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| Oba Akanni, pictured pre and post grief |
Ado-odo is NOT a suburb.
This is sentence that gave me a see-through illumination about the cycle of
cogitation I've had on the recent shocking occurrence which involved the
broad-day beating and stripping of a graded king, Oba Akanni, the king of Ado-odo,
situated in a quite industrial area of Ogun state, Nigeria. Ado-odo is not
a suburb.
In both ancient and modern-day Yoruba land, and to an extension, in some parts
of Africa or even parts of the world, but more significantly in Yoruba culture,
a king is a demi-god. None of his actions, whether good or bad, can be queried;
all forms obeisance and fearful reverence accorded only to him by all his
subjects. No one can accost him! It is even known that if in a capricious
onslaught of insatiable crave, the king decides to hijack any of his subjects'
possession, whatsoever it is, a land or even a wife, it is just taken with
sheer nonchalance and without query. The king can eat his cake and have it and
he cannot be touched by anyone. This fearful reverence instilled in the
subjects stems from the gothic gospel that the king has got the backing of the
gods of the land, and so, anyone who attempts to stymie any of his actions will
suffer fatal consequences. But, on the 15th of April, 2013, there was a stray
from all these in Ado-odo, when a number of Oba Akanni's subjects, stripped and
pummelled "their" king in broad day light. It was such a disgraceful
cynosure to the extent that when I saw the picture of the stripped king, lying
hapless and pride-less on floor in his blood-riddled panties, I thought that it
would have been better if he were just shot in the skull, (thinking) cynically
though. The subjects did this because they had grievances against him.
I don't want to delve into the rhetoric of what caused what and what, rather, I simply want to mould a picturesque facsimile of the whole drama, that will serve as the mirror through which this article is seen. The facsimile behind the king-beating facade is this:
In the third year of Oba Akanni's reign, a handy number of his aggrieved
subjects, defied all odds of traditional hoodoo and even judicial injunction,
to reject "their" king; they debased him by practically beating him
openly in the streets, to loudly announce their grievances against the king. It
is a straightforward story of rejection of oppression with indignation.
This act might have happened in Ado-odo, but it's a microcosm of what is imminent in our Nigeria, most prophetically in 2015 Nigeria. Mind you, I'm not a prophet of doom, I'm just trying to temper reality with sincerity. It isn't a farce that Nigerians are already excessively aggrieved. And if the subjects of Oba Akanni couldn't wait further than three years to defiantly do the unthinkable, I guess we'd all agree that after 16 long years of enduring this nascent democracy, it isn't a prophecy of doom to expect some calculated revolt in 2015 Nigeria, a moment where there will arise another chance to birth another round of democratic "rule". ( or better still, democratic GOVERNANCE!).
If there is an era where the gauge of grievances of the average Nigerian has increased geometrically, it's unarguably this luck-trot-out Jonathanic era. And if there would come a time when these same Nigerians would want to right the wrong of their shallow-mindedness that made them entrust their fate in the hands of luck, that time is 2015, and there are undeniable signs around that it would be a defiant course, one that supersedes any of its kind, one that will give a "promo-copy" tag to even the Arab spring. All you need to do, dear reader, is to listen to the frenetic jingle of the lingo of tension around, and you'll agree that this is neither a hype nor an over-assessment. Nigerians are grieving and giggling, whining and weaning, suffering and smiling; but are also now pressure-piled more than ever.
To say that this present government has performed so under par is an understatement. But, before I rush to cast the first stone towards Jonathanism, let me address the 'moth in the eye' of we Nigerians. Shallow-mindedness is our curse, reprobate cheer-leading is our bane. Majority of us lack depth. Here, I choose to state a Ralph Waldo Emerson's quote which said " Shallow men believe in luck, wise and strong men in cause and effect" . The truth is simply that Nigerians themselves voted-in this government, believe it or not. Prior to the elections in 2011, a vast majority were just basking in the 'superficiality' of Goodluck's luck, and they firmly believed they could entrust the decision-making process of the world's most populous black nation in the hands of a man who they thought was lucky, even though he was glaringly unfit to shoulder the role and responsibility of such gargantuan leadership. Even some sound literates at that time surprisingly fell into this class; if I asked them why they wanted to vote for Jonathan, they'd immediately plunge into reeling the rhetoric of how Jonathan was a "deputy this or deputy that", until the happenstance of luck made him a "numero uno", from the four-walls of the school to the corridors of power. Back then, if stupidity were to be extremely cheap, they could even have said he was so lucky that he was initially the Best-man until luck made him the real Groom to take-over the wife. It's a pity we don't use maturity to see from the vintage of cause and effect before making decisions. Well, I guess the lessons have now been learnt; we can now all see what a lucky governance can offer. Also, I was privy to be close some campaign tours before those elections, and I saw the disgusting charm of cheer-leading that makes these politicians take Nigerians as easy prey(s) or mere walk-overs, that makes them act just anyhow. They tell Nigerians some bogus plans from their dumb manifestos, and all Nigerians do mostly of such times is just shout praises; they say thrash, some wave brooms, they throw cash, some brandish tri-coloured umbrellas. What a pity! How I wish the Nigerian follower-ship could just ask questions, how I wish we get more curious about "the HOWs", all we heard were the "WHATs", and then just proceed sheepishly to vote unwisely. Politicians have long been preying on all these setbacks of emotional blindness we've carried all these years. But, I know lessons have been learnt.
The reason why the grievances have increased sporadically of late is not unconnected to the fact that there has been no improvement whatsoever to the Nigerian state in this present administration, none!. Well, it's not far-fetched, it's jonathanism. A literary simile came to my mind recently when I was trying to describe the devastating effects that the present leadership has had on its subjects. I thought that, to entrust power in the hands of this "luck" of a guy is like putting the trigger of a war-grade kalashnikov in the hands of someone with late-phase Parkinson's disease, on a field filled with defenceless individuals. Such will just keep triggering away without intent. What a great slay it would be!.
This
quite explains all the pot-pourri of ill decisions that have been made by our
clueless and un-utilitarian President for the past 4-5 years. This explains the
genocide of growth, the poignant pandemic of poverty and the volatile vendetta
of violence that have all plagued our state.
I wanted to be sincere in my reflections, and so I paused to rack my brain if I could just see and pin-point any major feat of this present rule since its inception, but all I could see were flaws. I saw a ruler-ship whose first notable project was the seeking of tenure extension while it hadn't even really started the tenure it was in, I saw a ruler-ship who chose an acute way to just remove fuel subsidy, thus, causing an avoidable stand-still in the polity, I saw a ruler-ship under which the cost of securing education has risen highest despite its echoing of affordable education, I saw a ruler-ship who out of political prostitution have been either re-naming a brand that UNILAG is, into a now defunct MAULAG, or creating 6 new federal universities instead of upgrading the moribund existing ones, a ruler-ship that gave pardon to convicted thieves of billion of dollars, I saw a ruler-ship that chooses to condone animalistic criminality by considering amnesty and more financial freedom to boko haram instead of being dogged in getting justice for the families of the over 4,000 innocent nigerians that have been felled by the same.
Recently,
I read an article by a consummate and experienced US-based Nigerian, who goes
by the name, Toyin Dawodu. In his article, he relayed how he has since been
snubbed by the same President who initially stated an interest in implementing
his idea that bore a solution to Nigeria's worsening power crisis. In Toyin's
direct words, Nigeria has liquid propane in abundance and it’s cheaper and
cleaner than diesel. Under Toyin's plan, we can build 7,775 megawatts in months
instead of trying to build one huge mega plant of 1,000 megawatts, which takes 3-5
years. This involves building small power plants that would generate 5-10
megawatts, and will be completed within 12 months. In building these small
propane-fuelled power plants all over Local governments in Nigeria, 100,000
direct jobs would be created and more than 1 million indirect jobs right at
home that can encourage Nigerian talent to stay in Nigeria. This conversation
of Toyin's with the President was made on the latter's propagandish facebook
page back in 2010, and 3 years after, our President has not re-contacted,
despite promising Toyin to do so. It makes me more than mad when I know that
we, a country of over 160 million people still share a dwindling 3,500
megawatts of power,while somewhere else in this same world of ours, in China
exactly, 6,000 megawatts have been produced every month for the past 5 years;
that's a total of 360,000 megawatts!!!. Why can't we even simply and honourably
"copy and paste"?.
Worthy
of separate mention is this amnesty being recently considered for Boko
Haramites. I don't just understand why a leader should accede to do what he
initially decided against. What right are they fighting for that warrants the
use of amnesty as done to the Niger Delta guys who actually had a particular
reason for which they showed their displeasure? Nothing! They claim to be
fighting Allah's course, so how does doling out money to them stop them from
fighting on? Are we trying to use money to quell Allah and Allah's drive in
them? Boko haram has terribly hurt all Nigerians, who in one way or the other
are either parents, siblings, colleagues or friends to the over 4,000 innocent
souls they've unexpectedly brutally burst apart. Now, I expected our leader to
selflessly lead us to seek justice like it would have been done in some other
climes of the world, rather, he has sinfully granted amnesty to
"un-rehabilitable" animals. What a shame!
All
these flaws are just to name a "fewest".
Oh!
I remember one feat at last, the Nigerian government-powered Super Eagles just
won the African Nations' Cup....(hurray!!! ), and they all came back home to be
given billions in cash and kind. Dear Nigerian, I guess you're elated now.
*giggles*.
I can feel our sentiments, sentiments about the fact that voting-out Jonathanism isn't the solution to a better Nigeria come 2015, sentiments about how unsure it is that we'll a get a true leader afterwards, sentiments about how even a true leader will not really thrive because of the fact of systemic corruption, well, I sincerely believe this sentiments have some percentage of truth, but it is also true that they are sentiments that are still scions of our shallow-mindedness. Fellow Nigerians, all we need is to make a bold statement with a defiant character out of our grievances. By bold statement, I don't mean an onslaught of violence, rather, I mean we being able to make radical statements that our votes count, that we'll always ask questions before making decisions about franchise, that we won't anymore digest politicians' platitudes but demand practical answers when needed, that we will never again allow chauvinism, nepotism and the likes, cloud and corrupt our sense of judgement in anyway, that we'll make democracy really work!.
Fathers, Mothers, don't just get angry, think truly, think about your children. Youths, let us get some depth, and this bold statement that will serve as a template for sustainable growth will be formed. ......2015 beckons.....
What happened in Ado-odo can easily be made to pass or fly at a whim despite its strangeness and one maybe be deceived to think that it happened like that since Ado-odo is just a suburb or more or less like a village, but, NO!, that was the point where the illumination came to me in my thought, Ado-odo in not a suburb at all, it's a city that harbours over 500,000 minds that can decide their fate, that did decide their fate, minds like those of fellow true nigerians.
I end this article with words of two men:
"What
you can do, or dream you can do, begin it; boldness has genius, power and magic
in it".....by Johann Van Goethe
"Change cannot be given to you every time. You must bring the change.".......by a random Nigerian Bus Conductor in downtown Lagos.
Thanks for reading.
For reference sake, this below is the link to the Toyin Dawodu's article. http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/03/why-68-million-nigerians-do-not-have-jobs/
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