Who cast a spell on us? (part 4)
Grey hair becomes a blessing to aged parents only when their children are, as successful as their contemporaries. Nothing can be heart-wrenching than having feckless lots of layabouts as children. If you were in doubt, ask parents of a village drunk and watch them spew profanity.
If a ghost could see, our foremost founding father, the late M.I. Okpara would have given to dismay and probably suffered aggravated heartache. He would have died the second time, if he sees the state he denied himself (the luxuries associated with the office of a premier) to nurture to an enviable height, suddenly turned a nondescript dystopia.
To curb epistemic shortfall that encumbers individualism, competition and innovation, Okpara ensured free education. He also established the famous Ulonna farm settlement, Golden Guinea Breweries and Modern Ceramics for our graduates to be gainfully employed.
Please our elders; what do we remember you for after death? Your cases are almost similar to the biblical Methuselah; whose longevity was his only significant achievement recorded in the bible.
To achieve this utopia, Okpara could not build himself a house. Except for contributions from friends, he almost died a homeless man. Sadly, a handful of compromised elders; the so-called Okpara’s ideologies and legacies torchbearers, brazenly desecrated their grey hairs and traditional stools because of monthly stipends (blood tonic).
These avaricious custodians, for whom filthy lucre holds allure, barefacedly acquiesced with a handful of our prodigal sons (agents of the demons) to destroy and garble Okpara’s legacies and philosophies. Disgracefully, they lost their voices and venerations and play a part in the disgusting gang-rape, enslavement and abandonment of Abia State carcass in the chasm.
Having exchanged their conscience with a pot of portage, they shamelessly maintained a pococurante façade while our folkways and core idiosyncrasies were completely deracinated by opportunists. It was this delinquency that led to the inane identity obliteration and extermination of self-worth, forcing us into servility. These evil machinations gave them the sobriquet, Ndi ogbu ara obara, (devourers and bloodsuckers)
To their detriment, they chose this ignominious path at old ages, when their priority ought to be how to make peace with God in readiness for the inevitable journey back home. Foolishly, they believed that appearing in public functions in white Kaftan will make them spotless or save them from vengeance the innocent blood they shed justly seek.
They are the highest recipients of titles, both traditional and religious. Chief, Omenuko Aku 1, Oh! Ha na eme na uko aku, with our common patrimony they stole with impunity Abi? Knight of Saint this and Saint that, as if Knightship is an automatic ticket to heaven. Ndi agwa Ojoor!
Funny enough, in all their obsession with titles, I am astonished that none of them fancied the title: “Nkita tara okpukpu anyanwara ya n’olu, 1of Abia, (the dog that ate the identification bone on its neck, 1 on Abia). Ndi Apari, why would they? Such title would have been befitting to them for their malevolent role in making residents (who the late Okpara denied himself opulence to make princes and princesses) become housemaids, nannies, gardeners and gatemen to the people who served them in the 80s and 90s.
Our 13 per cent oil derivation has become their version of Blood of Jesus. They can never resist it every month just like Police officers cannot resist N50 note on checkpoints. You need to see how Opara Ukwu makes gest of them because of this monthly blood tonic. “Onye Eze ira kwala ose”? “I dughu ra ose”? !Ngwa nye ya ose ka ora.”- King, have you had the taste of a pepper? You haven’t? Ok, give him small pepper-. Chai! Who did this to our elders?
Please our elders; what do we remember you for after death? Your cases are almost similar to the biblical Methuselah; whose longevity was his only significant achievement recorded in the bible. Except impregnating his wife and given birth to Lamech and other sons and daughters nothing more.
You see! That is what I am saying. Aside from tale-bearing, our elders are notorious for marrying new wives, impregnating them with careless abandon, giving birth to many children and lying in wait for the monthly N5m, N2m, N1m and N500k they receive from state allocations monthly according to cadres.
My dear elders, even in your graves, history will not only remember you for making us destitute but also fiddle-footed vagabonds in our rightful place of birth. Congratulations, you are already in the Guinness book of record for making a whole generation Kabukabu drivers and Keke operators instead of intelligentsia and outliers Okpara anticipated.
Just continue, do not talk. After all, it’s impossible for a man with hot chillies stuffed in his mouth to talk. Ndi Okeye arurala. Tufiakwa!
To be continued
