BY REV FR GERALD NWAFOR
Now, all jokes insinuate laughter, and not all jokes were made to be jokes, but the logic of the situation and time can turn a serious situation into a joke. Let us step back a little and ask Google what the textbook definition of a joke is. “Something said or done to provoke laughter or cause amusement, as a witticism, a short and amusing anecdote, or a prankish act.” Not minding the long definition, it is something done to provoke laughter. I cannot go back to the dictionary to look for another definition to define wittiness (witticism). I can’t.
Government is a serious business, and we elect serious-minded people into power. If we want to listen to jokes and awaken our sense of laughter, we know where to go. There are thousands of YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok videos to play that role for us. But today, you wake up in the morning and want to start your day with some information on what is happening in Nigeria, you cannot help but get so sad because of the activities of the terrorists and the bandits. They are killing human beings like mosquitoes all over the place.
Now you want to hear from the national security advisers and the service chiefs on how to deal with this clear and present danger. The security chiefs were calling the bandits our brothers and prodigal sons. I am a Cristian; I did not read anywhere in the parable that the prodigal son killed anyone. As a master of fact, the prodigal son spent the money that was his birthright. He did not hurt anyone; he spent his own money on himself and some other people. How can a service chief call a terrorist a prodigal son? Please, who can explain this to me? The national security adviser to the president said that the terrorists are our brothers and sisters who will be treated with a duty of care. When I saw it on the news, I thought it was fake news. I went on the internet to verify it, and I saw the man (Ribadu) defending the statement. I was shocked to the marrow. I lost all hope. I asked if this was made to be a joke or a serious business. How can I appoint you to an office to help me stop insecurity championed by the terrorists, and you are making speeches calling them brothers and sisters? And you are not fired immediately, I think it’s a skit making. It’s a kind of joke for the laughing public.
There was a terrorist attack in Benue State. The president said he was going to visit the epicenter because the Pope spoke about it, and America was interested in the dastardly act of killing over 200 people in one night. The president went to Benue state and stopped at the government house and told the villagers to stand on the airport road. They did with school children in the rain, waving green leaves. There was an outcry, and another group of women was stage-managed, crying while wearing black garments. The public was outraged, while the government of Nigeria lacked sympathy for its people.
Donald Trump waded into the matter, guns a-blazing and bombs dropping at Sokoto. Recently, in Plateau State, more than 30 people were killed on Passion Sunday. The country was sent into deep pain and mourning. The president promised to visit the people. On this occasion, the president stopped at the airport in Jos. The president did not even get to the government house this time. When he landed at the airport, he said that he had only 10 minutes to spend. He complained that there was no electricity in the airport. The victims of the Passion Sunday massacre were brought to the airport to see the president. The governor and the president addressed the whole nation and the victims from the airport, and jumped back into his private jet and went back to wherever he was coming from. Is this a joke or a new act of governance? The lack of sympathy and the recklessness of the people in power will break the goodwill of the people of Nigeria, and that would lead to self-defense. I do not know how to classify this behavior. Was it solely made to annoy the public or to make them laugh? This joke has been taken too far when, after looking at 250 million Nigerians, the only person qualified to be an ambassador to Mexico is Reno Omokiri. How can I explain that to the future generation? They will think that nobody was in town when this happened. The world is laughing at us simply because we have refused to elect a good leader. This leadership problem is the basis upon which the cajoling of our nation has happened for the longest time.
Finally, the ruling party (APC) has 31 out of 36 governors in the country and more than 90 senators out of 100. In the House of Representatives, they (APC) have more than 300 out of 360, but they have not gone to pass a bill so that the election will be free, fair, and transparent. They want to kill all the opposition parties. Any political party that sets out to oppose them is crushed. They have destroyed the PDP with Governor Wike. They have destroyed LP with Arabambi and Apapa. Now they are destroying ADC with Nafiu Bala.
What kind of joke are we witnessing under the government of APC? One Mr. Daniel Bwala, who is now the spokesperson of this government, said something profound when he left APC because of hunger and joined PDP in 2022. He said that “Human brain is a wonderful instrument that works at a 100% everyday, but immediately someone joins APC, the brain stops working.” I agree with that statement and applaud Daniel for saying that truth. Although today Daniel has joined APC, I am sure that his brain is no longer working after listening to his interview on Al Jazeera. I have repeatedly seen him attacking Peter Obi, and I cannot help but laugh because he sounds jocular to the common man. The country has become a joke in the quest to govern.
Every day, there are serious issues that the government has turned into a joke since they do not know how to govern. The House of Assembly and the Senators sit in their chambers, creating a comic section every day in the name of governance. The senators approved a $6 billion loan for the president in under 3 hours. In the morning, we woke up with the news that the president is seeking a loan from the Senate. Before we could finish asking the question why and how much, the loan had been approved and cashed. Oh, what a joke we have become in our country, Nigeria.
