By Essien Ndueso
My relation, a very close one, needed to go for a critical surgical operation in India. He had gotten all the medical references and other documents to travel.
Alas, the money required to ensure that he is able to get the needed treatment, is $10,000. Two years ago, N1.7m would have afforded this papa the trip. But before leaving last weekend, he coughed a whooping N5,000,000(excluding the outrageous air transportation fee) to find himself on a bed in India. Such is the frustration, the pains and the anguish on the face of every Nigerian.
The cost of living is becoming unbearably so hard for the working class that increased death tolls summarize the fate of the poor masses. Aside that, the seeming silence of the Presidency in the face of the incessant killings and mindless assassinations of Nigerians by a few religious fanatics has become alarming, prompting suspicions in some quarters that there is a ploy somewhere to Islamize the country.
Not that we entertain such fears, but then we cannot pretend to be oblivious of the scare.
In other countries, musicians just like journalists, are seen as idols that watch and lend their voices to propagate the cause of the suffering masses.
Miriam Makeba, Lucky Dube, Brenda Fassie and Chaka Chaka are clear examples of this, in the then apartheid ravaged South Africa. Most musicians, including our own Fela Anikulapo Kuti, have gone to jail for criticizing bad leadership in several countries.
In 1998, the then chairman of PMAN in Nigeria Christy Essien Ibokwe led top artistes to rally support for the then military junta, Sani Abacha in the infamous One(two) million man march in Abuja, a rally that ripped the country of an estimated N2billion naira in those days.
We wept and lamented that our musicians had failed to copy from their contemporaries elsewhere. Going memory lane, we recall that most of these songsters had produced lyrics venting their anger at the oppressive regime in South Africa and other countries. Some have multiple tracks seeking the freedom of Nelson Mandela.
Yet these same musicians found no need to have labels that advocate the freedom of Moshood Abiola, Shehu Yar’Adua, Beko Kuti, Gani Fawenyimi, Ken Saro Wiwa and several other activists that were incarcerated or killed by Abacha’s government. They rather mustered reasons to celebrate him and join the phantom ‘Youths Earnestly Ask for Abacha group, to support Abacha’s self-succession bid.
Last week, Innocent Tuface Idibia decided to make a difference.
He came out with other likeminds to say he cannot sit down and watch any more. This is when emergency peace lovers will rise to call for restraint. A year ago, when the federal government announced Premium Motor Spirit(petrol) pump price increase, NLC and other categories of Nigerians wanted to vent their disapproval; these same ‘patriotic, peace loving’ Nigerians rose to plead for peace.
The federal government at the time assured Nigerians that in no time, the huge increase would stimulate a response from the market forces resulting in a total crash in the pump price of fuel to about 50 -60 Naira a litre. Today petrol goes for about 150 to 160 a litre in Akwa Ibom state.
Tuface or Tubaba is a world renowned Nigerian superstar. He can afford to survive at whatever condition the country is plunged into, but he refused to do so. Esther (in biblical times) was confronted with a similar scenerio. The musician has often sang about his noble background, a modest family without enough to afford him the best education. Yet he was undaunted and stooped to conquer, resulting in his having to hustle and harness his talent to see himself at the top.
That perhaps explains his inability to adopt the ‘sidon look’ approach of many in his class. It is arguable that the trauma in the country cannot drop a millionaire like Innocent Idibia on his knees, yet he knows that millions of others, some his own relations and family members may not pull through if the anomaly continues much longer. Like I mentioned earlier, Esther a poor young Hebrew girl suddenly saw herself elevated to the position of a queen in Sushan. Replacing the proud Vatshi as wife of Ahasuerus of the Persian Empire. She had the comfort of the palace, had all the luxury of life and was certainly not affected by the obnoxious decree of the King, who was instigated by Haman to exterminate the Jews.
However, Esther chose to align with her endangered kinsmen and approached the king, her vicious husband. Her efforts pulled through and the lives of Mordecai, and the other generation of Isrealites where spared. I am sure most people today would have advised Esther to shelve any thought of approaching the King, and enjoy herself quietly.
So many people are saying there is not enough reason for any activist to lead the poor masses on a demonstration against a repressive regime. It is pertinent for us to highlight some the reasons they are advancing for their proposed action:
A litre of Kerosene is no more N100 but N500, a dollar is no more N170 but N500, a litre of petrol is no longer N87 but N150, a litre of diesel is no longer N140 but N270, a bag of flour doubled from N6000 to N12000, a pack of A4 size paper has moved from N650 to N1500, a (75cl)bottle of red palm oil is now N1000 from the previously obtained N150, a bundle of aluminium roofing sheet that was N13000 is now N30000, a bag of cement from N1000 to N2300, and a bag of rice that went for N8000 is now sold at N23000.
So many emergency ‘peace lovers’ have forgotten so soon that Nigerians did not just start taking to the streets to express themselves. In fact, throughout the life of Jonathan’s government, it was a norm in which the main players in today’s federal government, played prominent roles. Some of the ‘Peace seekers’ also joined in the open protests against some unpopular government policies, notably the fuel hike protests of 2012.
In January 2012, Goodluck Jonathan’s PDP government announced the increase in the pump price of fuel from N65 to N141. Remarkably, one of the first groups to mobilise Nigerians against the increase was the Pastor Tunde Bakare-led Save Nigeria Group, SNG.
A day after the increase, Nigerians inspired by the SNG started gathering at the Gani Fawehinmi Park at Ojota to denounce the increase. Some major towns across the country, notably in Kano, Abuja and Illorin were also ignited by the wind of protests. As a PDP member, I ought to have taken side with my party and routed for the fuel increase. That did not happen, I joined in the protest. My facebook account can bear me witness as I eschewed party affiliation, geographical and historical ties with President Jonathan, to rally with Nigerians in the famous ‘Occupy Nigeria’ of that year. My belief then was that by whatever indices, the so-called subsidy should not be fully removed so that fuel could be sold at 90-100 naira, instead of 141. The protest yielded fruits, petrol sold for N97 and later N87.
As we start lamenting and praying against the suffering our people are passing through, I want to see the Jupiter and charlatans that will rise to condemn me today. People are alluding to the possibility of one or two lives being lost in the march, forgetting that thousands of Nigerians are dying from hunger daily, hundreds of lives are exterminated each other day by herdsmen and other militants, Nigeria is in tears, and we are suffering and smiling.
Tuface may have been blackmailed to withdraw from the exercise, but will Nigerians prove that Tuface was not alone in this agitation? I stand with Nigeria.
Ndueso, a public affairs analyst writes from Eket, Akwa Ibom State.
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