Soyinka condemns Jonathan's 'impunity', likens president to 'Nebuchadnezzar'
The power of speech cannot be underestimated. According to certain Judaic understandings, the Almighty created everything through the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. However, since more than half of Nigeria's population of 180 million people are Muslim they must be addressed in terms that are more familiar to them such as the notion embedded in the Arabic word Kun
In the realm of human speech, whether in the myriad ethnic tongues and in the official colonial language of Nigeria, all the learned ladies and gentlemen know what the problems are and complain incessantly about them. They have been complaining ever since before the first coup d'état in West Africa. With deep insight the solutions are announced, one of which - and there is a consensus about this - is the importance of mass literacy/ education. But the sad fact is that mere talk/ speech alone does not change reality.
(A very long time ago, I sat on the edge of my seat to listen to Adin Steinsaltz speak at the great synagogue of Stockholm. When I saw the length of his beard I trembled, mentally prepared to record his every word of the profound lecture that we were about to listen to and would be talking about for the rest of our lives! But what did he say? The synagogue was packed - full - and if I remember correctly, he spoke for less than a minute and what did he say? He said: You people have been yakking for a long time, yakking and yakking "and NOW it's TIME TO DO!" That's all he said.)
Apart from yakking here, there is the possibility for our honourable women and great men to influence politics in Nigeria, from within, by joining the aforementioned major parties and making their voices heard and redirecting the party to where they would like the nation to go, from within. Having abdicated that responsibility, some of the Anglo-Africans for example are often heard complaining over there in the UK, that their country has been left to "the dogs"...
Why should it be easier for Barack Obama to become president of the US than it is for him to become president of Kenya? In the UK, there's much talk about Chuka Umunna, but why should people like him be chanceless in being elected President of Nigeria? We know why. In Kenya, of course Brother Obama would be opposed mainly by the Kikuyu and in Nigeria, young Chuka would be faithfully opposed – in principle (sacred duty) - by the good Yoruba people...
Still, it is more difficult for them in either Kenya or Nigeria because, to begin with, they are missing in ACTION, back home there, in either Kenya or Nigeria, that's why. In the US there's less talk of Obama being half-Luo, more talk about him being half- Kenyan. Ditto with Chuka. Even if the name Chuks is Igbo in the UK there is more talk about him being of Nigerian ancestry. Of course in the US , as Richard Pryor joked, all the Black / African people have the same problem and belong to the only tribe
Brain drain & home remittances aside, some of the intelligentsia and some of the rich and influential people among American-Nigerians are card-toting members of the Republican and Democrat parties to which they make heavy dollar contributions ( some,in the hope of being rewarded) when it's time to elect an American president. (Great contributions to developing the US of A). Why then is there this reluctance to come out clean for Nigeria too? It seems that even some of the most vociferous - those who are pleading most heavily for an extension of Goodluck Jonathan's period of stewardship (the "Goodluck Appreciation Day" fan club) stop short of declaring that that they are also card-toting members of the PDP. Maybe they are only secretly card-toting PDP and are afraid to openly declare that their loyalty is official, thereby exposing themselves as targets for the lawful attacks that would be relentless?
Leaving aside the traditional rivalry between the erstwhile Yoruba UPN and the Igbo NPP, in my opinion People's Redemption Party founded by the venerable Aminu Kano has /had all the hallmarks of a party that should endure in addressing what needs to be addressed in Nigeria.
With reference to what Ogbeni Salimonu (Solomon) Kadiri has expressed about Igbo satisfaction at having their bread buttered by their good man Goodluck Jonathan - Ogbeni Kadiri who is always so logical can hardly expect the Igbos to bite the hand that's feeding them. Soyinka may be a reincarnation ( Babatunde) of William Shakespeare who said, "How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child" Is Ogbeni Kadiri suggesting that if Goodluck Jonathan was buttering the Yoruba's bread in the same way (and maybe even adding a little extra jam) the Yoruba would be ungrateful (sharper than a serpent's tooth)?
Maybe Jonathan will have a Yoruba as running mate...?
No matter that Goodluck Jonathan's wife is Igbo; he himself is an Ijaw man (just as King Sunny Ade's wife being Igbo doesn't mean that King Sunny Ade has changed his tribe/ ethnicity or whatever the politically correct nomenclature is according to Professor Kperogi). That being the case, in my opinion it does not weaken the Igbo hunger for the presidency of Nigeria after Jonathan , according to the PDP rotation system, or does it? Please excuse me, it's only ignorance asking ...
The Yoruba will have to wait for their turn. Patiently, of course. And peacefully. God willing, in due course of time, it should come their way, again....
Meanwhile, up North my conclusion is that the function of the Boko Haram is to give Islam a bad name – terrorism - and to keep that image of Islam constantly in the public eye world-wide, by maintaining the unending wave of violence that we see in Nigeria, Syria, Libya, Iraq, Yemen, etc everywhere. How else to explain how Boko Haram could go on murdering their own Muslim brothers and sisters without mercy and go on blowing up churches when the Qur'an, 5: 82 says,
"And thou wilt find the nearest of them in affection to those who believe (to be) those who say: Lo! We are Christians"
So the ignorant question remains: Who is sponsoring/ financing the Boko Haram carnage? Christians? Southerners?
Isn't it likely that the carnage is bound to move south if the presidential election results are unsatisfactory?
It's 10.20 am in Stockholm and it's a big day in Swedish politics: they are all set to vote on the budget.
Pray for us....
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