Seeth thou a man dilligent in his ways and he will dine before kings.””
Gentleman Mike Ejeagha, 92 years old, a “yesterday man”, is suddenly resurrected from obscurity, thrust in the consciousness of people, trending in the social media, and sparking a viral dance challenge. Young and old alike are not left out in this seemingly meaningless dance of the hilarious, that only evokes a nostalgic yearning for those days that folklore was the orthodox way to teach and train children. Even in his younger and more vibrant days, his music genre was a fusion of story telling, meant to inculcate morals, and a mythical ability with his guitar, akin to the legendary Victor Uwaifo. Forty-one years after, the resurgence of gwo gwo gwo ngwo in its most virulent form, highlights in a most brütà l way, what it takes to survive in the still evolving Nigerian state.
The tortoise’s fabled mastery of guile, deception and thinking out of the box as a way of life is frighteningly unmatchable in the animal kingdom. In the 70s and 80s, the tales by moonlight, an ingenious way to teach and rein-in corruption of public morals, always had the tortoise as the smart alec. Thinking out of the box ordinarily means thinking differently, being innovative, generating ideas that are creative and not limited or controlled by rules and traditions. For the tortoise, it had to think out of the box to win a challenge, a competition to earn the right of taking home the king’s daughter. And competition is war by another means, as “life is nothing but a competition to be the criminal rather than the victim.” – Bertrand Russell.
Gwo gwo gwo ngwo is now a metaphor for the victims and villains of our dear country. While the other animals in the story acquiesced, knowing that the project of leading the elephant with a rope tied round it’s neck to the king’s palace was inconceivable, the roguish tortoise was instead emboldened by his uncanny mastery of the dark arts, treachery and doublespeak.
Where are our leaders in all these? Isn’t this too, the way our rapacious and eminently honourable “nitwits” and “distinguished” nobodies think out of the box, not for any common good but the unrestrained burgeoning of their bank accounts, both local and foreign, totally unmindful of the intractable and unabating hunger and hardship in the land. Like the king, they set impossible targets for us (go and bring the elephant to the palace with a rope tied to it’s neck). We cannot afford fuel for our cars and our generators at home. We cannot pay for the now very expensive electricity tariff. Food and other necessities of life are totally out of reach for the people. But our leaders insist that, this is the only way that we stand a chance to survive (win the hand of the king’s daughter).
The tortoise among us – the politicians, are devising even more sinister ways of deceiving the people, appropriating more money to themselves, and mounting on the backs of the people (tortoise on the back of the elephant), leaving them flustered, without hope and an uncertain future.
And the political thugs, religious bigots and tribal warlords are chorussing “”Enyi na ga, n’anyi so gi na azu, gwo gwo gwo ngwo, shamelessly urging their defrauders to continue their unprecedented raping of our national patrimony. Who will open their eyes?
A pity!
