This is Nigeria

By Joseph Edgar…

It was Falz the bahd guy who did this wonderful song. He himself taking a cue from an American who had sent shock waves through the system with his apt depiction of the things that are happening in the society. Falz in his own version, railed at society in a gory and sweetly descriptive mode, sending more than shock waves to the system and also drawing a gory and quite discouraging outlook to the keen observer.

This to me was more than a beautiful piece of art. It was the beauty of using art to send a very strong message to a system that has all but collapsed. So today, as I watch with utter shame the latest spectacle that is our Senator the sweaty image of Falz comes back to me reminding me that we are living within the structures of a failed system.

So the Senator is being accused of crime, invited by the Police for initial questioning and in his usual manner begins to grandstand leading to an 8-day siege of his home by a reported 60-man team of Policemen who, citing a weak opponent, begin to “show themselves’’. They promise not to leave the place without their target. They were said to have cut off power and water and even threatened to break in.

The Senator rushes to court to enforce his Human Rights and loses out remarkably with the court stating emphatically that it cannot stop an arrest in a criminal case. This emboldens the Police and weakens the Senator’s resolve to continue with his mimickery. He then emerges only to give us a total display of cowardice by ‘fainting’, rolling on the floor and being carried with his dignity once gain in tatters towards wherever he was being taken care of.

What you have seen is the effect of the desecration of the system. The major outcome of the destruction of the structures that are meant to ensure cohesion in the society, hence the resort to these kinds of games by both sides to win what is looking llke purely selfish motives.

The Police on its part enjoying the grandstanding and the theatrics they put on display went overboard. This was a Senator, unarmed and one single individual. Doing all that America wonder was quite amusing. This was like a haunt for a dangerous terrorist or a warlord who had been cornered after months of search.

Senator Dino Melaye is a very popular and conspicuous fellow. He could have been escorted to the station from the Car Park of the National Assembly or after many of his numerous meetings. They did not have to do all this 007-type stunts to secure his arrest? But seriously, if there was faith in the neutrality of the system, an invitation like this would not have met a massive resistance.

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Or, what is he being hunted for? We have not been told that he pulled the trigger or any trigger for that matter. They have said it is culpable homicide amongst other allegations. We have seen these types happen nationwide and even with politicians on the other side and this kind of investigation not triggered. It is obvious why this is happening, and this may be one of the reasons our man has decided to go Hollywood.

On his part, his theatrics are now bordering on stupidity and imbecility. He has shredded the dignity that is reserved for members of the National Assembly, constantly throwing up himself as a circus clown and a drunken character who although still very popular, has become an irritant.

The cry here is for a system badly damaged by the demagoguery of the philistines to be protected. On all sides, we see massive attack on structures of state and authority. We are now officially in an Hobbesian state. A state of lawlessness where life is short, brutish and laborious. Or, how do you explain the continuous carnage in the North-East or the helpless exclamation of certain Governors that there is no guarantee of safety within their territories or the dastard murder of an ex Chief of Defense staff who, till this day, we have not been told anything about his killers or the reasons the act was carried out.

Life is nothing in Falz the bahd guy’s Nigeria. Life is meaningless and the politiciians will soon have nothing but themselves and family to rule over. This is not Nigeria but This is Nigeria.

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