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"Why We Wish Our Presidents Dead" - Abimbola Adelakun / Why We Wish Our Presidents Dead, By Abimbola Adelakun / Why We Wish Our Presidents Dead, By Abimbola Adelakun (2) (3) (4)
Why We Wish Our Presidents Dead. by mr1759: 6:41am On Jan 26, 2017 |
Abimbola Adelakun (aadelakun @ punchng .com)
When former Head of State , Gen . Sani Abacha ,
died in June 1998 , I was one of those who took
to the streets to celebrate the nation ’ s
liberation from his murderous grip . These days ,
I look back at that infamous Monday and
wonder the point of rejoicing at someone’ s
death when none of us is beyond mortality .
Abacha ’ s death , we know , resolved a
conundrum and cleanly freed us from the
bonds with which he held us. Also , given the
timing of his death , it did in fact seem God
heard Nigerians ’ cries for liberation. However ,
death by natural causes is no punishment ; it is
one of life ’ s many realities.
In the past few days , both the “ fake news ” and
refutation of President Muhammadu Buhari’ s
“ death ” have seized the airwaves and “ bus- stop
parliaments . ”
Since the President ’ s announcement of his
annual vacation and “ medical trip ” to the
United Kingdom , folks eager to script Buhari’ s
obituary have been beating an elegiac gong . In
the post - truth world, rumours and fact- free
truths travel the world without a visa and
debunking them , unfortunately , sometimes
assert their validity .
To make a revolting matter even more
shameful , Buhari’ s media aides , Femi Adesina
and Garba Shehu, two spin doctors who never
muster enough professional dignity to overlook
the temptation of wading in murky pools with
every species of human, seized their social
media handles . They announced – with puerile
peevishness - that the President was alive and
well ! From their interaction with cybercitizens ,
one deduces they imagine that those who
wanted the President dead are malevolent souls
who are still sore Buhari defeated their
candidate in the 2015 election .
Adesina and Shehu might well be right. In the
run - up to the 2015 election , the sitting
governor of Ekiti State , Ayodele Fayose , started
the guessing game about Buhari’ s health and
death . Other “ wailers ” picked up the baton and
have continued to run with it since then . What
both aides have probably not considered is that
such rumour mongering is also a response to
the failures of the government to properly
communicate with people . Over the years, the
Nigerian government has proved to be
thoroughgoing dishonest on even simple and
insignificant issues . When people cannot get
reliable official information , they make up their
realities and hawk them around until they
acquire some truth value .
Besides , our nation has a long history of
leaders lying about their health. From Abacha
to the late Umaru Yar ’ Adua, to te wife of the
former President Goodluck Jonathan , we never
get an accurate picture of anything . Till now ,
we cannot tell with confirmed certainty if it
was liver cirrhosis that killed Abacha or the
mysterious “ Indian escorts” . Did Yar ’ Adua
speak regularly to his ‘ Kitchen Cabal ’ or his
communication on his deathbed was a case of
‘ Esau ’ s hand, Jacob ’ s voice ’? How did Governor
Danbaba Suntai govern Taraba State after his
accident? What was the nature of Dame
Patience Jonathan ’ s illness and how did she get
mysteriously healed after leaving Aso Rock ?
What is Buhari’ s actual condition of health? In
these times where the traffic one successfully
drives to one ’ s website translates to financial
gains, “ fake news ” mongering will not abate .
Until our leaders learn to preempt rumours by
making their health conditions public
information , they will expend themselves
putting out fires .
Rather than stamp their petulant feet on the
ground and moan the immorality of wishing
one ’ s leaders dead, they should ask why the
people they govern want them dead. Beyond
the obvious reasons of poor communication
between the leader and the led , is the reality of
spite and sadism on the part of the citizens .
People wish their leaders dead because they
want to transpose some of the pains those
leaders inflict on them back to the leaders ; they
want everything that brings them joy
obliterated
While I am in no way justifying this sadism on
the part of the people , I also think a mere
resort to flagellating them will not help our
leaders to introspect . The question they should
in fact ask themselves is why things should be
otherwise .
Why should people care if their leaders live or
die when those leaders themselves do not care
if their people die or live ?
Why ask people to demonstrate empathy
towards a leader who grabs the public wallet
and goes abroad to see well - trained specialists
in well - funded hospitals ? Why ask
impoverished people to show humane feelings
towards such a person when the system that
the leader runs at home cannibalises them and
their children? Why would people who live ,
move , and have their being , amidst
dehumanising conditions be concerned about
the ethics of wishing death on someone else ?
The conditions of their own existence already
bespeak death yet they are supposed to writhe
at the pain of a leader whose privileges are
funded with their blood ?
If they must know , wishing our leaders dead is
moral revanchism . Those death wishes are like
the stone from David ’ s slingshot. They might
not have achieved the desired aim of hitting
Goliath in the head and watching him drop
dead but is nevertheless a ready weapon of
warfare available to the agonised poor , the
helpless victims of the nation ’ s necropolitics ,
the forgotten and silenced majority , and the
historically and structurally dispossessed .
Trying to ramp up religious or cultural
sentiments about the immorality of wishing our
leaders dead will not abdicate the reasons
people wish death or evil on their leaders, such
shaming will only repress the instinct to
publicly express it . Under that surface sneer of
“ I wish Mr . President soonest recover ” will
remain a seething rage that can only find some
cathartic outlet through their deaths .
I dare say that this feeling of “ go and die !” as it
was once tactlessly voiced by a former Edo
State Governor , Adams Oshiomhole , is mutual
between the leaders and the led . In Nigeria , we
eat death for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Life
is cheap here and there is little evidence that
our leaders think that our lives matter . Ours is
a country where a bomb will “ mistakenly ” drop
on a refugee camp , death toll will rise to 236
and not a thing has changed one week later. No
lawmaker is currently sitting to review the
gross incompetence that led to such a massacre
and propose changes to the conditions that
made it happen .
Ours is a country where protesters are shot by
security agencies whose heads have been
addled and nobody, not even their state
governors or legislators will shut down the
system and demand that their deaths be
redressed . From Benue to Enugu states , people
have been gruesomely killed by rampaging
herdsmen but what have our “ dear leaders ”
done other than toss the responsibility of
accountability elsewhere ? The blood of the
Shiites who were dumped in graves dug at
night still cries for justice but it flies past our
deafened ears . The many victims of violent
deaths vociferously cry for redress ; their vain
pleas drain us of psychic energy . If our lives
are treated so cheaply, why are they surprised
wishes of their own death are cheaply
trafficked?
We are gradually becoming a society where
death is meaningless because life itself has
been sapped of meaning. When people look at
their leaders and wish them dead, they are
trying to infuse some meaning into a
meaningless order . Just like we thought of
Abacha , if this person - who represents ethical
and spiritual corruption , decadence , executive
aloofness, oppression of the poor by the rich –
drops dead, then maybe it is proof that there is
a God ; He exists and in fact cares about
alleviating our pain .
Buhari is not the first President who will be
rumoured dead and if the one that comes after
him makes our lives miserable too, people
could wish him /her dead as an expression of
their inner rage and frustrated helplessness. It
is nothing personal . http://punchng.com/wish-presidents-dead/ 1 Like 1 Share |
Re: Why We Wish Our Presidents Dead. by xana101: 6:46am On Jan 26, 2017 |
Because for d first time d Hunger became very real. 3 Likes |
Re: Why We Wish Our Presidents Dead. by daprince098(m): 6:47am On Jan 26, 2017 |
Abeg in summary why you want him dead. 2 Likes |
Re: Why We Wish Our Presidents Dead. by Nobody: 6:48am On Jan 26, 2017 |
I pray he come back as healthy as a horse and continue his good deeds for our country. 3 Likes 1 Share |
Re: Why We Wish Our Presidents Dead. by Edwinmason(m): 6:48am On Jan 26, 2017 |
let just wait till the leave period is over 2 Likes |
Re: Why We Wish Our Presidents Dead. by TANKDESTROYER(m): 6:57am On Jan 26, 2017 |
The dawn is near 2 Likes |
Re: Why We Wish Our Presidents Dead. by donmixc: 7:04am On Jan 26, 2017 |
1 Like |
Re: Why We Wish Our Presidents Dead. by mr1759: 7:17am On Jan 26, 2017 |
Nma27: if he comes now dollar, fuel,gas,transportation fair,house rent, food. all will increase again. so base on his bad luck and illiteracy I don't want him to come let him go to Gambia and help barrow destroy his country too since they r friends 3 Likes 2 Shares |
Re: Why We Wish Our Presidents Dead. by chimerase2: 7:19am On Jan 26, 2017 |
Re: Why We Wish Our Presidents Dead. by drss2(m): 7:35am On Jan 26, 2017 |
as it was in 1985, so it will be in 2017. 1 Like |
Re: Why We Wish Our Presidents Dead. by Nobody: 7:38am On Jan 26, 2017 |
Nma27:your family situation will become exactly the way buhari's "good deeds" has improved our economy oya say amen 11 Likes 1 Share |
Re: Why We Wish Our Presidents Dead. by Nobody: 7:56am On Jan 26, 2017 |
Nma27:Do you mean economic hardship? 1 Like |
Re: Why We Wish Our Presidents Dead. by Nobody: 8:11am On Jan 26, 2017 |
ANAMBRA11:Jeez! You know Sarcasm when u see one nwa Anambra 1 Like |
Re: Why We Wish Our Presidents Dead. by Eniza: 8:27am On Jan 26, 2017 |
mr1759:If really the president is not dead as insinuated by the various quarters... then let him have a live broadcast to clarify the Nigerian Masses... period and proof its critics wrong 1 Like |
Re: Why We Wish Our Presidents Dead. by sanandreas(m): 9:13am On Jan 26, 2017 |
There is Skype, Imo to convince citizens he is alive. 1 Like |
Re: Why We Wish Our Presidents Dead. by Solange06: 9:13am On Jan 26, 2017 |
Hissssss... If he's not dead already, he should just die... He will surely die if he refuse to resign. People r dying daily of hunger. Companies r making people redundant because they can't afford to pay salaries anymore. Parents can't pay school fees, to buy food Na wahala, he should pls resign or die. We careless. We r tired. Enough is enough. This is the worse hv seen in my 38yrs on earth. Pls Buhari go!!! Pls. We r begging u. Go away from aso villa or from the world. Anyone is fine. 1 Like |
Re: Why We Wish Our Presidents Dead. by Wantedmiller: 9:41am On Jan 26, 2017 |
not why WE, say why YOU want him dead. |
Re: Why We Wish Our Presidents Dead. by Solange06: 9:59am On Jan 26, 2017 |
Am sure if u r not feeling the hardship ur distance relations r and if they r not u see people begging daily for food and if u don't am sure u listen to news and know people die everyday in Nigeria from hunger so pls u can continue to pray for him to be the president and watch innocent people die. Senseless people all around. 1 Like |
Re: Why We Wish Our Presidents Dead. by KidsNEXTdoor: 10:11am On Jan 26, 2017 |
Nma27:Are u well atall 1 Like
|
Re: Why We Wish Our Presidents Dead. by obinoral1179(m): 11:22am On Jan 26, 2017 |
FEBRUARY 6 on my mind.... 1 Like |
Re: Why We Wish Our Presidents Dead. by gratiaeo(m): 12:14pm On Jan 26, 2017 |
I'm among those who want buhari death. |
Re: Why We Wish Our Presidents Dead. by Dannidom(m): 2:26pm On Jan 26, 2017 |
I can tell u some of these politicians are envying the masses in wishing him dead but their hands are tied, they cant do much. Ask Saraki. . . Except Zombies sha |
Re: Why We Wish Our Presidents Dead. by Jabioro: 2:56pm On Jan 26, 2017 |
All is well,we are in well already,all is well..Let us wait till vacation is over.. |
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