With his rather skinny figure, Fela would have been mincemeat for his adversaries. Not unmindful of this, he never engaged his foes in physical duels. No! Fela’s strength and power lied in an unusual arsenal. His music was his weapon. With it, he fought many military and civilian dictators and their collaborators to a standstill. When Fela sang, ‘powerful’ oppressors in the society simply ran for cover. One of his ever green songs is Beast of No Nation. In the song, the late Afrobeat Maestro sang about animals in human skin and animals in Agabdaand suit.
Characteristically, there is an underlining deeper philosophical message behind the seemingly hilarious vibe. Of course, the uniqueness of Fela’s songs is always in their deep idealistic connotations. In Beast of no Nation, Fela’s allusion to animals in human skin, agbadaand suits simply addresses the ethos of men who occupy dignified offices but act in undignified manners.
It was such a nauseating piece of information, one that will make every right-thinking person shiver in amazement. It simply goes to show that it is not everyone in human skin that is qualified to be called a human being. So, Fela was again right with his song. There are, indeed, lots of animals putting on human skin in our society. Perhaps, this might be part of our fundamental challenge as a people. When animals mix with human beings, what could be the likely consequence? Well, your guess is good as mine.
Fortunately, the brazen sexual scoundrel has been dismissed by the authorities of the Nigeria Army and has been handed over to the police for onward prosecution. But then, his infamous act has once again brought to the front burner two major ugly subjects in our society: rape and brash conduct of some security operatives.
Uncontrolled rape incidences have become a daily occurrence and a fundamental issue affecting women and girl-child development in the country. The crime takes away from the victim human rights such as right to life right to dignity of human person, right to personal liberty and security of person, and right not to be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Almost similar to rape is the issue of inapt behaviour among Nigeria’s security operatives that has been a recurrent one. Scores of Nigerians have been sent to early graves, no thanks to the dastardly activities of some of some wild security operatives.
From January to April, 2019, in Lagos State alone, about four incidents of misuse of firearms which have resulted in extra-judicial killings of young citizens of this country and injury to others were recorded. More niggling is that two of these incidents occurred almost simultaneously.
It is ironic that some security operatives take pleasure in brutalizing the very people they are trained to protect. The police are especially culpable in this regard. It is often baffling to see some a policeman beat up, slap and brutalize hapless compatriots who have neither been taken to the court nor convicted of a particular offence.
Security operatives in the country must imbibe civility in their interaction with members of the public. They need to envision how things would pant out if other members of the society behave in loutish fashion. Leadership of the various security agencies need to re-orientate their officers and men on how to behave in a democratic and civilized setting.
One sincerely hopes that the law takes its full toll in the case of Corporal Sunday Adelola to serve as deterrent to others who indulge in such disgusting acts. Ironically, the infamous scalawag was among men of the Nigerian Army who were drafted to the Akoko North area of Ondo State to protect compatriots who daily live in the fear of kidnappers and armed bandits.
Ogunbiyi is of the Ministry of Information & Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja
