Abaribe; Na you BIKO!... and Between Proletarian Solidarity & Criminality - Ik Muo, PhD.

January this year, beyond the singsong nature of  the year 2020, was like  every other  January: dry winds, dust and cold; acute ‘pocketities’ as people have ‘finished’ themselves financially during the Christmas holidays, ( especially my people who spend in 11 days, December 20 to January 1, what they had accumulated in 11 months); students  reluctantly returning to school and  people gradually readjusting to the world of work, business and politics( the most lucrative industry in Nigeria), from which they took a break in the previous weeks.  We also had other developments in January: the signs and wonders ( judicial mathemagic) in Imo State, the ferocious war between the falcon and falconer in Edo state, the onset of revenue at all cost strategy of the Federal Government, our ‘improved’ rankings on the Transparency International and Global Terrorism Index   and fire disasters everywhere, especially that of Balogun Market, Lagos. There were also the  onslaught against the poor in Lagos(Takwabay demolition and impending okada ban), the increasing visa restriction by ‘Donald nwa Trump’ and the  Brexit  fever,   and denial of the existence of the hate bill speech by our  Minister of Information, who had assured us that he was not a liar.

Beyond all these, January 2020 was a month in which security issues and concerns forced themselves into the center stage of national discourse. It was the month of Amotekun! A lot had happened on the security front in the South West and with the certainty that more would happen,( with about 1200 herdsmen cells allegedly existing in the western forests) the people and government of South-West established  ‘Amotekun  Western Regional Force’ (Remember the West African Frontier Force?). The Federal Government declared it illegal, surrendered to  public and popular opinion, called for a reconciliatory meeting and negotiation( yes; everything is negotiable) and let Amotekun be! It was the month in which  Governor Orthom, the weeping governor of this generation was attacked by  herdsmen in his farm, when the  decimated  Boko Haram rejected N50m ransom  and brutally murdered Rev Andimi  Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria  in Michika LGA of Adamawa State,  when their cousins, ( the bandits) murdered  Mike Nnadi, (a young-orphan seminarian) and  Mrs Ataga ( after Dr Ataga had donated a police station to the community).

It was a month in which the ‘operation finish them’  in the Plateau continued unabated, when our President, expressed shock  at our  the rising insecurity and when Femi Adesina  told us to rejoice because  BokoHaram bombings had reduced  and that his principal( PMB or GMB??) had transformed the  North-East  into  HEAVEN, unlike the HELL it was under GEJ. It was a month in which our Senate President declared pointedly that our centralised security system had failed. , when  BokoHaram terrorists  attacked our troops in Damasak  and carried out an “extremely violent” attack on a vital aid facility housing United Nations workers in  Borno State.  It was also under this  serious and worrisome state of affairs  one of our legislators felt that the most important  qualifications and or attainments matter were  his 4 wives and 27 children.. ‘and still counting’!

It was in the midst of all this that  security, the  central matter  of the day, came up for discussion at the sleeping chamber of NASS and  it was the day that Senator Abaribe  delivered two quotable  missiles, which in addition to his previous interventions, will keep his name among the few who know  what they had gone to do at Abuja. The whole world knows what he said but let me repeat it for emphasis. Nigeria did not elect the IGP; we did not elect the chief of staff, we did not elect the joint-chiefs or national security adviser, we elected the government of APC  because  they continued to tell us that they had the key to security. "When you want to deal with a matter, you go to the head. So, we will go to government and ask this government to resign. The clincher, to me as an Organisational Behavior Scholar and management consultant is: when you want to deal with a matter, you go to the head. I thought that Abaribe was just a lawyer and politician; I did not know he was/is also a management guru because he  brought in  John C Maxwell into the discourse. Maxwell had said that ‘Everything rises and falls on leadership’.  His second quote on that day  has nothing to do with management but I has everything to do with our current realities, especially when compared to  promises and pretentions of the pre-2015 years. It is that  those who live by propaganda will die by propaganda. If you have not been following the activities of Abaribe in the NASS,  try and check some of them online and do not forget the question he asked our honourable Chief Justice during his anointing session, sorry screening, at the senate. (to be concluded).

Other matters: Proletarian Solidarity and Criminality: Drawing the line!

  

Karl Marx is long dead and most of his followers have joined him on the other side.  Marxism has suffered a  what one of my friends called ‘loss of currency’ ( declining popularity) to the extent that,  whoever says he is a Marxist  or exhibits Marxian paradigm  today will be looked at with a left eye; as if he/she is wearing a DIRTY cloth. That is how concepts rise and then ‘fall and die’. One of the key words associated with Marx is the ‘proletariat’. It is even worse when he speaks  of ‘lumpenproletariat’!  It  refers to those who are just POOR; those who are poor, who are defined by poverty and who have naturalized into their poor habitat and digging deeper rather than making efforts to escape. They are also unorganized, ignorant and not interested in understanding  the why and how of their wretchedness. The only similarity to that is the current World bank/UNDP phrase: Multidimensional Poverty. Marx’s greatest grouse against the poor was their failure to  unite and deal decisively with their traducers; the  bourgeoisie who oppress, suppress and repress them.

However, even in his grave, Marx will be happy with the proletarian solidarity shown by  Lagos Okada Riders, most of whom are said to be from Niger et al. It is about how they pounce on anybody (except soldiers) who oppresses them on the road. It doesn’t matter whether they are wrong and in 90% of the cases, they are at fault.  I  am a living witness to this but an ‘unkown soldier’ has so documented it that there is no need to reinvent the wheel. Read on

‘Last week, a motorist in Festac Town hit an okada rider, an accident which damaged both car and motorcycle, and injured both rider and passenger...  about fifty okada riders appeared out of nowhere and descended on the driver, screaming for his blood and chanting Islamic slogans, beat the driver, senseless, damaged his vehicle and forced him to part with N35,000. In December 2019, a woman was making a turn into her compound, when a crazed okada rider came out of nowhere and rammed  into her car… a mob of okada riders attacked her and tore her clothes. By the time help came from people in the area, her purse and phone had been stolen and her children watched in horror as their mother was beaten and fondled by okada hooligans. Before my very eyes a policeman at Mile 2 tried to impound a motorcycle for parking on the expressway, and a dozen of them drew daggers and threatened to stab him and his colleagues. This happened on Monday at Mile 2!’

 So, where do we go from here? Is this proletarian solidarity or criminality?  So, every car-okada accident caused by the car driver and the okada drivers must met out instant justice? Where are these okada drivers from and how are they licensed and controlled? Are they above the law?  Are we safe? And even then how does this trend play out with the recent Lagos unslaught against okadas and their  younger brothers, the ‘kekes’? Questions, questions and more questions.

- Ik Muo, PhD. Department of Business administration, OOU, Ago-Iwoye. 08033026625