The Foodlums they call hoodlums

I will never forget Mrs Sutton at Oduduwa College, Ile -Ife where she dropped that unforgettable one in a literature class: no one is born inherently bad, but the society produces its own characters. The Singaporean lady was a delight to listen to.

That is the message the Nigerian largely intellectually-challenged ruling elites cannot get that they call the people they have reduced to the base “hoodlums“ whenever they show any fight back. It was what inspired Yinka Ayefele to sing that what the people of this world turn you to would become abusive songs in their mouths down the line. The real hoodlums of this disorganised society who throw chairs and other dangerous weapons when they are fighting for the spoils of office now want the masses to behave like gentlemen when there is a festival of the oppressed.

It was my friend and brother, Bayo Fabiyi, who threw the challenge of what authority this society had to call its citizens hoodlums during the recent #ENDSARS protest. I was ruminating on Bayo’s deep take when my great brother from the creeks, Mr Otoks Princewill, supplied the answer when he called the hungry folks we have produced as the poverty headquarters of the world “foodlums” within the hour.

And I must acknowledge my brother in-law, the progressive pastor, Dele Akindoyo, who reminded me that there is hardly anything new under the sun when the poor started wealth redistribution. He recalled the story of the day Prophet Elisha predicted cheap food in Israel. The officer who was close to the king wondered aloud if Elisha was not talking nonsense as demand and supply would not allow that even if the windows of heaven were to be flung open. The prophet told him he would see the miracle but would not partake of it. By the following morning, some lepers that we would call hoodlums entered the tents of the Arameans who, at the sound of strange noise, had abandoned their tents and there was free food and drinks everywhere. They ate to their hearts’ content and then brought the good news to town. The officer was marched to death by people rushing for food.

And so it happened here that our “foodlums’ located where the Nigerian rulers have kept all the COVID palliatives they have been hoarding and liberated them. It was some funny spectacle seeing the military in some state begging the foodlums to be orderly in their activities of “looting”. The governors became so funny at a point giving ultimatum to those who made away with items to return them within hours as if the hoodlums in government return our inheritance they seize such easily.

Now that tempers are relatively calming down is the time to speak the truth to ourselves that we have constructed a very bad society that is not sustainable. We are today the poorest country on earth with all the wealth opportunities we have but which we have mismanaged due to the greed of the elite and an unproductive structure. The social gap is widening on a daily basis and we think the rich would sleep soundly when the poor are keeping hunger-vigil. I have always told my wife that I pity this society the day the-have-nots that we see daily on the streets would have their season. What we saw during #EndSARS was just a dress rehearsal of the main day if we failed to reset.

It doesn’t matter the name we call them, there would be a harvest time for the seeds we have sown .

…Iku speaks truth to power

The Alaaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, did not disappoint again when he spoke at the Parliament Building in Ibadan recently after the #EndSARS protests. Baba spoke the truth like he has always done as a respected monarch. He could not understand the madness that would make security agents to be shooting live bullets at protesters who were armed only with the National Flag and singing our anthem.

He wondered why the president did not address the protesters on time and was ready to behave like the apartheid government in South Africa which killed 250 people in Sharpville in 1960.

He warned on the implications of government not listening to people and promised the Governor of Oyo State [Engineer Seyi Makinde] to put his thoughts on papers.

It would be a historical document to have in a season when absolute power corrupts absolutely in Nigeria.

It was not an accident that the governance structure of Oyo empire was the theme of Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) when he addressed a joint retreat of the Federal Executive Council and the National Assembly recently. What looks like an impossible task to the fellows misruling our lives were things we did effortlessly in our traditional societies which is the imperative of our demand for federalism.

It is our prayer that our land would never lack such moral icons who would not be afraid to speak truth to unconscionable power.

FEEDBACK:

Re: Black Tuesday and this impossible country

Sadly, Broz Tito’s Yugoslavia is dead and buried. Your write-up on Black Tuesday fitted into two of the statements of Second World War hero, General Douglas MacArthur:-

– “We have had our last chance, if we will not devise some greater and more equitable system, our Armageddon will be at our door.”

– “I shall return,” he uttered this statement on his recall. And when he did return, he was capturing land after land.

The government and other misguided politicians should not see the demands of the youth as hard pull, failing to meet them would surely make youths Black Tuesday and this impossible country.

As for those who lost their lives to the #EndSARS protest in order to make Nigeria a better country to live in, may their blood turn to tulip.

-Olatunbosun Olayode.

YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

COVID-19: Nigeria Recorded 623 New Infections Last Week, Lowest In Six Months

Last week, Nigeria recorded 623 new COVID-19 infections which is the lowest the country has recorded in six months, Tribune Online analysis shows.

The 623 new cases reported between October 18 and 24 is a reduction from the 1,143 recorded the previous week.

BREAKING: LG Chairman Abducted In Oyo

Kidnappers, on Sunday night, abducted the chairman of Iganna Local Council Development Area of Oyo State, Mr Jacob Olayiwola Adeleke.

BREAKING: Hoodlums Loot NYSC Camp In Abuja

Hoodlums in their numbers have invaded the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) camp in Kubwa Abuja looting properties belonging to the camp.

Looting: Osun Begins House-To-House Search Thursday To Fish Out Perpetrators

As the 72- hour amnesty given by the Osun State government to looters in the state to return all looted properties in their custody expires today, the state government has expressed its intention to commence a house-to-house search on Thursday to fish out the deviants among them.