Alkasim Abdulkadir: Comrade Oshiomole – From a maddening moment to a tea soiree (Y! FrontPage)

by Alkasim Abdulkadir

Alkasim Abdulkadir Y! FrontPage

The video clip that shocked Nigerians beyond measure showed Comrade Oshiomole standing in all majesty while a citizen groveled at his feet like the plebian that she was. She didn’t stand before him as someone who perhaps waited in line for several hours to cast her vote, which eventually gave him the mandate with which he was oppressing her. 

I like Adams Oshiomole. I have followed his metamorphosis as a labour leader to a partisan politician. I recollect vividly his days of picketing streets and leading the people of Nigeria on nationwide effective protests. I remember his squaring up to President Olusegun Obasanjo to demand for the rights of Nigerian workers, as a true socialist his service was always at behest of the people One of the most poignant moment’s I remember is his elation and utter unbridled joy at the Judge pronouncement of him as the winner of the elections in Edo State; simply remarkable. As such his pro-people credentials have never been in doubt.

So what happened to an avowed socialist, who has spent almost 40 years fighting for the people, whose entire life struggle has been to the betterment of Nigeria’s people?  What must have made the Comrade Governor to snap and say in disdain to a hapless and helpless woman –“go and die”?  Is it the arrogance of state power and the totalitarian oppression that comes with Nigeria’s state craft? But that is not the case, for, two months ago in Benue State I saw Comrade Oshiomole stop to dance with a group of elderly women at a wedding, they had ambushed him as he was trying to make his way into the venue, so he loves people and reveres women. I have also seen his amiability first hand, on a visit to his office he had cracked a joke about that visit being special to him and as such he wasn’t wearing his trade marked brown khaki but one that was new and black. So indeed he doesn’t suffer from   taciturnity that is acquired when one struts on the corridors of power.

The video clip that shocked Nigerians beyond measure showed Comrade Oshiomole standing in all majesty while a citizen groveled at his feet like the plebian that she was. She didn’t stand before him as someone who perhaps waited in line for several hours to cast her vote, which eventually gave him the mandate with which he was oppressing her. With the paraphernalia of state powers, his aides, security operatives and the blitz of the media behind him, she groveled, begged for his benevolence but her words fell flat like leaves in harmattan.

In Oshiomole’s moment of frustration at his efforts to rid the state of dirt and ensure sustainable sanitation he made the remark that has become the metaphor of state totalitarian oppression. Though the woman had broken the extant laws of the state, the berating she got has left emotional scars on her as a citizen.

These are the emotional scars being slapped on Nigerian citizens on a daily basis, from the office to the streets. Both the centre and the state governments unleash policies make that make life harder for the citizen and yet expect citizens to be law abiding. The militarized psyche and emperor complex of Nigerians in government is at best atrocious. This sordid behavior begins from the security at the gate, from their uncivil tone to their gait that shows that they are the gatekeepers and you be reverent to them or denied entry. To the front desk officer who does not even dignify you with a look, head bowed deep in the glamour of an Ovation magazine or eyes affixed to the African Magic Channel, when you finally get their attention you made to realize that in no unmistakable terms that you are interrupting an important task. When you finally see their principal, the public officer lacks the requisite interest, he is unmoved by the progress the world is making, he answers in monosyllables and tells you to keep coming back. No country can achieve sustainable development if it treats its citizens with utter disdain.

The same treatment is repeated by policemen, soldiers, traffic wardens and the worse of them all the siren blowing cavalcades. Anyone with any semblance of power and authority in Nigeria is inclined to treat Nigerians with certain irreverence; it is this perversion of power that needs to be curtailed. It is high time that there are penalties for those who abuse their office by mistreating citizens. That is why cases like that Uzoma Okere Vs Naval Ratings must be celebrated and more of such cases encouraged. However, the treatment even has permeated that generality of Nigerians, it is also in the way we treat those who work for us in our homes and offices. It is important that we learn to entrench the dignity of life and share a cup of tea with those who are beneath us like Comrade Adams Oshiomole has done with:  whom he called for a tea soiree after he had told her to go and die.

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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

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