Big egos and the rest of us…

THE last weekend in September got off to a great start with Friday evening. The greatness in the weekend took off as I loitered on the Film House box office. The pretty Filmhouse lady issuing tickets convinced me to see Kingsmen: The gold circle and I did. As the movie ended,  I realised it was the umpteenth time I had seen a movie in which an individual, with the aid of technology or biology, or both, with the instrumentality of other accomplices(human innovations), held the world hostage. Poppy Adams, head of the world’s largest drug cartel posing as a pharmaceutical company, had broadcast a message telling the world about a toxin she laced in every recreational drug available. The toxin causes the user, at the first stage of manifestation, to develop blue rashes before progressing to mania, then paralysis, and ultimately, death.

Every pot smoker, cocaine, marijuana and other drug (s) users had the signature symptom; blue rashes all over their faces. Some had gone crazy while some were haemorrhaging. It was total, unprecedented chaos. But Poppy’s got a way out.She had created an antidote which she demonstratesin captive Elton John and makes a demand: if the united states would end its war on drugs (remember, she`s head of the world`s largest drug cartel) and makes gives her organisation legally immune for past and present crimes against humanity, she`ll release the antidote. Thousands of people, all drug users, are infected, all looking at death.They`re storming state hospitals in droves all in vain of course as there is No Cure.

The United States president considers the chaos and threat a blessing in disguise and decides to take advantage of the situation to kill and rid the country, and hopefully the world of every junkie. He therefore proceeds to quarantine every US user, including his chief of staff who came down with symptoms right in the oval office. Secret Agency Kingsmen with the help of sister agency, Statesmen arrive at Poppy’s headquarters on a world junkies’ rescue mission. Kingsmen take possession of access codes to the underground vault where the anti-dote is supposedly secure, delivering same across the world as they inject Poppy with a more potent dose of her toxin. Drones are activated, the world is saved. End of the movie.

The new way the world would be held to ransom today seems to be by threats of nuclear war, cyber hacks and attacks, and possibly; kidnapping.  And maybe, viral infections. Today, computer users and big corporations find themselves at the mercy of virus creators and peddlers, who create the viruses of many forms and names, and turn round tomarket anti-viral antidotes. The time is now (maybe tomorrow or the day after) when the world would be at the mercy of an individual, or a band of individuals who would hold the keys of life and death of the entire world at the threat of something as simple as the push of a button. (before the actual push of the button.)

Iran launched its new ballistic missile over last weekend, after showing it off, blatantly defying and daring Washington. Syria has killer biological weapons, and Kim Jong-un says Trump is on a suicide mission for threatening to level North Korea. These big egos might, in their clash of egos, torch the world sooner than we expect or think possible.  The ‘innocent’, on- looking, densely populated  poor countries, minding their businesses of poverty, hunger, IPOB, maternal deaths (etc.) and so much more, could well be caught in the cross fire, and  engulfed in the commotion they know or care nothing about. Over the two and a half years of Biafran war in Nigeria, West Africa, there were about  100,000 military casualties, while between 500,000 and 2 million BiafranCivilians died from starvation.

Novelist, poet, professor and critic, Chinua Achebe, in his book, There Was A Country,argued that the Biafran war (not the ideology) was the spin-off of the brutal clash of General Gowon and Col. OdumegwuOjukwu`s ballooned egos. Where two elephants engage in egotistical strife, paralysis and annihilation befalls the unfortunate underdog, the grass. Kingsmen: The Golden Circle is a great, thought provoking movie.

• Fagbamigbe is a lawyer and radio host in Ibadan, Oyo State