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THE WORDS ARE DAGGERS...IN A JUST WRITER HANDS

"..... You die a million times over inside when your story is miswritten, your words distorted and your person maligned. But you are killed completely, dead and rotten when your plights are unheard or reported. '' _ IAK

I am still in shock after that eye-opening encounter with earful of chilling revelations by erstwhile SSA to the Kwara State Government, albeit unknowingly, rattling out topnotch " secrets '' to a budding writer he was reading one of his piece titled " Just Be A Bibire ''. I would have said nothing was ironical than that chanced, one-off conversation between two people where a person knows the other quite all right but the other man is completely at  sea regarding the real personality of his converser and engager other than the knowledge that he is omo daada in the street. My repented, reformed or I should put it the popular way " born-again '' veteran politician had come to the assembly as usual and wanted to get something fixed on his phone which made him sought my help because he felt I could do it since I was always clutching phones and books anytime he sees me. To him, such were the attributes of a brilliant youth and not the "guy man'' he often sees with sagged jeans, bleached skin and " cooked hair''. I had to smile here when I realised Alhaji used the word cooked hair to depict the habits of relaxing hair by guys in our street.
       After I had helped Alhaji fixed what he wanted done, he asked if I had seen an article he was reading. I feigned ignorance to avert been viewed as a long-nosed, prying young man because I had already seen it while helping with his phone. At this point, I noticed something made him happy and I wouldn't know if it was because I was able to rectify a phone default or he was just unusually lively that day. In no time, the former SSA got the intended article out of sea of thousands Whatsap chats messages and wondrously asked me to read it too. Thereafter, Alhaji asked if I had heard about it before since I was always current and updated politically. At that point I recollected why he had said that and wondered if there's anything that old man forgets. He had said that because I had told him to his face some months back that the intermittent appointment of SAs and promotion of some to SSAs is a waste of resources and as such, lugubrious, sardonic, egregious and insensitive to the plight of hunger - ravaged Kwarans which he had grudgingly accepted after much back and forth.
         Tactfully, I decided to play along to hear his opinion on the issue. To my surprise, Alhaji said he had personally expected such brazen act of impunity and insensitivity by the state government to attract public backlash. I became stunned and flabbergasted when he further said he's not taken aback or awash with surprise that Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed suddenly swung into action of late, repairing roads, rushing completion of others and seemingly effervescent since all these years of near inactivity in the last few weeks. Baba made me realised that Maigida's resurgence is the bye-product of Sen. Bukola's order that the people of Kwara are rightly aggrieved and embittered and he ( Maigida) should do everything possible to sway these people before the elections come around. I would thought perhaps that explains our Maigida N Bara's  last week show of shame and comedy and political action of parody at Yikpata with the Corps Members ( a place he never had time to visit all these years,only to go once and announced #5000 stipend for the Youth Corps Members. Eurekaaaa! ) aptly painting a picture of a falling man clutching at every available straws!
         The former SSA meticulously got on talking, revealing several " topnotch'' secrets not for the papers yet. It got to a stage he meandered into the talks about the  November 17, 2018 bye - elections and that made him remember another day by that date in 2017. I still wonder till today if Saraki and Maigida shouldn't name Nov. 17 2017 as Mandate Robbery Day when I remember with nostalgia the brutality and agony meted on the few brave Kwarans in Ilorin who wished to fight till death for the will of the people to prevail. Perhaps that day also signifies Independence Day for some psychologically enslaved Kwarans who had been seeing Saraki and his agents as invisible! However, I became enamoured, captivated, yet surprised and embarrassed when Alhaji bursted my bubbles by revealing that almost all of those Councillors and Chairman we thought were "robbed'' of their mandates were later paid by the men of the dynasty.  Jesus! I exclaimed. Liberation, freedom, activism and this and that and every other sweet words by these new politicians could just be sweet dreams after all!! Politicians and deceit. Politics and interest are like Siamese twins, that I further knew.
         After that shocker, I rallied my mind to composure again, and this time, asked Baba why he seemed happy somebody wrote an article against the Kwara State Government, and I wondered why he would revel such short but damaging piece was written against an equally powerful member of the dynasty. To my bewilderment, Alhaji launched another cleaner. I had to look at him well for confirmation before I let those words sank into my memories. He replied, (translated) " Evil and wickedness has all time but the truth only has the end. If not for time and death, I am sure the rich and powerful would wish power and riches are there alone. '' I wanted to get to the root of the barrage of proverbs and inquired further to know his actual stance. Like a bold talker I had come to know him to be, the reborn  former SSA took Maigida and his SSA media, Dr. Muhydeen Akorede to the cleaner, strongly accuses them of the underground, back-door, behind-the -curtains and appointment of the likes of the " spoilt and rotten daughter of Alh. Bibire Ajape ''. May Allah be praised. Little wonder the pernicious, daylight, double-faced liar called Dr. Muhydeen Femi Akorede had leapt to the governor 's defence earlier when I wrote that piece.
    Meanwhile, the tireless old man coughed up the most beautiful words for an ugly truth when I heard him said " I wish we had more attacking, strongly criticising write-ups of this nature lampooning the government and its crooked agents every now and then . Factual, accurate attacking write ups by brilliant writers / journalists are often like daggers ripping the hearts of bad leaders apart! ''. I got touched. I felt proud and happy. I wanted to tell him I wrote the piece but something made me change my mind. I thought he could feel tricked and betrayed.
      And I was right as he suddenly got on talking, further reminiscing about write-ups and articles, writers and creativity, the power of the media and the might of words. In the course of that, Baba let on another revelation when he vomited that he often wish he could write clinically because he thought this state are deprived and denied of good, brave and bold writers to take the government on on their inadequacies and inequities. I got sad yet I was rearing to ask what he meant by acute lack of writers when he rattled out how the government has journalists and headstrong writers bought and procured like some goods! My stomach rumbles in anger when Alhaji revealed the reasons he's often sad for the people is because he knows hardly would their voices be heard , because he knew the voices of the masses has been chocked in the throat of the supposed speakers and writers of truth with porridge and chin chin, so much speaking and reporting the truth by these lots is a pipe dream!
        Quite comically, it was then I realise positive news about government trends for days whereas reports of bad deeds, mistakes or misgivings never see the light of the day! I was lost in personal thoughts while Baba kept on talking, I was wondering if most Kwara youth were bought already too. I kept wondering why, because I wouldn't know, the youth does not make their grievances strongly known. Even now I wonder, why none of the various students union leaders has taken his/ her pen to lampoon the government for the near-death state of infrastructures in the various state - owned schools and institutions. I wonder why the Kwara youth has  timid hands to tackle state government on obnoxious policies, actions and inactions but strong arms to wrestle a brother in a fist fight?
         Even now as I pen this I am still in shock mixed with sadness and range. I wouldn't know why the youth wouldn't see the power in sending "letter- bomb'' to the people oppressors, stripping bare their naivety and nakedness instead of shouting at each other at some assemblies, buka and beer parlour joints over their issues? Even now I am unhappy I hadn't been a ferocious critic of this sterile, unproductive, insensitive and subservient government! There's no better way to tell a bad man than showing him his badness. If we could stab a bad leader with equally bad words I don't feel any bad. That's "nothing spoil '' like my street guys would say. What would make me more sad is if as a youth, journalist or writer you read this and do not see the need to critique the wicked, greedy, selfish, evil and devilish leaders at various levels of government in Nigeria, perhaps out of slavishness, selfishness, negligence or cowardice. I would just agree with the assertion that words are truly like daggers in the hands of writers but riches and power dictates who they menacingly strikes.  If so, shame on us!


Ibraheem Abdullateef, a social commentator and political activist writes from Ilorin . He can be reached via email eggheadibra@gmail.com


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