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Why Ribadu Must be Persecuted By Ibrahim Mohammed
George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four may not be a popular book even among prolific readers, but a scan through it may give answers to all the myriad of problems Nigeria is bedeviled with – Ribadu’s ordeals being a significant part of the problem.
As rightly assessed in most Nigerian papers and discussion fora, Nigeria is the only nation in this wild, wide world where excellence is rewarded with villainous persecution. Given Ribadu’s track record, one would have thought his reward would be nothing short of INSPECTOR GENERAL OF POLICE. When I first learned he is (sorry to use ‘is’ better said ‘he was’) a police officer, I told myself that was not possible. I am one among million Nigerians who believe that the Nigeria Police Force of today is not a breeding ground for excellence. You don’t need a soothsayer, for as long as you have lived, even if for a day in Nigeria, to believe what I mean.
He came in like a roaring lion, saw the rot in the Nigerian society especially among the highly placed, fought them and almost at the verge of conquering, when the powers that be, whose goose must never be gored, fought back until he is reduced to pieces of irredeemable engine.
Power is all the highly placed want; and power is all about control. How then does one man assert his power over another? George Orwell theorized that it is “ by making him suffer.” Power is not only seeking obedience from others. Unless a man is made to suffer, how can the power that be know his subject is submissive and obedient? So, power must be “… inflicting pain and humiliation.” It is “ in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of …” the subjugator’s own choosing. The survival of the powerful lies in creating a world of fear, treachery and torment. The world that allows the powerful survive must be a world of trampling upon others, a world that grows not less but more merciless. Its progress is towards more pain where there is no emotions except that of fear, rage, triumph of the powerful over the weak, and that of self- abasement. Every other thing that allows a decent society to strive must be destroyed. By doing this, the powerful create a hierarchical society. It stratifies our society into the rich/powerful and the downtrodden poor.
It is very possible for us to imagine a society in which wealth, that is, personal possessions and luxuries, is fairly evenly distributed. However, to the powerful such a society destroys the very fundamentals of hierarchy. If we do not have hierarchical societies who is to be the master? Who is the slave or wealth generator? Who boot leaks who? If we have a fairly evenly wealth distributed society, the believe here by the powerful is such a society could not remain stable. In the words of George Orwell :
This kind of society must not exist. Therefore, a hierarchical society must continue to survive which is “only possible on the a basis of poverty and ignorance.” The powerful must wage a war. Each war destroys, not necessarily human lives, but the products of human labour. The powers that be must shatter to pieces, pour into the atmosphere, or even sink in the depths of the sea, materials which might otherwise be used to make the masses too comfortable and hence, “ in the long run, too intelligent.” All this we have seen evidently displayed in Nigeria. All the major fabrics of human existence which our founding fathers sacrificed their personal comfort to put in place for us are either completely destroyed or are at the final stage of destruction.
Ribadu’s sin is outright objection of the status quo. He must understand that these powerful elites he objected to their whims and caprices will always underpay the needs of the population which in effect results in chronic shortage of basic necessities of life. This is done deliberately since they believe in keeping “… even the favoured groups somewhere near the brink of hardship, because a general state of scarcity increases the importance of small privilege and thus magnifies the distinction between one group and another.” To the powers that be the wages of sin is death. Ribadu has committed unforgivable sins where they are concerned and therefore, his continual existence remains a threat to their existence. One is not surprised by the number of assassination attempts on his life.
History has not been a very good teacher in Nigeria, but it still remains a reference point. No where in the history of the world that evil triumphed over good. Nigeria will not be an exception. It may have its field day- which in some cases last for a long time. However long it takes, we are sure it will be crushed. The minority may continue to suppress the weak majority: deny them basic necessities of life; sometimes even destroy the existing ones like we see in Nigeria today, push them into the bottomless pit of ignorance, poverty and insecurity, rob them of their legitimate birth right as it is in Niger- Delta and lately the Hausa- Fulanis of Plateau State, but it is certain they (the weak) will rise some day and fight back.
I am not an advocate of violent revolution but when it becomes inevitable, I guess we have no option. And it is that revolutionary moment I dread the most. There are four possible causes in which a powerful class can fall from power. Either it is conquered from without, or it governs so inefficiently that the masses are stirred to revolt, or it allows a strong and discontented weak class to come into being, or it loses its own self- confidence and willingness to govern. These causes are most times seen interplaying in regime change. What I do not foresee is having Nigeria conquered from without.
All the underlined causes are visibly interplaying themselves in Nigeria. It is clear that we are only living on a time bomb. When it is time for it to explode, the powers that be would have lost their senses and grip over Nigeria and would have nothing left but to be consumed.
In conclusion my stance is not preaching a hedonistic Utopias. To the best of my knowledge (I stand to be corrected here) Islam does not preach the existence of such societies. My argument is, until the powers that be stop thinking their existence is solely dependent on suppression of the weak, the society that guarantees their comfort will only be temporal. The happiness of the weak minority automatically extends to the happiness of all. The powerful must see that there is no remarkable distinction between courage and cowardice. If one is falling from a height it is not cowardly to clutch at a rope. Just as it is not cowardice if one comes up from deep water and fills his lung with air. These actions are instinctive that cannot be disobeyed. I am not preaching the gospel that denies the privileged few the right to comfort and wealth but what I believe is that until our leaders see the need to provide for their subjects- protect their lives and properties, ensure their education is both qualitative and quantitative, create gainful job opportunities for them, be accessible to them, be more empathic to their plights, give them access to affordable good health, freedom to generate their own wealth by providing basic generators of wealth i.e. electricity and petroleum, their (the leaders) comfort is only temporary. The Nupes have a saying that roughly translates thus: the man who says the another is not going to swim across to the other side of the river bank, will himself not be able to raise his own head above the water level.
For Ribadu he should know that his present ordeal is only temporary, too. He should be resilient enough and keep believing in himself and never relent in his search for knowledge. This way he shall bounce back and when he does, there would be no stopping him. And to the powers that be the war they are fighting will never give them peace; no peace in war, their freedom is slavery because when the freedom is snatched away, slavery takes over. Above all there is an unquantifiable amount of strength in the ignorance of the weak and the suppressed. And the outburst of this strength is NIGH. |