LamikayTy

Getting in this morning after the long weekend saw me greeting everyone I met with an addition to the normal good morning- ‘Happy Independence’.
The first time I said it, it sounded lame even to my ears and after the fifth person, I began to wonder what was so happy about this independence.
For me Independence day has lost its awe and gaiety. Some might say I was not born when we gained our independence from colonial rule so I probably do not know what we have gained. On the other hand, I doubt if the people who knew and understood (fully) what was going on – on the 1st of October, 1960 are any happier. The reverse is most likely the case.
The weeks before this years Independence day was full of awful news, nothing short of gory details. The climax was the surreal drama between our President and his vice in a ‘fight’ I title ‘The Tale of 2 Thieves’ (more like 40 thieves) which kept some of us glued to the newspapers and vendors richer.
One quote I came across recently by Aesop “We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. ” captures my thots on this matter.
Its amazing how with the wealth of professionals and intellectuals, Nigeria is still dependent on dim-wits & ‘leaders’ more intent on using brawn (to feed their bellies) and not brains to move our nation forward.
Sitting in a Danfo the other day, I laughed as I realised that a typical full danfo on a hot sweaty evening groaning in ‘go-slow’ is atypical of our dear country Nigeria. Please read on:

The bus fare is higher than usual but its hot and we are tired so we clamber on board this rickety vehicle. After a while its still stuffy but everyone seems to have settled in their seats. After inching forward about 400metres or so, the ‘Condo’ (Conductor) attempts to start collecting the fare. There is some grumbling and the Condo declares loudly ‘Oga dey no cooperate o! dey no wan pay’ (the passengers have refused to pay the correct fare). Oga replies ‘Wetin happen?’ and then the passengers ‘chorus’ several refrains. ‘U fit pay this money’, ‘why is the fare so much?’, etc. When as it always happens the duo refuse to change their minds haven paid the ‘garage agberos’ the equivalent fare, the refrains become abusive and never fail to note how the ‘extra’ money collected would be spent on women and booze.
If the passengers refuse to ‘co-operate’ as almost always happens, the driver just turns round at the next entrance and heads back to the bus stop. Some days I’m most annoyed at haven gotten into a bus with uncooperative passengers, other times I’m one of the militant rebels refusing to be budged into paying anything extra and its a liberating experience when we all get down at the bus stop & get into another bus offering a cheaper (normal) fare! and humbling when its still the same!
(to be continued…)

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