Nigeria: Day Pigeons Refused To Fly By Soji Alabi
It was at the climax of the Armed Forces Remembrance Day
Celebration 2010 on 15th January 2010, during the parade and
laying of wreathes at the Aguiyi Ironsi Cenotaph in Umuahia, the
state capital of Abia State.
The state governor after performing the traditional laying of wreath with the other Service chiefs and dignitaries was to
perform the next assignment of releasing the pigeons to
symbolize peace in the state. There were eighteen pigeons to be
released, each pigeon representing each of the seventeen local
government areas in the state and the last one for Abia state as a
whole. The governor was to pronounce peace on the pigeons starting with Abia State before releasing the pigeon into the air. A
bird was released into the air followed by “may peace be upon Abia state” by the governor. ( Continues below…, ) Dramatically, the pigeon instead of flying away fell on the ground,
the next one “let there be peace in Aba South” echoed the governor, and yet the poor bird fell on the ground. The next was
Aba North, not even the plea by the governor to the bird to
“please fly now” could make the bird to fly. The other local government areas were called and the birds refused to fly. The
governor had to pour water on the ground for the pigeons to drink,
and at the point the birds were very happy. The interesting part of
the whole episode was that from my observing position, I could
hear people saying after the governor has mentioned each of the
local government what characterized the particular Local Government. For instance when Abia South and North were
mentioned people chanted no salary for workers for the past one
year, Isiala Ngwa North and South , home of kidnapping,
Obingwa home of armed bandit, it goes on and on like that.
Ironically, pigeons are birds bred for their navigational abilities
and they symbolize peace wherever they are found. It is a common sight of joy and excitement for any visitor to Trafalgar
Square in London where thousands of pigeons are let loose to fly
about visitors innocently without any form of restriction. Little
wonder when William Hamilton, a Scottish Politician said in My
Queen and I that “the Tourists who came to our Island take in the Monarchy along with feeding the pigeons in Trafalgar Square” to show the importance Britons and the rest of the world attached to
pigeons. ( Continues below…, ) Photo Above: Map of Abia State, Nigeria Click Adjourning Link For Enlarged Photo:- http://nigeriamasterweb.com/Etc/ AbiaMapLarge.jpg While sitting back to monitor how the ceremony went all over the
nation on the Nigeria Television Authority network news, I could
see the speed at which pigeons released by the other state
governors flew out of their cages where they were kept. One
could then imagine why Abia’s (Governor T.A Orji’s) pigeons refused to fly. Perhaps, the reasons may not be far-fetched. It is
the same story all over the state. Workers are not paid their
salaries for months, there is insecurity all over the place, crime
and crime rate are on the increase, teachers’ wages are being withheld, and small scale industries are under the yoke of heavy
levies by the state government. Some prominent citizens have
had to relocate to neighboring states for fear of being kidnapped,
and all of these have led to bad governance in the state.
That little side attraction of the event of that day did not just
happen as a coincidence, but it portends a deplorable situation of things in the state . It then became understandable why the
pigeons refused to fly, apparently, the pigeons have not been fed
for some days while they were been caged, hence they have no
strength to fly. The truth remains that nobody talks about feeding
common pigeons when human beings are hungry and starving.
This is a food for thought. *Soji Alabi is a media consultant, and he writes from Umuahia, Abia State, Nigeria. He can be reached at sojialabi@yahoo.com View @ http://ww

Lwkmd!