JACK BAUER, CHUNG HONG-WON AND GOODLUCK

Recently, I became the leader of my clinical posting rotation group of 10 students, by chance. The student initially saddled with the responsibility had decided to pass it up claiming he will be unable to discharge the duties well enough. As a group leader, all you really had to do is speak for the group, make arrangements with the rotation coordinator, pass relevant info to the group members and assign duties to each person. In essence, there is no privilege or perk attached to it. While I do not support his abdication of responsibility, I found his sincerity admirable and could not help wishing this could happen on our political scene. When he handed over to me, he said and I quote loosely: “I don’t think I’ll be able to function well as this group’s head, it will be unfair on you guys if you rely on me and I am unable to discharge these duties. I will appreciate it if you could step in in my stead.”

If we look around the world, we see examples of places where people resign from office immediately their citizens begin to lose confidence in their ability to discharge their duty. A recent example is that of the South Korean prime minister, Chung Hong-won, who will resign from office following the unfortunate ferry accident that claimed the lives of just 187 people with the possibility of almost 300 more. He probably had nothing to do with the accident in the first place, he is resigning due to the perceived ineffectiveness of the rescue operations. South Korea, in all likelihood has an emergency management agency of some sorts that will be in charge of managing such a disaster. I am not trying to make a case for the prime minister, but surely, holding the prime minister responsible appears far-fetched considering the circumstances.

There was a popular American TV show about a counter-terrorist agent, Jack Bauer. In the show, he was the most patriotic and dutiful agent, always willing to do anything, not minding the consequences to himself or anybody, as long as it is going to protect America from terrorist threats. I could go on and on about his patriotic zeal, but the really eye-catching feature about this show, and many other American shows and movies, is the utmost regard that public officers, administrators, law enforcement agents etc have for the life of each one of their citizens. This may just be the reflection of an ideal and not the reality of things but the apparent fact that such an ideal exists is a remarkable thing. Sadly, such a thing is absent in Nigeria. How do we explain a president who can still afford to go to a birthday party less than 24 hours after an explosion killed so many people in our Federal Capital; or the same president going to canvas for votes close to the town where more than 150 teenage girls were kidnapped while writing exams in their schools?  The obvious answer is visible to the blind and audible to the deaf: we do not have responsible leaders and we are in dire need of a responsible leadership and an even more responsible follower-ship that will always demand nothing less than the best from their leaders.

 If we, as citizens of this country, could just look beyond the perks associated with public office and see the truly enormous responsibility inherent in making decisions that significantly impact the lives of thousands, if not millions, of people; if we could so much as prime our conscience to realize that anybody holding these public offices is, ipso facto, taking responsibility for the lives of many people; just maybe then, we would be led by a purpose driven government that can formulate clear ideals and targets that we, as citizens, would willingly give all our support to achieving. That, I believe would be a giant stride, in realizing our true potential as a country and as a nation; our potential to be the leader and giant of Africa and even the world. Maybe some JackBauer-like attitude from our leaders would be of effective help too.

Journey with Lisabi to the National Conference

Travelling is something I love doing, the prospect of seeing new places always tickles my fancy leaving me salivating like a dog that sees a juicy bone. Unfortunately I haven’t been to that many places. For starters, I have never been out of Nigeria; the closest I have ever been to a border is Badagry. To my credit, I have been to 10 states in Nigeria including our federal capital and I have passed through about 7 others on my travels. I could claim being a medical student as an excuse or the bad roads; I could even pass the buck to Shekau and his cohorts for making the Northeast a hotbed of violence, the Fulani nomads and their adversaries, in the Jos plateau, I won’t spare from my blame game also. The truth is, the buck I’ve been passing around is actually a boomerang which will always find its way back to me because if I really mean to travel, these issues will become challenges to be overcome.

Like the patriot I claim to be, I always try to find ways to support Nigeria to the best of my knowledge and abilities; I even try to watch Nollywood in spite of the little boy inside me screaming H**L NO! in keeping with my patriotic zeal, I spent a good deal of a Sunday afternoon watching a Yoruba movie about a legendary Egba warrior, Lisabi. He accomplished great feats like defeating the army of the great Oyo Empire, inventing the use of explosives in Yoruba warfare (according to the movie). His own form of explosive needed no timer or detonator; all he had to do was pour a special powder on the target, chant some incantations and BOOM! So, the little boy inside of me took control when that scene was shown and I suggested that all the metaphysical phenomena that pervades our culture and society probably had some form of scientific basis even though the human knowledge base of today is yet unable to fully explain or comprehend it; except the select few who know how to harness it. Among the disconcerting responses I got was from a colleague who equated my suggestion that spirituality/ metaphysics/ whatever name it’s also called is akin to me declaring disbelief in God.  If a 10^th century man finds himself in our time, magic would probably be the only way he can explain how we talk to each other over thousands of kilometers or how we can send objects weighing several tons up into the air. Rest my case.

Right now, about 500 delegates are in the Federal Capital, discussing Nigeria’s future. ‘Disbursing Nigeria’s future’ is probably a more appropriate description. At the risk of being labeled a cynic, i will declare that the conference is not going to yield meaningful results with reasons. A look at the delegate list should already make any concerned Nigerian even more concerned. A conference, where the delegates are people who have, or are currently benefiting from the status quo, is unlikely to make any meaningful change. The fact that whatever comes out of the conference must still pass through the National assembly before it can assume any form of meaning. This may explain why some delegates are just there to fill the attendance log without being in attendance. I don’t blame them! I may do the same too; if I know what I am doing is unlikely to count for anything but I am getting paid anyways, I may simply go there and enjoy the ride. If you’re still not convinced, I have 3 pictures that will definitely convince you.

One might ask; what is the connection between travel, patriotism, Lisabi, metaphysics and national conference. Answer is quite straightforward: despite the fact that I wanna travel, I still manage to give excuses for my inertia. The average Nigerian, even kids, knows what our problems are but always find excuses for not doing something to correct them (the government is to blame!) and harms Nigeria even more by his actions. Patriotism from every Nigerian may be the answer to solving our problems. According to some accounts, Lisabi was murdered by Egba high chiefs because he became so popular he was well positioned to become King in his own right. We should not always expect roses and appreciation from fellow Nigerians even when we have done the country a great service. Some may even attempt to harm you for that. Our collective religiosity in Nigeria may be a hindrance because we keep ‘praying without working,’ we expect heaven’s help without trying to help ourselves.  This national conference is another showpiece of our political system where our ‘leaders’ create diversions to take our collective eyes off the real important issues and focus on mundane things hence, perpetuating themselves in power.

Who will be our Lisabi? If you are scared of being murdered like Lisabi was, don’t worry; some accounts say he lived long and died at old age, others claim he was swallowed by the earth like other men in Yoruba legends who become ‘orisa’. Who knows if in a few centuries, Nigeria will be celebrating you just like the Egba celebrate Lisabi.

homosexuals & paedophiles, horses & carts

     “For the loyal readers of my blog, I offer my sincerest apology for the recent break in transmission on this blog. I am sure some of you must be wondering why and also eagerly anticipating my next post with bated breaths. I want to assure you that from now on, I will do my utmost to keep them coming regularly.” This would have been my opening statement for today’s post if this was a much more popular and widely read blog. Nevertheless, I still appreciate those who eke out the little time and internet data that it cost to read my posts. I really hope I have been able to, at the very least, instigate thought provoking reactions that may initiate progressive attitudes towards this country. I encourage you to leave your criticisms, additions, subtractions, corrections or comments afterwards.

     Sometime last year, when I decided to start blogging; the picture I had in mind was that of a blog with a followership numbering in the thousands; I could almost see myself as an inspirational figure catalyzing ground breaking changes in Nigeria’s political terrain. I remember countless debates where I would discuss, argue and make jokes about recent developments in the country with friends. I remember thinking to myself “criticizing is so easy, can I really guarantee anything different or better if given the chance?” Sadly, the answer is no. It gets worse; this is true for many if not most of us. By ‘us’, I mean those of us in the latter part of our 2^nd decade or early part of our 3^rd decade on earth. Simply put, my reason for starting this blog is to contribute to the intellectual revolution which I believe is the only option for Nigeria when this current political contraption goes kaput!

     In any write-up or series of write-ups, the introduction should always be the first thing. Maybe I was just being overzealous in the pursuit of my dream that I mistakenly put the cart before the horse. In my enthusiasm to publish my first article then, I did not take the time to explain fully what this blog would be about. By now, it is clear to anyone who has had a glance through this blog what it’s about. Action speaks louder than words; in this case, doing the actual writing speaks louder than talking about writing.

Apparently, I am not the only one guilty of said offense. The National Assembly and the executive of the federal Government of Nigeria are equally guilty of misplacing their priorities. I believe there are other bills in the National Assembly that may have meaningful impact on the lives of numerous Nigerians which could have been given the speedy instead of the ‘anti-gay bill’ which only worsens the lot of an already stigmatized group in the country.

     Having put forward this kind of opinion, I am aware that I may have placed a prominent bull’s eye on myself. Chief among those lying in wait to take a shot at me will be my Christian brethren. My Muslim friends may also partake in the melee. Now would be a good time to state, emphatically, that I AM A CATHOLIC. I believe homosexuality to be an aberration of the normal, a mental deformity in other words; though I am also ashamed to confess that I may be biased against someone simply because he/she is homosexual turning a blind eye to the other possibly good qualities he/she may possess; that still doesn’t give me the right to enforce my religion’s laws on other citizens. In the same vein, some accepted practices among Christians are seen as ‘haram’ by Muslims but that does not give them the right to legally criminalize such actions. Therefore, it is inappropriate to make laws binding on the whole federation based on religious sentiments, especially in a multicultural and secular state like Nigeria

     In my next post, I will publish some arguments for and against the actions of the Federal Government with respect to this issue; some of them will be mine while others I gathered from the social media.