OBAFEMI OBADARE :






[size=15pt]Amuni buni, eran ibiye. Ibiye foju otun, eran e fo tosi – Yoruba proverb (Ibiye‘s goat, the one that allows other people to subject us to abuse; Ibiye is blind in the right eye, her goat in the left eye)[/size]

I KNOW many Nigerians who are proper ladies and gentlemen. No matter the provocation, they will remain calm. But I must quickly add that there are not many of them like that around anymore.

Wherever you turn to in Nigeria today, the people are involved in one form of physical battle or the other, disturbing the peace unnecessarily. From the woman – believe me – who drives against the traffic and curses you when she is perpetrating illegality, to the government official who uses his position to harass other motorists, Nigerians are notorious for openly committing physical infractions.

And because this behavioural trait is not reined in, many Nigerians have come to accept physicality – violence – as acceptable behaviour.

This is partly why Nigeria midfielder Sani Kaita gained worldwide notoriety on Thursday when, in a moment of madness, he lunged at Greek Vasileios Torosidis in a 2010 World Cup Group B match in Bloemfontein. Kaita, who came to national prominence in the FIFA 2005 World Youth Championship in Holland, was then given his marching orders by Colombian ref Oscar Ruiz with just 33mins on the clock.

Torosidis, who later scored Greece‘s winner in the second half, might have overreacted, but Kaita‘s behaviour does not belong to the cultured pitch of football – or anywhere decency is valued in the world.



With a yawning vacuum created by Kaita‘s absence, the pressure from Greece, which was non-existent before the straight red card, engulfed Nigeria. All the excellent work of the central defenders and Vincent Enyeama was reduced to rubble as Greece scored twice to mathematically end Nigeria‘s adventure in South Africa.

Instantly, Kaita became a hit across the world. Shortly after the match ended, Yahoo! led its homepage with Kaita‘s indiscretion. The story, titled Embarrassed player‘s costly foul, was the Yahoo! lead for more than 12 hours, which could be a record of sorts on the page since stories are normally yanked off within minutes.

YouTube also started running the video of his encounter with Torosidis, even as many comments followed on the web.

Sadly, the negative trait Kaita exhibited to the whole world is prevalent among us. The feature doesn‘t discriminate among Nigerians: it courses through our blood, no matter how educated or highly placed we are.

Nigeria is about the only country in the world where you will see people coming to blows on the street. In Lagos for example, you often see conductors bringing out their wheel spanners to ‘settle‘ a N20 bus fare issue, or frustrated commercial motorcyclists descending on a hapless motorist. LASTMA officials regularly engage in combat with drivers and commercial motorcyclists over traffic contraventions to the consternation of sane people.

Neighbours, especially in roomy houses, regularly settle their grievances through fighting, thereby injuring themselves physically – and mentally.

The culture of violence reaches to the very top in Nigeria. Only on June 3 in Abuja, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, engaged another Rep, Independence Ogunewe, in a public fight as both men were about to enter the chamber.

This came after the long-running saga over the N2.3bn Peugeot car scandal in which some Reps have accused Bankole of being liable.

There are several other examples of people in high places - and Bankole is Nigeria‘s No. 4 man - not having a control over their civil sense.

Last May 30, Oba Adepoju Adeshina, then the Deji of Akure, in tow with thugs and his new wife, descended on Bolanle, his former Olori, beat her up, and poured some substance on her right in her father‘s house.

Mercifully, Adeshina has been dethroned by Gov. Olusegun Mimiko for desecrating the high office of the obaship institution (he is in court though fighting what he calls injustice).

Spare a thought for a judge in a Northern state, who was de-robed earlier this year by the National Judicial Council for engaging openly in a fight.

In Oyo State, the lawmakers – or more appropriately lawbreakers – threw decorum to the dogs on June 8 in their attempt to impeach Moroof Atilola, the speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly. In an open show of shame, thugs invaded the assembly complex, the ensuing fight leading the majority leader, Abiola Ayorinde, to break his legs as he jumped vainly from the top of a building to escape the violence.

Recall that at the peak of the crisis that engulfed the House of Representatives in 2007, when the N628m renovation scam tore the body apart under Patricia Etteh, the House committee chairman on health, Dr. Aminu Safana, lost his life. It had happened that there was open fighting by the members on Oct. 29, 2007, and Safana, not being able to withstand the pressure because of health, slumped, and was later pronounced dead.

From all this, it is transparent that in Nigeria, we accommodate the inglorious, dated culture of fighting, openly bringing the nation into disrepute by our action.

But our aggressive nature is something we must tame. Several times, lives have been needlessly lost over fighting, and this cannot continue in a civilised world.

As a way out, there must be appropriate sanctions – just exactly like the red card Ruiz issued to Kaita on Thursday – enshrined in our books to take care of people who desecrate high office by engaging in open fisticuffs, like has been witnessed in many legislative chambers since the return to democratic rule in 1999.