I’ve been reading the education minister’s press statements and media interviews regarding the ongoing ASUU strike, and I’ve been exhausted beyond description. He obviously has no plans to end the strike.
Now, I’m actually thinking beyond the strike. I think public commentators like Adamu Adamu who used to be clearheaded before they got into government but who have now become indistinguishable from the very people they used to hold to account owe the world an explanation for their volte face.
What does Adamu know now that that he didn’t know? Was he naïve before? Or is he just being unashamedly opportunistic now? Is he hamstrung by the system but can’t leave it because he needs it to survive?
What should critics like us know that we ignore about the business of governance?
These thoughts have been troubling me lately and have caused me to question everything.
If people see and tell the truth ONLY when they’re not in the arena of falsehood, when they’re not directly affected by what they see and say, or when they benefit personally from doing so, what’s even the point of truth telling?
Adamu Adamu has become such a scary caricature of what he used to represent it’s hard not to give up entirely.
*Kperogi is Professor of Journalism and Emerging Media at Kennesaw State University, Georgia, United States, and a notable columnist