Everywhere one turns now, one finds a thousand and one proofs that the world is in haste to end. Everyone is fighting everyone. Everything is failing and falling. Things we thought would never happen are happening by the minute, while expectations are taking forever or being cut short all over the place.
Look at the global report card. Who is not fighting who: religions, blood, or friends? What hasn’t failed or fallen: standard of education, standard of living, love for hard work, value of quality, price of money, verifiable consistency or genuine gratitude? And, what surprises haven’t we witnessed: trumpism’s shock electoral victory over etiquette, Zimbabwe’s unexpected demugabelisation, the rise and rise of same-sex marriage or the trumpetification of Jerusalem as capital of Israel?
The world is on breakneck speed, heading to the end. As we speak, same-sex marriage has become a global flood. We dismissed it as a huge joke when it overflowed its banks in Barack Obama’s United States and surged all the way to the Republic of Ireland in Europe on November 16, 2015, after an ad hoc referendum on May 22 that year amended the Irish constitution to provide recognition for genderless marriage. Just last week, the flood reached the end of the world, Australia!
When it recedes in full force, as it most certainly will, one wonders how long the values-steeped cultural walls of Africa would continue to defy globalisation by remaining impervious to this rampaging aftermath of civilisation. Talking about globalisation, how many times does our own naira bow in the international market before a mere one dollar can acknowledge its greetings? Thankfully, the shame is not peculiar to the Third World. Even conditionalities for White House tenancy and sundry hitherto unreachable heights for morons (apologies, Rex Tillerson) are now also an all-comers’ affair.
Everything is now free and open to anything and everyone. The omnipulling magnetism is so strong that words too have been made to jump on board the bandwagon. Today, such awe-inspiring nomenclatures as legend, hero and icon which used to be the (exclusive) preserve of worthy exemplars have been freed up and watered down to accommodate those the French contemptuously call nouveaux riches. Now, society recognises a barely educated entertainment star whose only achievement is doing well for self as a legend or icon or hero; ditto every thief of power and money-miss-road pretender to the throne.
Best Friend no longer means only what it used to. For all you know, the term could also mean Mugu 001: so much for a Best Friend. What about ‘Boo’? Be warned, it’s not as it was in the Old Testament: old things have passed away; all things have become new.
‘Boo’ is now born again, and in the heat of that conversion, ‘Boo’ became a man, a boyfriend. Lord, have mercy. Yet, some ‘Baes’ cannot still understand why their boyfriends are no good. How can someone you call ‘Boo’ do anything applaudable?
Many other words have lost their meaning. For instance, ‘Baby’ is no more a child because with the dearth of sweetnothings-laden names, adults reached all the way down to the floor and picked up the unisex titles of ‘Babe’, ‘Baby’, ‘Babes’. Don’t get it twisted: ‘Babes’ refers to one person. No wonder, such name bearers exhibit split personality tendencies!
But for space or the lack of it, I would name a shipload more: friendship, relationship, loveship (read lovesick). Old words that now have additional meanings which add no value. Blame this on the crash of the value system if you would, but I tell you that it is really about our crush on instant-everything: noodles, money, sex (name it) that has put our otherwise delectable world in this ugly crisis. It’s a horrible situation.
Nothing means anything anymore. Look around: who’s not laughing off blackmail, mediocrity, stealing, injustice and such other comedown vices as one of those things? Hefty words like philanthropist, philosopher, chief, truth, integrity, presidential, legendary, etc., have been desalinated. Yet, I don’t raise the alarm because this happens; I cry because we all think it’s normal.
How can it be? How can we collectively close our eyes and mouths to this crying shame? How can we allow hypocrisy to hypnotise us to the point of selective morality? Our country should lead our world back from the precipice of perdition.
This is another clarion call to the National Orientation Agency and allied organisations nationwide. They should rally to lead this charge. The time to start was yesterday. God bless Nigeria!
PDP: Now that the convention is over
And it came to pass penultimate Saturday that the People’s Democratic Party finally did the needful when it laid to rest, as it were, the remains of its 2015 loss of power at the centre and many states. The new National Working Committee should settle down quickly and recalibrate things for 2019.
By packaging and discharging an elective national convention successfully, the party has bounced back to form, the attendant and ensuing rancour notwithstanding. One only hopes that its new Dream Team management, peopled by men and women of tremendous political experience and leadership knowhow, would love the party as the party has loved them.
Of course, even before setting up roadmap 2019, the new NWC should move from state to state to dissolve the anger, which may have worsened by the convention. The reconciliation should be all-inclusive; targeting everyone whoever and wherever they may be.
I end on a general note, congratulating founding fathers of the party, Sen. Ahmed Makarfi and company, organisers and sponsors of the convention, contestants and winners. In particular, I celebrate National Chairman, Uche Secondus, and National Legal Adviser, Emmanuel Enoidem!