Naira Marley: Leave him alone

Everybody around me, including majority of the people on The Duke Summit have given up on this Nigeria. But I will be carrying my big head and still be hoping that things will get better. Recently, we have really seen the worst of Nigeria. Shooting at the Villa over domestic issues, with otherwise responsible government officials jumping fence and fighting like street urchins. The Edo State APC debacle where some very controversial decisions where taken and now this comedic turn with the very popular musician Naira Marley once again in the spotlight.

So, from reports, some ‘big people’ decided to hold a concert in Abuja and against all rules put in place as a way of preventing the rapid spread of the dreaded Covid-19 went ahead with a very loud and noisy reverie. They not only invited the famous musician but went ahead to charter a flight to take him across state borders straight to the capital city for the brainless concert.

The concert was advertised in advance with very expensive seats were said to have been sold out, meaning that the whole of Abuja including the empty heads whose job it is to ensure compliance were seeing what was going on, but turned a blind eye.

Not until the public screamed in indignation that we began to see ostrich-like behavior from the authorities. First, they shut down the venue for two weeks, which is nothing but a slap on the wrist and then the owners of the plane now released one of the most idiotic letters in a futile attempt at staving off punishment.

The Chairman of the company called out the musician terming him ‘useless’ in a widely circulated letter allegedly written by himself. He also went ahead to ridicule himself like a drunken night soil man by saying that he thought the plane was hired by the Minister for Housing and former Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola. I have never in my 50years on this earth read such idiocy reportedly coming from someone with any kind of pedigree.

READ ALSO: Nigerian govt suspends airline for flying singer Naira Marley

Since the ‘baba’ refused to respect himself, the musician called him out by stating that his name was indeed Fashola and that the crew where so delighted in having them on board and that they were even asking to be tagged on their posts.

Now, the final level of ‘I don’t even know what to call it’ is the report that I just read that somebody somewhere now wants to prosecute the musician who is even the least in all these drama.

From the forces that provided security at the concert venue, to the people who gave approval to the promoters for the concert, to the promoters and brands, and the Aviation parastatals to the owners of the plane, they are all just culpable.

All Naira Marley did was just to take his bath, wear his dirty clothes and make himself available for the empty heads to show utter disregard for our laws.

This is purely a shame and in better climes some very big heads in key government institutions would be rolling towards the gutter having been decapitated. But here, what do we do? We go after the most irrelevant in the equation in a bid to showboat and show some level of sincerity in the process.

Sad, really sad. Would I say I am ashamed to be a Nigerian? I am not ashamed to be a Nigerian. I am only just ashamed of the people who thrust themselves into positions of authority without any iota of knowledge of what is expected of them. Pity.

Author: Joseph Edgar

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