By Kayode Adejumo-Bello
The protegè who has no political clout has the mentor to thank for his rise and rise.
The one who should be the puppet is now the puppeteer.
Now the fate of both the protegè and his mentor is in the hand of the puppeteer. The puppeter was the creation of the mentor and his motley crowd. Irony!
As it is, the mentor may have to consume his protege on one hand and de-construct the puppeteer. The stage is set for an epic! It is winner takes all.
The protegè has over the years amassed experience. He has become for two (2) tenures the leader. He wined and dined-even though using a long spoon with the puppeteer while the mentor was out of the door. At the door, the mentor can only eavesdrop on conversations, salivate at the sumptuous banquet and roast in deprivation expecting a greater tomorrow. The greater tomorrow is now at the door, knocking!
The protegè must wish and work for the continuation of the daily buffeting for another eight (8) years; with him now more properly seated at the head of the table…
While the mentor must break down the partitioning and dislodge both the protegè and wait for it; the puppeteer.
The mentor has clout, he has lucre and sufficient bullshit. But he is feeble and some say he is odious. But he is feared and loved in equal measure.
The protegè must become his own man. There comes a time when a man must let go of the umbilical cord. Willy-nilly. At any rate, the mentor is no longer happy with him? He must now get the buy-in of the puppeteer to retire the mentor. It is the battle of his life! And his back is already against the wall.
Like in the calculus of BODMAS there must be a strategic and systematic engagement of the forces at interplay. Those in the brackets must be engaged in a way to either engineer or debar a division. It is the carefulness or otherwise of the operation at this point that will produce a multiplication, an addition or even a subtraction.
A lot will be eliminated. Quite some will be subtracted. I am very, very afraid.
The puppeteer is aloof. Or so he pretends to be. That is his forever game. ‘Being for nobody, being for everybody’. But he is more interested that the duo. He will look to use the one against the other; to subtract or eliminate. He has no scruples. It could be either or neither! The puppeteer is seeking his own perpetuation and the continued domination of his tribe over the tribes.
The puppeteer is salivating. The cards are falling in places for him. He has made sure both the protegè and his mentor must clash. He has only not made up his mind which to annihilate, eliminate or substitute. He will; as a matter of course. Whosai?
He may also just have to keep looking. The die is cast!
This is the set path except the mentor decides to provide his back once again for his protegè to climb to the head of the table. The mentor has done this before and he is capable of doing it again. That is a strength of his make up.
For all we care, he may actually have commissioned the ‘mission’ for that ‘mission’. Great man.
And what if the protegè decides to assist open the banquet room for his mentor?
The sacrifice will be huge on either side. It will be heavier than the proverbial propitiation carried by Igun the mysterious bird. For it is the choice between BEING and NOTHINGNESS. Making the sacrifice however is sure to bring a cool shower of refreshing downpour. It will bring rain. The rain will usher in comfort and hope. It will bring new harvest.
The sacrifice must be made, otherwise the drought continues. That drought will be so intense it will consume the protegè, the mentor and maybe even the puppeteer. It will consume the banquet hall and the feast.
Then we may all have to start all over again…
*Adejumo-Bello, is a Professional Biographer and Creative Writer, Member, Biographer International Organisation.
