By Promise Adiele
It is difficult to successfully argue that there is nothing inherently wrong with the psyche of many Nigerians. Sometimes, it benumbs the thought process and challenges the mental stability of a normal person to come to terms with the level of psychological misdirection of many Nigerians. Indeed, it is sad that many Nigerians are bereft of basic logic and sensible discernment. Our collective socio-political paralysis has gradually reached a crescendo and demands new attitudes – call it exorcism or deliverance from idiocy, many Nigerians urgently need it. Undoubtedly, something has happened to us but we may not know it. It is more disconcerting because millions of people who lay claim to enlightened sensibilities and education easily suffer from neural dysfunction and tragically gloat over it even in public. I weep for this country because ours is a long journey to liberation. All the elementary bonds that held Nigerians together before have been broken due to politics. Therefore, we pull from different directions to the delight of debased demagogues who are the architects of our country’s ruin. These days, many Nigerians hide behind one façade or another to betray emotional disability in their support or defence of evil.
Recently, Oba Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja was crowned the Olubadan of Ibadanland. The event took place in the ancient, symbolic city of Ibadan, South West Nigeria. Expectedly, many Nigerians wished him well and sent their congratulatory messages. Mr. Bola Tinubu, the president, was there to felicitate with the Olubadan. Former vice-president, Mr. Atiku Abubakar, sent his congratulatory message. Mr. Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra State, also sent his goodwill message. In each congratulatory message sent by the trio of Tinubu, Atiku and Obi, one thing stood out – they all addressed the royal father as “my dear brother.” However, many Nigerians, desperately in search of public engagement, cantankerously poised to advance the frontiers of hate, quickly isolated Peter Obi’s address of the royal father as “my dear brother.” These people convulsed endlessly, insisting that Peter Obi, not Bola Tinubu or Atiku Abubakar, insulted the royal father and his traditional heritage. The barrage of criticism against Peter Obi dovetailed into a tailspin as otherwise enlightened people publicly demonstrated acute sensual haemorrhage in their courtship of asininity. The question is, when did it become a crime against humanity to address someone, royal or not, as “my dear brother”?
So in Nigeria now, “my dear brother” has become an insult? If Peter Obi is guilty of disrespecting the royal father, why are Atiku Abubakar and Bola Tinubu not guilty of the same offence, seeing that they also addressed the royal father the same way? It is simply because Nigerians are crippled and indolent to engage the demons that ail them. That is the reason they are focusing on inanities and irrelevant issues, such as how someone greeted a newly crowned king. Surely, the collective hypnosis besetting Nigerians has successfully distracted them from the issues that confront their survival, forcing them to focus on inconsequential matters. Scholars of cultural studies understand the significance of royalty worldwide. An insult against a royal personage is an insult to the cultural heritage of the people. In this case, is “my dear brother” an insult? No semantic or theoretical analysis would interpret “my dear brother” as an insult in any part of the world. Even if we concede that it is an insult, then the trio of Obi, Tinubu and Atiku are guilty. But to isolate Peter Obi and shamelessly excoriate him reveals some sort of base, emotional dualism that profusely gushes from a hateful heart.
It defies every scintilla of reason that Nigerians will ignore a direct insult, a deliberate desecration of the presidency by Omoyele Sowore and focus on a complimentary greeting from one Nigerian to another. The AAC presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Mr. Omoyele Sowore, recently called Bola Tinubu a criminal. I think it is more insulting to directly call the president of Nigeria a criminal. It is an insult to Nigerians and the sacredness of the office of the president. Yet, Nigerians did not attack Sowore or unleash morbid angst against him. Someone called the president of Nigeria a criminal and everyone is quiet, why? Why are we not all on the street to defend our president? Why are we ignoring Sowore’s insult of the president or is he actually right? Between “you are a criminal” and “my dear brother,” which is a clear case of insult? One was directed to a crowned royal father and the other was directed to the president of Nigeria. Many Nigerians are angry at the use of “my dear brother” but not angry about the use of “you are a criminal.” Do we love the throne of the Olubadan more than we love the seat of the president?
I insist that there is something fundamentally defective in the Nigerian psyche, no one can convince me otherwise. If not because we have become hate mongers and are established in divisive rhetoric, we would ask Sowore to explain how the president of Nigeria is a criminal. No, we are not interested in that. We are more interested in why Peter Obi should address a royal father as “my dear brother.” Our journey in pursuit of superfluity has reached Olympian heights therefore, we deserve collective medals at the world stage. The same Omoyele Sowore also called the FCT minister and former governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, a thief. In Igbo culture, the highest insult you can give anyone is to call the person a thief. It is an everlasting stain on the person. If you call someone a thief and it is proved that the person is not a thief, you will pay a heavy fine to the community at a huge expense. But when you are called a thief and you make no efforts to prove your innocence, it suffices that you are a thief and the social stigma will be on you and your family.
Sowore openly called Nyesom Wike a thief but the FCT minister has not responded. Nigerians are not angry that Nyesom Wike is accused of stealing public funds to buy houses in Florida, USA for his children. Nigerians are not angry that Wike is accused of diverting $300,000,000 (three hundred million dollars) of public funds earmarked for Ogoniland’s remediation and development. Rather, Nigerians are angry that a citizen called another citizen “my dear brother.” We are sick in this country. Today in Nigeria, insecurity holds the country by the throat. Several reports flood our newsreel daily recounting how Nigerians are massacred in their country by bandits and terrorists. But we are not interested in these issues. While the president and his APC gang have their heads buried in re-election in 2027, many Nigerians die daily due to irresponsible and inadequate security measures. Instead of millions of Nigerians, in one voice, united by a common concern, call the attention of the government to insecurity, everyone is interested in why a citizen should address another citizen as “my dear brother”. The indifferent body language of the ruling class towards issues of insecurity in the country should provoke a national outcry. Mbanu!!! that is not bad enough. Insecurity does not threaten our existence. What threatens our future and existence, what challenges our economic fortune, is a citizen referring to another citizen as “my dear brother.”
At a time when Nigeria’s foreign service and our diplomatic missions have collapsed, inflicting unparalleled damage on the country’s image, Nigerians have looked away and focused on “my dear brother” as an insult. Why is no one asking questions about our foreign missions and why does the country not have representatives in other countries? Why are Nigerians quiet about the hardship and economic onslaught inflicted on the masses by the present government? ASUU is threatening to go on strike, but the media, across the board, is quiet. We are not interested in that conversation. Politicians are busy looting our national resources and plundering the exchequer. It is fine for us all. The photos and videos of heavily armed terrorists negotiating openly with the Nigerian government should have provoked an uproar, but no, we have accepted these oddities as part of our national existential protocol. It is sad that of all the challenges and problems confronting Nigerians, we have chosen to direct our raw energy to confront a citizen for referring to another citizen as “my dear brother.” In Nigeria now, “you are a criminal” is not an insult. “You are a thief” is not an insult but “my dear brother” is an insult. Individually and collectively, we are responsible for our absurd conditions in Nigeria and the ruling class knows it. As Nigeria clocks 65, we must set aside hate, bigotry and all divisive tendencies to save our country.
Dr Promise Adiele is of the Mountain Top University and can be reached via: promee01@yahoo.com; X: @drpee4
