January 2020, beyond the singsong nature of 2020, was like every other January: Harmattan, dry winds, dust and cold; acute “pocketities” as people have “finished” themselves financially during the Christmas holidays, (especially my people who spend in 11 days, December 20 to January 1, what they had accumulated in 11 months); students reluctantly returning to school and people gradually readjusting to the world of work, business and politics (the most lucrative industry in Nigeria), from which they took a break in the previous weeks.
In Nigeria however, beyond the signs and wonders (judicial mathemagic) in Imo State, the ferocious war between the falcon and falconer in Edo state, the revenue at all cost strategy of the federal government, our “improved” rankings on the Transparency International and Global Terrorism Index and fire disasters everywhere, especially that of Balogun Market, Lagos, January 2020 was a month in which security issues and concerns forced themselves into the centre stage of national discourse. It was the month of Amotekun! A lot had happened on the security front in the South West and with the certainty that more would happen; (with about 1200 herdsmen cells allegedly camped in the western forests) the people and government of South-West established Amotekun “Western Regional Force”(Remember the West African Frontier Force?). The federal government declared it illegal, surrendered to public and popular opinion, called for a reconciliatory meeting and negotiation (yes; everything is negotiable) and let Amotekun be!
It was the month in which Orthom, the weeping governor of this generation was attacked by herdsmen in his own farm, when the decimated Boko Haram rejected N50 million ransom and brutally murdered Rev Andimi Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Michika LGA of Adamawa state, when their cousins, (the bandits) murdered Mike Nnadi, (a young-orphan seminarian) and Ataga (after Dr Ataga had donated a police station to the community). It was a month in which the “operation finish them” in the Plateau continued unabated, when our President, expressed shock at the rising insecurity and when Femi Adesina told us to rejoice because BokoHaram bombings have reduced and that his principal (PMB or GMB??) had transformed the North-East into HEAVEN, unlike the HELL it was under GEJ.
It was also a month in which our Senate President declared pointedly that our centralised security system had failed. It was also a month in which BokoHaram terrorists attacked our troops in Damasak and carried out an “extremely violent” attack on a vital aid facility housing United Nations workers in Borno State. It was also under this serious and worrisome state of affairs one of our legislators felt that the most important matter was to introduce his 4 wives and 27 children… “And still counting”!
It was in the midst of all this that security, the central matter of the day, came up for discussion at the sleeping chamber of NASS and it was the day that Senator Abaribe delivered two quotable missiles, which in addition to his previous interventions, will keep his name among those who know what they had gone to do at Abuja. The whole world knows what he said but let me repeat it for emphasis. Nigeria did not elect the IGP; we did not elect the chief of staff, we did not elect the joint-chiefs or national security adviser, we elected the government of APC because they continued to tell us that they had the key to security.
“When you want to deal with a matter, you go to the head. So, we will go to government and ask this government to resign. The clincher, to me as an Organisational Behaviour Scholar and management consultant is: when you want to deal with a matter, you go to the head. I thought that Abaribe was just a lawyer and politician; I did not know he was/is also a management guru because he brought in John C Maxwell into the discourse. Maxwell had said that ‘Everything rises and falls on leadership’. His second quote on that day has nothing to do with management but I have everything to do with our current realities, especially when compared to promises and pretentions of the pre-2015 years. It is that those who live by propaganda will die by propaganda. If you have not been following the activities of Abaribe in the NASS, try and check some of them online and do not forget the question he asked our honourable Chief Justice during his anointing session, sorry screening, at the senate. (To be concluded).
So, where do we go from here? Is this proletarian solidarity or criminality? So, every car-okada accident caused by the car driver and the Okada drivers must meet out instant justice? Where are these Okada drivers from and how are they licensed and controlled? Are they above the law? Are we safe?
Other matters: Proletarian solidarity and criminality, drawing the line!
Marx is long dead and most of his followers have joined him on the other side. Marxism has suffered a what one of my friends called “loss of currency” ( declining popularity) to the extent that, whoever says he is a Marxist or exhibits Marxian paradigm today will be looked at with a left eye; as if he/she is wearing a DIRTY cloth. That is how concepts rise and then “fall and die”. One of the key words associated with Marx is the “proletariat”. It is even worse when he speaks of “lumpenproletariat”! It refers to those who are just POOR; those who are poor, who are defined by poverty and who have naturalised into their poor habitat and digging deeper rather than making efforts to escape. They are also unorganised, ignorant and not interested in understanding the why and how of their wretchedness. The only similarity to that is the current World bank/UNDP phrase: Multidimensional Poverty. Marx’s greatest grouse against the poor was their failure to unite and deal decisively with their traducers; the bourgeoisie who oppress, suppress and repress them.
However, even in his grave, Marx will be happy with the proletarian solidarity shown by Lagos Okada Riders, most of who are said to be from Niger et al. It is about how they pounce on anybody (except soldiers) who oppresses them on the road. It doesn’t matter whether they are wrong and in 90 percent of the cases, they are at fault. I am a living witness to this but an “unknown soldier” has so documented it that there is no need to reinvent the wheel. Read on
“Last week, a motorist in Festac Town hit an okada rider, an accident which damaged both car and motorcycle, and injured both rider and passenger… about fifty okada riders appeared out of nowhere and descended on the driver, screaming for his blood and chanting Islamic slogans, beat the driver, senseless, damaged his vehicle and forced him to part with N35,000. In December 2019, a woman was making a turn into her compound, when a crazed okada rider came out of nowhere and rammed into her car… a mob of okada riders attacked her and tore her clothes. By the time help came from people in the area, her purse and phone had been stolen and her children watched in horror as their mother was beaten and fondled by okada hooligans. Before my very eyes a policeman at Mile 2 tried to impound a motorcycle for parking on the expressway, and a dozen of them drew daggers and threatened to stab him and his colleagues. This happened on Monday at Mile 2!”
So, where do we go from here? Is this proletarian solidarity or criminality? So, every car-okada accident caused by the car driver and the okada drivers must meet out instant justice? Where are these okada drivers from and how are they licensed and controlled? Are they above the law? Are we safe? And even then how does this trend play out with the recent Lagos onslaught against okadas and their younger brothers, the ‘kekes’? Questions, questions and more questions.
