Hope and hopelessness.
By Owei Lakemfa.
Prince
Abubakar Audu stood on the verge of history. He had been twice governor of Kogi State, and the electoral results
showed that he would be elected a third
time. Everything seemed in his favour; poll results, the mood of the
electorate, his party calling the shots
at the centre and being in control of
state apparatus. An enthusiastic Audu was waiting to be declared winner,
instead, he was declared dead.
First, disbelief,
then shock, despair and anger. People who believe in the inevitability of death,
would not accept that it could come
calling a man in whose honour victory
feasts were being cooked. So he must have been murdered. His supporters and
some family members concluded that it was either witchcraft or poison. For good
measure, they fingered an obviously innocent political leader as the culprit
and asked for his arrest and trial.
Despite
this, there was still mass disbelief he could be dead. Then in the midst of
despair, hope came galloping in the shape
of a prophet and his followers who pronounced that they could resurrect Audu even as his funeral rites
were going on. The family waved aside
this band of obvious jokers. But the hysterical crowds took them serious.
So when the family prevented the prophet, the believing crowds broke the door
to bring in the prophetic band of warriors. They wanted nothing more than Audu
brought back to life to claim his mandate and govern. Meanwhile, the
unbelievers were out in the compound, digging his grave.
Soon, news
filtered out that he had been
resurrected. I got it on the internet, and wondered if there is any precedence
in his ancestral lineage. The illusion went on until it was time to bury Audu. The crowd resisted; how do you bury a man that
is alive? Hope gave way to hopelessness; illusion to reality. The believing
crowds turned on their prophet, attempting to send him to where Audu had gone.
The death
has been followed by legal summersault appropriately led by the learned people
from the bar. The constitution, Electoral Act,
decided cases of the Supreme Court and simple logic dictates the way to follow; conclude the elections and
swear in the winners. But
this is not the politics of it. People crushed by anguish need to be
pacified especially where they believe that Audu’s death was designed to
deprive them of the prized gubernatorial seat. So they were given the fiat to democratically produce a new
gubernatorial candidate, and leave the rest to history. As for the
implications; let tomorrow, take care of itself.
This type of
crowd hysteria, control of the mind, hope and hopelessness, characterized the reaction to the death of
populist politician Adelabu Adegoke alias Penkelemes on March 28, 1958. He had died in a motor accident perhaps
occasioned by over-speeding. To his fanatical supporters, it was bad enough
that their hope of a better future was gone. But what made the death most
suspicious was that the accident happened in the Remo Division, near Ikenne.
Now, Adegoke’s main political rival, Obafemi Awolowo (Awo) , was a Remo man
from Ikenne. The coincidence was too much. The conclusion of the supporters was
that Awo must have in some metaphysical way, killed their hero. So they took to the streets
in search of Awo’s supporters, burning their property and killing at least twenty
of them. Sixty four Adegoke supporters
were sentenced to death for those
murders.
When I was a
teenager on Lagos Island, I heard a commotion. With other neigbours, I rushed
out to find the streets clogged. Many
were running or walking briskly while
simultaneously looking at the moonlit sky. On enquiry, we were told that Awo, the most
popular politician in Western Nigeria, had appeared in the moon! I stood,
peered in the moon and saw nothing unfamiliar.
My close friend, Albert Okopie also saw nothing unusual. We asked some
believers what exactly they were seeing. They explained that the bust of
Awo with his traditional cap and glasses was in the moon. All around attested
to this and discussed animatedly how their god-like hero had decided to
manifest himself and glory by appearing
in the moon. He was their hope. In a moment of
tactlessness, Albert said the
description they were making of the claimed person appearing in the moon also
fitted another politician, Aminu Kano. We were set upon; how dare we make such a blasphemous suggestion? After pleas by
some elders around, we were let go.
Such crowds
and fanatical supporters as those at Audu’s funeral, reacting to Adegoke’s
death or the claimed appearance of Awo in the moon, are extremely dangerous to reason with. Such
moments are times when reason take flight. I recall such moment in the play,
“Julius Caesar” by William Shakespeare. After Mark Anthony had roused the crowds
with his oration at Caesar’s funeral, they went after the conspirators who
assassinated him. In the streets, the mob came across a man who was asked to identify
himself.
His name was Cinna, which coincidentally was the name of one of the
conspirators. The hapless man explained
he was not Cinna the conspirator . He shouted “ I am Cinna the poet, I am Cinna
the poet” to which the mob responded
“Tear him for his bad verses, tear him for his bad verses”
Germany
was one of the best educated and
civilized countries. It produced famous intellectual giants like the
philosophers, Immanuel Kant and Georg
Wilhelm Hegel, the fathers of world revolution; Karl Marx and Frederick
Engels and writers like Walter Benjamin and Bertolt Brecht. Yet in post- First
World War despair, hunger and anger, the
German electorate not only voted for Adolf Hitler, but also followed him like a
hypnotized herd.
The Hitler administration gave the people food, reversed their
economic fortunes, built a car, the Volkswagen specifically for the lower
classes, gave them hope, and pride in their country. With decisive leadership
and effective propaganda, Hitler
controlled the minds of the populace so
much that they swore by his name and were ready to die defending him.
With leading countries like Britain, United States and the then Soviet Union - for
their strategic national interest - willing to tolerate or accommodate him,
Hitler almost took control of the world.
Even when he committed atrocities like carrying out genocide against blacks and Jews, the German populace
continued to support him.
Those who believed Abubakar Audu
would resurrect; killed in the name of
Adegoke Adelabu; believed that Obafemi Awolowo appeared in the moon; followed
Adolf Hitler or kill in God’s name, have the same problem; controlled minds. No human being should allow another,
control or toy with his mind.
__._,_.___
Posted by: Owei Lakemfa <lakemfaowei@yahoo.com>
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