An un-shockable society
on NOVEMBER 15, 2011 · in PINI JASON

By Pini Jason
DURING his time, the late Dele Giwa once wrote that we were fast becoming an un-shockable society. I am afraid that the doomsday of Dele Giwa’s prophecy is here. The first time the extremist group, Boko Haram, unleashed violence on the nation, we were all horrified.

The nation shuddered; there was consternation; citizens discussed the matter with exasperation. Every bomb, every shooting and every killing made our hearts skip. Every explosion elicited trepidation. But you may have noticed that since the UN building bombing, we seem to have become inured and immunized. We are still afraid, but we seem to have come to terms with it.

Something we live with: I guess people in the theatre of death now step over bodies dismembered by bombs and go about their daily business.

Yobe and Borno are fast fading into the farthest recesses of our national amnesia. Boko Haram has become a routine part of our life; it is now something we live with. Everyday, we read in the newspapers death tolls from terror attacks, road accidents, collapsed buildings and police extra-judicial murders and just flip over the pages. We are no longer shocked by the statistics.

The squabble now is whether it is 200 people dead or, as police would insist, 50 people. What does it matter? Not even the government is shocked anymore. Last week, the US warned that three international hotels in Abuja were possible targets of bomb attacks. That is not news, said one of the hotels and our top security agencies! Meaning that if it happens, it would be no big deal!

I remember in 2005 when the first eight foreign oil workers were kidnapped in the Niger Delta, the nation was horrified. But kidnap after kidnap, the ransom money became heftier and more prominent people in and out of government became negotiators and intercessors. A crime became normal business! Over time, kidnapping for ransom spread and became more lucrative than armed robbery. Today, the nation lives, somewhat comfortably, with kidnapping as some of the perpetrators have since become very important stakeholders in our nation’s affairs.

Monumental national scandal

Cast your mind back to the armed robbery that involved Oyenusi, Babatunde Folorunso, et al. The news of their dastardly act swept the nation off its feet. The novelty of the first public execution at the Bar Beach, (Bar Beach Show), at which Folorunso wore his treasured lace, the reigning fabric and symbol of the ostentation of the time, riveted the nation. That a Police commissioner, a Navy lieutenant and even a traditional ruler were linked with armed robbery in those years was a monumental national scandal! When Anini and Monday Osunbo, the Robin Hoods of Benin, shot their way into our national consciousness like folk heroes, armed robbery became part of us. Armed robbers began to walk in and out of our homes rather leisurely, raping, killing and maiming.

As the nation observed the public holiday last week Monday, armed robbers reportedly marched into a Super Market in Surulere, Lagos and robbed. What was remarkable, I was told, was how people walked past unperturbed while the robbery went on! The attitude was that of we-have-seen-it-all-before! You would think they were shooting a Nollywood movie! Not even a saloon next door bothered to close its doors! It seems that today armed robbery has become old fashioned and no longer commands national attention.

Let us go back to the sixties. The present National Stadium in Surulere, Lagos is actually the second structure on that spot. The first structure was a contraption of iron pipes and wood knocked together to host the Independence Anniversary. Years later, the structure was dismantled for the stadium standing there today. But the story is that the then Minister of Labour and Sports, Chief Johnson Modupe Johnson, JMJ, one of the most colourful politicians of the time was accused of making half a million pounds from the construction of the makeshift stadium. That was a national scandal that ended JMJ’s illustrious political career!

Recall also the infamous if-you-Daboh-me-I-Tarka-you saga of the seventies. Godwin Gregory Daboh, a retired Able Seaman in the Nigerian Navy shot into national notoriety for swearing to an affidavit accusing Joseph S. Tarkar, a Commissioner for Communication under Gen. Yakubu Gowon, of bribery and corruption. It was a national bombshell for which Tarkar fought gallantly to clear his name. When his action in court failed, he was forced to quit Gowon’s cabinet. Then Aper Aku, a former teacher, swore to affidavit accusing then Benue Plateau Governor, Joseph Gomwalk of corruption. Thereafter the use of affidavits lost its novelty.

Days of innocence: It is a long way from JMJ, Tarkar and Gomwalk. You may say those were the days of innocence when those accused of corruption as well as the nation were eternally embarrassed. Those were the days when people cared about their family names; when people said: “This is beneath me”. Today, such accusations are no longer big deal. If anything, a section of the media has reduced a serious national problem to a huge joke by propagating politically-motivated false accusations that induce fatigue in the readers. The arraignment of those accused today is a carnival with supporters attired in colourful uniforms, with drums and banners, and a retinue of Senior Advocates of Nigeria bringing up the rear!

In the years Dele Giwa wrote about, a dead body in the street attracted a show of national revulsion led by Tai Solarin. Today who cares about dead bodies in the streets? A few years ago, I was passing through Clifford Road, a major highway in Aba. One particular area of the street was suffused with a gut-wrenching stench. A bloated, almost dismembered dead body was lying nearby. What did the traders in nearby stores do? They simply tied handkerchiefs over the mouth and nose and carried on as if nothing was amiss! Are you then surprised that human life, and the dignity of it, means nothing to us? Are you surprised at the ease with which we set on one another and kill?

As I was writing this (Thursday 10, November), Sky News television showed a clip of a man caught on CCTV camera, holding a cat by its tail and twirling it like a rope as he ran across the street. This footage was repeated several times for a shocked and outraged nation to help identify the man. Of course, the authorities began to search for him for the heinous crime of cruelty to a cat! Almost on cue, the CNN showed a dog with its foot trapped in a plumbing hole in a house. Somebody called 911 and the fire department arrived with dispatch as if a human was trapped in a burning building!

How times have changed

Believe me, we used to have a National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, NSPCA, in this country. I don’t know if it has gone the way of many institutions in Nigeria. We used to teach our young men and women in Red Cross, Boys Scout and Girls Guide, about helping the vulnerable in our society. Blood used to shock us. Policemen did not shoot people at random. Among our soldiers were officers and gentlemen! Once, during an interview, I narrated to Gen. Gowon how a naval officer shot an Okada (commercial motorcycle) rider dead on a street in Ikeja for denting his car with his motorcycle. Gen. Gowon was so shocked that he nearly threw up! He was horrified and insisted that an officer of the Armed Forces could not do that! Gen. Gowon probably did not know how times have changed! I insisted to him that the man was in full Naval uniform! Obviously, Gowon and the naval officer are generations apart!

Shock reaction to an event is like taking your first glass of beer or your first stick of cigarette. The first time out you are so upset that you almost throw up. If you stop then, you may never drink or smoke again! But every subsequent glass of beer or stick of cigarette you take inures your body. Your intake is increased until drinking or smoking becomes a way of life, indeed a lifestyle! We have taken in so much shock to the point of addiction.

We can no longer be shocked! Our minds have become addicted with brutalisation and we no longer care. That is why I worry about our attitude to abnormalities in our society. Once we do not rise immediately to extirpate it, it becomes a way of life and no matter what it is, we simply stop being shocked. That is how we got where we are today!

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/11/an-un-shockable-society/

** shakes head in shame***

Did I just read a fabble or a reality? Why?, Why?,

Yep! Nigerians are not shocked by anything anymore. They have seen it all. We must give kudos to our leaders and law enforcement agencies. I hope one day, they will reap what they have sowed.

Believe me, we used to have a National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, NSPCA, in this country. I don’t know if it has gone the way of many institutions in Nigeria. We used to teach our young men and women in Red Cross, Boys Scout and Girls Guide, about helping the vulnerable in our society. Blood used to shock us. Policemen did not shoot people at random. Among our soldiers were officers and gentlemen! Once, during an interview, I narrated to Gen. Gowon how a naval officer shot an Okada (commercial motorcycle) rider dead on a street in Ikeja for denting his car with his motorcycle. Gen. Gowon was so shocked that he nearly threw up! He was horrified and insisted that an officer of the Armed Forces could not do that! Gen. Gowon probably did not know how times have changed! I insisted to him that the man was in full Naval uniform! Obviously, Gowon and the naval officer are generations apart!

b[quote][/quote]


That was a Yoruba naval officer, Felix Odunlami . In addition to the one (Arogundade) that beat of an unarmed girl. Yoruba crude, uncultured officers oppressing civilians all over the place

After a protracted trial, a Nigeria Navy General Court Martial found Lt. Odunlami guilty of manslaughter and sentenced him to life imprisonment. He was equally recommended for dismissal from service as a naval officer.

http://64.182.81.172/webpages/features/crimewatch/2007/feb/22/crimewatch-22-02-2007-003.htm

Let him rot there.

Tehe hehhehe ehe ehe ehe - shocked, how can we be shocked - it gets to a point shock simply puts us in the zone - We become perambulators like Fela sang about. without a care - how can we be shocked when our belly growls in hunger with no food in sight, our salaries are paid five months in arrears (taxed and incomplete), we are all contract workers and pay 10% to churches as tithes, the rest goes to IGR for Lagos state. guy, there is no room for shock anymore. This is the situation the prompted the conclusion that Nigerians are the Most Happiest People on Earth (Suffering and Smiling) We have been rap.ed silly by Corruption, there is no energy left for anything

So true. So sad.

Who will save Nigeria from Nigerians?