ShortStory II Black Thursday

BLACK THURSDAY

       The ancient narrow pathway had become so bad that they could not find their way to their destination as the three moved in a grey Honda Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) being piloted by Dayo who was very mindful of the steering. It was on a Thursday.

       The 35-year-old Misters Dayo, Emeka and Okon were old time friends who got reunited just a few days ago at Nsukka in Enugu State having lost contacts about eight years back or thereabouts after their graduation from one of the reputable higher citadels of learning in Nigeria situated in the Eastern part of the country, precisely University of Nigeria Nsukka popularly known by its acronym ‘U.N.N’. What occasioned the long awaited reunion was the convention of their alma-mater’s alumni body themed ‘The homecoming of UNN Alumni’, which usually held once in a blue moon.

       Though they never studied in the same department, they were conspicuously best of friends during their school days that people within began to wonder if they were of the same parental background or clan of origin. In spite of the fact that they hailed from different ethnic regions, the friendship remained solid and undiluted till their graduation time, not until when they departed for their respective national assignments in various states of the federation as programmed by the Federal Government (FG) under the auspices of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), which was established in 1973 after the Nigerian civil war.

        Mr. Dayo who resided in the city of Enugu – the capital territory of the said state – drove to the designated venue of the epochal event in his personal car whilst the other two – Emeka and Okon – whom were resident of Uyo and Abuja, respectively, embarked on the trip via flight owing to distance. Hence, Dayo served as their executive driver throughout their 3-day stay at Nsukka.

        The three who were deeply filled with nostalgia, took time to drive around the aforementioned town and its environs during the limited period. On the third day of their stay being Thursday, which marked the last day of the convention, the three who lodged in the same hotel had agreed to visit Iche – a locality in the vicinity that harboured one small but renowned river called Ndegu – towards catching fun in the endowment in question.

        Ndegu, which was about ten kilometers away from the university, was a river they could not afford to steer clear of during their school days despite all the warnings by the university management in strong terms that students should stay away from it, obviously as a result of its infamous antecedents; records held that Ndegu kept drowning students of the institution each time they swam in it. Perhaps because none of the three – Emeka, Okon and Dayo – was a victim of circumstance, they remained in doubt of the sign of warning; to them, the university officials were just trying to deceive  them (the students), or keep them away from anything that could serve as a distraction to their academic pursuits.          This time, the narrow pathway that led to the ancient river was in dilapidated and pathetic state, to assert the least that the SUV Jeep ceased to transcend to the point beyond.

        “Let’s walk to the river.” suggested Okon whom was the only one seated at the back.

         Before this time, Dayo had already applied the brakes since it was apparent that there was no how the car could find its way to Ndegu, which was about two hundred metres (200m) apart from where they were at the moment.

        “I think you are right.” Emeka, who sat beside the driver, concurred.

       “Are you sure the car would be saved here?” Dayo thought aloud.

       “Why not?” said Okon. “After all, the road is not that lonely.” He observed.

       “I quite agree with Okon.” Emeka supplemented.

       “It’s alright,” Dayo surrendered. “If you said so.” he added, attempting to step out of the vehicle.

         Thereof, they all gladly stepped out and headed for Ndegu not unlike tourists. As they walked, passersby cum dwellers could observe that they were strangers who had come for a research work, though they couldn’t say for sure where exactly their final destination was.

        In about thirty minutes’ interval, they got to the long awaited point; it was 5:20pm prompt.

        In all ramifications, Ndegu had really changed to their delight. First, the arena was no longer bushy as it used to be during their school days. Secondly, more people now visited the place for all sorts of motives such as recreation, research, fishing, and what have you, unlike those days when you would hardly see more than five persons at a time. The only discouraging factor was that the only road leading to the arena had become virtually impassable, contrary to its previous state.

        As soon as they got there, Dayo couldn’t wait to swim, thus he dived into the river having taken off his gorgeous wears remaining only shorts. It seemed the ancient Ndegu had awaited his arrival as its colourless nature became brighter like snow the moment the dude lay on it.

        Okon and Emeka followed suit, equally in their shorts. The two smiled at each other immediately they joined the chorus, and then sighted Dayo who was already about four metres away from them.

        Although a few persons were already catching funs in the river before the three joined, the latter’s unique style of swimming got the spectators fascinated; hence, they became inadvertently attracted to them. They swam like individuals who had undergone special internship on swimming techniques.

         Some minutes on, therein, Dayo began to gasp for air as he was seen by the teeming observers struggling for survival. Could it be that he was being drowned? A crucial question deserved to be answered by all. Surprisingly, a few seconds later, the two others – Okon and Emeka – were also found in a similar mood.

         Having observed that things were not anymore at ease, a good number of divers among the spectators didn’t hesitate to dive into Ndegu toward saving the lives of the seeming strangers. Shockingly, all efforts proved abortive as the three had already taken their last breath before their bodies were held by the rescuers. This time, it was about twenty minutes to six O’clock in the evening.

         That was how Ndegu consumed the lives of the promising gentlemen unannounced. It was really a black Thursday.

       Truly, the car parked at the pathway wasn’t saved as earlier presumed by the owner, Mr. Dayo because its ownership would be now allocated to someone else.

       The rest is history, please.

 

Fred Doc Nwaozor

Executive Director, Docfred Resource Hub - Owerri

_________________________________

frednwaozor@gmail.com

Twitter: @mediambassador  

 

Opinion I Imo Legislators And Their Makosa Dance

IMO LEGISLATORS AND THEIR MAKOSA DANCE

        

The last time I checked, the members of the Imo House of Assembly were showcasing a parade I could best describe as Makosa dance. Such an intriguing action, which is ostensibly not unconnected with politics, has been trending in the public domain for some weeks now.

       

It would be recalled that the state’s Governor, Chief Rochas Okorocha initially proposed to present the 2018 Appropriation bill of the state to the lawmakers on Tuesday 28^th November 2017 but the outing could not unfortunately hold as scheduled, perhaps owing to contingencies, though the said bill was eventually tendered two weeks after – precisely on Wednesday December 13, 2017.

         

We were rightly notified that why the governor couldn’t present the bill as planned was owing to the gross discrepancies noticed in the speech meant to be read by the number one citizen, although on that fateful day some lawmakers alleged that they were being owed some arrears of salaries cum sitting allowances.

       

Just two days after the failed outing being Thursday 30^th November 2017, the then Majority Leader of the House Lugard Osuji moved a motion for outright suspension of the Assembly’s Clerk, Chris Duru over alleged misconduct which was tagged ‘gross under-performance’. Therein, his motion scaled through, thus the accused official was suspended with immediate effect by the plenary presided over by the Deputy Speaker, Ugonna Ozuruigbo via the support of other 21 out of the 27 lawmakers of the Assembly.

        

It was rumoured in some quarters that the suspension of the clerk was not unconnected with the belief of the lawmakers that the affected officer was working for the state’s governor and the Assembly’s Speaker Acho Ihim. Meanwhile, some of the lawmakers who spoke after the sitting on strict condition of anonymity opined that the suspended clerk ‘was growing wings’, hence saw himself as a more important official than the legislators.

       

The lawmakers further alleged that the suspended clerk usually opposed their directives and thought he was ‘untouchable’. One of them who described the clerk simply as a ‘liaison officer to the governor, said the embattled officer was of the view he could work against the interest of the lawmakers and get away with it.

       

Intriguingly, in the subsequent sitting of the House just a few days after the melodrama, the Speaker Acho Ihim read a memo from the state’s chapter of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). According to the communiqué, the member representing Owerri Mucipal, Lugard Osuji who then doubled as the Majority Leader was accused by the party of gross-misconduct, thus directed the Assembly to outrightly suspend the said lawmaker.

       

The speaker who read the August memo immediately set up an ad-hoc committee to aptly investigate the allegations leveled against the principal officer by the APC having suspended him for two legislative weeks. More fascinatingly, thereof, the embattled legislator Chief Osuji hurriedly before his colleagues announced his outright resignation as the Majority Leader of the House. As if that wasn’t enough, the resignation of two other principal officers – the Deputy Majority Leader and the Chief Whip – was also announced.

       

In order to fill the gaps created without much ado, as if it was an acted movie, three other legislators – namely Uche Oguwike of Ikeduru, Chinedu Offor of Onuimo and Arthur Egwim of Ideato North – were pronounced at the plenary as the new Majority Leader, Deputy Majority Leader and Chief Whip of the Assembly, respectively. After the show, some of the legislators I interacted with attributed the entire brouhahas to ‘executive interference’ in the Assembly’s activities.

       

Furthermore, away from suspension, resignation, counter-allegations, or what have you, barely a week on, the legislator representing Oguta State Constituency, Henry Ezediaro publicly threw his weight behind the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Uche Nwosu, stating the said young man was the only suitable person that could succeed Gov. Okorocha come 2019. He didn’t stop there; he equally claimed that the overall 27 lawmakers in the Imo Assembly, including himself, were all behind the chief of staff.

       

Chief Ezediaro further disclosed that the recent disagreement or uproar in the House was as a result of the legislators’ eager quest to see the governor declaring Chief Nwosu as the person he would love to hand over to at the expiration of his tenure. Please, how do we reconcile this? Going by his claim; if the lawmakers were divided, as we witnessed recently, owing to who succeeds the sitting governor, it simply signifies that they are not in support of a particular guber aspirant. Hence, it’s worth noting that the aforementioned lawmaker ended up contradicting the scenario.

       

However, consequently, the Speaker of the House, Chief Ihim debunked the claim, saying the Assembly members as a people or group had never supported any governorship faithful thus asked Imoltes to overlook such an ‘unfounded’ statement.

       

It’s even amusing that someone would publicly throw his weight behind a politician who has never told his people that he would be running for the Imo guber seat come 2019. To the best of my knowledge, Chief Nwosu had never announced to anyone, not even his ward members, that he is eyeing the governorship seat. So, I wonder why his so-called allies are raising all these dusts. Those ‘supporters’ ought to note that they are on the contrary causing problem for the gentleman.

        

Notwithstanding, it’s noteworthy that I’m not here to analyze or narrate the story of what had transpired in the House in the recent times; rather, to enjoin our revered legislators to desist from this makosa dance which is seriously over-heating the polity and not wholesome to the anticipated governance.

       

Our revered lawmakers are expected to be more concerned in passing motions and bills as well as carrying out their oversight functions diligently. And, it’s noteworthy that such obligatory duties are required to be done independently at all times no matter whose ox is gored. We must not wash our dirty lilies in the public. Let’s not overlook the needful for the sake of frivolities.

         

I’ve for the umpteenth time conscientized our politicians to always consult a strategist before taking any action, so that, their initiatives or pronouncements wouldn’t be dead on arrival. Don’t forget that your respective constituents are watching you; needless to state that you need to endeavour to consider your dignity whenever you think or act.

       

There’s time for every dance, hence the need to suspend this very one. Think about it!

 

Comrade FDN Nwaozor

Executive Director, Docfred Resource Hub - Owerri

________________________________

frednwaozor@gmail.com

Twitter: @mediambassador    

Opinion I When Governors Become Emperors

WHEN GOVERNORS BECOME EMPERORS

       

I had almost gone to bed on the eve of 2016 Christmas when a phone call filtered in from Germany, to engage me in an informal chat as usual. The caller, who happened to be my old-time friend, actually called to express his bitterness over what he observed on the television regarding one of the Nigeria’s governors.

       

According to the buddy, Kunle, he had on that very day watched a governor of one of the states in the Southern Nigeria commissioning a Christmas tree worth over half a billion naira whilst the leader in question was reportedly owing workers and pensioners in the state for several months. I laughed in French and therein told him that such show of shame had become common among most serving governors, hence the need for him to get use to the aberration.

        

I wish Mr. Kunle would someday meet with my dad whom I often refer to as a political philosopher. The old man – a well experienced octogenarian – one day informed me unequivocally that some states across the country were suffering from economic epilepsy, thus needed to undergo holistic lobotomy. His seeming candid view was informed by the way and manner in which some sitting governors invariably act as if they are not accountable to anyone.

        

To assert that currently some governors operate not unlike an emperor isn’t in any way an overstatement, and such weird custom is not peculiar to a particular state or region in the country. It suffices to say that virtually all the governors have, in one way or the other, been found guilty of such bilious and nonchalant lifestyle.

        

For clarity’s sake, an emperor is a man who solely rules a certain empire. An empire, on its part, could be described as a society of people that is being controlled by only one person. In summary, an emperor is a person, male individual precisely, who singlehanded controls the day-to-day activity of a particular society and stands not to be questioned by anyone whenever he errs.

      

With the above definitions, it has become clearer that truly most of our so-called leaders are presently operating like emperors in their respective jurisdictions. Take for instance, a situation where a governor would refuse to conduct the Local Government (LG) election in his state and such scenario would linger till he leaves office. In most cases, he would put up a façade in the name of an election towards the expiration of his tenure, perhaps to prove to people that LG polls were eventually conducted under his watch.

        

Why wouldn’t such governor be rated as an emperor when every other official in the affected state such as the legislators cum judicial custodians would remain a rubber stamp as the unfortunate scene prevails? Funnily enough, when a court orders the governor to without much ado conduct the long awaited LG polls, he would rather regard such legal directive as baseless.

        

On a monthly basis, the Federal Government (FG) would release funds accruable to the third tier governments via the various states. In the process, the said allocation would be hijacked by the governors and such funds would never be utilized on the projects for which they are meant. Instead, they would be channeled toward the implementation of non-feasible projects.

       

The judicial system in the states suffering from such unruly behaviour is vulnerable, to assert the least. I have often times witnessed a situation whereby an injunction is issued by a court of competent jurisdiction to stop a governor from taking a certain intended action, yet the latter would overlook the order with the notion that he alone is in charge of the state.

       

The vulnerability of the lawmakers in such states cannot be left out. Rather than act as independent elected officials, the legislators would be reduced to mere aides of the governor thus would be left with no choice than to operate as they were instructed by the latter. It’s indeed a pathetic circumstance. What is left for this set of governors is to fence their states in order to possess it as their personal asset.

       

As the uncalled ill lingers unabated, it’s noteworthy that the FG has a very vital role to play with a view to addressing it. There is a compelling need to, by law, scrap the various states’ electoral commissions. By so doing, the conduct of the LG elections would become the sole duty of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). This signifies that it would no longer be the responsibility of the governors to determine when and how the said polls would be held in their respective states.

        

In the same vein, it’s high time the electorate woke up from slumber. They need to fully acknowledge that they possess the constitutional immunity to recall any lawmaker who is not living up to the expectations. Similarly, they needn’t be reminded that it’s equally their right to say enough is enough whenever the impunity of their governor goes to extreme point.

       

All in all, we must bear in mind at all times that he is an elected governor, not an emperor. Think about it!

 

Comrade FDN Nwaozor

Executive Director, Docfred Resource Hub (DRH) - Owerri

__________________________________

frednwaozor@gmail.com

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