A Good Mafia

Olanrewaju Akinyele

In a natural world man is unconsciously made aware of laws in motion. The laws of karma, life and death, hygiene, good deeds e.t.c . As man grows into his destined posture natural forces also pose a threat to him in a nomenclature of survival. This is where a man exhibits if he had mastered the teachings of law and order or they were just courses to pass to the next session.

It is not new to us that good people go bad, some as a result of exposure to absolute power which comes with a menu of absolute perversion. In the same light bad people have a tendency to change for good. The corresponding placement of every religious knowledge we have in the world today is laden with the sole duty of toning down the beasty nature in men. A gracious man is simply the one who has learnt to conquer his gruesome nature and ultimately subject it to control.

Survival is the easy route men take to legitimize doing wrong. A poor little girl in the ghetto of Isabo in Abeokuta uses the lack of parental care as an escape into prostitution losing her virginity for a meal that is not guaranteed the whole month. This I have seen and I bear no false witness.

“Thou shall not kill” was a stringent command but we legitimately kill on the premise of enmity. This is equally not a bad way to use the sword in fact it validates the reason why a weapon made for killing is also made for defense.

Therefore, who can judge an action as being wrong? A white light is made of 7 different colors of light in the visible spectrum. The action and reaction of man in this regard is dependent on the wavelength of his troubles i.e the troubles of one man might cause him to react in a certain way to issues without him feeling guilty as to how wrong another man on another wavelength would view him as a bad person.

Let’s give this a thought further…
The reason man is envied even by higher celestial beings is the opportunity of a second chance. No celestial beings have that because they are made of the spirit of Life as against carnal men made of flesh. This singular act of repentance or redemption from an old self is a position of great advantage to all of mankind which must be accepted even by mankind.

A Saul of Tarsus who used to behead Christians became one of them by redemption. This is something we still experience till this day but it is hard for men to accept your letter of conversion, we rather judge the old deeds that were perpetuated on ignorance or whatever reasons depending on the wavelength the man is placed.

However, damage needs repair, a broken heart needs healing and sad night only awaits a joyful morning. Every man has the power to choose to stay in his path that leads to utter destruction or take a leap to eternal rest. I know of a man called Stanley Tookie Williams, he was the man that brought the Crips fraternity gang in the US into its full maturity. A group that glorifies, violence, blood spill and gangsterism. He was apprehended by the US government and incarcerated.

During his time in prison, he redeemed himself by evaluating the damage caused by his actions and the part he played in radicalizing young black males. In a bid to counter, he started putting out literature to educate the minds of the younger generations and he orchestrated peace treaties between rival gangs for lasting peace to take the streets.

He put all the work in his writings since he couldn’t see further than the bars that held him bound. He sent his image, a new image out there on the pages of his books. He was accepted as far as South Africa where radicalization of youths had taken center stage. All of his works got him a Nobel Peace Prize Nomination in 1971. He was eventually killed by lethal injection for the crimes he was guilty of but that did not change the impact of the last phase of his life before his demise. He wasn’t judged for the crimes anymore rather he was appreciated for his input to douse every flame of street gangsterism even while death stared at him in the eyes.

All of his work could have been a waste if the acceptance by society was not in place. Accepting the changed man is not the duty of the changed man but every one of us that view the man from a point of judgment. We must accept a man that is changed when he says so by evaluating his further contribution to the society he used to be a public menace.

In a judgmental Nigerian society of today, our verdict is always laced with a sentimental aroma. Forgiveness is almost a sin in this part of the world, every man crucifies you in your past and upholds the offence even after a reputable court void of manipulation grants you a discharge. You become the only witness to your own redemption by your inner peace.

A man of valor once caught in a bureaucratic crossfire between two tribes of the same clan fought on one side of the divide with all of his might. He was aware that by his capabilities if he doesn’t feed into the fierce battle, the divide he was caught on might be cleansed from existing in the entire race. After the war, peace on both sides, political giants recruited his service.

He relocated to his land of origin and as a man with needs; political enticement got him to run errands for men who do not cease to have enemies in every unit and wards of the state. The job has to be done. In his usual detest for oppression, he was fighting a just course for his paymasters though not all were necessary.

Further into his assignment, his shepherd was struck down, the flock of his sheep scattered and every man to his tent as power in its nature transients to the hands of a new beholder.

Already made a wealthy man, he built his realms fortifying himself with his loyal comrades he elevated his own throne. As the days passed, a new threat was brewing from the North. Nomads who have no homes wander the plains of their original home town. These men disregard every tenet that up hold co- existence.

Guilty of every crime they were accused of with an inert government at the helms of affairs, the man of valor geared up and took it up upon himself to wipe clean the entire region of these marauders. The duty of protecting the weak with fierce confrontation from the hands of a systematic oppression flowing downhill. This is the opportunity to rewrite history again by another man who sees the chance to wipe a slate clean and put his name in the history book of the Yoruba race.

To my amazement, he was accepted by the people. The very ones in the heart of disappearing into thin air and reappearing at the offering of bags of money in ransom.

His past like others in developed worlds was not held high above his head. He was celebrated. He became an inspiration to valiant comrades like himself that hid in the shadows of “I don’t want trouble”. He has become the man of the moment. All of a sudden, the old politics was put aside for the success of his feat chasing away bandits in the lush vegetation of Yoruba communities.

This is the man of our moment. A man who has resurged in white linen bringing the bravery of Oduduwa with him as he gives a sense of belonging to every one that speaks this wonderful dialect called Yoruba. Sunday Adeniyi Adeyemo also known as Sunday Igboho has written his name in the hearts of men, women and children of the Yoruba Nation.

Olanrewaju Akinyele writes from Abeokuta, Ogun State