‘Confusion Break Bone’

“Deadi bodi geeti accident yeeeeepaaaaaaaa

Confusion break bone, yeeppaaaaaaaaaaaa

Na double wahala for deadi bodi and the owner of deadi body….”

If I can recall clearly, this particular verse came from a song titled C.B.B. (Confusion Break Bone) by the late Afrobeat Legend, Fela Anikulapo Kuti. Fela, a.k.a. Baba 70, died quite a long time ago but his songs remain alive. His views, songs and ideas were always powered by rational and innovative ideologies which have made him immortal.

When I was young, I hardly took my time to digest what Fela was trying to pass across. But, as time passed, his lyrics became a part of me. If you take your time to review every one of his songs, you will begin to understand that what he was singing and saying were virtually the same thing happening in the present, but now at its apex (advanced corruption et al.).

Nigeria, my country, your country and our country, remains ours so long as ‘we’, her citizens, still pledge that allegiance to her. To be candid, the main problem or one of the problems of this country is not farfetched!. We are not patriotic to this nation and this is quite obvious.  Being patriotic means to show love to one’s country, irrespective of your position, state, background, religion and so on. The main question is, are we patriotic?

Incessant corruption in the country has relegated us to the level of hopelessness; where you see an ant size of the country’s population is terrorizing their fellow country people; and our president seems to be suffering from selective amnesia just to gloss over this virus (corruption). However, it is sheer ignorance to admit the country won’t reach the summit of prosperity as believed by the bad eggs. 

If I must tell you, for us to survive, the act of patriotism must be at a very high level. Some years back, if I can recall clearly, when a newly elected councillor (name withheld) assumed office, he was full of strength and ready to work as he painted us all with copious of promises to quench our thirst for a fresh wind of change. As I was congratulating him, someone jumped in and shouted – our boy don flog them! Na who dem bi? Oga mi, chop your own sharp sharp… you know as e dey go.

Above is an anecdote that I witnessed some years back and this is just the real picture of events anytime we have newly elected/appointed public officials in Nigeria. They get ill-advised and encouraged to steal billions just to polish their friends and relatives. At this point in Nigeria, we have had a complete failure of leadership under President Goodluck Jonathan who has made corruption easy, profitable, appealing, making the act so hard to ignore. 

This country has a great record of corruption recurring at all time, which I can’t picture coming to an end cheaply. I mean, I have never witnessed a day without hearing from the local media or reading the pages of newspapers about some people/cadre who have lined their pockets with tax payers’ money. Sincerely, this is unpatriotic!

On March 5, 2013, a particular historical event happened. This day marked the day that saw ‘my friend’, Commandant and President Hugo Rafael Chavez Friaz of Venezuela pass on at the age of 58. He had a tough battle with cancer but his sickness overpowered him after his third medical treatment trip to Cuba and died shortly after his return to Caracas. When I told my mum about Chavez’s death, her reply was ‘wetin concern you?’. And I responded, ‘okunrin ye gbiyanju fun ilu e gan fa’ (meaning ‘that man, Chavez, tried for his country a lot’).

However, I found it so difficult to quantify the level of patriotism portrayed by Chavez. He brought about a veritable revolution that changed Venezuela and Venezuelans. Under my late friend, (although I have never met him before), quality of life improved and the poverty rate fell from 48.6% in 2002 to 29.5% in 2011 according to the UN Economic Commissioner for Latin America. Sad enough, our leaders over here are busy stacking up their account with tax payers’ money and they keep promising us the war on corruption is much on. Truly, confusion don break our bone.

When Hugo Chavez departed this life, thousands of Venezuelans gathered outside Caracas military hospital and they all chanted emphatically, “we’re all Chavez’’!!!. That day, I heard on a BBC Radio interview where a Venezuelan respondent said, “Chavez taught us nothing but how to love our country…. Chavez lives on…”

Back home, here in Nigeria, the reverse is the case. Our leaders hardly show that passion needed to pilot the country to the summit. Recently, our Oga At The Top, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan granted his former boss, DSP Alameiyeseigha,  the ‘popular thief’ that masqueraded himself to evade arrest in London, state pardon. What does his action truly imply?. To give him another chance to steal in future?. God knows. At least, Alameiyeseigha painted the country in an aesthetic way, by irony. So, he must be granted state pardon.

Under the leadership of General Yakubu Gowon (although I wasn’t  born then), he was reported to have said in his time as Nigeria’s military president, that money is not his problem but ‘how to spend it’; and I can say categorically that Nigeria still has a large revenue that General Gowon once boasted of. The bulk of the country’s petro-dollar money has been stolen largely by the political class. The more money we have, the more complex our problems become. No employment, security ‘brouhaha’ is still much there and so on. Yet our leaders claim the root of our problems is laziness. Shey na like that?

It is sheer ignorance to admit that Nigeria is not buoyant enough to protect the lives and properties of her subjects, if I must articulate. The more our president assures us of our safety, the more Boko Haram proves him wrong by killing more innocent Nigerians. No qualms, so long as our politicians are not getting killed by the so called ‘’faceless’’ Boko Haram insurgents who have got the face to kill innocent Nigerians. This is frustrating!

When you criticize the government for acting under par, the next label you get is – these opposition parties are at it again. It seems they do not understand the clear difference between critics and opposition parties. Critics judge or appraise the government in a situation where they fail or succeed; and nothing else.

Looking at the event that catapulted the coming of the French revolution of 1789-1799, you would see it was total hardship on the side of the commoners. The French stood firmly with their Tennis Court Oath and this marked the beginning of their fight against oppression. The people were against the monarchy and not the monarch. That is, the people were apparently not against Louis XVI, the then ruler of France, but his rule. This is also a similar case in my opinion. 

I’m not against President Goodluck Jonathan; just his style of administration that has declared open the flood gate for corruption to thrive in the country without any solution in sight.

Apparently, our leaders must be careful and wake up to their challenges to move the country back to her respectable position in Africa and the World at large. If Mr. President dares to allow a return or replica of the anti fuel subsidy protest, then CONFUSION GO BREAK BONE PATAPATA. Take a page from the book of  Louis XVI of France.