Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Response by Niyi Osundare

Moses:

You social scientists like alternative "narratives", so here is one....

Could it be because of the differential effect of the  48-hour curfew imposed in Ekiti before June 21, one candidate's "rice" was still in the belly during the voting, while the other candidate's "rice", having
passed through the alimentay canal to early, had lost much of its culinary memory effect?

Just asking, because I understand that many elections are won or lost in Nigeria in the last 48 hours, when there is greatest official (INEC, security and others)  and electorate "hunger".

The most annoying aspect of all of this is that we Ekiti are yam-chopping people, not rice.  How rice has become our stomach infrastructur paving raw material is a mystery.  In fact, I remember my father once telling me that the general feeling was that only thieving children asked for rice and eggs outside of Christmas in Ekiti.

He must be shaking his head in Heaven.

And there you have it.


Bolaji Aluko
Shaking my head on Earth


On Wednesday, July 2, 2014, Moses Ebe Ochonu <meochonu@gmail.com> wrote:
> Good point, Toyin Adepoju. The rice narrative has taken on an unwieldy explanatory life of its own and now serves as the anchor for all manner of reductive analyses. Indeed, Feyemi not only also distributed rice but in fact gave away bigger bags of rice, according to newspaper accounts. Not only that; while Fayose accompanied his rice gift to students with 1000 naira (reduced from an earlier promised 2000 naira), Fayemi is reported to have accompanied his own rice gift with 5000 naira. If all this is true, it ought to at least mitigate the claim that rice distribution and other appeals to consumptive gratification played a decisive role in the election. If both candidates engaged in rice distribution, its net effect on the election should be a wash, and this should cause us to pivot to more profound issues and explanations.
>
> On Tue, Jul 1, 2014 at 2:11 PM, Oluwatoyin Adeopoju <oluifadante@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> But, both candidates gave rice to the people
>>
>> On Mon, Jun 30, 2014 at 9:31 PM, Oyeronke Oyewumi <oyeronke.oyewumi@stonybrook.edu> wrote:
>>>
>>> Thanks a million. I posted this on Falola list.
>>>
>>> On Mon, Jun 30, 2014 at 4:30 PM, Oyeronke Oyewumi <oyeronke.oyewumi@stonybrook.edu> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Dear All,
>>>> On Ekiti elections, the poet has spoken. Professor Niyi Osundare is the Poet Laureate of Ekiti State, does he have the last word?
>>>>
>>>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> http://saharareporters.com/column/people-voted-their-stomach-blues-arrested-renaissance-niyi-osundare
>>>> <https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEigb_fxRrxRpnduz31CP9Wi9gS2Kb1qncdruZRCee1mbEADbRs2zWV1YE1ny-CchQEE8KIcqzYE5aBLIe2kvMe47SIzEG0OARnYeQ_gQxeRGs_MEf0oZ7HpkhdsqOwQKB571bUpG2-E2b-qgvOTrHgx8TH8rT7LSFWoz2yV2pKeHCnYkPSHTwNT3GqlXT3iZjOX=s0-d-e1-ft>
>>>>
>>>> The People Voted Their Stomach -Blues For An Arrested Renaissance By Niyi Osundare
>>>>
>>>> Posted: Jun, 29 2014, 9:06PM
>>>> <https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEiczPv4Rr8Mkqcyuhr5odYa9_UWy87IhK1WeefeaxjV38en7np7C_tD-hM2qR5m_t6Rn3IReYIePLRQYWf7xYnzYx2xZKNMpBTEeGDvwmQw5ltoctg_WkHmPWAQIHP-VBZgqx9hKMmKcit_hz8P9atfJs6fI1ONwZr2FHeYoNBxdedq2ta7JYpOZsgYpWtNzFhqUYnkwR49Pdf0H1dgEImyZX_-GuFsD7cJIGHGs4ww=s0-d-e1-ft>
>>>> Prof. Niyi Osundare
>>>> Columnist: 
>>>> Guest Columnist
>>>>
>>>> A-RICE, oh compatriots
>>>> Your stomach's call obey
>>>> Say, A-RICE, oh compatriots
>>>> Your stomach's call obey
>>>> Hold out your bowls for the golden grains
>>>> Pawn your pride without delay
>>>>
>>>> Grab your bribe and dance in the street
>>>> To the Riceman's drum and venal command
>>>> Yes, grab your bribe and dance in the streets
>>>> To the Riceman's drum and venal command
>>>> Bend your back for his heavy ride
>>>> Your golden rice is your sole demand
>>>>
>>>> The Riceman is here, your lord and saviour
>>>> Pawn your vote for his golden gift
>>>> Say, the Riceman is here, your lord and saviour
>>>> Pawn your vote for his golden gift
>>>> Eat your rice and belch like a bull
>>>> And give your guts the forgetful lift
>>>>
>>>>  
>>>> The passage down the gullet
>>>> Is the fastest road to heaven
>>>> Yes, the passage down the gullet
>>>> Is the fastest road to heaven
>>>> To those held hostage by their shameless guts
>>>> There is no nirvana like the seething toilet
>>>>
>>>> The people voted their stomach
>>>> And the dunghill usurped their future
>>>> Alas, the people voted their stomach
>>>> The dunghill embraced their future
>>>> The wounds from this blind affair
>>>> Defy the magic of the cleverest suture
>>>>
>>>>                II
>>>>
>>>> The people voted their stomach
>>>> And the dunghill usurped their future
>>>> Alas, the people voted their stomach
>>>> The dunghill embraced their future
>>>> The wounds from this blind affair
>>>> Defy the magic of the cleverest suture
>>>>
>>>> Cunning Riceman with bags
>>>> Full of tricks and daggers
>>>> Say, cunning Riceman with bags
>>>> Full of tricks and daggers
>>>> His first coming left us all
>>>> In ashes and fluttering rags
>>>>
>>>> Brazen murders, strange disappearances:
>>>> His hands drip with unexpiated crimes
>>>> Yes, brazen murders, strange disappearances
>>>> His hands drip with unexpiated crimes
>>>> But he has an arsenal of cash and rice
>>>> Both so vital in these degenerate times
>>>>  
>>>>
>>>> Rabble-rousing, clowning, scheming
>>>> Frightful intimations of Idi Amin's pedigree
>>>> Yes, rabble-rousing, clowning, scheming
>>>> Frightful intimations of Idi Amin's pedigree
>>>> Yesterday's fruits still stir the leaves
>>>> On History's bewildering tree
>>>>    
>>>>
>>>> Here, once again,
>>>> The wild histrionics of a deadly actor
>>>> Say, here, once, again,
>>>> The wild histrionics of a deadly actor
>>>> Mindless applause from a captive audience
>>>> Chloroformed puppets of a wily victor  
>>>>
>>>>                III
>>>>
>>>> They sold their birth right
>>>> For a kongo* of rice
>>>> Alas, they sold their birth right
>>>> For a kongo of rice
>>>> This mindless commerce
>>>> Will come at a heavy price
>>>>
>>>> Erstwhile Knowledge Fountain
>>>> Overgrown with Ignorance's malignant weeds
>>>> Alas, erstwhile Knowledge Fountain
>>>> Overgrown with Ignorance's malignant weeds
>>>> The Book, once robust, resurgent,
>>>> Has been voted out of our daily needs
>>>>
>>>> They sold us a lemon; we emptied
>>>> Our bank of virtues to pay the price
>>>> Alas, they sold us a lemon; we emptied
>>>> Our bank of virtues to pay the price
>>>> The will powerful guns could not subdue
>>>> Now lies suborned by a spoonful of rice
>>>>
>>>> Poverty so desperate, so demeaning,
>>>> It consumed our pride, our primal worth
>>>> Yes, Poverty, so desperate, so demeaning,
>>>> It consumed our pride, our primal worth
>>>> The pride we once extolled is vanishing fast
>>>> From the face of our stunned, corrupted earth
>>>>
>>>> The people voted their stomach
>>>> And the dunghill usurped their future
>>>> Alas, the people voted their stomach
>>>> The dunghill embraced their future
>>>> The wounds from this blind affair
>>>> Defy the magic of the cleverest suture
>>>>
>>>> *Kongo: a small tin, plastic, or calabash container used for measuring peas and grains in market sales.  
>>>>
>>>>                   IV
>>>>
>>>> Too good for us, far too advanced
>>>> The reigning King is too high above our rot
>>>> Say, too good for us, far too advanced
>>>> The reigning King is too high above our rot
>>>> Too much bound to Excellence and Honour  
>>>> And a public garment without a blot
>>>>
>>>> He expends state funds on the road to the Future
>>>> He never paves the way to our bottomless stomach
>>>> Yes, he expends state funds on the road to the Future
>>>> He never paves the way to our bottomless stomach
>>>> Whoever doesn't know in the eating  world
>>>> That the gut is a grand, demanding monarch
>>>>
>>>> We asked for rice, he gave us Reason
>>>> We asked for booty, he gave us the Book
>>>> Say, we asked for rice, he gave Reason
>>>> We asked for booty, he gave us a book
>>>> So we trooped all out to cast our lot
>>>> For the side of the dark and loaded crook
>>>>
>>>> The Damaged Good has riced its way
>>>> To the top of the brand
>>>> Alas, the Damaged Good has riced its way
>>>> Right to the top of the brand
>>>> Our feet stand askew
>>>> On our dark and traitored land
>>>>
>>>> Come again soon, oh brief Renaissance
>>>> This interlude forebodes a trembling twilight
>>>> I say, come again, brief Renaissance
>>>> This interlude forebodes a trembling twilight
>>>> Sow rainbow stars in our darkening sky
>>>> Divine another Dawn, new and bright  
>>>>
>>>>  
>>>>
>>>>                     Niyi Osundae   
>>>>
>>>>  
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Oyeronke Oyewumi, Ph. D
>>>> Department of Sociology
>>>> Stony Brook University
>>>> Stony Brook, NY 11794
>>>> Ph: 646 707-3703
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Oyeronke Oyewumi, Ph. D
>>> Department of Sociology
>>> Stony Brook University
>>> Stony Brook, NY 11794
>>> Ph: 646 707-3703
>>>
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>
>
>
> --
> There is enough in the world for everyone's need but not for everyone's greed.
>
>
> ---Mohandas Gandhi
>
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