CHAPTER 5
Once upon a giant country
Alo O!
Alo, I responded. It’s the traditional beginning to a very good story and an ancient greeting that was passed down before the colonialists came but some cynics will rather insist it is a derivative of the English greeting “Hello”.
You know once upon a time, the people of a very big country came together and they decided to release themselves from the bondage and rule of a tyrant. This people decided to pick a person to lead them into battle against the tyrant. The tyrant was an old white man who looked to be very quiet but he had a lot of power all over the world. He had lands and property and soldiers were everywhere he could call to wipe out this big country. The people picked a lot of people that were influential among them to speak peacefully with the tyrant and try to convince him to change the way he ruled. But nobody wanted to take the job of the mediator. Uncle Jimi paused and with a slow drag he started. The search for a mediator continued for a whole day and then they decided to impose the job on a very wealthy cocoa farmer in the country. He refused but was persuaded to do it. He eventually obliged to do it on a condition. He promised to state his condition on the next meeting day. On the next day, he sat down before the whole country and promised to be a mediator for the whole country if another mediator was chosen to assist him and he wanted the other mediator to also be a business man like himself. A lot of people disagreed because the tyrant was known to have a lot of money and often influenced people through bribes. The businessman is not a good choice as a mediator in this matter, they said. We’d rather choose a cattle rearer because they have nothing to lose and not much interest in power and money since they are usually nomadic. The people decided to impose a cattle rearer as their mediator’s assistant. The mediator cocoa farmer then said, “If you have so much confidence in this cattle rearer, then let him be the mediator and I will only be his assistant”. The people agreed to the proposal. But after a while, the business man also came up with a proposal. He, being a man of fair speech and great oratory stood up amidst the crowd and said;
My countrymen, this is an issue of rescuing a great nation and if we consider all things, it is not the job of one man because we all will benefit from it. There was a loud chorus, applause and supportive murmurings. The noise subsided and he continued. If we all join these people and go to the tyrant’s domain, it is not too much. Yes, the people chorused once again.
Quiet.
So I suggest that we don’t choose anybody to do our job for us lest the person comes up later and take the credit for our freedom. The wise businessman ended his statements to no applause but to disputing and arguments. Then a young man stood up and said, “You have spoken well but we should appear before this tyrant not in a ruthless manner but in a coordinated way to demand what is ours and we can trust this men, they are our brothers and kinsmen”. The young man sat down to much applause but the issue was disputed for another hour before the group finally decided to send the cattle rearer and two assistants, the cocoa farmer and the businessman to be a check on the cattle rearer. Bystanders who watched the meeting were not allowed to give counsel. There was an old wise man among the bystanders who told his grandson that this country may have followed the businessman’s advice to work together since there is strength in numbers.
The three countrymen, a cattle rearer, a cocoa farmer and a businessman made their journey to the tyrant ruler’s abode. They spoke with the man and……Uncle Jimi paused to take some water…………after raving at them for a few minutes about all what he had done for their country without being appreciated, he decided to grant the country their request. He gave them freedom as they desired but as required in our tradition, the man didn’t pray for them. He simply sent them away like Pharaoh sent Moses and the Israelites away and asking them to pray for him instead. Nevertheless, the three representatives were happy about what they had accomplished. The tyrant however, was not happy and being cunning in his own ways called back the three representatives and told them he will give them some money. They rejected the money because of their countrymen’s admonition before they left home. However, the tyrant offered to grant them recognition as the only representatives ever to make a request on behalf of their countrymen. Whatever they asked for on behalf of their other countrymen will be granted. They became the only recognized representatives of their country and no other person was recognized. They had much power and when they returned home, they became proud. The tyrant didn’t give them money but he gave just three of them every power they needed over their compatriots. He imposed the cattle rearer as the king over the country and subsequently, the kingship became the heirloom of these three people and no other person could make a major decision again. The country who once governed themselves by majority votes and through a consensus decision of the majority now bent to the will and decision of either of the three representatives. At this point, Uncle Jimi paused and drank a cup of water. He then continued in a thoughtful drawl, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”.
Very soon, out of the three representatives, the businessman became the wealthiest being the most enterprising of the three and according to the talebearers, the least friendly and also quite proud. He also began to acquire a lot of influence over the country more than that of the installed king. He gathered a bunch of people to himself and started a revolution against the throne. It was a forceful revolution and many people died. He became feared but the revolt was short lived and his followers and children were rounded up and starved to death. His businesses were torn apart and even when peace returned to the country, life was not the same again for everybody. The authority over the land remained with just two people and everyone viewed each other with suspicion. The ignorant townsmen now saw the danger they had put the country into by allowing the ruler ship be shared by three people, only it was now shared by two, while the third was allowed to contribute periodically. If only the ignorant countrymen had known and remembered the story of Sango, he said pointing at the not-too-distant figure of the demi-god growling in the slight darkness beyond, they would understand that they sold their share of the collective authority on the land to the men who represented them before the tyrant. The man who can spit fire from his mouth should first be feared for his ability to self-destruct and the most powerful man among any group of people is the most likely person to first get destroyed. It has always been like that all through history, Uncle Jimi said peering intently into my eyes and it suddenly seemed like he was crying but he wasn’t, at least not physically. Then he said in a morose voice, this is what happened to the tyrant, the businessman and the giant country and fell silent for a couple of minutes while I pondered over the story. I couldn’t tell if I found it interesting but it got me thinking for some time.
He took another cup of water and offered me some. It’s diluted, so you can have some, he said.
I wondered what he meant by that until I took a big sip from the cup and found it was palm wine. My eyes opened wide. Alcohol. Dad must not hear this but it really felt harmless and so I drank up the whole cup. Anyway, who’s going to tell him, I thought.
Thoughtfully again, Uncle Jimi said, looking at me. You’re a brilliant chap so you’d have read about Hitler, Alexander the Great and such great conquerors that destroyed themselves. You can add Sango to the list alongside some characters from this story. This is what happened to Nigeria and those of us who are students of history expected it. The Igbo felt we betrayed them during the civil war but truth is we did not. History was against them but they made it worse by going the violent way. Nigeria resorted to democracy and made the same mistake as the ignorant townsmen but I’ll leave you to ponder the rest. I think it’s about time we returned to Prof’s Office because we have some important business to talk about.