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In the Name of Baal as Godfather
Nzeribe Ihekwaba, PhD, PE Miami, Florida, USA
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Godfathers are standard practice in life and every society has its fare share. Professional associations celebrate them for the nurture and mentoring of its protégé. They come in handy in a filial nurture as well, and many religious groups recognize their quasi-parental role. They are equally big in business, and in politics, the fear of a godfather is the beginning of partisan wisdom. In many cases, absolute loyalty is the engine that drives the train of success to the shrine of Baal. That is that small god that thrives on appeasing mammon.
In politics, loyalty to a godfather is akin to the law of the Medes and the Persians. It is irrevocable and final. There are no ifs and no buts. It is scripted to beguile and sustain behavior that riles sane minds. Persons drinking from this cup are prepared for missions that are self-serving. It also recognizes the finality of the Mosaic doctrine: a tooth for a tooth. No less a penance is extracted in any breach.
Life in this partisan vista is mutually suspicious just as persons trapped in the relationship typically would kiss honour goodbye. The end would justify the means of achieving preset goal, mostly the cornering of the public till. Why our titans support this marriage, oftentimes with the assistance of society’s urchins, befuddles the mind. But that is the reality of success in life.
Public law and order play second fiddle where it clashes with the wishes of a godfather. This is to ensure that budgets and local government receipts from super-ordinate fiscal allocations are amenable for the big man’s unfettered access. In the name of Baal, a good sower, as president, governor or local government chairperson is duty-bound to ensure seeds fall on the good soil in order to assure second terms of office.
In our nation, the worship of Baal is watered and tended in all sectors of our society. Persons are assigned roles that are far beyond their capacities more so where gubernatorial tasks are involved. Where round pegs are harnessed for similarly shaped holes, in defiance of a godfather, all manner of resistance are activated. Enemy groups unleash women of easy virtue, marabouts, or prayer warriors, such that persons with the keys to the treasury become targets. The governor of the heartland state of Imo succinctly captured this possibility in our homeland with his recent lament. He had cried out to God for deliverance from the enemies of his Israel. Otherwise, we suppose that mammon would rule and the state will be lost to unforeseen conditions. In his case, an unfettered access would lead to an Ashera Pole finding its way into our Douglas House. May God hear the prayers of this anointed one in Owerri.
It gets more interesting at the national level where many suspect that Baal reigns as dispenser of patronage and lucre. No rock in Abuja has proven to be quite as strong in resisting the wily nature of persons preying on Baal worship. They have developed measures to secure their ‘due process certifications’ for every conceivable scheme. If you ask the fellows at INEC they will assure you that a godfather is one good friend who means well for ones economic emancipation. NPA, NICON, NITEL, NNPC, NIPP, and other N-prefixed acronyms have all been playgrounds for many godfathers.
For eight years, it was pretty easy to walk into riches with those N-words. Budgetary reallocations were ruthlessly energized without substations or transmission lines. In some innovative ways, depots of organic matter were drilled from the crude reserves of the rocky fortress for cooking books. And since there are no visible signs of honesty aforethought, the nation remained in pitch darkness. Persons unknown to the law and CAC, the registrar and not the church, continued to enjoy the fruits of the favour done to their pockets. And to add insult to public injury, government properties were sold to cronies, even as private properties were demolished at the whim of the emperor or his hirelings. In our society, the beauty of democracy is quite revealing and visible even to the blind.
For a nation understandably full of dividends of filial obligations, the fetish is assured as long as the keys to the treasuries are available under the full weight of loyalty. For the rest of our society, self-help is the outlet and success means being in cahoots with a godfather. We have had some helmsmen in our oriental cauldron that were whittled down by some young godfathers. A different scenario was repeated in the western Oyo empire where a certain senile hand held the ‘silver bullet’. As the crow flies, an amiable fellow tended the sonship rights in the North East as per the dicta of an absentee godfather. Several tenures back, Kwara had its own share of denials of second-terms for non-conforming surrogates.
In the remnants of Karnem Bornu empire, our local Sherriff had no stomach allegedly for one recalcitrant fellow, that he assumed gubernatorial duties instanta. A physician assisted to the Lion fort of Udi Hills by a mentor without hesitation severed the partisan umbilical cord at birth. And it appears that he has reportedly been paid back with the same thirty-pieces of silver. We also had the irrepressible South-Southerner that introduced novelty to the art by aborting a pre-term political pregnancy supposedly sired by a scalpel wielding godfather. In each partisan spat, the doctrine of quid pro quo was the alleged culprit. Perhaps since Baal is an intensely private god, it abhors crowds of worshipers in its pantheon.
Conversely, certain kinship is reared for altruistic purposes and has, in fact, birthed satisfying fruits. We only worry about persons cavorting with godfathers for ventures of doubtful public purpose. Instances abound of those who embraced these higher grounds with fulfilling relationship and rapport for the good of tomorrow. Several centuries ago, one fatherly Abraham nearly lost a good son in answer to a covenant of faith. This particular higher purpose relationship is being celebrated around the world today for its positive teachable moments.
Unfortunately, we have also read of sons of remarkable birthrights repudiating prime entitlements. These are the ones that diminished their self worth by subrogating their filial locus to a distant history. Example is the other fellow of nubile ancestry, called Esau, whom many believe was the very first day-trader ever before Wall Street debuted. He sold his birthright to a younger sibling, nay godfather of sorts, for a piece of morsel. We are reminded also of a son of prodigal disposition who advertised the disreputable debonair side of life. We really have had it on both sides of the coin.
So these things are not new. As it was in the beginning, apparently so it is now with the Nigerian society! Howsoever they were handed down to that clime, it is unfortunate that it has been saddled with its negative incarnate. And the problem with Nigeria, celebrated as leadership or its failure, is partly the endemic lure to subvert the national treasury in appeasement of some godfathers. The lure of that mammon has become strong, and has militated against the implementation of budgets and programs that can potentially uplift the Nigerian society. It is imperative that, as a minimum, persons domiciled in Nigeria must mobilize for a change in attitude and rescue it from the clutches of what has held the nation down. Restoration will come from no one else except by the power of citizen action. That would mean the society being born anew. We must repudiate reprobate lifestyles so that governance can be geared to the public good.
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