By Abdulwarees Solanke, fcipdm, MPP (Brunei Darussalam)
My reflection today is prompted by a Facebook message forwarded to our WhatsApp group chat by my Saudi-Arabia based intellectual soulmate, Dr. Ahmad Rufai who works as an education consultant for the Islamic Development Bank. It concerned the kidnap kingpin, Wadume, performing the Hajj last year. The owner of the original post was a certain Idowu Israel Aristotle.
In this post, Aristotle expressed indignation at how people can be so holy or righteous outside, yet being the most invidious of creation in what their minds conceive and their hands wrought on humanity under the cover of their magnanimity. Said Aristotle, ‘, imagine how Wadume could deploy all his energy to stone Satan during his so called Hajj in Mecca when in actual fact he is the real Satan to be stoned here in Nigeria’.
This led me to a reflection on an award winning music by my middle-name sake and prodigious music maker, Korede Bello who few years ago took the nation by storm and released a chart-buster, Goodu win which for long ruled the airwaves and pop music scene. The fast tempo dance hall delight is a celebratory music of arrival, achievement and success in life. It spells Good luck, Good will and God’s will in his life. God is a victor for Him. Coincidentally, these also sound like names that Nigerians also give children whose arrival brings fortune and hope to their families.
However, I am not about profiling any particular man of power and prestige, former or present, late or living whose name bears a close semblance to the indices of success for their deeds or misdeeds in office because the personalities that warrant this piece do not in any way bring joy to the nation given the stories around him. So, this piece is a mere attempt at a philosophical excursion into our value system towards understanding the public motivation, morality and mentality of the average man in our polity.
Like Korede that my middle name is, it must have been that my birth meant so much to baami and maami because, it literally translates to Harbinger of fortune. Let me pick some lines from the Goodu win lyrics of Bello to illustrate my thoughts today.
Anything them do na God win o na God win o na God win o
I don change my name to God win
And omo I don buy motor ….. god win
Them say my market no go sell but God win
And them been say I no go blow, but God win them my broda
Make them try their luck my God go win na… my God win o
My lord win o
Anything them do na God go winna
God win o na God win o
In our nation, there are thousands of Wadume singing Goodu win and performing the hajj or going Jerusalem for sanctification. Their offerings, tithes, sadaqahs and zakats are often the fattest. We knight them in the church for their honorifics to become sirs or in mosques, we robe them in al-kimbas of honour for their contributions to the cause of God. We see them as the best servants of humanity because of the freebies they serve the community. Do we ever question the sources of their wealth to afford all that we celebrate or praise them for? We care less. Yet beneath the wealth of many is an offensive scum. Isale oro legbin. But Olowo laye mo.
So, when they invite us to their parties to celebrate the birth of their needless child, to commission malls built from the proceeds of nefarious business or for the umpteenth burial of their dead dad they never cared for in life, we turn up gorgeously in Ankara Aso ebi, outdoing ourselves in singing along Korede Bello’s Goodu win or dancing shakushaku. In Nigeria, we definitely are taking God’s patience and mercy for granted. People loot the blind, blind to the fact that Allah is All-Seeing, All-Hearing and All-Knowing. We also forget that He is stern in punishment. We fail to realize that He is the best of judges, that He is holy and pure and would not accept anything from man except that which is pure. So, in man’s foolishness, he cuts corner, believing that he can repent to cut a chunk of his ill-gotten lucre to engage in good deeds as acts of righteousness. So, many brigands bring billions to bishops for blessing. Many are sheikhs do not shudder about where the pound sterling they are sent are sourced from.
It is not the criminal’s fault when in the polity corruption is a culture and integrity an exception. Our polity or society is therefore guilty of 12 crimes, topping the list of which is excusing or rationalising corruption. It is because he needed to get a new apartment. He needed to pay his child school fees. He has an aged mother to care for. He is the breadwinner of his family, we are wont to say when the game is up for state offenders. So, we are a people that is also known for readily justifying indiscretion. It’s not his fault if not because… is a common refrain just as rewarding mediocrity is an accepted norm. O tie try, e gba bee.
In a similar vein open celebration of criminality is a practice when we endorse shady deals, even gambling as a way to quick wealth. See my people!. Graft is the most appreciated virtue in our culture as he who does not bribe his way to wealth or the top is regarded as stupid or stingy.
A worse trend is that when a criminal is caught and eventually convicted, our sympathy, empathy and compassion are at their highest. Eeeeh, o ma se o. Aanu e de n se mi. That good man. Eeyan daadaa. Ironically however, we easily blame the victim of their evil machinations for carelessness. In fact, a popular city in the southwest is often praised for this virtue. Kaka ka panu po b’ole wi, a ni ibi ti olohun gbe si ko dara.
Equally, worshipping profanity is the order in our land in our obsession and adoration of filthy wealth. Ajekuukale. We are often awed by obnoxious mansions which serve as the luxurious prisons of the rich built from proceeds of drug and crime which we hardly border to investigate. Inside most of such jaw-dropping buildings are bloody bazaars intoxicating wine, cracks, cokes and weeds going on. Their underground vaults are stacked with dollars from dirty deals. I ask, which culture in our society does not see naira shower or dollar deluge at owambes as the spice of parties? The more money is lavished, the more the memory lingers, memory of waste and obscenity.
In our collective amnesia, we sanctify sacrilege not care that the source of many millionaires’ millions is the murder of their mothers or marital mates. When our laws are so loose as to allow criminals go scot free through plea bargain, we are technically condoning and rewarding misdemeanours. Now consider the news on Invictus. The Forbes celebrated genius and poster boy of yesterday has been found by FBI to be a super fraud in the US. Look at the list of the infamous 80 Nigerians, mostly of eastern extraction that US has found to be behind wire frauds on a monumental scale. There is another list of names dominated by my Ngbati-ngbati brothers waiting for execution in Saudi Arabia.
As crime and corruption has no colour or language, we are being inundated with more odious records of our nationals from Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Singapore and UK of Nigerians in prisons in those lands or waiting for the hangman for all sorts of crimes and infractions of the law in those lands.
Yet, many of these are the returning natives who bring good luck to their families back home in Nigeria whether from proceeds of drug or wire fraud, enjoying our goodwill and respect, evening earning the highest titles in the land. To us they deserve to be invested with titles like oluomo, jagunmolu and agbaakin. When they return at Christmas or Qorbani festival, they paint the town red. And inside their mansions hurriedly built in months, weird parties are held even with strippers dancing on dollars and guests metaphorically sitting on pound sterling, singing or swaying to Korede Bello’s Goodu win. To them good life is God’s will. Ajeku laye.
Generally, our perversion in public life is exemplified in our tolerance for impunity. When we create institutions to fight corruption in the polity, pillars that will also crush them are already erected by their side giving room for circumvention of rules and regulations, permissiveness of public officials or use of double standards. So when criminals are left off the hook for the same or lesser offence those who can’t play ball or afford litigation cost are clamped in detention, we sing Goodu win openly in the court premises or return to beer parlours to pop champagne. The victorious procession might head to the Bishop Court to be blessed or the sheikh’s chamber for thanksgiving.
Therefore when someone escapes judgement, we say good luck to him. But when someone is cheated, we console him that it is God’s will, whereas when someone is adept at cheating to the top, we excuse him that he has goodwill. These are the contents of our culture that need to be changed. Are we not in trouble for such culture of perversion? If Nigeria must indeed move to the NEXT LEVEL, our leaders must be ready to battle these ills. But they must also be ready to dance naked in the open market of our public life. There must be no exemption. There must no sacred cow. Rule of law, the first condition for good governance must be respected or observed to the letters. Transparency, Accountability, Openness, Fairness, Equity and Public Trust must be our watchwords in public management.
In summary, our national value must be anchored on INTEGRITY. Otherwise, the scions of the Wadumes, Mufu Oloosaoko, Anenihs, Oyenusis and the Evans who became famous for criminality will populate our hallowed chambers, temples of justice and opulent state houses as lawmakers, dispensers of justice and chief executives and accounting officers, colouring and garlanding thieves, fraudsters and kidnap kingpins with titles of good luck, good will and God’s will as we clap and dance round them with goodu win, a la Korede Bello, my middle namesake.
Abdulwarees is an acting deputy director, Strategic Planning & Corporate Development at Voice of Nigeria (VON) and volunteers for the Muslim Public Affairs Centre, MPAC Nigeria as Director, Media & Strategic Communications, 08090585723 abdulwarees01@gmail.com
