Mikail Mumuni: UNILAG and the ranting of a megaphone

I read the tediously negative rejoinder titled “Rasheed Ojikutu: The mindset of a hatchet man at Unilag” by Mikail Mumuni, who claimed to be the media adviser to Dr. Wale Babalakin in The Guardian of Monday, October 5, 2020. It is supposed to be a response to my piece of September 24, 2020, titled “Wale Babalakin: The Pitiable Angle.” What comes to mind immediately is the grotesque picture of a man struggling for life after been hit by a speeding vehicle.

The writer waggled his legs violently with excruciating pain like the severed tail of an injured gecko before the final exit of its ebbing life. Transparent manifestation of stress and misperception was glaring in the wrinkled face of Mumuni’s wobbly presentation.

Like the Yoruba would say, “eniyankiiba obo jawura” literally meaning “a human being should avoid playing pranks with a monkey.” Ordinarily, one should not exalt the rejoinder that is largely devoid of reasons with a reply but one owes the reading public some explanation in a situation where mischief over-rides decorum and common sense. Therefore, I must submit as follows:

Mikail Mumuni has justified the premise of my argument as contained in my article of September 25 that these detractors of the University of Lagos are dogmatic, unreasonable, selfish individuals who relish in cheap blackmail tactics which are against the norms and tenets of a decent people in any society.

It seems Mumuni’s chest of credible information is empty, otherwise, he would have been privy to my pedigree as a lecturer and consequently, would have cautioned himself in questioning my service delivery at the University of Lagos and beyond. The Yoruba says: Enitikoniirueniko le moiyieni literally meaning “you rarely value the quality of a man, if you don’t have his kind or type in your family”

By expending a fifth of the entire rejoinder in reproducing verbatim the story contained in my article and concluding with his own sentiment and emotion rather than the logical inference derivable therefrom, Mumuni has shown that he is incapable of comprehending stories in a simple mathematical sequence.

The title of Mumuni’s article speaks volumes about his orientation and the group he represents. The fact that he is an intellectual midget does not mean that a great community like the University of Lagos is in his minimal cerebral bracket. Otherwise, how on earth would he have assumed that great professors of the University of Lagos will speak through a proxy? Moreover, one wonders what he meant by “hatchet man”? In the last line of his article, Mumuni introduced himself as “….media adviser to Dr Wale Babalakin.” One can then conclude that with his writing which embarked on cheap blackmail, name-calling, and character assassination rather than the fact of the subject in contention, he has shown that he is paid to do a dirty job. He is the one hired to do the hatchet job.

In this regard, readers should refer to the following references on the meaning of the word “hatchet-man.” According to Merriam Webster Dictionary, a hatchet man is “….writer specializing in invective or a person hired to perform underhanded or unscrupulous tasks (as to ruin someone’s reputation)”.Also, the Oxford Dictionary defined the word as “A person who writes fierce attacks on others or their work.” Is this a case of the pot calling kettle black? It is insulting to matchmake me to a hatchet job for those who were probably in school when I assumed the position of a lecturer at the University of Lagos. This includes his paymaster.

Name-calling and insults from that source will never spring surprises because they are not only true to type but are a manifestation of defective upbringing, lack of respect for elders, and inadequate home training. It must be recorded that the lies and distortion of facts are natural with the group that Mumuni represents. After all, institutions like the Committee of Vice-Chancellors, the Senate of the University of Lagos, the Alumni Association of UNILAG of whom Wale Babalakin is a member have earlier been insulted and mischievously attacked, re-Christened, and called unprintable names.

What surprised me is the fact that as the Chairman of the Board, Distance Learning Institute, University of Lagos, I was knowing for the first time and on the pages of a newspaper that the account of the institute is under probe. A further confirmation that as I have always noted, those morbid minds will employ the most unorthodox method to cover their decadent lives. Moreover, Mumuni’s principal is not known to credit efficiency and hard work, otherwise, the Distance Learning Institute and its operators ought to be given a warm pat on the back rather than senseless, baseless, and frivolous allegation based on delirium rather than reality

The bell that I need to ring to Mumuni and his cohort is my readiness to fight back through the law court if it becomes necessary to do so either now or in the not too distant future.

I hope Mumuni will be magnanimous enough to acknowledge that the noise and brouhaha created by his principal in the university have done more damage than good to the environment on one hand and the name of the university on the other hand. I standby every letter on my message and no amount of intimidation can make me do a detour.

Like Fela Anikupapo said, agadagodo mi o silowo re. O le paeni mi de literally meaning “you cannot gag me.”
Ojikutu wrote from Faculty of Management Sciences, University of Lagos.