By Mike Ozekhome, SAN

INTRODUCTION

Today, let me simply recall my article published in this column on 8th March, 2018 (about two and a half years ago). This is because, rather than things changing for the better, they are getting worse. Nigeria is profusely hemorrhaging.

There appears to be no destination compass. Everything is in a state of flux. Elections are getting deadlier. Corruption is worse. Poverty is grinding. Insecurity is alarming. Moral ethos are vanishing. Nigerians are hungry. Many are hanging themselves by the neck. Rape cases have increased, geometrically, not arithmetically. Armed banditry, Boko Haram insurgency, Herdsmen menace, palpable fear, hopelessness, melancholy, all reign supreme. Now, read my following 8th March, 2018, intervention, and judge for yourself .

“I have been writing this column for nearly four years (since, 2014). I have equally and simultaneously written a column, titled “Hard Facts” – for its sister paper (The Sun), two years (since April, 2016). I have never failed in this self-appointed mission of exposing societal ills, informing and educating the Nigerian people and raising the bar of critical public discourse, with sustained critique of bad governance and maladministration. Whether I have succeeded or not in this my pet mission is left for posterity to judge. (By the way, I have since October, 2018, started a 3rd weekly column in the Lawyers’ pages of Thisday).

“There are, however, times when literary prose and legalese fail me woefully. At such times, I labour in vain to find the right words, or choose the right syntax, to communicate my thoughts and message. The Nigeria of today is more graphically painted by unmatched novelist, Chinua Achebe, whose words at page 252 of his epic “There was a Country”, still resonates today as they were six years ago and best illustrates my personal anguish at today’s unprecedented misgovernance. He had lamented in 2012:

“Every Nigerian knows that there should be accountability, that people should be accountable. But if the president – the person running the whole show – has all of the power and resources of the country in his control, and he is also the one who selects who should be probed or not, clearly we will have an uneven system in which those who are favored by the emperor have free rein to loot the treasury with reckless abandon, while those who are disliked or tell the emperor that he is not wearing any clothes get marched swiftly to guillotine!”

“It is in this perplexing conundrum I find myself that I have decided today, to express myself in poetry. Gosh! My great apology to those ivory tower literary giants of poetry, for the imperfections readily apparent at this amateurish attempt at a field quite unfamiliar to me. Though I had made the best result in my 1974 WASCE examinations, scoring A1 both in English Language and English literature respectively, such are mere untested tender feet in the convoluted and labyrinthine world of poetry, wherein iconic prodigies of the likes of Christopher Okigbo, Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, J.P. Clark, Gabriel Okara, Niyi Osundare, Jimi Solanke, Ben Okri, Chimamanda Adichie, etc., reign supreme. So, permit me to try my luck in this new area of my writing. I take on the topic, Democracy and how it has been rendered demonically crazy (“demon-crazy”).

“DEMOCRACY VS DEMONCRAZY

1. Government of the people
For the people
By the people
Democracy they call it.
How democracy transforms to demoncrazy
The people wonder
For the power hungry
For the power drunk
Democracy it is not
Demoncrazy it is.

The people despair
The people perspire
In a terrible quagmire
Mouths agape the people moan
In vain they seek comfort zone.

Forlorn they look for sucour
Disappointed they seek for support
How come democracy
Has turned to demoncrazy
The people moan
The people mourn
The people wonder
The rulers thunder.

Votes that are never counted
Counted votes that never count
What manner of rulers
Make suffer the ruled
What manner of government
Make perish the governed
Ha! This democracy is demoncrazy.

2. This demon is crazy
This craze is demonic
This is government of the few
For the few
This is government of the privileged
By the privileged
For the privileged
This is the government of the aristocrats
By the aristocrats
For the aristocrats.
Where are the people
The very dog that wags the tail
How come the tail wags the dog?
Ha! This democracy is demoncrazy.

Hunger, penury, hopelessness
The environment dominate
Poverty and disillusionment beat the people silly
Corruption strut about willy-nilly
Happily, laughing to scorn the people.

The rich get richer
The poor get poorer
What manner of democracy
Is this that manacles the people
And shackles the masses.
Tears well, eyes bloodied
Teeth gnash, hopes dashed, infrastructure decay
Ha! This democracy is demoncrazy.

3 The Rulers promised Eldorado
At campaigns before rented crowd
The people believed in expected uhuru
Their forked tongues they believed
Their lies they swallowed
Hopes they invested
Dreams they dreamt of a better tomorrow
They wobbled, fumbled and struggled, falling one over another
To catch a glimpse of the saviours, the rescuers.

But saviours and rescuers they are not
Foxy traitors and villains they are
“One – chance” vehicle this has become
Hopes dashed, dreams become night mare.
Ha! This democracy is demoncrazy

Like walking corpses the people feed from dustbins
Watching helplessly the rulers dine with golden cutleries
Their children in ivory towers overseas
Their voters turned to beggars
Extreme brutality and savagery the people endure
Their rights trampled upon and rule of law interred.

What manner of democracy
Talks always about elections
Never about the people
Never about their welfare

Our common wealth is stolen
Our patrimony is pilfered
Our future is blighted
Our faith is shattered
Ha! This democracy is demoncrazy.

4 Rulers egos are balmed
With the masses tears and blood
Their taste buds titillated with best wines and cuisine
At the expense of the hoi-polloi,
The hewers of wood and drawers of water
Who prostrate and cower at their appearance

Occasionally they are rented as crowds
And paid peanuts with their own taxes
To hail “ranka dede”, “ekabo”, “moo khia” and “indewo” to the tormentors
The abused people suffer from Stockholm's syndrome
The defiled masses suffer from psychosis, from neurosis
When comes their emancipation
They know not
Ha! This democracy is demoncrazy.

Toil the people must day and night to eke out a living
Their children are at home
Not in schools for lack of funds
Crime exacerbates and insecurity dominates
Kidnapping, deviousness, dubiousness and political rascality triumph,
Mediocrity, nepotism, cronyism, clannishness bloom

And meritocracy takes a dive for safety.
Promises are broken without consequences
Because elections will be rigged
And illegality enthroned
Because the people will be used against the people
To help the tormentor, the crucifier
Ha! This democracy is demoncrazy

NOW THIS

THE DREAMS OF LATE ZAKAWANU GARUBA

Hon. Zakawanu Garuba passed on few weeks ago at 54. I could not find words adequate enough to mourn him immediately. Now, I must. He was close to me. Zakawanu was a true, full-blooded Etsako son and  scion. A tested,  experienced and court room gladiator, Zakawanu was a  former Speaker of Edo State House of Assembly. One of the best so far. He  provided sterling leadership to the legislative branch of government when he was Speaker . He was a sagacious politician, master strategist, fecund Administrator and a crowd puller who loved his people immensely. His Edo, Etsako and Auchi people responded in equal measure, by literally enthroning him in the pantheon of Edo State heroes.

Zakawanu was Executive Commissioner, Corporate Services & Supervising Executive Commissioner Operations, at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Nigeria. In this position, late Garuba performed brilliantly, dexterously. He was always thinking outside the box, with untrammelled commitment and devotion to his country .

His illustrious being, humanity, humility, honesty, patience, perseverance and lucidity of thought, were nullas secondus. Garuba who was 20 years at the Bar during his transition, had only one dream left unfulfilled. Just one dream. He desired to take the Silk, to become a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). We jointly worked on this assiduously together. And he was right on  course towards actuallising his dream before the cold hands of shameless and wicked death struck and plucked him away from us. And so  handsome and humorous Zakawanu died. Just like that.Death, where is thy sting? Zakawanu, be rest assured that for all your good deeds whilst on earth , Allah will garland you with celestial honours far beyond this temporal and terrestrial Silk. Adieu, Zakawanu, agene nozaza. May Allah grant you Alijanah Firduasi, Ameen.

AND THERE GOES FECUND JUSTICE JUDE OKEKE

Why this sudden harvest of deaths of the very best? I can’t understand. Words are surely not adequate to express my personal agony and depression on the passage of Hon Justice Jude Okeke. When my client, Mohammed Bello Adoke, SAN,former Attorney – General of the Federation, first mentioned Okeke’s death to to me in my office, after court , I literally went down flat on my buttocks.I was that shocked. Adoke helped me up to my feet . I have since been saddened and devastated by the premature departure of this uncommon  (combined) Judge- Lawyer, and Bench – and Bar gentleman of impeccable credentials and breath – taking intellectual prowess.Justice Jude was  former NBA chairman of the Unity Bar, Abuja. He was a courageous Judge, extremely brilliant and blessed with a penetratingly analytical mind.His judgements and rulings were a must read. He was always full of life and humour, and nothing appeared to perturb him. He had wanted his son during , his NYSC, last year, to work in my Chambers. And death again came calling, this ignoble thief in the night. Death, u have killed his body,but not his soul. Almighty God, kindly grant gentle repose of the soul of this great Jurist and Nigerian , amen.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK

“Democracy must be built through open societies that share information. When there is information, there is enlightenment. When there is debate, there are solutions. When there is no sharing of power, no rule of law, no accountability, there is abuse, corruption, subjugation and indignation.” (Atifete Jahjaga).”

LAST LINE

Hope Nigerians are reading, digesting and awaiting the next exploring discourse of Sunday Sermon on the Mount of the Nigerian Project by Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, OFR, FCIArb., LL.D?