That heroic welcome for Hamza Al-Mustapha

No Longer At Ease. A worthy son sent abroad to acquire the white man’s logic had just returned to a heroic welcome, not just by his father, but the entire community who, having contributed to his travel now have communal ownership of his successful return. Such vivid description of what life used to be could […]

No Longer At Ease. A worthy son sent abroad to acquire the white man’s logic had just returned to a heroic welcome, not just by his father, but the entire community who, having contributed to his travel now have communal ownership of his successful return. Such vivid description of what life used to be could have been re-enacted in reverse today in the light of contemporary happenings in our own Naija.
Poor Achebe, if his novel was meant to keep our eyes on the ideal, he was not to be so honoured, having brought honour to his community and country except in death. Times have long changed and those fortunate enough to make it out on educational or even recreational visas hardly return home. Achebe himself was to be a victim of his own epic having died in self-exile leaving the living to decide who buries him – his family, his state, his nation or the world he impacted. Today, he rests with recognition by all.
The logic of heroic welcome is today reversed. Men are no longer honoured for things worthy of emulation. Whereas in Achebe’s dreamland, conscience is the backbone on which communities are built, money is today’s yardstick for measuring success. And it does not matter how it is acquired. The yardstick for measuring heroism is so warped it is a shock that no presidential pardons have been issued for Isola Oyenusi, Eji Gbadero, Lawrence Anini and people of that order.
James Ibori’s ordeal is ‘persecution’ by his enemies. His state assembly quickly computed his retirement benefits and stowed it away in escrow accounts, waiting for his triumphant return. Bode George’s interviews still make headline news and are subjects of online debates. Diepreye Alamieyeseigha received presidential pardon and is heading for the Senate. If Henry Okar had played ball with the agents of fresh air, he would be in London or Germany nursing his bad kidney instead of serving term in a South African jail for a crime his own president absolved him of.
Death spared Achebe of witnessing a truce with ghosts on newspapers while school children are hacked in their exam halls. The amnesty committee is preparing its next response. Our master storyteller must have puzzled over the definition of heroism in post-independence Umuofia.
As a village boy, a child who stole a pencil had the words ‘thief’ scribbled on a blackboard hung on his neck as he is paraded around the community to deter others. Let me quickly add that for its rigid moral codes, my community and others subscribed to such ‘arcane communal laws’ have remained frozen in time. The moral is – don’t expect fiscal development if your moral standard is higher than that of the Pope, apology to the Vatican.
Way back then, a Sunday service might be delayed if the congregation failed to adopt a motion for the church board’s expenditure by a magnanimous voice vote. There was always a sheet on which the church’s weekly income and expenditure were boldly written at all times. If Jesus passed through some churches today, he had better not ask to see the accounts or he may be at the receiving end of the same whips he used to chase off the traders in John 2:15.
Our titled ministers sit over our tithes and offerings without questioning its source. They dispose of the same without a whimper from the congregation. In most cases, they are richer than their states or nation having discovered that the theology of prosperity works better than that of the theology of spiritual or physical salvation.
So, Kano rolled the drums and laid the red carpet for a freed Hamza Al-Mustapha and some people are sad. Al-Mustapha is no worse than Bode George who returned to a church service attended by Naija’s defence minister. He is no worse than Asari Dokubo who got maritime contracts for the murder of armed soldiers sent to keep the peace in his swamp and often threatens to unleash terror and mayhem on anyone who challenges the status quo.
Al-Mustapha is no worse than Alamieyeseigha who got presidential pardon for looting his own state. He is no worse than those who killed Harry Marshall, Bola Ige and others and are roaming free. He is no worse than his new friend, Frederic Fasehun, who also got freed from jail by the magic of his kinsmen in government. He is no guiltier than George Zimmerman who murdered a 17-year old in cold blood but was set free by America’s judicial system. In our world, it’s not always about justice as perceived by the victim – it’s about what is considered to be expedient by those who balance the scale of justice. Time reveals why these things are so.