[dropcap]A[/dropcap]Charles Ogbu political commentary is a million times superior to the boring revisionist treatise written by Chimamanda Adichie, but a gnat has better chances of being featured in the New York Times than he is for a million reasons, some not altogether wrong.
Outside fiction, I think Ms. Adichie should stick to the social politics of feminism, where the risks of being trite are way less as the subject matter is unduly emotive, and so the faultlines on all sides of the prevailing arguments are more easily blurred, and examination less studious.
The gods do break people’s palm fruits. Let’s just know to stay in our fortes, so more jaundiced audiences and related malcontents do not think to wonder just how exactly the entire conversation with us began to start with?
I like to think myself a scrupulous reader, but I have never been better lulled to somnolent ennui by an article as soundly as I was by the lengthy ramble of Ms. Adichie on Buhari’s stewardship and sundry Nigerian-hued political issues as presented in that trending NYT article.
Sometimes you just wonder if the international press is not just overly fond of patting the heads of our African intellectuals with these token features at selected times.
First, she managed to make the entire article about Chimamanda, and not about the same Nigerians she was ostensibly concerned about.
In summary it all read like the wailing of a naïve child who just wants her toys returned to her so she can go on playing in her tutored conviction that the world is all ‘honkey donkey’ when she has her precious toys.
You had “never known political fear” until Muhammadu Buhari usurped a constitutional, democratic government, and made himself ruler by fiat over an entire country, his quest powered by the gun which said country furnished him with at the expense in parts of ordinary citizen taxpayers.
I won’t waste time pondering what the heck “political fear” means as against an apolitical fear, a religious fear, a cultural fear…or even an impolitic fear…perhaps?
I am only more concerned with the logicality of an individual of supposed intellectual leanings hankering for the rulership of a man who first caused her “(political) fear”, and by her admission, failed in his overstated quest to craft a Nigeria of his private infantile dreams of servility as discipline and mindless obedience as patriotism.
This is one question which will never go away as it seems, and which every supporter of this present perfidy would rather wasn’t ever asked.
Why did you want Buhari to return after 30 years of his last failure?
You see, no rambling reminiscing will drown out this perturbation, never mind how brilliantly crafted, or where it is aired on the globe.
I think those Nigerian writers and public intellectuals as well as sundry opinion leaders who wailed for this government to be installed should just stop…and this not a moment too soon.
The noise is beginning to grate worse than metal bottle lid on cement floor.
It’s becoming clearer that as preposterous as the common belief might be, that Nigerian writers in the general collective is one huge cult with the customary body of capricious leaders, sheepish followers and even more deluded groupies and pretentious wannabes making up the ranks.
They are the non-oral counterpart to Nollywood, no less ineffectual gregarious and unnecessarily ‘hood-ish’.
The overwhelming endorsement of Buhari, an ex coup plotter, and well known human rights violator among this body of rambunctious natter boxes is evidence of the destructive group think of cult-ish associations.
In Nollywood you have a body of talented artistes with their coterie of worshipping wannabe artistes waiting on largely unschooled, boorish marketers to crack their palm fruits year after year, while they inspect their dainty nails and tend to their studied snobbery.
These peasant brain marketers control the destinies of these beggarly kings.
It is the same with Nigerian writers.
This is why years after we as a universe had the privilege of hosting literary deities like the Achebes, the Ekwensis, the Nwapas, the Enahoros, the Giwas, the Igiebors, and all the greats from the realms of journalism to literature, we are now even deeper in the pits as a moral, cultural and political society.
We are simply put, becoming quite the abomination and no generation is exempt from this essential rottenness.
Our intellectualism is pointless. Our intellectuals are an unnecessary imperialist imposition on decency and commonsense.
Unfortunately those who pat our heads and coo baby babble to our delight, as they pick and crack our palm fruits would rather, for their own good, fish among the flotsam, and when you have the generality as flotsam… What can you have but a disaster of cosmic proportions?
“I have a PhD. I have shaken hands with world leaders. I root for NEPA bill.”
For shame.
PostScript:
These thoughts come from a really deep and pain-filled region of my mind.
I am pained because even though I am not a writer or an author, I do consider the comity of writers a personal constituency of sorts.
Our journalism is firmly in the grips of the dogs. Our writers are a huge clan of rock stars and largely untalented talking heads, all with leagues of sex-crazy groupies in following.
These opinions are only a tiny glimpse into a maelstrom of irritation and bile from my core concerning Nigerian writers, the literary world and public intellectuals.
Kindly do not stain my thoughts with mindless assents of “gbam” and all those carry-go insanities most of you revel in.
Remove yourself from here with all that clique-mentality ghetto subfests and whining please.
I don’t care to hear anyone on this issue. Your “criticisms” are a joke. That’s why politicians know to pay most of you peanuts for your destinies, so please miss me with all that social media cattiness of “robust replies”.
This wizened old gal doesn’t give the wee-est of fucks…literally and literarily.
Just call me Kanye Temi West and I will be sufficiently honoured and swiftly humbled in turn.
Thank you all.
Temidayo Ahanmisi is a public affairs commentator.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
