₦airaland Forum

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.

https://punchng.com/images/June/Thursday/pix2010061717541459.jpg

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.

Orikinla:
Your President Goodluck Jonathan does not want to take chances, because he is not sure of winning the next presidential election. Therefore, his wife who loves exporting millions of dollars overseas for shopping in Dubai wants them to start with ordinary N10 Billion for the 50th Independence Anniversary of Nigeria.

jokingmary:
@poster

Upon all the development in Nigeria the only thing you can do is to criticize the president?

Why didn't you see Obasanjo and others?

otukpo:
seconded.

koolboi:
abokis do not want the south/christians to rule even tho the north generates nothing for the economy
yar adua was busy most of the time perpetuating his hausa/islamic agenda and did nothing
he branded the revolutionist of the niger delta militants(dats already a minus for him) these people own the resouces
yet it is the southerners/christians that end up antagonizing each other while the north propagate their hegemony
wat a pity

buffox:
Besides, she didn't say the Yar'adua administration budgeted N 10 billion, she said a committee was set up by the late president headed by the SGF to come up with a comprehensive budget, and the projected amount by the committee would be released 'in due course'! *I wonder why it has become sacred. . .

Beaf:
^
Is he not your brother too? Or are you sad that our other brother planned it and you are now a rumour monger?
Charlie, spreading false rumours is second only to theft. Stop it.

Beaf:
I don't know what the case is, or how and where the money is to be spent; so I can't say if its over budgeted or not. However, I know it isn't moi-moi to organise security, fly jet fighters and all the other stuff they do during the match past. We can neither defend nor point fingers until all facts are known; afterall, it is the govt itself that has let out the info voluntarily, we didn't ask for it.

desgiezd:
I also criticized Yar Adua and the way his sickness was handled but that man would never have been a party to this wasteful venture, never!

It is still very fresh in our memories How Yar Adua threatened to cancel Nigeria's hosting of Youth Football in 2009 when a budget of #34billion was presented to him. He slashed the budget to #9 billion, though #12 billion was eventually spent on the tournament but Nigeria saved #22 billion that would have gone into private pockets just as a greater part of this #10 billion would end up in private pockets.