Weekend Arena - Nigerians Forget TOO Quickly

Let me assume that you are a Nigerian reading this right now and you will either agree or disagree with this report...

If what was released recently, detailing the assets recovered from former Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Alison-Madueke, set for auctioning, which included brassieres, wedding gowns, waist trainers and shoes amongst others are anything to go by, then it could be called the Bra Report 2021, since it is official.

 Valued at millions of dollars, the investigating authorities in charge is trying, though unsuccessfully, to paint a picture of how people in the previous government lavished huge sums of money on frivolities, which has resulted in the present misery afflicting the citizens. This practice is not new. At the height of the political onslaught against President Ferdinand Marcos of Philippines, his wife Imelda was reported to have acquired 7200 pairs of shoes, later it came to 5000 in some reports until Time magazine, finally reported a definitive tally which came to 1060.

When the US government wanted the world to believe that Saddam Hussein, former Iraqi leader was the real demon, they did all they could, including accusing his sons of ‘dishonouring’ the US currency. In a report I read in Newsweek, I let out a wry smile of disbelief when the article narrated how one of his sons returned home at night and wanted to smoke a cigarette but could not find his lighter. He finally lit his cigarette with a hundred dollar bill from cooker. It would take a depraved mind to take that route to smoke a cigarette unless the person is on the set of a reality TV show, seeking ‘talkability’.

But sometimes, the people dishing out these mangled accounts of incidents actually think that the audience is the depraved bunch, who would buy whatever information that comes their way. That is why you see some narratives that are not water-tight and not well-thought-through. You will not blame them. It is only good creative writers that have the capacity to create facts out of fiction; when you lack that capacity, you begin to see stories about a woman with 11 invisible bras, and 30 brassieres without panties in her house. Or female ministers don’t do panties?

This is not different from what the Attorney General offered during his press briefing last week. He told Nigerians how Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Igboho was being funded, detailing his accounts in some banks and most especially how he started receiving funds in 2013. I am sure the Attorney General would not like to pay for services or goods and wait for 7 years to get them. Whoever paid Igboho in 2013 would not wait until 2021 for him to work for him. In the case of Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB, the allegation that they were behind the arson and looting at the palace of the Oba of Lagos sounded comical after the authorities of the Nigeria Police Force had charged to court 13 persons: Eniafe Olawale, Gbenga Ajayi, Lamidi Rafiu, Oladunmoye Ayodeji, Soliu Tajudeen, Ahmed Olayinka, Samuel Damilola, Wasiu Grewa, Habib Salit, Nurudeen Yusuf, Safiu Quadri Lekan, Afolabi lukuman and Yusuf Babalola with theft and felony at a Magistrate Court in Lagos over the same issue.

One can also decrypt this from the recent comment made by the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, chief spokesperson of the Federal Government of Nigeria, who admitted that bandits were collecting taxes in the north but denied that they were in control. Would someone impose taxes on a territory he is not in control of? He likened it to the activities of ‘agberos’ on our roads!

Such assertions are as a result of our culture of forgetfulness in Nigeria. When something happens, our reactionary population and of course the media beam, their searchlight on it, and a few days later, the tempo dies; and it is abandoned completely. People in authority know this and often come out to give us something to chew on every matter, in the hope that it would be lost with time. That is why after the indictment of former EFCC’s boss Magu, Nigerians are yet to be told what punishment was given to him. That is why millions of naira would be found at an airport and a few weeks later nobody will see the money or those who own it. That is also why murders of personalities like Bola Ige, Dele Giwa, Funso Williams and many others have remained unresolved till date. That is why the huge wads of dollars recovered at that Ikoyi flat vanished without consequences on those fingered in the malady.

In Anambra State, the police announced they had arrested those who attempted to assassinate APGA guber candidate, Charles Soludo, but 3 months after the arrest, nobody has spoken a word about it.

At the moment, we are almost forgetting the infractions allegedly committed by super cop, Abba Kyari; be assured to see him on a higher rung of the Police a few years from now in spite of this.