O. JASON OSAI argues that the state deserves more than peripheral attention
Following the Buhari/Idiagbon coup in December 1983 and the subsequent war against indiscipline (WAI), Engr Victor Masi was virtually declared the corrupt officer of the Federal Republic while President Shagari and Vice President Ekwueme were declared saints. I cried foul and opined that Masi was so treated because Rivers State is the underdog of Nigeria politics. I furthered that the Buhari/Idiagbon junta did not touch Shagari, a Fulani, neither did it touch Ekwueme, an Igbo, because both came from major ethnic groups that possess a vociferous voice in the affairs of the nation.
The sordid scenario prosaically painted above was poetically portrayed in my 1994 poem titled “A Disturbing Pattern”, which states that “My Victor…is anguished/The only one vanguished/At the kangaroo grill/In the central seat/While the rechristened Saul sent to Steel/Stole and walked down easy street”. Given my kinship with Masi, the view was seen as biased