The Cuckoo, as a metaphor of the Nigerian Situation

A cuckoo chick, and it's surrogate mother! Notice the size, and plumage difference!

There is a very interesting, and fascinating bird, it is called a cuckoo! 

The bird is famous for one thing; the fact that it never, at any given time, brings up it's young! 

Rather, through one of the most crafty, and ingenious, acts of deception, it uses other birds to raise it's young!

It usually begins with a female cuckoo laying a single egg, in the nest of another bird, of a different specie! 

Usually, the target bird would have eggs of her own, in the nest!

The cuckoo's egg, because of the evolutionary wiring developed over countless eons, usually hatches first!

This act, dooms the original eggs, for which the nest was constructed! 

As soon as the cuckoo nestling emerges from the egg, it instinctively seeks out every unhatched egg in the nest, and systematically pushes it out of the nest!

When the "mother" bird, who we shall from this moment call the surrogate, returns: it would consider the loss of the eggs as not being a total disaster, since it still has one chick to raise! 


Also, it would be too late in the season for it to mate again, and lay a fresh clutch of eggs!

Thus begins the second part of this journey in deception!

The surrogate toils night, and day, to raise it's single chick! 

At a particular point in the process, the chick even becomes bigger, and radically different in plumage, from the surrogate: yet she gets fed, by the surrogate!

What is actually happening, is a process called imprinting! 

The surrogate registered the product that emerged from "it's egg" as her offspring: and as long as that "offspring" asks for food, something inside the surrogate, it's maternal instincts, compels it to feed the now grown cuckoo chick, which is now twice the surrogate's size! 



It is a case of listening to one's heart, instead of the head!

Do you see the parallels between the cuckoo, and the Nigerian situation?

In our case, the cuckoo represents the government! 

The people are the surrogate, who believe, that they have a stake in the government! 

They pay their taxes, the country makes a lot of money from oil, but it only nourishes, an illegitimate leadership!

Illegitimate in the sense that they have no interest in fulfilling the aspirations of the people!

How did we end up with a cuckoo? 

When we voted, our votes were trashed, and and the elections rigged! 

Our legitimate choice, our preferred candidates, were replaced by ghosts selected by a  cabal of a few selfish men!

Like the surrogate, we staunchly, illogically, and mindlessly, defend a government that evidently does not have our interest at heart!

They buy new cars for themselves, but refuse to give us a working mass transit! 

They live in mansions, and make it impossible for us to own affordable houses!

They go abroad for medical treatment, while giving us hospitals that have no drugs, equipment, or personnel!

So I ask a very stupid question, when are we going to open our eyes to see the truth, and acknowledge it as so, instead of just mindlessly defending a government that only takes away from us!

Wake up Nigeria, wake up!

The Solution To Nigeria's Problems!

For the past six months, I have been looking at Nigeria, and asking the question, of myself that is, what single action/solution/move etc, would take us out of our current overwhelming darkness, into the light of civilization!

In the past, when I asked this question, I arrived at corruption, as the ogre that we needed to slay!

I now find myself, with superior information, and the additional wisdom that comes with the passage of time, looking at a different prospect all together!

If we say it is corruption: why does corruption thrive? It does because of a pervasive culture of lawlessness!

One other pet bogeyman we love to blame, is ethnicity, and nepotism! That too, is an issue, but we do not see it in other countries!

So what is our biggest problem, and how can we solve it?

It is the police! 

It is so simple, I do not know why we have never considered it!

What makes the United States of America, a lawful place?

Why do hardened, dyed-in-the wool serial, chronic, law-breaking Nigerians, model citizens in the United Kingdom?

The answer to the two questions above, is simple! 

The Police in these two countries, cannot be influenced!

If Barack Obama, the American president, for some inexplicable reason, decides to drive himself, and goes over the speed limit, an American policeman, would gladly issue him a ticket for over speeding!

If he tries to influence the man, by declaring that he is the president, another offence would be added to the first, trying to influence an officer of the law! These would be sufficient grounds to commence impeachment proceedings!

In Nigeria, the reverse is the case! When a local government chairman wants to drive against oncoming traffic, his police detail, actually lead the way!

In like manner, when someone in government wants to show an opponent, who is not so privileged, he sends policemen to rough him up!  

If you break the law in Nigeria, and find yourself in police trouble, you are sure that the solution to your problem, has a price!

If you offer the investigating police officer five hundred naira, and are turned down, you can increase it to five thousand naira!

If he rejects that one too, you go to his superior officer, and offer fifteen thousand naira! If the inspector refuses your offer of fifteen thousand naira, you go to the divisional police office, with a bribe of fifty thousand naira!

If the DPO refuses to play ball, then you may need to take five hundred thousand naira, to the commissioner for police!

Should the commissioner refuse your offer, you are bound to find someone, between him, and the inspector general of police!

In so doing, one is able to kick the law in the teeth, and get his way!

Murderers, kidnappers, hired killers, election riggers, and all manner of deviants, rule Nigeria, through conniving with the police!

So what is different about the two countries mentioned above, as having a police force, that is a deterrent?

In these two countries, the police actually do their jobs! They solve crimes, and cannot be easily swayed, by the offer of money! 

I am not saying that we do not have a few individuals among them, who regularly collect money, to undermine the law: they are there, but in the minority!

In our own case, we have a culture that undermines the rule of law!

So how can we transform our police force, from one that is corrupted, and for sale, to a truly efficient watchdog?

While the answers may be simple to proffer, the execution would be very costly in human, and monetary terms!

We have a saying among the Yoruba ethnic group of my people, that obe to dun, owo lo pa! (That it cost a lot to cook a very rich, and delicious soup!)

We would need to reorient the force, and this is an almost impossible task! Note, I said 'almost impossible', not impossible!

Too many unqualified people, people either disqualified by reason of being morally wanting, since they are former criminals, and those who do not have the educational qualification, currently wear the police uniform!

These ones would need to go!

Secondly, we would need to increase the salary of the least paid police man/woman, to such a level, that they would not want to jeopardize it, with a fifty naira bribe!

In addition, they should be guaranteed, accommodation for life, on retirement! 

These would be in addition to improving their working condition with equipment that enhance efficiency!

How many times have you seen a police man, wearing the wrong shoes? How many times have you seen them hobbling along in a rickety vehicle, with broken headlamps, and windshield, trying to chase a criminal who has stolen a Mercedes Benz AMG, or a BMW X6?

If the president truly wants to transform Nigeria, let him transform the police!

When the police is transformed, and incorruptible, people would think twice before rigging! A transformed police would make bribe taking, a high-risk venture!

We have the resources, many times over, to make this a reality, what we lack, is the political will! 

Patience Jonathan: A Resurrection Of Lies!

One problem I have, when I comment on goings on in Nigeria, is that I regularly suffer from emotional lows each time something new befalls her!

I have had a succession of that lately!

I have been away from blogging for some months now! 

The latest, was the revelation on national television, by Patience Jonathan, the president's wife, that she died for one week in Germany, last year!

For seven days, four days more than Jesus Christ, and three days more than Lazarus, she claimed she was "dead"!

It is important to note, that when she disappeared last year, unannounced, the media handlers of the president, and all that belong to him, claimed then, sometimes with virulent, and vehement vituperations, that nothing was wrong with her! 

They declared then, that her exertions at the Africa First Ladies' Summit, necessitated her need for rest abroad!

It is therefore sad, and unbecoming of the exalted office of the presidency, would be caught in a lie! The same woman who was hale, and resting last year, according to Dr Reuben Abati, and co, was actually having brunch with death, at a German hospital!

There is a saying, that trust, like the soul, once lost, can never be regained!

The issue here is quite simple! 

Did the presidents people, and by extension the president, lie to the nation then?

If they did, was it justified? 

In addition, if they lied then, how are we sure at this moment, that they are not telling us lies  about things happening right now?

I have said it in over and over again, that the presidency is a sacred trust, it is more than an individual, and bigger than the holder of the office! 

It should not be run like some petty trading concern, where the owner can just jam his way through every transaction!

Integrity, should be the guiding principle for that office, all the time

Imagine what the outcome, and fallouts, would be, if President Obama's spokespeople were to lie about an issue concerning his wife?

The following would happen surely, the people who lied, would resign, and the president would come clean!

Unfortunately, that happens under normal climes! 

I believe we do not have the luxury of normalcy here! 

So the president, his mouthpieces, have egg on their faces, but they think it is a new type of cosmetic!

Shame!

The Harvest: the Coming of Age of a Lawless Society!

I have never been one to seek popularity, and I am now at an age, when I really do not have much use for it!

When a man is lazy and indolent, like Unoka, the father of Okonkwo, the central character of Professor Chinua Achebe's, Things Fall Apart, we are often told that if that man wants to know the source of his failure in life, he should look in the mirror!

Many times, we fail to discern that our thoughts inform our actions, and our actions lead to our habits, and our habits are actually the bedrock on upon which our character is founded!

In the life of nations, the collective, progressive, and consistent, individual actions of the citizens, actually give birth to the national ethos, and value system of that nation!

Our nation, Nigeria, is no different from any other nation on earth! As true as that statement might sound, it is actually false, when closely examined! Every nation is like an individual, it is unique, and is the product of the actions of her citizens!

In less than two weeks, Nigeria has witnessed the extrajudicial, and criminally motivated killing, of young undergraduates!

In one incident in Adamawa state, the innocence of the over twenty students killed, was not in doubt! In the second, there is a measure of controversy in determining the innocence, or guilt, of four undergraduates, who were beaten, and set ablaze, by a mob in Aluu, a community bordering the University of Port Harcourt! What is however not in doubt in this second case, is the wrongful death caused by people taking the law into their own hands!

There is no decent person who has heard the account of their death, who would support the action!

How did we arrive at this sad, insidious, and chaotic state of affairs?

A careful look at our immediate history in the last thirty five years, would suffice! 

The first culprit in this disaster, is the government! There is a culture of impunity in government! People in government believe they, and their actions, are above the law! This dubious belief, was institutionalized  in the dark era of military rule in Nigeria!

One famous incident from that era, was the sacking of Kalakuta Republic, the home of Fela Anikulapo Kuti, the famous Afrobeat musician! For those who do not know, or remember, in that incident, the government sent armed, not police men, or court bailiffs, to destroy a man's home! In the process, they killed his mother, apart from destroying his home, and injuring his family members!

They were not executing a court order, judgement, or relief! It was just a case of someone in government deciding to execute the law, the way he deemed fit!

Another regular example of government impunity, is how various governments across the nation, demolish people's homes, and business premises, without a proper, and valid, court order!

The executive arm of government, seems to believe that it has a right to be a judge, and plaintiff, in it's own case!

Need I talk about how public funds are spent on personal matters, by politicians, and civil servants!

The citizens have been very good students! They have seen that might is right, and the doctrine of striking first, and talking later, is always a safer, and better option! That is why we see some people carrying horsewhips in their cars! They regularly bring this out to flog 'erring' road users! Others enter into contracts, and refuse to honour them! Many buy goods, or ask for services, and refuse to pay! People employ staff, refuse to pay them, and subsequently sack them for insubordination, because the demanded their unpaid wages!

In different spheres of life we see illegality at play! The landlord who removes his tenant's roof, after breaking down his door, and throwing out his property, all in a bid to evict him!

We have a nation that glamourizes people who were successful, in their criminal endeavours! We refer to them as being sharp, or smart! We do not call them thieves, instead we give them national awards, titles, and government appointments!

People who fail to obey traffic lights, and even drive against traffic in a one way street, do not see themselves in this category of lawless people! They view their actions as just benign, and innocent, mistakes!

I beg to disagree, I believe that each time we break a law, or contribute to the breaking of one, or encourage another to do so, we are actually contributing, to the building of the stage, where another set of innocent lives would be lost!

Lawlessness, is nothing less than what it is, a crime, an abuse of the nation, and a kick in the teeth for the constitution of the land!

You might not have beaten a boy in Aluu, neither did you shoot a student in Adamawa, but if you open your eyes, and knowingly break a law, to gain an unfair, and illegal, advantage, you are contributing to a culture of illegality!

The people of Aluu community did not kill those boys alone, all of us, who promote,and believe in any form of illegality, were remote contributors as well!

Let us all take a long look at the mirror. for therein lies the guilty!

MAY GOD BLESS NIGERIA FOREVER!

Five thousand naira denomination and accidents!

Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, is looking for trouble! Or how do we describe this his new misadventure called the five thousand naira note?

I can see all the problems the man intends to cause already! He has declared that the note is for high-volume cash users only ( I thought we were now transiting into a cashless economy?) And that the circulation would be limited!

The rich, and powerful, those who do not want us to know their business, love the note! 

Can you imagine what would happen when next the presidency wants to bribe the national assembly members? 

Instead of the regular burlap sacks (Ghana must go) hitherto used, the delivery might just be forty bundles in a regular gift bag, with the inscription, "A complementary copy of the book, Do My Bidding" inscribed boldly on it!

The rest of us would see "books" being given to members who do not read, and we would not be wiser!

Imagine what Farouk Lawan would have done, if he had been paid (not bribed) with the five thousand naira denomination? Everything would have fitted in his babanriga, and he would not have needed his cap to carry more!

This note is a game changer! The world has been shrinking everything in the last twenty years, and so bribery needs to fall in line! It is uncool to begin to lug huge bags of currency, when everything could be "nanonized"!

This same denomination, would have been a big relief to the civil servant working with the National Pension Commission, who was caught with two billion naira at home! With this note, he probably would have needed just a small safe to keep everything in, as opposed to the rooms where the money was discovered!

In this life, problems come both for the rich, and the poor, and they are usually of different strokes!

You are probably thinking that common folks like us, will never see that money, but that is where you are wrong!

A story would suffice here! I was told,( I was not present at the occasions) that a particular governor from the South West of Nigeria, when he was still in office, had a ritual: anytime one of his girlfriends was visiting, her taxi fare was always five hundred thousand naira! If one of her friends was also on the girl's entourage, she would receive two hundred and fifty thousand naira!

They say this governor, who happens to be fond of bleaching his skin, and wearing a chain around his ankle,( I was not there, and these are just rumours, and allegations by some "alligators") did this every time!

Now imagine if that governor had been in office at this auspicious time of the imminent arrival of the messianic five thousand naira note, is there anyone who could prevent the fellow from slipping one bundle of the good stuff, to the object of his amorous affections?

The consequence would be that Sidika, to pretend that is her name, gets home, and subsequently decides to oppress the neighbours, by throwing her newly acquired fiancial muscle around!

If she buys a recharge card of five hundred naira from Chukwudi, with the wonderful note, Chukwudi suddenly finds himself in the elite class of those whom the gods have favored! 

But, there is a twist to the tale! In the afternoon, the young man decides to branch that wonderful amala joint behind Adamasingba stadium,Ibadan; and consumes amala fifty naira, and saki (offal) twenty naira! 

On finishing his meal, Chukwudi produces his newly acquired gold card, the five thousand naira note: the problem is that all the woman's sales for the day, is less that two thousand naira! You can imagine the tumultuous turmoil this would cause! The woman would probably beat him up, accusing him of premeditated fraud!

If, on the other hand, Chukwudi did not eat that day, but decided to go to Dugbe to see his Uncle, trouble would still dog him! Were he to hand his five thousand naira note to the conductor, for a twenty naira fare, you can see that the equation would not truly balance, and another round of trouble would ensue!

Conversely, if the conductor were to collect the note, and a strong wind were to snatch it out of his hand before one could shout "Mapo", we are more likely to witness a scene in which God receives two visitors in one day: the conductor, and Chukwudi, all on account of a piece of paper no larger than three by seven inches!

I have not even bothered to tell you about Husaini, the security man, who, on collecting his monthly salary of ten thousand naira, just two notes, decided to visit the market for some needed supplies for his small business on the side! 

Unbeknownst to him, as he fiddled with his pocket, trying to bring out his phone to answer a call, his two magic notes surreptitiously slipped out! Allah hu akbar! That day, they had to beg him to come down from the high tension power lines he had climbed to commit suicide!

Must I tell you of Chief Nonso, who while enjoying the music of Morroco Maduka at a party, did not know that the wad of notes he thought was just five thousand naira, was actually half a million! 

His eyes were closed, and the music was touching all the right spots! 

As he threw the bundle in the air, as is the fashion of spraying in the Eastern part on Nigeria, he wondered why people were screaming, and scrambling, for ordinary change: poverty, was his conclusion! 

It was when he opened his eyes, and saw half a million naira blowing in the wind, that he realized his error: he joined them in the scramble! Alas, he was only able to wrest a note, albeit from a little girl!

As you can see, the five thousand naira note is an accident waiting to happen, the problem is, it will be difficult to predict when, or prevent it!

I rise!

Blame The British!

There is a popular scapegoat among Nigerians that we love to pencil down as the genesis of our problems: the British!

Many argue that if the North, and the South, had not been amalgamated by Lord Luggard, that we would not be in the mess we are in now!

As arguments go, it is neither here, nor there! 

It is, in my own opinion, a faulty crutch we seek to lean on, to excuse our self-induced abysmal failure!

For the sake of argument, let us ask a “stupid” question, if we had not been amalgamated, would each ethnic group have succeeded in becoming an independent nation on it's own?

 And if they had all attained “independent independence” as opposed to the collective one we all got, would they have gone on, as individual nations, to become world class economies, and societies?

To take the theory up a notch, if, as it could have happened, the Yorubas had actually gained independence as part of Benin Republic, or the Igbos as part of Cameroun, and the Hausas, as part of Niger Republic, would their lot have been better, or worse?

If one were to consider these hypothetical scenarios, one would discover that, geographical location plays a small part in determining if a nation would be great, or not! Rather, it is the adoption, and pursuit of policies, and values that engender greatness!

Policies like the rule of law, the pursuit of an open society, reward for hard work, honesty, equity and hard work, and many others, are the building blocks of great nations!

The British excuse, sounds hollowly shallow, and lacking much in substance! It is also eerily similar to the excuse given by some of the animals in George Orwell’s Animal Farm, in an attempt to vilify Snowball! 

Many acts of misdemeanor by other animals were attributed to him, in one instance some goats came forward and confessed that Snowball had appeared to them in a dream, and convinced them to urinate in the pool from which they all drank!

That is how silly our blaming the British sounds!

So our argument would be, the military overthrew a legitimate government in 1966, who do we blame? The British of course!

Nigerian politicians loot the treasury, while pauperizing the entire nation, who do we blame, the bleeding British!

Our refineries are criminally compromised, to ensure that a cabal continues to import petroleum products, who do we hold responsible, the British!

We killed our rail system, to enable the trailer cartel from the North get good haulage business; did I hear you say the British?

The British originated educational system that they handed to us at independence is no longer fit for purpose, because we refused to invest in infrastructure, and human capital, it was the British, they did it, they murdered our education!

We hold elections where the number of ballots cast, is twice the number of registered voters, the British sowed the seeds!

When a man leaves his lane, on a dual carriage way, and decides to drive against traffic, because he is impatient, the British put him up to it!

How about when we reward thievery, fraud, dishonesty, and skullduggery, with national awards, it is a British tradition that we copied!

The list of national malaise goes on, and on, and we can only blame the British!

Ghana, our fellow British colonized neighbour, has been quietly forging a solid path to greatness in a very determined fashion! 

They have done so, to the admiration of the rest of the world! Our children now school in Ghana, because we have no educational system to point to! 

Our businesses are relocating there too, because of stable power supply! 

They discovered oil some years ago, and one official there said, “we will show Nigeria how to use oil money” 

And you know what, they will, because they have shown us how to do other things, the proper way!

The day we decide that we are our own problem, and not some amalgamation which neither reduced, nor diminished us, we will begin our march to greatness! 

Until then, we should leave the British alone, because they have left us these past fifty years to get our act together!

What is Good For The Dame, Is Good For Her Followers

I am an idle man! That is why I have so much time on my hands, to talk about Nigeria!

When Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Mainasara Jonathan, GCFR, et cetera et cetera et cetera, was running his 100 million naira per day campaign, I remember one very touching thing he said! He declared, I am one of you! I did not have shoes when I was growing up!

Nigerians lapped up this uncanny, uncommon, and I must quickly add, unconfirmed, dose of empathy from leadership!

They all declared that this fellow was humble, he was in tune with the people, he knew their problems, and was sure to solve them!

What type of presidency were we expecting of Jonathan?

Talk is cheap they say, it only costs your breath, and a few muscle contractions! Deeds, on the other hand, show sincerity, or otherwise!

The president has declared that he only eats cassava bread, and Abakaliki rice! That is wonderful! Reuben Abati, who has suddenly woken up from slumber, has also told us, that he does not imbibe ogogoro, the locally produced gin, or Johnnie Walker, it’s foreign counterpart!

We too eat Abakaliki rice, but that is because it is the only option available to us, Thailand parboiled is a long way from our tables; as per the cassava bread, it is insidious, because it is making cassava expensive! And like we all know, it is the raw material that is used for producing the ‘cheapest’, but by no means affordable staples in Nigeria, garri, starch, and apu, making them more expensive!

The president, he declared with gusto, is a very frugal man! He fasts regularly, and seldom eats!  This is quite similar to the fasting by most Nigerians! The difference being that, while they fast because they do not have food, our president fasts in the midst of a billion naira budget on food!

His fasting would mean more to us, if the ridiculous budget on food in the presidential villa, was brought within commonsense!

When we make certain demands of leadership in Nigeria, it is not out of a sinister motive to make them do things that have never been done before! It is because we have seen them done in other places, to good effect!

The British Prime Minister, does not have a presidential jet,he flies commercial!

Nigeria’s president has six! I suspect that if our president flew commercial, our airspace would be safer, and service would be much better!

The American president pays for the food he consumes at the White House, except at state banquets, we will not go to that extreme! Just moderation, we plead! If Jonathan was paying for what he consumed at the villa, would the budget be that sinful? 

And this week, a comedy of errors has been running on the political stage! It seems we have one every week!

It was a game of peek-a-boo of sorts! The dame is sick, people declared! No she is not, Reuben Abati countered!

When the presidential magicians saw that it was foolhardy to seek to play magical tricks with a person blessed with the corpulence of the dame, they finally admitted in bits, and stages, at first, that she was resting in Dubai! Then the story changed to, she was being treated for food poisoning! And finally, they accepted that she had actually been misdiagnosed for food poisoning by her doctors back home, when her actual problem, was appendicitis!

This morbid medical madness, is actually similar to what the ordinary Nigerian goes through daily! 

As I write, a loved one is not very well! She has been misdiagnosed more than eight times, in the space of four months, after seeing more than ten specialists in six different hospitals! The missed steps have included asthma, ulcer, enlarged heart, cancer, blocked lung, and hypochondria! From all the enquiries I have made, it will cost me a small fortune to seek treatment abroad!

While my income is above the average Nigerian’s, it is still not easy to achieve!

For the dame however, it comes as effortlessly, as farting!

So how is the president like us?

He lives here, but his help comes from abroad, where there are no medical mistakes, or misdiagnoses!

MAY GOD BLESS NIGERIA, OUR NIGERIA FOREVER!

Letter To Dame Patience Jonathan.

My dear Dame Patience Jonathan, I thank god for your life o! The bad thing that bad people wished on you, food poisoning-appendicitis, did not come to pass! All glory to Jah, the Most High, for spearing your life for Nigeria!

As you are ensconced in the luxurious setting that the German people have created through their building an open, transparent, and democratic society, there are a few things I would like to trouble you with!

The first is the small matter of how you came to Germany in the first place: rumours ( you know I do not peddle them) have it that you were actually being treated in Nigeria for food poisoning! 

May the wishes of the enemies of Nigeria not come true, and may an American submarine run them over anytime they are driving to work! The same alligators (for anyone who alleges anything is an alligator in my book) claim that you were not suffering from food poisoning, but appendicitis! Jesu oyingboooooooooooo!

How can a presidential medical team, miss it so grossly? Could it be that the long-standing medical personnel, who were probably not from your husband's ethnic group, were replaced with new, inexperienced ones, who are ethnically correct? It is not possible, that such vital positions, are now being staffed on the bases of ethnic considerations! I know your husband does not do things like that!

My beloved Dame, please be patient with my "merry-go-rounding", the Yoruba people have a proverb, that when the Moslem cleric, who usually sports a full, and lush beard, is consumed in a fire incident, that it is spurious to inquire if his beautiful beard survived the fire! Also, Ola Rotimi, of blessed memory, also wrote, that when crocodiles begin to eat their eggs, that there is nothing they would not do to the flesh of frogs! 


Madam, if you, the Very First, and Only Lady of Nigeria et cetera et cetera et cetera, could suffer such egregious medical malpractice, you can imagine what the rest of us, your always humble subjects, who patronize the popular side, when it comes to medicare, have to put up with!

We are daily at the receiving end of our own home-grown Jekyll, and Hyde, cum Dr Frankenstein! People go to hospitals for minor complaints, and when next they would emerge after some days, it is in a narrow wooden box, on the way to the cemetery!

I am sure you Remember Racheal Adinoyi Onukaba, the wife of Adinoyi Onukaba, whose case was scandalously mismanaged at the wrongly named National Hospital, Abuja, a supposed centre of excellence! You may also recall the case of Adeola Olulana, the female journalist who died in Lagos two years ago, who was refused medical care, for lack of money at four am in the morning!

My humble appeal to you is this, when next you find yourself lying on the chest of your husband, our president ( I know it does not happen often often, because you are so busy serving Nigeria, and are not given to such worldly matters), tell him to give us hospitals that actually save lives, and not the mere portals to morgues they are gradually becoming!

I thank God for your life o, because it was only food poisoning-appendicitis, that you had! You can imagine what would have happened, if it had been something more serious, like a pulmonary embolism, or a coronary thrombosis, with either of these, Germany would have been too far!

Please give our love to the doctors that treated president Yar Adua, you may be shocked to find out, that the hospital is probably owned by a Nigerian who stole public money, and went to Germany to invest!

I know you, and your husband are not like that, you can never steal Nigeria's money, why should you, you being a permanent secretary, with your pension to look forward to!

As you recuperate with delicate Deutsche delicacies, I bid you, auf wiedersehen!

A Tragic Exposure

There is a saying that if you live long enough, you will see what you have never seen before!

Some months ago, Senator Farouk Lawan, a serving Nigerian senator, had to endure the indignity of the police, and other people in authority, watch him stuffing money into his pockets, and when that was not enough, his cap!

Today, a female banker; someone’s wife, daughter, sister, mother, and friend: has had her perfectly ordered world come crashing down on her!

A disgruntled, and spurned, lover has posted naked pictures, possibly taken by only him, probably after having sex with the woman, online!

They are tragic! While we may judge her for her error of judgment, I find myself increasingly putting myself in the positions of those who love her, and are related to her! 

Her husband, children, siblings, parents, and close friends! Where do they go from here! 

A person is never born alone, neither does he die, or experience shame alone! There is always collateral damage!

How does her husband face the world!

Every whisper behind his back, will be construed by him, as concerning the misadventure of his wife!

Some will blame him, for pushing her into this situation, while others will see him as a victim!

Her children, if they are anywhere near their teenage years, will forever wish the ground would open up, and swallow them each time they see their friends! 

They will be afraid of going to school, to church/mosque, or to even venture out of their home, and walk down their street!

Her siblings would be hard pressed to understand how to handle the sordid episode!The shame is theirs too!

Judging from her age, her parents, if they are alive; would probably be in their early, or late sixties! 

They may even be pillars in one conservative congregation somewhere: one a retired professor, and the other, a retired nurse! 

Upright folks who have never committed a crime before, and value their name more than any other thing!

To them, this would amount to the ultimate act of betrayal!

Some people would be forgiven, if they think friends have nothing at stake in this scandal!

I bet we all have friends who think so highly of us, and have gone as far as staking their reputations, just to defend us in the past, and continue to be our friends!

These innocent people I have tried to bring to life are the real victims in this case! The woman, and her jilted lover,were beneficiaries, until they fell out!!

The man has shown the type of animal that he is; a very dangerous one! What his actions portray is that he could have poised her, if he had the opportunity! 

He has succeeded in destroying her professional and family life! He has denigrated her by posting in full public glare that which she holds most dear!

And sadly, there are no winners here! The jilted fellow may never find any meaningful relationships again! He will, as long as he resides within the same community, ever be labeled as mean, nasty, and vicious fellow, one not to be trusted!

The lesson we should learn from this sordid episode, is that not all things should be photographed! 

Not even between spouses! This is because a camera, or phone, could be stolen, or sent for repairs, and such compromising images, could leave one’s control forever!

I will not judge the woman! I believe she has been more than sufficiently punished already! 

What would be good; is to see her lover brought up on charges of producing, and distributing pornography, and any other related charges the law can come up with!

This is turning out to be a tragedy of wide-ranging proportions!