Condolences to a class act, by Donu Kogbara

Many years ago, I used to go to the Mayr Clinic, a spa that overlooks a beautiful lake in Carinthia, a mountainous part of Austria. It’s a perfect place in which to rest, eat sparingly, focus on your health, go for long walks, inhale fresh Alpine air and be pampered.

The Mayr is a modest establishment and attracts people who want comfort, discretion and serenity rather than flashiness and attention. One such person was Queen Sonja of Norway. I was very impressed by her. I bumped into her a few times, and she would always smile warmly at me. On one occasion, she arrived at a counter where I was about to book a detox treatment. And more because she was much older than I was than because she was royalty, I stepped aside and asked her to please go first. But she graciously rejected my offer and insisted that I finish my own booking before she arranged her own booking.

She only had one escort – a female I assumed was a lady-in-waiting or plainclothes police officer. And though she probably doesn’t remember the Nigerian girl she met in Austria, I’ll never forget that brief encounter.

Coming from a country where one is frequently pushed out of the way by folks who were bush nonentities before they stole government money and acquired massive entourages – a country in which you can almost be slapped out of the way by aggressive VIP bodyguards whose Ogas and Madames jump queues and display naked power in the crudest possible ways – it was so refreshing to meet someone who did not want to take advantage of her extremely privileged position.

I have watched Queen Sonja from afar since then. She was born a “commoner” (her father was a businessman) but has always conducted herself impeccably, like someone who was a noblewoman from birth.

She has been a steadfast consort to her husband, King Harald V. They met when he was a young crown prince and she was a young graduate. Because she didn’t come from an aristocratic or royal family, they initially kept their relationship a secret from his parents till he came clean and informed his father, the previous King, Olav V, that he would remain a bachelor for life if he was not allowed to marry his Sonja. He chose well. She took to the job like a duck to water and has fulfilled her duties to the citizens of Norway with dignity. Last week, King Harald died, leaving his queen behind, aged 89. My heart goes out to her. They’d been married for nearly 58 years.

After 35 years on the throne, Harald will be remembered as a popular reformer who modernised the monarchy and served as a unifying figure when Norway faced tough challenges. According to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), he was very human – never afraid to show emotion, humour or vulnerability and was “down-to-earth, respected and beloved…the People’s King…During his reign, the Norwegian monarchy became more egalitarian and transparent about the royal family’s finances and health matters…”

 The late King Harald and Queen Sonja’s son, Haakon VIII has now replaced his father as monarch. I wish him a long and happy reign.

We are tired of this embarrassment!

Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), says that President Bola Tinubu should confront questions about his history rather than seek to withhold records of public interest.

Obi made this comment in a statement titled ‘A President and the Endless Question of His Past’ issued last Sunday, a day after Tinubu asked an American court to reject a motion seeking the release of records relating to investigations that allegedly relate to his past.

Tinubu, who joined the case as an intervenor, asked the US district court for the district of Columbia to allow the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to maintain redactions and withholdings in records already released.

 According to the Cable, an online publication: “The president’s lawyers argued that privacy provisions under US law protect the records and that the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) does not provide a basis for obtaining information about private individuals.”

When will this never-ending disgrace grind to a halt?

I said at the time of Tinubu’s elevation to the presidency that no serious nation should allow a man with so many question marks hanging over this head to become its head of state. Even if Tinubu is innocent – the famous $460,000 fine he paid the American authorities indicates that he was embroiled in murky activities, but I suppose that payment of a fine doesn’t necessarily mean that he was guilty of a major crime – he hasn’t cleared his name. What I don’t understand is this: Whether guilty or innocent of drug-related crimes, why doesn’t Tinubu just man up and come clean and tell us what really happened to him in Chicago?

If he admits that he made foolish or dangerous mistakes and expresses remorse, many Nigerians will forgive him. All this ducking and diving and trying to be smart and attempting to hide behind a finger and suppress “evidence” is not doing him any good! Secrecy simply maximizes suspicions about his character and track record. I reckon that if he quits trying to put a lid on this toxic drama, he will experience an enormous sense of relief and closure.

DONU’S WORLD

I have a YouTube channel. It’s called DONU’S WORLD.

https://youtube.com/@donukogbara?si=bBm_IPdFZ_wUyKYq

NIGERIA UNFILTERED – spicy commentaries on Naija issues – appears every Wednesday, while DONU’S WEEK appears on Fridays and is international as well as local and covers a mish-mash of soft and tough issues around my personal life, my work and my worldview. Two days ago, in

this week’s Nigeria Unfiltered video, I wondered why we set such a low bar for our leaders, why we rarely vigorously protest when they mess up and why smart men like Tinubu don’t even try to fulfil their potential, so they can go down in history as great leaders. Please check out my Donu’s World library (dating back to early 2024) on YouTube, plus the new videos I produce every week. I would love to hear your opinions and any constructive criticisms you may have

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