Akanni Okoya and His Lousy PartiesBy Kunle I. Sowunmi
The article written by Dr Rueben Abati as published in the Guardian Newspaper on April 24th 2005 on one of the lousy parties recently held by Chief Akanni Razak Okoya the Chairman and chief Executive of Eleganza Industries Ltd in the very heart of Lagos along the Lekki Epe Expressway caught my fancy and the mood of Dr. Abati which demonstrated the frustration of common man on the society called Nigeria and the failure of the State Government to use that opportunity to increase the revenue of Lagos state from a man who may not necessarily be paying the right tax as there is no proper record to measure his income or any of his businesses due to lack of social security number or viable means of verifying income in Nigeria is very amazing. Poor Nigeria.
The article went to illustrate how a young undergraduate woman is now married to the chief probably old enough to be his daughter, and how women displayed there bodies in a very dirty and half naked way, well Okoya is a wealthy man by Nigeria standard and he can get away with his immoral attitude including sleeping with young women. That is Nigeria. This writer will focus more on the events of roadblock rather than the chief’s thirst for young blood like a vampire since the Okay’s retired ex-wives and other wives came to the party.
In a civilized world Chief Okoya with the capitalistic gaffing name of “ Oluwa ni sola” on his Manson is enough to attract the scrutiny eyes of the Law enforcement agencies. What is “Oluwa ni sola” that the so-called wealth will be used to disturbed the free flow of movement and economic social being of the society in which the landlord of Oluwa Ni sola villa resides. For those who are not Yoruba’s “Oluwa Ni Sola” means “Only God gives wealth” but what the Chief failed to understand is the same God says “Mase Bu Okele Nla Loju Eniti Ebi Npa” meaning “Never display your wealth too much in presence of the poor”. The society is hungry and chief not only displayed his wealth in the presence of the poor he also used his wealth to punish the poor by blocking the free flow of traffic for twelve hours on a major road like Epe Lekki Express way.
Let us imaging a scenario in which the sick or pregnant women going to the hospital or a man with little money to buy gas due to detour had to pay for the arrogance of the road bock by the Chief. In the article Dr. Ruben Abati further demanded for apology, which is not the only enough requirement. Akanni Okoya must be made to do a community service and also pay a fine including public apology in the local newspaper. That is the procedure in any civilized world. Besides who on earth is the Chairman of the local government in which this nonsense took place? Or who is the Governor of such a state that is too afraid to do something?
Is the road a state road? Is it a local government road? Head must roll with the affected government agencies. This writer will want to believe Epe Lekki Express way is like 635 Express way in Dallas Texas or Broad Way street or Marina in Lagos and a 12 hours display of arrogance did not attract the attention of LASTNA, FERMA, FRSC is not only a shame to Lagos government but to the whole of Federal Republic of Nigeria. The event ought to be on national news television warning motorist about the traffic problem on the road. The article even said the chief’s estate had no standardized approved plan. How many of them with approved plan in Nigeria? Approve plan is money paid. Nothing more.
Razak Okoya is guilty as well as the local government or state government for turning blind eyes to total that irresponsible behavior. Okoya despite his wealth behaved like illiterate in the very heart of Lagos the commercial headquarters of the largest black race in the world. Maybe the Chief should relocate to his village because his behavior did not conform to decency there was nothing elegance about the behavior of the chairman of Eleganza Industries in the 21st century.
This writer could remember late last year in Dallas Texas, in Richardson City the telecommunication headquarters in Texas with companies like Nortel, Erickson and others there was a small community of Muslims on Friday that parked their vehicles along the road during the Jumat prayers some packed in the opposite way instead some even parked in the places meant for the handicap before the end of the Jumat all the cars had tickets pasted on them with an average of $130 par car. This is to show how government can generate revenue, which the local government in which Okoya reside failed to understand.
Is better to use this forum to enlighten people with Okoya syndrome on how to organize parties in a civilized society. Okoya can rent Banquet halls for his party with enough parking spaces; he can use a school ground if he cannot find one very close to his mansion so that his visitors can see his house, which is the reason for the party in his house in the first instance. Okoya can then show the video of his bedroom to his guests so they can go home feeling sorry for themselves and increase their thirst for property aggrandizement or distribute the video so that they can look at it at home but Okoya behaved otherwise, he acted like illiterate. He did not allow his wealth to broaden his view about life he needs to learn a little more.
Is Nigeria a civilized world? The answer is YES. There is no point for Nigeria to hide under the canopy of third world syndrome to address issues that are disturbing the growth of the society. One of them is the so-called tradition and stupid culture that is preventing Nigeria from sitting at the same table with her peers in the comity of Nations of civilized people worldwide. Nigerians can be found in any country on the face of earth cold, ice, hot and medium and to the best knowledge of this writer Nigerians are among the top IQ class people on the face of Earth be it in Nigeria and in any country Nigerians reside there is this respect for Nigerians every where unlike other races.
What then qualifies us as third world nation? Is it our attitude to confront negative behavior in our society with the right tools? Or are we too timid to accept the fact that some of our cultures and traditions are relics of the past that must be thrown overboard
What are the Right Tools?
Nigeria must have city police and social security number to address imbalances in negative behavior of our leaders and the society. A criminal whose social security number has been places in the data base can not in future come up to contest election and there will not be any need to be searching for files in the archives or looking for the dead to serve as a witness. A city police will be in a better situation to assist the city to place a serious check on behavior of people with Okoya syndrome. All the vehicles parked will have been given tickets, have their names recorded in the system and Okoya will have leant his lesson and the society will have been ok with it. Our Government must be bold enough to do the right thing. I cannot even imagine Bill Gate the richest man on earth to close down a whole small street not talk of an expressway in hometown. Nigeria we hail thee.
Kunle I. Sowunmi Dallas Texas USA 04/26/05
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