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By Oseloka H. Obaze
Social media has a way of either uplifting your day or just sullying the day, ever before it starts. For me, SM is an inevitable tool.
I gave up on television long ago. This lazy Sunday morning, I woke up and scanned my SM pages and mails. Good news; bad news, ugly news; and a huge blanket of snow. This represented Shakespearean normalcy. Neither heaven nor earth was at peace. I took in the status quo in strides.
Then there was this snippet from a dear friend. It was not forwarded. It was unsigned. But Zee is someone I take seriously and value his views. He is not given to frivolities. His words: “I am angry. And so are millions of Nigerians. 2026 shall be named -The Year of Our Anger. In 2026 they will tax the poor. And the anger will overflow. But it will not overflow into the streets. Because it will be channeled. The straw shall break the camel’s back.”
Join our WhatsApp ChannelVery chilling words, indeed. Especially as it came from someone I’ve come to believe is clairvoyant. It gave me pause, coming as it did after my morning prayers. I did not respond. Twenty-four hours later, I have still not responded. I knew this snippet and message had to be shared, somehow.
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Then, another SM message dropped from another interlocutor. “Is this possible? The ADC to the C-in-C got another fast-track promotion; the second within 12 months.” I considered the question rhetorical, even as it came on the heels of very befuddling and controversial ambassadorial nominations. Yet my initial reaction, without prejudice to the credentials of the officer and gentleman in question, was: What a lucky fellow? But then, how would his military course mates feel? Perhaps in lieu of due process, the ‘doctrine of necessity’ was applied. I rationalised it all. Being at the right place at the right time! Membership has its privileges! Good things come to those who, wait, serve or grovel. And in that eternal East Central State parlance, I surmised: “onye ube rulu, ya larama.” (If your pear has ripened, do well to enjoy it.)
Of late, some events and occurrences in the native land have gotten me thinking. In those immortal words of James Bond, they have gone from happenstance and co-incidence to enemy action. Although there seems to be no rhyme or reason, the entire season of undue and ostensibly unmerited rewards begins to make sense. The senseless borrowings also begin to make sense. The unrequited foreign concessions begin to make sense.
I’m thinking outside the box, now. Come with me. Contemplate the canticle of Nunc Dimittis! The Last Wish! The Last Lunch! The Last Witness, the Last of the Mohicans, The Last Emperor and The Last Kingdom. There is a common thread here. I’m still thinking and it’s all beginning to make sense. Contextually, Randy Pausch’s The Last Lecture, is even more poignant.
Here’s a tangential personal recall. I’ll stray briefly into the realm of morbidity and share lessons learned. In the late 90s, a very dear aunt of mine was dying of terminal breast cancer. Her doctors in the U.S. told us so. They forecasted a “maximum of three months to live,” thus ruining everybody’s Christmas spirit. My aunt reacted: “It’s not my portion. They are not God.” Conversely, my uncle, her husband, an engineer, craftsman and pragmatist, pulled me aside. “Can the doctors stabilize her sufficiently for us to fly back to Nigeria?” I passed on his question and request to the doctors. They said they could. And they did. So we turned the Christmas that followed a few days later, into one of the most indelible festivity events for me and perhaps, for other family members. My wife as I hosted my aunt and uncle and the extended clan on that Christmas Day. We sang, ate, danced and made merry. It was a twined-celebration; a Christmas and a Funeral. I knew, for sure, it was for my aunt, the Last Christmas.
My aunt and uncle flew back to Nigeria on Swiss Air from JFK airport and spent New Year in their well appointed home in GRA Enugu. She had time to bond with her family, staff, students, mentees, etc. She passed on well wishes, gave out gifts and rewards. She hosted family and friends. More importantly, she rewarded her long term and most loyal domestics: cooks, stewards, drivers, and maids. She tidied her affairs. I flew to Nigeria to visit her a week before she passed. She thanked me for visiting her, but more importantly, she asked me to thank my uncle for bringing her home and giving her the opportunity to acknowledge, thank and reward her long-serving and loyal staff and relatives. Exactly 90 days after her US doctors told her the end was near, she passed peacefully. Lessons learned.
As a career diplomat, mediator and policy wonk, when confronted with certain thorny situations, I often ask: What are the options? What’s the exit strategy? Where’s the off ramp? Is there a face-saving option? These questions help immensely in arbitration, mediation and conflict resolution, assuming the conflict is ripe for resolution. So much for the musing.
Recently, someone had asked facetiously; “Please explain to me, if you could, why the present APC and Tinubu-led government is rewarding scofflaws, converting opponents and transgressors, punishing critics, offloading national assets to cronies, taking foreign loans as if it was going out of fashion and outsourcing the national commonwealth?” That was a thunderbolt slew of questions.
With my thinking cap on, I contemplated historically known facts, actions and reactions. What was the essence of the “Nunc Dimittis?” What happened in the “Last Lecture?” What was the messaging in the “Last Wish” and personally for me; what lessons did I glean from my aunt’s near-perfect exit strategy. End stage situations; be they personal, physical or political tend to be subliminally dramatic.
I’m not exactly sure what 2026 and 2027 portends for Nigeria. Yet, because there is honour among thieves, like most Nigerians, I am witnessing as those who participated in perfecting State Capture are being duly rewarded. I also see those who helped to drag Nigeria into her present predicament being rewarded expeditiously, as if there will be no tomorrow; no 2026 or 2027 and beyond. In that mix, I see an exit strategy and an off-ramp circumstance.
I see the tidying up of the profligate stable, just in case tomorrow comes. I see a bunch of political leaders acting as if they have no hope whatsoever in the sustainability of the Nigerian nation. What do you do when the political permutations for the future suddenly looks bleak, despite your wherewithal? Here’s the upshot. When the odds begin to stack up against rogue leaders, they imprudently look for an egress, and exit strategy, and an off ramp. They tend to reward insensate loyalists on time, more so, those who believe in the doctrine of “heaven can wait.” Dictators tend to leave the political stage, when the price of staying on far outweighs the price of leaving; but they do leave eventually. Nigeria is no exception to this rule.
Now let me backpedal and ponder those fateful words, once again. “I am angry. And so are millions of Nigerians. 2026 shall be named -The Year of Our Anger. In 2026 they will tax the poor. And the anger will overflow. But it will not overflow into the streets. Because it will be channeled. The straw shall break the camel’s back.” If I were a leader of a badly polarized and fractured nation, and understood this, even if by mere conjecture to be my extant reality, what would I do? Perhaps, reward those who have made my present state and sojourn possible; just in case there is no future for me and them. I’ll do so, just in case there is no second chance; just in case there is no second term. And just in case one of the many straws flying around lands on the camel’s back and the story and journey ends abruptly.
As a not-too-good chemistry student, I remember one chemistry point vividly. Every titration has its endpoint. What’s Nigeria’s endpoint given the present national miasma? Like the song says, “the answer my friends, is blowing in the wind.” Meanwhile, we can expect more presidential pardons, rewards, national awards, promotions, outsourcings, concessions and denials. We can also expect more subversion of the rule of law.
The merits, demerits and remits of state rewards all make sense now. But like the agberos in Ochanja Market Motor Park will tell you “make you join our own bus, so you no go enter one chance bus.” In reality, however, genuine buses and “one chance” buses all get loaded the same way and in the same motor parks. The difference is in their intended destination and how and where they offload their passengers. The reality is that even those who load “one chance” buses get criminally rewarded. Present day Nigeria offers some striking parallels. What separates genuine buses and “once chance” buses or purposeful governments and rogue governments, is that element, which some call luck and others call fate. While ill-fate might be temporary, luck eventfully runs out on even the most powerful and maximalist leaders.
Every day, we learn! Reward or no reward, “if tomorrow comes,” with apologies to Jeffery Archer, “the anger will overflow.” And then, there will be other forms of recompense.
Obaze is MD/CEO, Selonnes Consult – a policy, governance and management consulting firm in Awka.
