bornAfrican - The Convergence of Africana

Baba Here, Baba There: Whose Baba?

Posted October 24, 2007 · Charles O

Quick question: Why do Nigerians voluntarily refer to that galling cabal of perennial demagogues—the Obasanjos and Babangidas—as “baba.” If one were to give the matter half a thought, one would come to the conclusion that the only entities that have the right to call these men “baba,” are the shriveled stillborn fetuses conceived of the brutal rape exacted by these men on the national body-collective. The sheer sycophancy of baba-ism in the Nigerian political sphere is so repugnant, it is starting to border on nauseating.

But the status quo revels in sycophancy, for it is by chanting a refrain of loyalty to the enthroned eternal “baba” that the Nigerian politician is assured of sustained access to the corridors of power. The moment a politician arrives at political emancipation and takes conscious steps to rid himself of the yoke of baba-ism, he is immediately disgorged, his access to the inner circles and the spoils of public office effectively choked off.

So what we have—nepotism, cronyism, sycophancy, yes-man-ism, baba-ism—are all behavioral constructs that ensure that we will never breakout of the status quo. They assure that we will always have an unyielding and unrepentant oligarchic core that loots, perpetually, resources meant for all 150 million of us, and that the rest of us will eternally languish on the periphery of citizenship and existence.

Oh, but of course, once in a while a few of us in the periphery—the more ambitious and aggressive of us, that is—will manage to break into that oligarchic core. But those few will either conform to the sycophantic expectations of that core, or else be violently and unceremoniously regurgitated into the periphery—a cautionary tale for all other uppity upstarts.

And, while we’re on the subject…

Who the Hell is Babangida?

Why are we so afraid of this entity called Babangida? I mean, really, how much money or how large a militia does he have at his disposal, to continue to unabashedly and unconscionably subject the whole Nigerian nation and people to ongoing abuse and insult. This man single-handedly led (and I use the term loosely) the Nigerian nation through some of the most deplorable maneuvers and high-stake intrigues, culminating in his unilateral “annulment” of our “freest and fairest” election. This is the man whose callous actions led, inevitably, to that goggled megalo-kleptomaniac’s coup d’état—that, but for the intervention of the gods of vengeance and retributions, might have taken Nigeria to the very brink of doom…

Sidebar: A Quick Anecdote

Allow me to share an anecdote; it might prove to be pertinent…

As part of the cadet corps at Command Secondary School, we were engaged in “bush work” duty to arrest and detain students who had “broken bounds” (that is, “scaled” the school fence to go to town). Our arrests were clearly discriminate: we arrested every student we found, except the ‘holy cows.’ There were some students, in general our seniors, whom we felt we dared not arrest. A fellow—let’s call him ‘Joe’—was one of those students whom we saw outside the borders of the school, clearly breaking bounds; but we did not—that is, we felt we _could not_—arrest him. Another student, Joe’s classmate—let’s call him ‘Archbishop’—we wasted no time in arresting. Effectively, though he was our senior class-wise, we had no particular fear of Archbishop.

Enraged, Joe launches into action, ordering the release of Archbishop, his classmate and friend. Unsure, confused, we look to our general squadron leader (the highest ranking cadet) for direction. With no more than a microsecond of hesitation, he orders Joe’s arrest. We seize Joe immediately and pummel him into submission.

What does this mean for this discussion?

What it means is that we’re all currently afraid of this Babangida character because we’re looking to our leadership to move in a decisive manner to contain him (and his cohorts) and bring him to book for his crimes against the Nigerian people.

Not one element of the Nigerian “leadership” will move in this decisive manner because they too continue to be afraid… Babangida remains baba.

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