Of dollars, chickens and the farmyard of politicians (II)
Continued from last week Stalin just continued spreading the grain. He continued to spread the naira and dollars. He continued to distribute ‘rice and beans’ to the chickens, the journalist asked again, “What makes you think you can starve and torture and kill your people and they won’t rise up against you?” The local media […]
Continued from last week
Stalin just continued spreading the grain. He continued to spread the naira and dollars. He continued to distribute ‘rice and beans’ to the chickens, the journalist asked again, “What makes you think you can starve and torture and kill your people and they won’t rise up against you?”
The local media stood dumbstruck with fear. His aides panicked. Stalin motioned for them to stop and for the cameras to be put away. He then reached down and picked up one of the chickens and held it tight under his arm so it could not move. Stalin then continued in reply to the journalist’s question as calm and as confident as before. He said: “We have more grain because we have nationalized farming and so we can sell the grain for capital in order to build factories to produce the things the people need.” As he spoke he began to rip the feathers off the chickens back in great handfuls.
He continued, “The people have need of many things that we are now giving them.” The poor bird squawked and screeched in agony. Stalin’s grasp tightened. His iron grip held the bird firm as he calmly turned to the journalist and spoke. “It is a testament to the ability of man in this modern age that through the state we have overcome the individual weaknesses of greed and selfishness that have kept us from solving our problems.”
The journalist could hardly speak. He stared in horror as Stalin savaged the chicken. The bird nearly limp, convulsed slightly as Stalin placed it back on the ground. It staggered clumsily away, unlikely to have been able to process what was just done to it. A feeling of disgust covered over by fear was palpable upon the barnyard. Stalin reached into his pocket for a handful of grain and continued on as before to feed the chickens who flocked around him.
The journalist stammer, “What… Why…?” Stalin continued in response, “We are solving these problems.” Seemingly oblivious to the journalist’s questions. He was remarkably unaffected by his own actions or the journalist’s response to it. He said: “In Russia, as it should be in the entire world, from each according to his abilities and too each according to his need.”
Stalin, identifying the wounded chicken he had just savaged as it started to crepe back toward the edge of the flock to peck at the bits of grain remaining on the ground, reached again into his jacket pocket and pulled out a fresh handful of grain. He knelt down a bit and held out his hand toward the injured animal. The bird looked for a moment, cocked its head to the slide a bit, and then timidly step toward Stalin. In a moment, it started to eat the food right out of the hand that minutes before had torn the feathers right off it’s back. Stalin then dropped the remaining grain on the ground, stood and turned toward the journalist. ‘Did that answer your question’, he said. The journalist hesitated, locked in a momentary state of emotional and mental chaos. He responded, “Yes sir, thank you.” as the full impact of the situation became clear in his mind.
Wisdom, Prophet Muhammad counseled, is the property of the believer, wherever he sees it, he takes it. When I chanced upon the above story, I found stark similarities between politicians all over the world and the hapless masses that sometimes kill themselves as sacrifices for the former’s ambition and aspirations. While the character of Joseph Stalin portrayed in the above story could very well have been a fiction; a product of imagination, fact is he could also haven been real.
In other words, there are countless ‘Stalins’ all around our villages, our towns and cities. Ironically, there are human ‘chickens’ too on our streets wanting to be savaged by the Stalins of this clime. Thus no matter the clime or time they belong, all Stalins are like sharks and jackals; no matter the time or the clime, all chickens are chickens- birds of prey. Whenever a chicken falls into the shark tank, it becomes an easy prey. The late Ibadan popular politician of note, Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu was once eulogized by a Yoruba musician. Apparently unable to find a better adjective to describe the politician, the politician then described Alhaji Adedibu as a wizard of inimitable prowess. According to the musician, one chicken was found in the courtyard of the politician. When he was asked how the chicken came to his courtyard, Alhaji Adedibu responded saying- “Neither did I buy the chicken nor did I steal it. The chicken happened to be unlucky by straying into my compound”.