Cheta Nwanze: Creating problems with Operation python dance

by Cheta Nwanze

“The Northern Bourgeoisie and the Yoruba Bourgeoisie have conspired to keep the Igbo out of the scheme of things. The Igbos have taken all these quietly because, they reason, they brought it upon themselves. But the nation is sitting on a time-bomb. There is a new Igbo man, who was not born in 1966 and neither knows nor cares about Nzeogwu and Ojukwu. There are Igbo men on the street who were never Biafrans. They were born Nigerians, are Nigerians, but suffer because of actions of earlier generations. They will soon decide that it is better to fight their own war, and may be find an honourable peace, than to remain in this contemptible state in perpetuity. If this issue is not addressed immediately, no conference will solve Nigeria’s problems.” — Sanusi Lamido Sanusi

 

Yesterday, I packed my wife, and two small kids in the car, and we headed out of Lagos. We spent 10 hours on the road. In that time, we were stopped multiple times, and on three occasions, I had to come out of the car, to pore over the details of my papers with policemen. We avoided Customs officers despite many attempts to stop us, especially in Edo State.

At the last checkpoint where we spent time, the officer who stopped us, ignored the shrieks of my kids, and did a double take, on all of the papers we had, before declaring, with a finality, that our tinted permit was fake. To make a foolish story short, we parted with ₦200, before we could move on. Bite me for admitting to paying a bribe, but my kids screaming under the hot Nigerian sun having been in traffic for hours is more than enough justification.
I finally got home, very angry. It is ridiculous what we went through yesterday, and guess what? We stopped in Asaba. Just before the River Niger Bridge.

Two appointments that should have happened today, one in Obosi, the other in Nteje were, wisely in my view, deferred when we set out, and managed to get to the God-Is-Good park just before the Niger River Bridge. Other appointments that I had scheduled for this holiday period, will have to be reviewed. Ergo, important social gatherings, which can only happen once in a year, have been disrupted. So when someone called me to talk about the Igbo bashing going on on social media, by people who have never had to do 456km in 12 grueling, sun-soaked hours, with tired kids screaming, and with the force of the Nigerian state, dipping its grubby fingers into your pocket, I can only marvel at the sheer lack of empathy, and the storm that as a result of a sheer inability to plan, arrogance, and let’s face it, absurdity at the highest levels, is slowly becoming inescapable.

Anyway, I’m going back to bed. I promised myself I’ll enjoy this holiday, and even though I won’t be able to cross the river and see Jude, Obinna, Obiora and Chiemezie, I will make the best out of the fresh breeze that I’m currently experiencing.

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