BURNING POT BY PRINCE CHARLES DICKSON
The Resurrection Of Dame Lazarina
Patience Faka
pcdbooks@gmail.com
A certain man had died
In the town of Bethany
And Lazarus was his name
The Bible says he was
A man that Jesus loved
And his sisters thought
It was a shame
Mary and Martha longed
For Jesus healing touch
To come and raise their brother
Cause they loved that boy so much
With the above lyrics of a song by Carmelo Domenic Licciardello known
by his stage name, Carman. I start this week's admonition...very
quickly let me say that 'Lazarina' is the female version of the name
Lazarus as coined by me. Lazarus is the subject of a miracle of
resurrection in the Christian Holy Book the bible, for additional
reading and understanding; you may want to see John 11 for the full
story.
While the biblical Lazarus was dead for four days; our own Nigerian
version, Lazarina took it full throttle--seven whole days. Well the
truth however is that I am not concerned about whether my
president's wife died, whether she is dying or otherwise, I am
however concerned how her story is a metaphor for all that is wrong,
and though I have discussed similar issues and in the last one week
there has been several commentaries on the matter, I won't relent in
repeating them.
I
am told a lie is a type of deception in the form of an untruthful
statement, especially with the intention to deceive others. To lie
is to state something with disregard to the truth with the intention
that people will accept the statement as truth.
A
liar is a person who is lying, who has previously lied, or who tends
by nature to lie repeatedly—even when not necessary.
The three definitions suit the current group we call
leaders...particularly the third one. I really do not blame them so
much because as a people we have become accustomed to accepting lies
as statements of truth.
There are several types of lies...like
the big lie, a lie which attempts to trick the victim into believing
something major and likely be contradicted by some information the
victim already possesses, or by their common sense. When the lie is
of sufficient magnitude it may succeed due to the victim's
reluctance to believe that an untruth on such a grand scale would
indeed be fabricated.
So why do our leaders and their ilk
lie--they simply lie because they simply have no regard for those
they govern, it is a reflection of their style of governance and the
kind of value system that they have built.
El-Rufai, writes his book, for many it's not just about the
accidental public servant, it is about accidental lies told in the
book. Obasanjo lies, Atiku lied, IBB lied, and Jonathan and his
cassava bread empire are lying every day. They lie about who signed
an accord and who did not accord it honour, almost the whole 36
governors lie, they are lying and continue to lie.
Lying has become a national pastime, they steal monies for
development go abroad to cool off but they lie that they are seeking
partnerships and foreign investors. A pen robber steals billions,
lies about his innocence and goes to court seeking an injunction
stopping his arrest/trial to prove the same innocence.
As parents we tell bared-faced lies to our kids, even the old age
culture of explaining to our loved ones by truth that finances are
poor has long deserted us. So we lie to the poor kids about school
tuition by telling them tomorrow when indeed tomorrow never ends--
some call it faith. You answer a mobile call while in Garki, Abuja
and lie that you are in Yenogoa Bayelsa.
We are lied to about Boko Haram, they hate education but never have
attacked the University of Maidugiri, they are Islamic
fundamentalists, yet the entire Koran nowhere supports suicide, or
robbing of banks, or attacking an emir.
We are a generation of liars, that's why ’their god" blesses them
with private jets while the congregation treks and are disciples of
unbearable hardship.
They lie about subsidy, about PIB; we are treated to all sorts of
lies that deny pensioners their sweat at old age while higher beings
with the ability to lie loot them blind.
The metaphor of Dame Lazarina is a reflection of our nation, many of
us out of our religious sanctimonious behavior advocate thanking God
for her life but forget the place of liars as advocated by the Holy
Bible--"All liars would go to hell".
As much as I am miffed about our leadership that lies, what about
followers that are products of lies. Indeed Lazarus rose from the
dead, and we can read the whole story and context, but how about the
9-Times-A-Month-Surgery resurrection story of Lazarina, and her
friends who were already selling her properties?
And you tell the world how they loot, buy houses, cars, and
jewelries, they call us opposition and see-no-good followers and
noise making citizens. But while they are yet dead, their friends
start to sell properties they initially claim they do not have.
This admonition is not just about lying, the lies and the liars, it
is so much what the product of these lies have become…The
implication of Dame Lazarina’s resurrection, are many but not
limited to the few I will just mention.
When they resurrect from their mind-blowing death—they boast that
100 political parties put together can never defeat the Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP, come 2015 presidential election.
For those of us that have not died and resurrected you may not
really understand the way of the dead, they not only see ghosts,
they are used to illusions whether true or false, imagined or real.
Bode George resurrected from Prison, we know where he is now.
Tony Anenih has resurrected and maybe PDP Board of Trustee chairman.
Did you see how Bamanga Tukur resurrected, or is it the resurrection
of Ahmadu Ali, Journalists call it the return, those who know better
call it resurrection so are you surprised when billions disappear,
it is simply the way of ghosts—the way of people that resurrect.
Monies meant for development simply disappear, they lie, they die
and again they resurrect, the circle continues. When a goat's day
“to die” arrives, it says there is nothing a butcher can do to it.
Whether we keep listening to Dame Lazarina’s resurrection tales only
time will tell.
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