Ode to bread

THE first rebellion the nation of Israel raised against the leadership of Moses and Aaron, immediately God used them, to achieve the unprecedented miracle of leading the people to cross the Red Sea and seeing off, their Egyptian tormentors, was all about what to eat and drink, in the wilderness. Yoruba will say, ebi ki wonu, ki oro miran wo (hunger pangs supersede all considerations!).

For a people, just delivered, from 430-year bondage and slavery, you would expect them to eternally regard the legitimacy of the leadership used in liberating them. But patience, for man, is usually hung on hope. That hope, must be, rooted, in evidential realities that things would be better, as being promised. When such nuances are missing, even the most faithful and optimistic of men, would buckle and desire a yesterday, better buried in the past.

Just days after being rescued from centuries of bondage, affliction, slavery and wicked taskmasters, the people, particularly men who had mouths to feed, were pressured to the point of seeking a return to an immediate past that should be completely abhorrent for anyone to touch with a whiff of thought.

If Israelites could opt for a reversal of what should be a desirable Change from bondage to freedom, just to have decent meal from their once-upon jailers (see Exodus 16:3), how does one situate the argument of Deacon Femi Adesina, the presidential spokesman, that looters of hoarded COVID-19 palliatives, were moved more by greed than hunger.

Yes, one could knock the Israelites for being possessed by the spirit of Esau. Ijesa will call them, tifun loran (lovers of their stomach). In our university days, such mankind would be dubbed FFO (For Food Only). But it would be grossly unfair to lump the Nigerian warehouse looters and the wailing Israelites. The latter had all reasons to be reliant on God and the leaders He chose for them. Both the divine and human leadership had shown demonstrable capacity to handle the people’s care and needs. What was lacking was patience and faith. Maybe, they weren’t also used to being completely free again. Mental enslavement or psychological slavery, they call it. Remember the popular story behind Stockholm syndrome, birthed in 1973, when two bank robbers, held four hostages, three women and a male, for 131 hours, leading to some galling camaraderie and tingly desire being manifested by the female victims towards their tormentors, despite the ugly circumstances of their yoking.

Like the Israelites, Nigerians are now also in their own wilderness. Also like the chosen people, God has evidently been on the side of the masses here, always coming in, at critical stages, to salvage hopeless situations. At least, Nigerians can’t possibly say they have forgotten that it took God taking Abacha away, for the nation to breath again, when nearly all so-called men of substance, tucked their proverbial tail in-between legs and dived into available caves, to hide. There is a prevalent feeling in the land that the Abacha era is here again.

But Nigerians have not been too fortunate to have credible leaders like Moses and Aaron. If anything, the caricature that has been metabolizing, makes the cries for a better-left-behind yesterday, a genuine aspiration. Why won’t the people desire the immediate past of bread and chain, when the current reality around them, is not a better alternative, considering there isn’t bread again (literally and metaphorically), the chains aren’t off, in fact, if not tighter and nothing around the wilderness, suggests that the current leadership in Nigeria, understands how to connect, for manna (figuratively and literally).

Moses, the overall leader, was humble enough to always turn to God whenever the people raised a mutiny over their needs. He knew he was holding power over the nation of Israel, in trust for God. He didn’t pretend to have all the answers. He consulted when he should, accepted sound unsolicited advice on leadership when he should, his spokespersons and vuvuzelas didn’t label ancient wisdom as scallywag, grey hairs weren’t termed troop-less generals, concerned elders weren’t dubbed one-man army, and even when mutiny arose to depose him, he simply acknowledged the suzerainty of the Supreme Ruler and the matter was promptly settled in his favour. That was a free leadership course from Moses, many in public offices, desperately need today.

I share the worries of President Muhammadu Buhari’s handlers. He is in his legacy term and things keep going south. If the hunger and crises in the land do not abate by the middle of next year, God forbid, the history of his presidency would be forever settled in infamy, since politics of 2023, would have taken over focussed governance, which if agreed to be what the administration is doing now, is even yielding in negatives. So, it would be understandable using the alleged palliative looters to catch cruise as twitter citizens have come to view the venom from the presidency, Lagos House of Assembly, et al, on those caught participating in the condemnable act. But their trial would come and go and even for those who would be jailed for the sake of their belly, it is doubtful if history wouldn’t view them better than the current crop of leaders who aren’t only bigger looters, but acutely responsible for whatever drove the looters into hidden warehouses, palaces and palatial politicians’ mansions; either of greed, or poverty. Don’t they say, esin iwaju ni teyin nwo sare.

In 2019, Nigeria placed 14 on the Fragile States Index, with increasing signal of annual rate of 1.17%, to becoming a Failed State. Of J. Goldstone’s Five Pathways to State Failure, Nigeria featured prominently in four. Of course, the ruling class can easily dismiss these troubling numbers as mere rhetoric and Western propaganda, which offend their illusionary narrative of an emerging New Nigeria, which foundation, is being briskly laid by the current leadership. No argument, only that they should learn better lessons in vigilance. The coming BreadRevolution may be uncontainable. What is that cliche again about hunger and anger. When rumbling stomachs simultaneously move a nation, those speaking grammar in Lagos Assembly, whether Desmond or Obasa, wouldn’t have time separating hoodlums from pikin. Yeah, I remember Moses didn’t make the Promised Land. Simple, our leaders should also learn from his mistakes.

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