Somewhere in Iyaganku Quarters in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, stands a magnificent edifice, one of the best and arguably most expensive around. The name of the big building is Best Western Hotels, indeed, a beauty to behold.
That hotel, two days ago, played host to guests as well as well wishers when they felicitated with its owner, a former Deputy Governor of Nigeria’s apex bank, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and who was also the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in the 2019 governorship election in the state, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, on the occasion of his 50th birthday.
Birthdays are always worth celebrating, more so when a golden jubilee is graciously attained in a life time.
With Chief Adelabu’s status and influence, the turn out was expectedly massive.
It was therefore not surprising that amid the heavy downpour that drenched almost every part of the capital on that particular Monday, 28th September, his friends, political allies, families, well wishers and even hangers on defied the relentless rain to join in the celebration.
Unfortunately, that torrential downpour had already caused a monstrous gridlock throughout major routes in Ibadan, forcing commuters to take interior routes and cut themselves some slack. Therefore, a desperate attempt to take the Iyaganku Quarters which always provide an alternative respite, however turned a nightmarish experience.
Right in front of the hotel, there was a build up of traffic of huge proportions. Commuters were stuck in the rain. There was no effort to use law enforcement or major stop signs to redirect commuters to take alternative routes within the quarters to save them the unexpected bedlam that awaited them.
Instead, escorts of the VIPs present at the birthday celebration held commuters down, while they cleared the road for their own convoy to leave the venue. And right in the middle of that rain, some guests dressed in asoebi were seen hanging around the venue.
As the traffic cleared, hapless and helpless commuters realised that cars were parked indiscriminately on both sides of the road, further narrowing the already narrow road and making passage difficult, a situation worsened by the blinding rain.
What this explained was the lack of and non-availability of good logistics to manage the movement of vehicles and to park them in an orderly manner and to regulate ingress and egress of same.
This omission unnecessarily delayed, frustrated and wasted the time of many citizens on their way home from their various jobs and businesses in a night rain because of the comfort of a few.
The traffic logjam that attended the 50th birthday celebration of Chief Adelabu is not the main objective of this piece; it is not an attempt to bring to ridicule a milestone that worth being celebrated. Rather, the attendant pain and anguished cause the motorists and commuters who were passing by through the venue of the celebration is the main focus.
This is highly metaphorical of how sharply divided the strata of citizenship is in the country. It is indeed, a sharp reminder, reflective of the import of one of the evergreen songs of the late maverick King of Afrobeat, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, titled ‘Shuffering and Shmiling’.
How ways will be created for a “privileged” few in this confused space called Nigeria, while the “second class” citizens will continue to struggle amid the downpour of graft, corruption, oppression, ethnic bigotry, injustice among other problems.
60 years of our national existence as a sovereign nation, nothing much has changed. However, much has changed… From a rising hope in 1960, to a worsening situation, we are daily experiencing a downward trend in our feeble and insincere attempts at ensuring real independence for a country once regarded and seen as the hope of the Black World and its people.
What we are daily experiencing is a further subjection of the people to all forms of inhuman treatments wrought, over the years by wheeler-dealers who called themselves leaders. Nigerians, in their millions, are, indeed, going through hell on earth living in a country called Nigeria.
60 years after the attainment of independence, the people are still ‘shuffering’ and ‘shmiling’ from self-inflicted pains. But for how long shall we be patient, even as we continue to sing the ‘Redemption Song’ with which we hope to emancipate ourselves from post-colonial mental slavery?
For a person who attains his golden decade, much is expected to be seen and celebrated. Indeed, Adelabu, given his array of achievements, deserves to be celebrated. Ironically, however, for Nigeria, we celebrate just the age and not much in achievements…60 years after the attainment of independence.
A completely sad paradox.
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