There are things that the initiates must not do in the presence of the uninitiated. Where I come from, masquerades do not eat or sit with women. Masquerades do not even eat, do they? They are from another world and are treated like that. In Yorubaland, they arrive through the ‘Igbale’ forest and return to the land of the ancestors via the same route. Accompanied strictly by the initiated.
I still remember vividly the visits of the family masquerade to my father. He is the eldest male and the representatives of the ancestors always accorded him the respect of an ancestral visit once in three years. Madigbol’esu (do not collide with Esu) is a fierce and feared masquerade. And when he came to the earth, everybody knew.
Before his arrival in our compound, my father would have gotten ready the drinks of the elders. Once ‘Baba’ arrived, all of us children and my mother would relocate to another part of the house. Daddy, his brothers and Madigbol’esu would go into the sitting room, doors and windows securely locked. All of us knew the drill. Even the dancers that accompany the masquerade knew the drill.
In PDP, the elders, the initiates and the novices are all talking at the same time. They are hurling the sacred things at one another in the market square. The PDP masquerade is eating in the open. Like they used to and I am warning them, like I did many times in the past.
“Awo ko gbodo t’oju ogberi da’fa nu.”
Why is it so difficult for elders of the PDP to go into a room, secure the doors and windows before sharing the drink of the elders? Why are they fighting in front of the uninitiated? Why are the PDP masquerades yanking each other’s masks in front of women and uninitiated men? Do they need an oracle to tell them that an unmasked masquerade is no longer a masquerade? He’s just like me or the next guy.
Am I supposed to respect that man (yeah, that is what a disrobed masquerade is, an ordinary man) even if he still attempts to speak in a guttural voice?
These disrobed men and women had held many conventions in the 16 years they were in power. Each one had its own colourful drama. But I thought that meant, these elders came away from each convention with a lesson. I thought the PDP would have learnt at least half a dozen lessons, from where the APC would have to borrow half a dozen leaves. For where?
When I spoke with one of the elders of the PDP that convention morning, I asked if it was not possible to do the PDP convention magic and still elect their officers. When he sounded more unhappy than confident, I knew the masquerades were on their way to the market. And the trip was short. With windows open, doors ajar, the masquerades went for one another’s throat, the women and children watching in shocked silence.
Each elder had to prove that he was a bigger elder. A community where there are no leaders is a community on its way to extinction. The gray hair on the heads of PDP elders must begin to count for something.
The old men must sit together and sop behaving like children. The way they are all dragging at their umbrella, it won’t be long before what remains of the PDP covering finally peels away. And when the harmattan comes, the man who wears only his underwear will know the true meaning of cold.
So, is this the end? How will the PDP masquerade find its way back into the sacred grove? Now that the uninitiated have seen the mouth of the ancestral being, can the masquerade still claim that he is not a mere man?
Are the APC masquerades learning anything?
THANK YOU, GOVERNOR WIKE
As the months became weeks and then days, the reality of my first ANEC as the President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors kept me awake at night. I went even to the bathroom with a to-do list. I had fears. I was anxious. By the opening ceremony day, I was so tense I thought my skin would crack. I needed a make-up artiste to put on an extra face and then adrenalin did the rest. But the man of the event was the host governor, Barr Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, the Rivers state governor. He welcomed us with open arms. He answered our questions and made himself available throughout the program.
I and a few EXCO members were in Port Harcourt six days before the conference. We had no police escort. We ate out and we went shopping. We trekked the streets. The governor was not aware we were in town. And all through the conference, we had fun. We went safely and returned safely. To God be the glory. Thank you Governor Wike for being such a great host. I know we all left Port Harcourt with a different opinion of who you are.
From all Nigerian Editors to all the governors, eminent Nigerians who sent representatives and Governor Rauf Aregbesola who personally graced the occasion; our speakers, our friends, we say we will not forget.
Let’s pray for this CP
Koko: I hope I wasn’t the only one who saw the award winning drama that happened in Port Harcourt on Wednesday?
Kaka: Who could have missed it? Those who did not see it smelled it because it was very smelly.
Koko: And suspicious. What did the police say was their reason for being all over the place like that? There were more police vehicles than PDP -branded vehicles. Did the Rivers Police Command of the Nigeria Police join the PDP while we were sleeping?
Kaka: The Command could also have joined APC.
Koko: Hmmm, considering they were more involved in sealing off the venue of the PDP convention, they most likely joined APC, not PDP.
Kaka: The Police Commissioner said they did not seal up anywhere o, that they were only protecting the people of Rivers state.
Koko: Eh eh eh, from what nah, from former governors and senators and ministers?
Kaka: They were hardworking people working hard for their big salary.
Koko: Yeah, right. I like hard working policemen. But didn’t the Police Commissioner say he was obeying court order?
Kaka: Which of the court orders, the Port Harcourt or Abuja ones?
Koko: He has a right to choose which one to obey. It is his fundamental human right.
Kaka: He is also a man under authority. He is a policeman who should be apolitical.
Koko: Well. All that is dogon turenchi. The man must have been confused by so many court orders. He simply closed his eyes and picked one.
Kaka: And the one he picked was the one that sealed the venue.
Koko: He said he did not seal any venue!
Kaka: The Command’s PRO said they sealed the venue. Was he not speaking for his boss?
Koko: What kind of confusion is that? So who sealed what and why?
Kaka: Let us not even attempt to answer any context question here. What we should be doing is advising the Rivers state Commissioner of Police.
Koko: Yes o, we should advise him not to join PDP.
Kaka: That is not the point. What ‘Boda’ Francis Odesanya needs to know is that when a police commissioner is posted to Rivers State he needs to see his pastor for counseling.
Koko: Or deliverance.
Kaka: It is the counseling that is important. A CP in Rivers state cannot and should not pretend that he is like any other CP. The politics in that place is concentrated like battery acid.
Koko: In other words ‘Boda’ Francis Odesanya should know that a man whose head is used to crack coconut will not take part in the eating.
Kaka: The CP should read the history books of that Command especially the chapter about a certain CP who got caught in the middle of the political brouhaha in Rivers.
Koko: Hmmm, true. I remember now. That CP never recovered from the damage. He caught so many blows from both warring factions that I bet after some time he didn’t know if he was coming or going.
Kaka: Very sorry case. We need to go and hold special prayers on the mountain for Boda Francis…