Battle of wits: An appeal for wisdom

On December 7 1941, the imperial Japanese military launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbour, Hawai in the United States of America. Within a twinkling of an eye, they virtually wreaked the whole of the US pacific fleet sending 2390 lives to an early grave and wounding several hundreds more. The battle of Pearl Harbour was a decisive win for the Japanese. Indeed, the US stood little chance in this battle.

However on December 8 1941, as a direct consequence of this brutal attack, the US which had been on the fence in WWII up to this time declared war on Japan formally entering World War II. And on September 2 1945, standing on the 60,000 ton, 3-football-field long, twenty stories high battleship – USS Missouri – General Macarthur accepted the unconditional surrender of the Japanese, ending WWII and giving the US the last laugh. The Japanese won the battle of Pearl Harbour but lost the war badly! The battle of Pearl Harbour, with hindsight, was after all an unwise one.

Life at all levels is a war. A war is made up of several battles. It is often a tragic error to pick your battles unwisely. There are some battles you can afford to lose voluntarily in order to keep your eyes on the bigger picture which is the war! Beating a retreat in some battles may yield some strategic benefits. Conversely, winning some battles may result in painful losses. The Japanese saw this first-hand!

In the light of the foregoing, one wonders what strategic benefits the face-off between the senate and the CG Customs, Hameed Ali would yield to Nigeria. Or what benefits will accrue to Nigeria by the current imbroglio over the confirmation of the Ag EFCC chairman, Ibrahim Magu. It is my opinion that Nigeria stands to gain nothing from these needless wars, irrespective of who wins in the end. These are classical cases of battles chosen unwisely. Worst still while these battles rage, the necessary war to reposition Nigeria is being lost.

Get more on these battles later on this space. But in the meantime, can we all shout it loud and clear, using every means possible and tell these protagonists that Nigeria is burning while they are playing and we can no longer hold our peace, that is where there was one anyway!