There are some telltale signs of a perishing society,
observed Alexander Solzhenitsyn. These, according to the Russian
literary immortal and Nobel laureate, include acute scarcity of great
statesmen and decline in arts.
Conversely, a profound message must
be intended when voters choose to go far outside the traditional power
caste to anoint the least rated as new leader. It could only be an
ominous sign that the existing political class had become toxic to
national health, hence the vigorous call for the dissolution of the
discredited hegemony.
In expressing their own
pent-up rage at the weekend, Ukrainians chose perhaps the most telling
symbol: they settled for a comedian (Volodymr Zelensky) as political
undertaker of incumbent President Petro Poroshenko, a billionaire
chocolate tycoon. So, the nation of 44 million people now seem to be
saying that it is better to have a certified jester ruling over them
than being daily irritated by a bad clown masquerading as a
philosopher-king.
By sweeping over 70 percent of the vote, hope has,
therefore, risen in the former Soviet satellite state for the fixing of
a broken system; for a new generation of leaders committed to weeding
out self-serving oligarchs and ending the culture of political
corruption.
As one voter was quoted as saying, Zelensky, “is a guy
who is out of the system, and that’s good… He made his own money, so
he doesn’t owe anyone in the current system anything.”
From
a global perspective, given the emphatic victory posted by a comedian
in Ukraine, only time will tell if jesters and allied entertainers
elsewhere will not be so inspired to start rushing into presidential
elections henceforth, leveraging the power of social media like
Zelensky, hedging their political fortune against just any sign of
popular discontent in their respective jurisdictions.
For,
more and more, people across global divides are surely getting
disillusioned about the notion of politics that doubles human misery at a
time of supposed material surplus, strife at a time of supposed
enlightenment birthed by colossal breakthrough in science and
technology.
In a way, coming in a week already
marred by an inferno in the iconic Notre Dame in France; the continued
farce in Donald Trump’s Washington, and the bloodbath in Sri Lanka, the
news of Zelensky’s electoral upset would then appear a perfect comic
relief to the international community.
In
literary theory, comic relief describes a momentary disruption of the
serious or the tragic with a dose of humour, to defuse tension.
In
Paris, the grief of the iconic Notre Dame cathedral gutted was only
being assuaged by a torrent of donations that hit record $1bn within 72
hours.
In Washington, Trump took his theatre
to a new low by tweeting a false interpretation of the Mueller report.
The 400-page document was barely officially released when the American
President claimed acquittal, selectively quoting some sections. But it
took the rejoinder of his Democrat adversaries in the congress to draw
public attention to several redacted portions expressly starting that
Trump toiled hard to obstruct the investigations in manner suggesting he
has a lot to hide. The picture we then see is only a little different
from that of the biblical character running when no one is pursuing
them.
In Colombo, the very depth of degeneracy
mankind has plumbed was graphically portrayed in blood-spattered debris
of bombed temples and hotels following coordinated bombing by
terrorists, leaving over 200 dead and more than 450 wounded.
The
great irony is that this act of extreme bestiality of man to fellow man
came on Easter Sunday otherwise celebrated by Christians as the day of
redemption after Jesus’ supreme sacrifice at the Golgotha on Easter
Friday.
So, going forward, Ukrainians would now seem resolved to seek
comfort behind a comedian since votes cast for Poroshenko in the
popular uprising of 2014 resulted in little or no difference in their
lives.
Back home, about the same hours of the Ukrainian electoral
drama, a plot with milder flavor would unfold in Calabar. We woke up
Easter Sunday to read reports of a seeming biological feat unparalleled
in Guiness Book of records. It is not exactly a re-enactment of
resurrection after crucifixion. It is the delivery of two bundle of joy
(twins) by the most unlikely: a prison inmate.
They include a boy and a girl.
What
brought the publicity was a fantastic donation of N1m by Cross Rivers
State Government for their upkeep and a promise to ensure that the
nursing mother not only receive better care at a higher medical facility
but also a review of her case to “see the extent of the crime and know
if the mother can be pardoned because of these two beautiful babies.”
Not surprising, the tots have been named after Governor Ben Ayade and wife, Linda.
But
while every kind-hearted person must rejoice with the unidentified
lucky woman, one difficult – if not mischievous – question is unlikely
to go away. The report was silent on when exactly the woman found
herself in detention.
A puzzle of similar
twist had cropped up a decade ago over British Samatha Orobator (with
Nigerian heritage) after “miraculously” getting pregnant in Laos prison
while supposedly facing trial for drug offence with death penalty.
Facing global embarrassment, the authorities had to suspend her trial.
It soon became clear it was a last-ditch ingenious manoevre to evade the
hangman. It was not a ghost that did it; she secretly made herself
available to an eager prison warden in-between court appearances.
For, Lao law forbids the execution of pregnant prisoners.
Now,
unless it is established that the Calabar woman was already inseminated
before being incarcerated, many are bound to wonder what “technology”
she adopted to get pregnant while supposedly in detention.
Otherwise,
Governor Ayade could not get a better reason to be immortalized in
world record as godfather of the “mystery twins”.
Like Ayefele, Like Ilonah?
Given
the way the Ayefele affair ended last year in Oyo, one would have
thought that mandarins of officialdom would be more circumspect in the
way and manner they use and misuse power. From yet another saga of Idoko
Illonah currently engulfing Abuja media space, it does appear no lesson
has been learnt.
Public outrage had trailed
the partial demolition by Oyo State Government of the Ibadan-based FM
station owned by musician Yinka Ayefele. The official reason given was
that it had not only breached building plan but also violated
town-planning in a manner likely to predispose road-users to avoidable
motor accidents.
But the discerning were
certainly not deceived by that official sophistry. As events later
proved, the punitive action had more to do with the station’s criticism
of now-outgoing Governor Abiola Ajimobi. After a public apology by
Ayefele, the state officials dramatically landed at an epiphany – em, em
the station was actually not in breach of any law!
So, it turned out
that the same hands that Ajimobi used to demolish a section of
Ayefele’s Music House were what he used to rebuild it, with his
publicists left to manufacture a spin to disguise what was evidently a
gross abuse of power.
But unlike Oyo where
hapless taxpayers had to pay the price for the someone’s elephantine ego
and razor-thin skin, it is Ilonah presently bearing the costs of
official intrigues in Abuja stalling the erection of an electronic
billboard on which close to a staggering N1bn loan has been committed.
Now,
a phenomenal undertaking, for which the nation was already being touted
for the Guiness Books of records as the location of world’s biggest
electronic billboard, is suddenly stuck just at the point of
installation.
Back in 2011, Ilonah had made a
success of similar innovation in the nation’s media landscape as he
brought the mammoth digital billboard to the approach of the Muritala
Mohammed Internarional Airport in Lagos. Five years later, he also
helped change the skyline around the Nnamdi Azikiwe International
Airport in Abuja with a unique 20mx80m LED digital billboard.
After
reading a recent indepth report by Premium Times, one could not but
pity Illonah, the promoter of Lona Global Resources. Anyone familiar
with how government runs will know that Ilonah’s project has become a
victim of high-level malicious intrigues orchestrated obviously
by powerful interests in the Federal Capaital Development Authority
(FCDA) who simply went to work by overriding an approval earlier granted
in 2017 by the Department of Outdoor Advertising and Signage (DOAS) for
the construction and installation of the billboard.
From experience,
it is sometimes possible for such mafia to package petty mischief and
seething malice behind nebulous “security reports” to shoot down any
idea promoted by someone whose face they don’t fancy.
They started
by saying that, em, em, the site allocated to mount the billboard was
too close to the New City Gate for comfort. Expectedly, the full force
of bureaucratic mischief was brought to bear. Another rainbow committee
comprising the directors of DOAS, Urban and Regional Planning,
Engineering Services, Public Building, Abuja Metropolitan Management
Council (AMMC), etc was raised.
After several
meetings and adjournments, another resolution was made. Ok, not to
worry. Another location was offered; this time, close to the Centennary
District along the Abuja airport expressway.
But a still zestful
Illonah had barely begun to tinker with the original design to reflect
the new change when another obstacle came. This time, someone at the
Centenary District raised a red flag with a petition citing perhaps the
most ludicrous reason: the billboard will likely obstruct the view of
the district from afar!
Seriously? When exactly did it become possible for a finger to obstruct a whole face?
Then
came the father of all excuses – the superstition from official circles
in Abuja that a billboard of such magnitude could distract motorists
thereby causing motor accident, without any research or evidence! (Yes,
exactly a rehash of the official fable initially retailed in Oyo last
year after the bulldozers mauled Ayefele’s house.)
From the Premium
Times’ report, two deductions could easily be made. One is Illonah’s
indiscretion to have sought the intervention of higher authority through
an SOS letter addressed to the Vice President. The story quoted the
deputy Chief of Staff to the VP as saying that the matter had been
referred to the FCT minister for “review and necessary action”.
In the circumstance, it is only human that the little gods at FCDA would grow more adversarial.
Two,
perhaps Lona Global Resources publicized its potential Guiness Books
feat too early. In a corporate environment often defined by vicious
hate, you have to mind who you share your success stories with, lest you
incur the wrath of the envious.
But then,
Ilonah’s apparent desperation could be understood. When bankers and
other creditors are knocking furiously at your doors, one is not likely
to be at ease. Worse, a big corporate player has also recalled a huge
sum advanced him as pre-payment for advert slots in the hope that the
billboard would become operational on schedule.
All things
considered, it is high time commonsense prevailed on this matter.
Someone should rescue Ilonah’s dream and save the young man from
bankruptcy.