Sometimes
when I want to write satire, things happen which make it impossible. Nigeria is
living, breathing satire and all one needs to be filled with both laughter and
incredulity is to read news coming out of Nigeria. Other times one is just too
sad to use any humour as is the case with this article.
On June 25, a
bomb was detonated in a shopping plaza a five minute ride away from where I
live in Abuja. The windows and door rattled slightly and I didn’t realize that
an event that ended the lives of at least 21 persons and permanently changed
the lives of many others had just occurred. It made me think. Our first
reaction when a bomb goes off or violence breaks out is to call our loved ones
in the area and ask if they are ok, or if they knew anyone who died. When the
answer is no, we end by saying a variant of ‘Thank God’. The frequency of the
bombings and killings have numbed us and forcibly reduced the sphere of our
worry to those we personally know. Tragedy fatigue has robbed us of normal
responses to mass deaths: demanding answers, demanding accountability,
demanding security.
My friend
Abang Mercy missed the blast by only a few minutes and was visibly shaken when
I met her later that day. Thank God for my life o, she said. As people around
the country called me to find out if I was ok, I lost count of ‘Thank Gods’.
The failure
of the Nigerian state has increased the significance of the Nigerian god. If
there was a power tussle between a functional government or state and a supernatural
wonder-working being, then that tussle has been resolved firmly in favour of
the Nigerian god. That is why instead of demand accountability from humans who
get rich pretending to run Nigeria, we ask the Nigerian god to take charge, to
change things, to make things better, even to touch the heart of the leaders we
elected into office.
I have a
quarrel with this god though and wonder what one has to do to escape being
slaughtered in the middle of the night by bandits, being blown to bits by suicide
bombers and IEDs or dying because our hospitals have no decent emergency care. Are
the persons who die senselessly because the people who should be doing their
job aren’t, deserving of death? Should we be thanking god for taking their
lives and sparing ours?
I have a
bigger quarrel with Nigerians who have taken power away from those being paid
to exercise it and dumped it in the arms of the Nigerian god whose desk is
already full of requests for husbands, children, safe journeys, prosperity, dream
cars, promotions, protection from village enemies, protection from wicked
neighbours and mothers-in-law and holy ghost fire for general purposes which
may or may not include consuming enemies by fire. I will explain why.
The same day
the blast happened I was at a debate organised by the BBC which had the
Nigerian Defence spokesperson, the Minister of Interior (who oversaw the deaths
of young job seeking Nigerians), the Governors of Niger and Rivers and the
Commissioner for Information of Borno State. The hall was also full of young
entrepreneurs, professionals and activists. Accusations were traded and
especially the Minister, Abba Moro, got booed more than once. In fact two
persons directly accused Moro of the deaths of young people whose lives ended
because of his woeful planning and negligence. The army was blamed for being
ill equipped to fight the insurgency to the hearing of the Defence
spokesperson. An outsider might have seen all of this and had hope for the
future of Nigeria, thinking that perhaps young people were ready, finally, to
take on their leaders. But just like actors in a show, the moment the debate
was over, so was the anger and rage. Young people swarmed around the same
people who had borne insults minutes earlier. The villains stood proudly to
receive people bowing to greet them with smiles. Of course not everyone was
part of this charade. At least a couple of people continued the confrontation,
especially with Abba Moro who smelled like he must have fallen in a bucket of
alcohol on his way to the event.
What is my
point? For as long as we keep having two faces – one for when our corrupt
leaders are not looking and another when we actually meet them – these men and
women without consciences will keep raping us. Unless citizens can rise up and
demand accountability and not cede their powers to the Nigerian god, nothing
will change. Unless first we believe that we have the power and next, USE that
power as citizens, we will keep making those calls after bomb blasts. And if it
continues long enough, some day we will find ourselves saying not “Thank God”,
but “O my God”.
The sooner we relieve the Nigerian god of duty, the better for us. The sooner we realise that as far as governance is concerned, we, the citizens are the only gods that our leaders need to fear, the better for our country.