Dream

I just came back from, well, can’t tell you. I would have to kill you if I do. Went to this place-that-must-not-be-named for a conference of The Association of the Awesome and Superheroes. I am the current president. Met Supes (superman to you), Wonder Woman (still going around in her underwear), you know,everyone of them. Batty didn’t come though, something assassins or so, y’all know how paranoid he is.

So, we discussed the state of things in our countries of residence. Things got heated at a point when Supes went all black housewife on me, nagging about how I have being derelict in my duties. I had to bitchslap the nicca. Hit him so hard, he picked up a new language, yoruba. Kept repeating “e ma binu”.*straight face*. Things cooled down and we decided to wipe out Nigeria. We were discussing the how when history was made. A mortal made an appearance in the meeting. We all turned and of course, Batty was culpable. Now we know why he really didn’t arrive early. So this mortal made a case for Nigeria which is why you are still alive reading this piece. This is what he said:

Beautiful. Ugly. Painful. Pleasurable. Orgasmic. Draining. Adjectives all and all describe just one thing. Life (that’s not what you were thinking,yeah?your mind needs bleaching). Like the story of the blind men who went on a trip, met an elephant and described it. Though they were all right, they were also all wrong. Life, whatever way it is described, is a function of perspective and experience. Therefore, it can not, by the above definition, be described or seen in just one way.

Vox populi, vox dei. The voice of the people is the voice of God. I’m not about to go religious on you, you have your churches, mosques and *insert OAU uber-christian folks here;awon ero “sport”* for that. My using that quote is to buttress a point. The point is that the mob, the majority, the people are the ones who really know as it is. When the generality of these people agree, see things the same way, we can safely believe that thing to be true. Forgive the fallacy, but sometimes the bandwagon effect isn’t wrong.

Lagos. It is October 1, 1960. The D-day. The day Nigeria becomes a sovereign state, at least in name. Like all socieities, there were the rich and the poor. One thing there wasn’t was the wretched. A country blessed, more agrarian than most, Nigeria was called the Giant of Africa and touted to be a superpower in no time. It had potential. There was balance. If these people were asked what they thought of the world, the questioner would have got a multiplicity and diverse answers.

Two coups after, a bloody civil war, Oloibiri. Black gold is discovered in commercial quantity. Blessed curse? Cursed blessing? Anyways, the GDP skyrocketed. Money everywhere. The people still had different views of the world. There was the rich, the educated middle class and then the poor. Still, the wretched were so infinitesssimal as to be non-existent.

However, creepingly, slowly, the middle class was phased out. The rich got richer and the poor, poorer. And then, the poor became the majority. The vox populi effect: the world lost all beauty. The world is seen in just one way: pain-filled with little doses of pleasure.

That is where we are now. Revolution!! Viva Nigeria!! Aluta Continua!! I disagree. We can’t revolt. Not anymore. Not at this stage. We are a potpourri of at least 250 tribes with about 410 languages; centuries old grudges between the so-termed minor tribes and the major tribes and even with other minor tribes. Biafra won’t mind a second try at secession, in my opinion. Don’t point to the American Revolution because they fought a common enemy. Not themselves.

Reformation, maybe. Do the little things. Ask your councillor/local government chairman where the allocated money went. If your local govt councillor can’t be made to be accountable by you, then what’s the noise about the presidency’s profligacy. The Arab Spring was a product of the butterfly effect. The little things added up to become a big thing.

Life and being alive is painful in this part of the world. We can try make it beautiful again.

Slainte.