LIFE OF A WORLD

This is how history is made. And the history he is making is his story.

You imagine it should be a simple, straightforward business.

Not so. At least not the way the media is going about it.

From Japan to Kenya, the stories have been piling. Some news correspondents unearthed Obama Senior's home and got "bicycle" stories out of a tiny Kenyan village.

The Obamamania smote Japan hard and fast.

In the US? Forget it! The madness is spreading fast beyond Washington. A column in Time magazine talked said, "There is a new economic stimulus plan, and his name is Barack Obama."

This is the sort of thing the media dies for. BBC, Sky, CNN, Fox, even C-Span all want to outdo each other. The gimmicks on-air are breathtaking, as is the banter between anchorpersons. CNN claimed it had the only DV camera overlooking the square where hundreds of thousands gathered to watch the inauguration. It also claimed it got exclusive access to a security camera showing the entire area around the Mall and the Capitol. The shots were so many, it split its onair screen in more than twenty places to accommodate all the shots.

In faraway Nigeria, its national broadcaster NTA--which has luckily gone international on cable--stationed an OB van to cover the event. The private-operated Channels Television is also on cable and is not about to be outdone. Terrestrial broadcaster Confluence Television promoed the inauguration hours before Obama even got out of bed and panelled guests to discuss the far-reaching implications.

Reports are already pushing responsibilties onto Obama's shoulders--from closing Guantanamo Bay and pulling America out of Iraq to ending the conflict in the Sudan and DR Congo.

Questions are flying through the airwaves. What no one is asking is whether Obama can chew what the world has bitten off for him.

After a change of guards, you expect that a new broom will be sweeping clean. Adams Oshiomole fits the bill. The man began gunning for the top job in Edo State long before the gubernatorial elections of April 2007.

Previously, as head of Nigerian Labour Congress, he led the working masses of Nigeria. He was the poster child of struggle and several longlasting strikes, the spokesperson sounding the drum on why Nigeria must address the welfare of its workers if the country wanted better service. And, of course, the story went, a Nigeria that couldn’t take care of its labour force couldn’t manage any other sector either.

Between the strikes and his vociferous lambastes, he rattled Olusegun Obasanjo’s presidency. He also garnered the liking of the entire country, half of whom were already wishing they had a leader like Oshiomole.

So when he announced he would run for governor in his home state, the euphoria naturally spread beyond the borders of Edo. It was a national delight, and millions of Nigerians keenly watched him campaign through the streets of Edo before finally going up against the well-seated powerful PDP that held Edo by the balls—some would call it a stranglehold.
Edos wanted to get rid of PDP, which in turn wanted nothing to do with then incumbent governor Lucky Igbinedion. Informed watchers said the governor was said to have disappointed his Bini people and shamed the state, so the party concluded that zoning the ticket—or outright handing it to an Esan, Oserheimen Osunbor—would placate the state. At the same time, there were plenty Edo who thought differently—that shooing Oshiomole into Osadebey Avenue would do the trick.

Oserheimen got power instead. Several tricks happened during voting and the battle to correct them lasted a good eighteen months in tribunals before a final verdict handed victory to Oshiomole.

Now he must distinguish between heading a labour union and running a state. He may not find it easy with a legislature filled with PDP lawmakers, but he must manage. Recently he sent in a list of eighteen commissioners. Five slots were reported reserved for his AC party (Labour Party got one) and the five annoyed his party for reasons it was too meagre. A lot more people were also angered—Tom Ikimi for one. A television reporter attached to the legislature explained that not everyone could expect satisfaction from the list. It was only a first round of appointments meant to reward some who stood by him throughout the legal battles—and any who didn’t might do better to expect nothing. Evidently, several state politicians fall into this category.

The test might go even further. Also recently, someone—I can’t recall who now—jokingly asked what Oshiomole would do if workers in Edo state went on strike. A TV producer who visited the state recently reported that the governor himself went round filling stations to check pump prices when stations refused to sell at normal prices following a spell of scarcity in December. She also reported the new governor as saying workers had no good reason to go on strike.

If he had said that when he led organised labour, Obasanjo would have had fewer troubles. And you have to wonder what the former president would say if a worker strike confronts this new governor, never mind that he prefers to be called comrade. But don't wonder too long, for the same question was put up on a breakfast television show.

The responses are as good as...