Stomach infrastructure – and more, in today’s news round-up with Cheta Nwanze

by Cheta Nwanze

ekiti

….kedaddling back to the party that was roundly beaten on Saturday, a gentle advice: Nigeria is full of poor people, and those poor people have the power to remove you if they chose. Alienating them, even for the best of reasons, is a sure banker to lose elections. Lagos may just be next.

You, my dear reader, whether you like it or not, are a member of the elite. So, I urge you, try this experiment: on your way home this evening, give the chaps who man the gate at your estate a small token. N50 is a suggested minimum. Do this again tomorrow, don’t do it on Wednesday. Then do it again on Thursday. Next week, do it on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. I promise you that these chaps will be at your beck and call for all time. You have just fulfilled their one infrastructural need, the need for “stomach infrastructure”. We saw a living example of just how powerful this stomach infrastructure is on Saturday in the Fountain of Knowledge. Most members of the elite are shocked at the choice of the denizens of that state in “Who Wants to Become A Millionaire, Ekiti Edition. Congratulations to the governor-elect, and to the losers, you have lessons to learn, one of which I talked about well over a year ago now.

Speaking of governors-to-be, and then governors-to-have-been, and the bigot in the Land of Beauty claims that he is not on the run. Speaking through his parrot while he took cover, Baba Nyako put forward all sorts of reasons why various impeachment notices served to him have somehow not reached his desk, of course forgetting the blindingly obvious one that he skedaddled out of town by road when denied the services of the airport.

Finally, and skedaddling back to the party that was roundly beaten on Saturday, a gentle advice: Nigeria is full of poor people, and those poor people have the power to remove you if they chose. Alienating them, even for the best of reasons, is a sure banker to lose elections. Lagos may just be next.

Bits and Bobs

Sadly, it will appear that the chaps running the show in the losing party have only one way of doing business. Visiting not-so-liked “power brokers”.

Meanwhile, in another place where the APC really ought to be working, #BokoHaram is preparing ground for their candidates to get into office.

In yet another APC zone, something that could have made a huge difference in perception, power, is causing people to get beaten up.

Finally, someone, somewhere, is still selling the lie that an industry which throws away $8 million investments is the third largest in the world (in revenue) on the back of an $250 k investment. Dia is God o!

Right of Reply
Abdur-Rahman Aderinoye wrote,

I quite understand and appreciate your positions on the many various matters affecting this err, geographical expression, Nigeria! Of course, issues of corruption and bad leadership cum followership have been major developmental challenges for us as a nation but when it comes to the dead, we may have to be very cautious.

I would want you to please, try to do more verification and authentication of your facts. Your statement: “when one of Nigeria’s biggest banks, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc filed a lawsuit seeking an order to declare him bankrupt over a N7 billion loan which to put it succinctly, Mr. Alao had refused to pay.” to somebody like me that could recall a bit of the issues then seems ambiguous and misleading. I recalled that Intercontinental Bank and a couple of other banks were also involved with him then.

Be that as it may, the matter miraculously disappeared from the public domain as a matter of convention in this err, geographical expression, Nigeria. Let’s always try “saying it as it is” in emulating one of our elders – Tunde Fagbenle of The Punch Newspaper!
Similarly, I know it may be very difficult but let’s try as much as possible to always exercise some levels of self restrain and spare the deads!

Tony Chukwumah wrote,

Soon -Anini – would become a saint of blessed memory! I just don’t get it!

Wunmi Awosedo wrote,

I must also say that I do not understand the censorship of the Half of a Yellow Sun movie. It’s contents might indeed be controversial, but it addresses a fundamental issue which has been ignored till date, and like you said in today’s reply, those same mistakes are being repeated today. The other day while speaking with a group of friends about the possibility of the Boko Haram insurgency somehow finding it’s way to the south, we all agreed that it would likely give rise to the same set if events that precipitated the last civil war. Sadly, we’re well on the path to this dire prophecy, due to the general feeling of paranoia in the land. This is what gave rise to the recent arrest of a large group of northerners in Abia state, and the lingering controversy over the identities and objectives of those men and women.

I think screening the movie, with the right treatment in terms of public enlightenment will go a log way toward reminding band warning people against the risks inherent in our current course as a nation. It is not enough to say, “nobody wants a war” – we must all recognize the clear and present danger and make a concerted effort to avert it. We seem to enjoy avoiding the less savory parts of our history, which is unfortunate if we then inadvertently repeat the errors of the past. Instead of censoring the movie, the Ministry of Information should seize the opportunity to produce a documentary to highlight the need to coexist peacefully, so that those ugly events are not repeated. That is the proper way to proceed in my (very unwelcome) opinion.

Gabriel Osu wrote,

No offense to Joseph Omon (or maybe a little offense), the sooner we expose the past and scrutinize it properly, the faster we would learn from our mistakes and create a better Nigeria.

Our generation (below 33yrs) just go with the whatever we are told because (1) our documentation of Nigerian history is poor and almost non-existent (2) we believe what the ‘elders’ say because we were not there (3) we have been told that we are a wasted generation.

Anytime is a sensitive time for Nigerians. Schew! They should let the producers of the HOTYS movie recoup some of their money biko. Or can they say some Nigerians have not already seen the movie? It’s like trying to hold back a tidal wave while your house is getting flooded.

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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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