The weapons of the small man

Technological advancement puts unbelievable power in the hands of the small man. The small man, you should understand, is not the size of the original Calabar house boys. We called them Ette, thinking it was Ibibio for a man with a vertical disadvantage. We were wrong. Ette is Ibibio for oga or master. The small […]

Technological advancement puts unbelievable power in the hands of the small man. The small man, you should understand, is not the size of the original Calabar house boys. We called them Ette, thinking it was Ibibio for a man with a vertical disadvantage. We were wrong. Ette is Ibibio for oga or master. The small man is found some where on the lower rungs of the societal ladder, whatever his physical size may be.  

We have woken up to the immense power of the internet and the mobile phone; both of which are modern communication tools. They have given the small man power even beyond his ken. The internet was once deemed exclusive to those who could afford personal computers. Not any more. Business centres have democratised the internet. For a few Naira per hour, you could browse, a technical term meaning that you could saunter down the internet super higher way, whistling your favourite tune as you read the news, watch the video and read your email. Awesome.

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The Internet has changed the face of journalism. I tremble. Journalists no longer enjoy the monopoly of exclusive rights to gather and disseminate information. The Internet has diluted that power. Anyone with access to the Internet is now a reporter or editor. Online newspapers are virtually are overwhelming the mainstream news media with which they are in competition. First out with the news? We call it scoop. We have reached a stage in journalism that is akin to journalism without borders, thanks to the internet and the power it has put in the hands of the small man.

But this is not a lamentation. It is about the changing face of power with the internet and the mobile phone as weapons in the hands of the small man. They could be powers for good or evil but they are powers beyond the control of the powerful in the society. We thought the mobile handset was a fine toy for young people. No, sir. You have handsets costing as much as half a million Naira now. Status symbols maintain the fine division between the haves and the have-nots. No matter how cheap a mobile handset is, it is a phone, a still camera, a video camera and an email facility rolled into one. Each of these extends the power and the reach of the small man. Of the two, the mobile phone is easily the most ubiquitous. It goes with you in your pocket or in your hand bag everywhere you go. Awesome.

The mobile phone still and video cameras are the best investigative tools yet known to modern man. To put this awesome power in the hands of the small man is to bridge the gap between power and powerlessness. Nothing is quite hidden any more because the mobile handset is a hidden video camera, able to record and expose perfidy, alleged or proved, in high places. Lecherous university lecturers have been brought down by their students with the cheap mobile phone handset. 

Here are two instances of the power of the mobile handset as a hidden camera and its capacity to put the fear of hell in the big men and the important men who rule the roost. Sometime last year, Daily Nigerian, an online newspaper published by Jaafar Jaafar, released a video showing the governor of Kano State, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, allegedly receiving $5 million bribe from a state contractor. The governor denied it. The editor stood by his story. The contractor did not deny it. He, indeed, recorded the video. 

The state house of assembly decided to investigate it. The contractor was willing to testify. Self-interest trumped the drive to establish the truth. In the end, nothing came of it. Ganduje has since been re-elected for a second term in office. But the small man had demonstrated that armed with his mobile phone, he can make the powerful cower in fright. Awesome. 

A similar incident played out in Ghana last week. And a minister fell on his own knife. Rockson Bukari, Minister of the Upper East region, resigned after he was caught on video allegedly attempting to bribe a journalist to stop him from publishing a story about a mining company. Perhaps, the days of the brown envelope casually tossed at reporters at press conferences to make them do the bidding of the big people, are about to become history.

Contrast, if you will, what happened to the Ghanaian minister and Ganduje. Ghana is not fighting corruption. Nigeria is. Transparency International has shown time and again that corruption is lodged in the executive arm of the federal and state governments. The point is that the guilt or otherwise of the Ghanaian minister was not established either way but he knew that his integrity had been called into question and he had to take responsibility for it to save the government he served from public odium. He could, probably, have sat tight and weathered the storm. But that is not how public officers in other countries behave. 

Public office is a public trust. Individuals who are privileged to earn that public trust know that they are accountable to the people and themselves for their official and private behaviour. If, by an act of omission or commission, their integrity is called into question, they insult public sensibility if they choose to sit tight and watch the clouds of controversy dissipate, leaving them safe in their exalted offices. Call that the theory of politics 101 Nigeriana.

You can count on this. The match of time, always inexorable, will overtake the culture that excuses bad behaviour on the part of the big man as a smear campaign by his enemies. The video camera creates a historical record that cannot be erased. It goes viral on the internet. With the power of the mobile phone handset in the hands of the small man, nothing would remain the same for too long. I think the small man is not that small any more. He has the power to make the big man tremble and cower in shame. Awesome.

(This column was first published on May 3, 2019).