Choices: Do Nigerians close their eyes before making it?

SIR: If you are reading this, I have already closed my eyes. It’s something I do whenever I have to make a significant decision. And I am not alone.

On May 29, 2023, after past presidents of Nigeria had dillied and dallied about removing subsidy on petrol, there came one. He really didn’t have to bother where the chips fell. All he needed was: close his eyes. That was it. The fuel subsidy disappeared. And the rest, as they don’t say, is NOT history.

It wasn’t easy to settle down, get quiet within, and explain why Nigerians love to close their eyes before making decisions. Then I remembered that I was a citizen of the Giant of Africa. And that whenever we come to times like these, we are required to just close our eyes. I did. And suddenly this article appeared.

I don’t know if you are getting it. My dad, for instance, wasn’t sure whether he should choose mum for a life partner. ( He is Nigerian.) There was another lady, who equally caught his attention. One day, he closed his eyes. I guess that’s why I am very dark- skinned. I learnt the other woman was light- complexioned.

Every Nigerian knows another Nigerian that has experienced the eye- closing phenomenon. The tomato seller is at a loss whether to discard the rotting fruits. She closes her eyes, and your stew is done: same, perhaps for that favourite suya seller.

The okada rider finds you don’t know your way. Between helping you genuinely and making you pay a deceived naira note, he closes his eyes. You arrive at your destination only to be told, “Aahh! Awon were yen ti gba e!”

Yuletide 2023! Hmnn… Why are you smiling knowingly? Do you really know something? If you knew something, you had better say something.

Can you swear you didn’t close your eyes before celebrating Christmas or New Year with the family? O ya, swear let me see… You couldn’t! You see your life? ( Sorry, I meant, our lives.) Now, you remember: how you closed your eyes at the amusement park and turned back with Junior and Becky; how you chose a particular animal as Xmas meat because you closed your eyes and suddenly realised that God had actually made all animals equal. Wonderful theology!

How after the rice seller closed her eyes and told you the price, you also closed yours in retaliation and walked back home with an empty car boot; how you closed your eyes, washed the previous year’s clothes, gave them a hot iron, and went for New Year thanksgiving. How when your Daddy in the Lord told you to give his Daddy in heaven a befitting offering, so that doors of miracles could open to you in 2024; you looked at the first Daddy, looked at the second Daddy, then closed your eyes, and prayed that both Daddies would understand what was going on in the country.

How Hussaini and Hussaina pleaded you’d help fulfill their dream of wearing ‘ to match’ on New Year day; how you closed your eyes and remembered what their school proprietor wrote on that piece of paper about Monday, January 8, 2024.

Yes, it’s January! The longest month for many folks! So, you see why I said every Nigerian knows a Nigerian that has closed his or her eyes.

Like what happened on May 29, who knows what eye- closing federal lawmakers would do in the new year before churning out unsmiling legislations? Who knows whether by December 2024 we would not kuku ma remove our eyes to buy a bag of rice? Who knows when the closing of bandits’ eyes would mean the difference between striking at your community or the next? Is a kidnapper, somewhere, already closing his eyes, preparatory to a decision on your neighbour or you? Mtcheew…

They will not close bad eyes for you in 2024!