A HALLMARK OF SLAVERY

WOLE OSINUPEBI argues that many Nigerians are oppressed by the wealthy and influential

The most poignant manifestation of power in our country is to inflict pain on people perceived to be less powerful. Or why do we have convoys of cars with armed police harassing other road users with the noise of sirens and dangerous driving? The person who instigated and paid for the bedlam usually sits in this confusion pretending to be engaged in some important conversation or in a hurry to get somewhere. All is a sham. If the concern is for security, movement should be anonymous. Secondly, while the key instigator may be ensconced in some category of bulletproof vehicles, the noisy escorts are not. In some cases, they are exposed, and hanging on with the hands they should use to operate their weapons. Clearly, the objective is not security but a desire to flex and punish our people.

 Meanwhile citizens on the road are forced into a traffic jam created by these dubious beings under the threat of being shot or beaten by the armed men, or their car damaged. When law enforcement officers – police, are part of the assault it is difficult to protest. Most people wait out the mess, and continue with their lives after these vandals have left. In situations when it’s standstill traffic we’re stuck in an atmosphere with howling sirens causing anxiety and giving a feeling of imminent disaster, simply because our leaders are children. Or how does it make sense howling sirens when you’re not even moving? Except there is a challenge with thought processes? I wonder how parents with children on the autism spectrum cope with this.

The latest in this consistent barrage against the people of Nigeria is using the police to arrest and lock up people who annoy you. The cost of court proceedings and the opportunity lost for needed judicial work should also be considered. In summary, influential individuals with low self-esteem are deploying government resources to fight private emotional battles. And that one is injured through the deprecating statements of others is a false assertion in this part of the world where many individuals are wealthy without any evidence of significant inheritance or thriving industry. Persons with a dark cloud of unproven criminal activity hanging over their heads are well received in society, while known honest men and women are disrespected because they have no cash to throw around. In summary, so long as you have plenty of money, no statement by anyone can sully your image.

Persons who ran government and private sector organisations to ruin, but emerged from them wealthy usually enter politics and are honoured with traditional titles. The mirage of loss through defamation or inciting a breach of peace becomes obvious with the enthusiasm of the police to pursue and arrest. If this level of energy was deployed to unresolved murder, kidnapping, rape or fraud cases Nigeria would be crime free. Clearly some kinetic energy inducing source is inspiring law enforcement to quickly round up those who annoy big men, but is not available to counter those causing the systematic ruination of the nation.

Of note also is when social media is weaponised and used to propagate lies. Initially those who broadcast false information about others thought they operated under an impenetrable veil until they were exposed.

This utter disrespect for other peoples’ humanity was the basis of the slave trade where millions of people were kidnapped and traded like chattels for over three hundred years. A trade that stripped West Africa of its youth and stagnated development. Enslaving people for centuries resulted in a loss of self-esteem for the whole continent and then instigated the emergence of big men with larger than life egos. Despite wealth and even physical size they remain toddlers at heart ready to throw tantrums at any real or perceived slight. This is the reason why people pay for titles from their homeplace, religion and profession. A cover cloth for that feeling of nakedness that comes with an empty mind.

In boxing and all fighting sports, a contest between two people of the same weight division under rules agreed by both contestants takes place. Umpires and administrators of the rules of the sport are engaged to ensure fairness and adherence to the rules. In Nigeria, the military, police and other agencies are however allowed to beat people up, and this barbaric behaviour is taken as normal. Corporal punishment is inflicted on house servants and children perceived to be at the bottom of the power scale. In some cases, it gets so bad that victims are very badly injured or killed. All are manifestations of toxic asymmetric power relationships, where one person has power over the other and expresses this physically. It has all the hallmarks of slavery. Enslaved people are a good example of asymmetric power balance, and it appears the memory of slavery and ill-treating others has not left us. Or how else do we explain this? A man gains political power (or gets elevated to a high government or private sector role) and he begins to convert resources held in trust for others to personal use. He becomes arrogant, and must be addressed in flowery language.

The services provided by the organisation he purports to lead diminishes in quality or disappears completely and those it’s meant to serve suffer loss and pain. But their cries for help doesn’t change anything. Meanwhile this leader lives in luxury and his children study abroad. Isn’t this how slavery worked? A large number go through deprivation and pain while a few enjoy a non-stop stream of increasing income. It gets worse because the people so badly treated do not protest, and those who do are silenced by their co-venturers. In some cases, there is a backlash from the oppressors community where the ethnicity of the crooked leader is used to justify his (or her) criminal behaviour. After all, they say, others have done the same, why is he being prosecuted so vigorously? That large amounts of money meant for education, roads or healthcare have been diverted to private projects, and that the future of a whole generation is frustrated is somehow not part of the discussion.

All siren oppressors should note this. When this untenable abuse goes full circle, sirens, bullet-proof cars and police with two bullets each will not stop the anger of the oppressed. Check the history books again.

Osinupebi writes from Lagos