Some small steps generate giant gaits

KWENU: Our Culture, Our Future

Some small steps generate giant gaits!

M. O. Ené

New Jersey, USA

Monday, April 25, 2005

PRE-RAMBLE

Good things come in small doses, or so someone said. It’s true! Sometimes we think blessings must come in HUGE packages with all sorts of so-called friends kissing up.

Well, have I got news for you. All the big show-off bling-blings are what the Preacher called vanity, vanity upon vanity. You don’t need a whole lot in life to make a difference. Quality, my dear, is the name of the game, not quantity.

Sometimes I wonder why we are here. I believe our Maker, whom we call “Chineke” in my African lingo, put everyone here for a reason. It is encoded on our palm. You see it, but you can’t read it.

I know I am here for a purpose. I don’t really know why, but somehow someday, my Chi — personal providence or guardian angel—will lead me through trials and tribulations to that destined role in life. And so it shall be for every faithful being who ever came to this space we call “Earth.”

AN AFRICAN POPE?

I was born a Catholic. My parents were married in the Church. I was baptized in the Church (the first sacrament). I received the Holy Communion—after Penance. Then came the “biggie”—Confirmation.

I met then Archbishop Francis Arinze at some church on the Ufuma-Ajalli-Nwafija-Isulo-Ezira-Umunze road in Orumba LGA...just before the road to Akpu. I was confirmed a Catholic by him. I will spare you the details. Someday, I will tell the story.

If God wills, now Francis Cardinal Arinze will become the first African Pope in living memory, the fourth African after Pope Victor.

Many doubt that the Italians and their Euro brethrens would bite, but you never know.

Whatever, it is comforting that Arinze came so close. It will open the door for Africans to dream good dreams, to hope, and to aspire to the highest office in Christendom.

If he wins, he will be crowned Pope Francis or Pope John Paul III (to honor JP II) or Pope Cyprian (to honor the sainthood-bound monk —Father Cyprain Iwene Tansi, who had baptized Arinze). The name Arinze will be forgotten. As was the case with Albino Luciani (Pope John Paul I) or Karol Wojtyla (Pope John Paul II), no one would recall the name Arinze in 100 years!

Then it hit me: In my book Jaundiced Justice, I relive the lives of so many characters. It was only recently that a young man I will simply call “Sheti” noted that the novel comprises over one dozen stories!

For my latest novel and from all the names in Jaundiced Justice (which makes it a hard read I am told), I settled on Anthony Arinze’s daughter Amanda. Why?

I don’t know. It was just one of those things. So, if Cardinal Arinze becomes the Pope, the new novel titled Blighted Blues will make its own waves because the main female character is “Amanda Arinze.”

And so it was that the novel came out the month Arinze is being wished to be Pope. And we would have only the book to remind us of his last name—and, of course, others who bear the fairly popular Igbo name—because there will be no “Pope Arinze”; he will most likely adopt one of the names of dead popes.

What a coincidence!

I hereby join the one billion Catholic in wishing that best man for the Church emerges. It is no longer about Catholics alone; it is about having a man of peace.

CURBING CORRUPTION

A good friend of mine teases me whenever I use the term “wayo wayo”! You see, the correct expression is “nwayo nwayo.” It means “slow and steady.” In its full format, it says: “To enjoy a hot soup, you lick it slowly and steadily.”

Corruption is a hot issue in Nigeria today. The government seems set to step on big toes and to uproot the big boys that cuddle the cancer called corruption. Slowly and steadily, the hydra-headed monster shall be curtailed, if not contained.

It is indeed a sad sight to see the former Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun, in chains and crying before a judge. Here is a guy who had made life so miserable for so many people. Here is a man who presided over a blatantly brutal police force, a man who accumulated so much money from corrupt politicians, a totally corrupt and contemptible citizen…. The list is too long!

It takes one small step to stop bad things. Tafa Balogun has become a reference for all that is bad in Nigeria, a signpost for primitive accumulation of wealth. The man is so corrupted he ballooned physically and fiscally as the Nigerian police minimized in stature and esteem.

It took one small step by a good citizen who got tired of his shenanigans. The graft fighter called Nuhu Ribadu took it up. And the rest is history in the making.

It is a very small step in the fight against corruption, but I am glad it started from the head. The stinking body of the corrupt fish is still intact. but President Obasanjo says there would no sacred cows in this war. We shall see.

Someday somehow, someone is going to heal the smelly body of ingrained cop corruption. The pettiness of police pilfering on the streets of Nigeria is nothing short of armed robbery in broad daylight. When the big thieves and the petty political bandits are squeezed out, the light shall appear at the end of the dark tunnel.

NIGERIA’S 5th NUMBER 3

Nigeria got its 5th Senate President on Tuesday, April 5, 2005. Senator Kenechukwu Nnamani replaced Senator Adolphus Wabara, who got himself involved in a relatively chicken-change graft that is sinking his political career.

It was not something anyone wished, but it happened. So, you ask, how does that relate to taking small steps? I will tell you.

For some months, I have been on a crusade (call it jihad, if you must) to level the playing field. Some saw it as a challenge to their supposed silly superiority complex; others ignored the truth I tell against oppression. As indicated here two months ago, there is no progress without struggle because power is never yielded without demand.

Anyway, when the #3 spot opened up, the same consideration I had applied in my local community came up: EQUITY. Since other Southeast states have had a chance at the position, natural justice follows that it was the turn of Enugu State, the heart of Waawalandia—the wisest area in West Africa :)

And it came to pass without much haggling. The ruling party (PDP) yielded to Enugu State. And Senator Kenechukwu Nnamani emerged as the Senate President. That’s a clear vindication of principled position.

Now you know: One small step here, one giant gait there. It is always good to be consistent in life, to stay on the side of truth, even if it means being the noisy minority.