By M.O Ene
The 1983 Nwobodo v. Onoh contest was crude, rude, and brutal. Parents were not spared. It was vile and violent, as in the Ikemba Front v. Jim Vanguard shootout at Nkpor Junction. As a young JJC been-to, I detested calumny in partisan politics. I thought that was the lowest, until Uche Ekwunife and the Soludos took smuttiness to the sewers last year!
In 1988, Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock called PM Margaret Thatcher “a liar” to her face. In parliament. I was gobsmacked.
As I documented in “American Abracadabra,” the USA Decision 2016 was full of brutal banters and trash talks. Senator Graham Lindsey said, “My party has gone batshit crazy,” after Trump shared his cellphone number on television. Trump demeaned Senator Marco Rubio as “Little Marco.” Unlike Lindsey, Marco stayed on Trump as white on rice, with innuendos about the size of his manhood, mocked his spelling and social media habits, and alluded that Trump pee-ed on himself at a commercial break during a televised debate!
It did not start in 2016. In 1800, Thomas Jefferson took it to John Adams: the vice president v. the president. They used surrogates. Jefferson’s hacks insulted Adams as having a “hideous hermaphroditical character, which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman.” Adams’ proxies retaliated and called Jefferson “a mean-spirited, low-lived fellow, the son of a half-breed Indian squaw, sired by a Virginia mulatto father.”
Wait a minute: did America have its first native–American/colored president in Jefferson? Wow! From these expo exchanges emerged the infamous story of Jefferson fathering the children of his wife’s half-black, half-sister Sally Hemings (all of whom were enslaved until after his death).
These gladiators make up. Even Biden who had insulted Obama in 2008 became his VP. Rubio is now Trump’s secretary of state. Obama chats cheerfully with Trump, who has maligned him repeatedly.
The monetized minions melt into the dark dungeons of history, nameless, faceless, and shameless. All is forgotten, but not Michelle Obama. And the Bushes: For Trump taking a swipe at their matriarch, former First Lady Barbara Bush, they did not forgive nor forget. In my time, a mere mention of a man’s mother will force an apology kiss to Mother Earth!
Nigerian politicians give the impression that all is fair in politics. They cultivate a tradition of radical rudeness that has no place in social intercourse. Imagine President Tinubu bantering loose words with former VP Atiku. VP Shettima lowered his steeze by calling Peter Obi “Giringori” in public.
A certain fellow was raving rudely about the supposed ancestors of a 2023 gubernatorial candidate. In 2026, the now-governor will determine the political fate of his younger sibling. He won’t be Rubio-lucky, neither will the rude Renos and budding Bwalas in Enugu.
STOP NOW: Let the family of the fat frog format its feet; let the siblings of the stinking shrew shorten its snout. Debate issues, not individuals.
Edechekwee m!
@OkaaMoe
04.24.2026