not an aberration, citing the precedent of 1999 when President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed several All Peoples Party (APP) chieftains to his cabinet.
In 1999, Obasanjo’s actions were predicated on the belief that politics should not manifest as a winner-takes-all scenario. Such a political ethos, whereby the defeated are entirely excluded while the victors reap all benefits, is a principal catalyst for political upheavals, particularly as no single party holds a monopoly on the most capable or patriotic intellects.
Thus, he formally invited the APP to nominate representatives for his cabinet, a hardly novel gesture. Two decades prior, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, as President of Nigeria under the National Party of Nigeria, extended a similar invitation to the other four political parties. At that time, the political landscape was composed of five parties: the NPN (which triumphed at the federal level), Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), Chief Nnamdi Azikiwe’s Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP), Alhaji Ibrahim Waziri’s Great Nigeria Peoples Party (GNPP), and Alhaji Aminu Kano’s Peoples Redemption Party (PRP).
The pertinent question is, was the PDP officially asked to nominate any members into the current federal government, or did the President pick those who worked to help him snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in their states? This is why Wike is the only publicly known PDP member in the government.
It is either ignorance or sheer malice for an individual, particularly a governor, to excuse such an anomaly on the grounds that “Obasanjo” acted similarly without acknowledging the differing contexts surrounding each occurrence. Indeed, one can hardly wonder why Nigeria finds itself in its current predicament, with individuals at the helm who exhibit a disconcerting lack of political history or awareness of contemporary affairs.
This type of leadership, characterised by scatterbrained figures devoid of comprehension regarding Nigeria’s historical trajectory and indifferent to its future direction, has severely undermined the integrity of our nation through the degradation of its institutions.
Consequently, these leaders routinely subvert the Constitution and enlist like-minded, morally bankrupt lawyers and judges in their endeavours to obliterate the nation’s moral compass. The Independent National Electoral Commission and security agencies, too, become complicit instruments in their hands.
I propose that our foremost course of action should be to uphold the Constitution as long as it remains in force, for it ought to serve as our grundnorm as a nation. To realise this aim, it may be prudent to incorporate a special module on morality and patriotism into our law school curriculum.
There exist instances where the principle of “innocent until proven guilty” should not apply, and lawyers would do well to disavow such notions, irrespective of the financial allure of a brief.
A struggling, average citizen who transforms into a multi-billionaire and establishes vast businesses after a few years as a minister, ought not to be permitted to deceive the nation with claims of that “innocence,” as we have frequently witnessed.
The framers of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria dreamed of a morally upright nation with leaders guided by the fear of God and their consciences. This is why they always ended with “So help me, God.”
When they said that a legislator who defects, for example, loses his seat, the issue of court pronouncements over such was not even envisioned because the framers thought they were addressing people who would come to office with integrity, conscience and the fear of God.
However, it is so sad to see party men who owe their ascendancy in politics to their party turn round and stab the party, not in the back as people of old with shame used to do, but in the chest looking eyeball to eyeball with the victim (in this case party). These days, we see people who have placed their inordinate ambitions and interests above those of the nation and its people. These people turn a blind eye to truth and decorum, glamorising undemocratic and progressive acts detrimental to democracy.
But the way we are behaving in this country, one day, a person will just be sleeping at home without participating in any electoral process but will go to the court and be declared the winner. And INEC will produce the result to back that up and the courts will affirm it with some clever verdict.
Yes. Not long ago, Tony Okocha, a former chief of staff to Rotimi Amaechi, former governor of Rivers State, confessed in an interview with Channels Television that he, on several occasions, wrote election results in his office, handed it over to INEC and that result was announced as valid. And the security agencies have not grabbed him for confessing to a crime!
To get it right, we, especially those in authority, must remove the log from our eyes and strive to make the Constitution our guiding principle.
Hassan Gimba, anipr, is the publisher and editor-in-chief of Neptune Prime.