Paris Club billions, hotels and daemons

Only daemons take from the poor. Any leader who steals food meant for the hungry is a daemon. Every nation has its daemonic affliction. Nigeria’s own cancer is its tribe of rapacious creations without inhibitions. They collect money to pay the poor then sneer at the poor. They snatch from the helpless believing they are above all laws. They are vultures like the baby snatcher who gave a female beggar a squeezed naira note then snatched her baby in Ibadan. The baby snatcher came just like the politician — with smiles and with money. He gave her the naira note. The nursing mother was happy. She reciprocated with torrents of prayers in appreciation of the gesture. The woman turned to shift her mendicancy to the next Good Samaritan. Then the generous giver yanked off the baby from the beggar’s back and made for his get-away car. First it was surprise, then alarm, then cries for help from the beggar and her colleagues. The baby snatcher made a swift dash for the waiting car. Just then, providence stepped in. The baby’s maker, its eleda, the chi made sure the car’s door did not open. And so it was that the baby snatcher was caught. He was beaten, stripped naked, shamed. The police took over from there. This is no Africa Magic. It happened in Mokola, the heart of Ibadan this past weekend.

Nigeria has its unfair share of daemons and principalities. The Ibadan incident speaks to Nigeria and what it has become before our very eyes. You just swap the baby snatcher with the politician next door and his handouts of hunger and misery to the poor. Sometimes he gives nothing and collects everything. Sometimes the politician gives and gives and feeds the poor like the poultry farmer would his chickens. He fattens the poor for the market day delivery to misfortune. There is nothing sacred the principalities of Nigeria cannot snatch. There is nothing they cannot sell or buy. There is no holy site they cannot desecrate. They do it so well you wonder how many years of schooling they had in crookery. And it is not about social status. The poor sells the poor too. You saw that miserable baby snatcher in Ibadan.

The big snatcher is in the government house. He is also in the board room. His moral currency is counterfeit. His humanity is fake. His wallet is filled with crisp wads of falsehood. He is a snatcher of anything valuable. He is soon out every election year in search of hungry beggars to use for money ritual. He is worse than the Ibadan generous baby snatcher. He offers fake promissory notes, poisoned chalice for the hungry, the ill, the deprived. And, like the beggar, the poor are ever appreciative in their trusting ignorance. He offers negativity and snatches the gold of the poor. He takes the essence of today and ruins the future for the hopeful.

Babies are a mother’s most valuable possession. And that was what the Ibadan man snatched in exchange for the dirty currency note he gave the hungry beggar. They do it to everyone here. They offer free food and snatch people’s glories. They destroy destinies for the sake of their own vain ambitions. It is rape. It is even worse than rape. What should one then call that? The rapist gets up after his act. These ones are forever in there, generational virus, eating through the system.

They are out, everywhere. There is nothing they cannot steal. And they are handsome and generous. They flash close-up smiles and are effusive in their readiness to help. The last time they asked you to trust them and you did. What did they give poor you and what have you reaped from the seeds you sowed? Did they not promise hope and give hopelessness? The job they gave your child, was it the kind their own children got? The wicked never wishes difficulty for  himself. The Ibadan man snatched a beggar’s child, his own child was probably inside a mall sipping ice cream. The one who promised you water but turned off the water source cannot be your benefactor.

They snatch court verdicts too. The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, last Friday openly disclosed an attempt to buy the judgement of the Supreme Court. It was on the Abia governorship election. The CJN did well by speaking out. He has done his bit. The police should take over from there. Were you shocked by the allegation? Maybe, maybe not. Whatever you felt, what matters is that he said it and we must believe him. His allegation cannot go so quietly. When the justice system collapses, every innocent person suffers. The culprits must be caught like the baby snatcher and stripped and shamed. Should they not get justice? Thieves of anything are desperate people. They can climb any height to scale any fence, even if the wall is of the Supreme Court. To men of means, nothing, not even justice, is not commodified. Everything, everyone has a price. To some, it is money; to some others, it could be women – and I mean sex. When it is money, it is easier done. Some collect from both sides and then place the gold coins in the scale of justice. The scale tilts in favour of the side with the heavier coins.

Only daemons take from the poor. Like the baby snatcher, any leader who steals food meant for the hungry is a daemon. Every nation has its affliction. Nigeria’s own cancer are its tribe of rapacious creations without inhibitions. They take anything and eat anything. Like madmen, they load themselves with things they don’t need. They lace their necks with trinkets of sin. They are everywhere – a composite of principalities. Think of that governor (without name) who reportedly warehoused $3 million from his state’s share of Paris Club loan refunds. The report said the big man used the money to build a 100-room hotel somewhere in Lagos. What is his name? The report did not come with the governor’s name. It did not have to. Any name fits. You don’t think that description perfectly fits your own governor? Did yours spend the money on the poor, unpaid worker? He didn’t. So he is the daemon. And you must ask where the money is. Or where is his own gilded palace? They all build their thrones on the ruins of the poor. That is the tragedy of Nigeria. The thief is everywhere.