Thirst in a water-fall
Iused to think that a person should naturally get what he or she deserves. Perhaps I was wrong to think that merit is a natural right that should be respected and applauded. Was Bob Marley right in his assertion that, “in the abundance of water, the fools are thirsty?” Many people who are thirsty may not be fools. They could even be the wise people who are deprived of water by powerful crooks who have traded on human blood to get to the top? Many people are suffering because their basic rights are denied by some people who have been deluded from infancy to think that the water-fall must be under their control?
Some think that no one else could be refreshed from the abundant water except they allow it? Napoleon Bonaparte thought that he was invincible in battle and so waited for the ground to dry before giving orders in the battle of the final action on Sunday, June 18, 1815 near the Belgian village of Water-loo. He was defeated by the British and a Prussian army under the command of the Duke of Wellington and Gebhard von Blücher. It must have been very painful for Napoleon to give up the French throne to King Louis XVIII. Those who think that Nigeria must remain in their pockets for perpetual manipulation should have a rethink. Otherwise, they will one day meet their water-loo and allow Nigerians to live in peace and harmony.
I love literature! It is a serious creative art that can expose the history of fame and fall. I have had a passion for Chinua Achebe’s prose and poetry from my college days. In his first novel, “Things fall apart” (1958), we can contemplate the Nigeria’s colonial period and political unrests in the postindependence country. The reader is exposed to the impacts of European culture and imperialism on African traditions. In “No longer at Ease” (1960), we see how culture, tradition and ethnicity can cause unhappiness for the younger generation.
Obi could not marry Clara because she was labelled an outcast (Osu). The idea of corruption that has today deprived many Nigerians of the fresh water from the national stream was introduced. Okonkwo’s grandson, Obi who was educated in England was prosecuted for a bribe. In his third novel, “Arrow of God” (1964), the village priest, Ezeulu who sends his son, Oduche, to be educated by the missionaries to learn the British way of life could be seen today in the light of some Nigerians who encourage their children to abandon the African water-fall to become Afro-European who would not understand any African language. These children are denied access to African value of hospitality and peaceful co-existence. In Achebe’s fourth novel, “A Man of the people”, the origin and future of politics in Nigeria is defined. His poetry, “Beware Soul Brother” (1971) and his short story, “Girls at War,” (1972) which were written in the context of the civil war are reflections of the unending pains Nigerians are causing to fellow Nigerians. His last novel, “There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra” (2012) should make every Nigerian think of a time in our collective history, where every Nigerian will not thirst again in the midst of flowing fresh water and the national water-fall irrespective of religion, ethnicity, profession, rank and status.
Achebe spent 82 years on earth. When his death was announced on March 21, 2013, I missed him because his novels enabled some of us to pass literature in secondary school. I appreciate him even now for his commitment to Africa literature. I see him as an icon of dialogue of life, culture and politics in our society. He said when he was asked if he was thinking of writing a novel about America, he replied, “America has enough novelists writing about her, and Nigeria too few.” Nigeria today has wonderful creative minds in literature. Reading Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s “Purple Hibiscus, Half of a yellow sun, the thing around your neck and Americanah”, leaves me with the impression that literature is a kind of evolution that can give vivacity to the Nigerian youths in contrast to the attitude of those who think that the best they can do for their children is to rub them of African values.
Some people who claim to be in charge of the compass that could lead the nation out of the “troubled sea” to a safe shore have succeeded in destroying some of our intelligent youths by turning them into terrorists in the course of their political ambition. They think only of possessing the nation’s water-fall for themselves and their children’s children. They do not care whether others are dying of thirst. They only drink the water and throw away the cup. Perhaps some of the terrorists today were political thugs who have been used and dumped after elections.
In times like this, when help from human power to reach the waters of life is in short and limited supply, we can look up again to God for assistance after trying all that is humanly possible. Once upon a time, there was a pool in Jerusalem by the sheep market, which was called in Hebrew Bethesda. This pool had five porches. There were a great multitude of helpless people, blind, cripple and people with all kinds of diseases waiting for the water to move so that they could be pushed in for healing. They believed that an angel would go down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water and whoever was the first