Opinion: Unpaid goon of the cabal

by Oluseun Onigbinde

2012 has ended. My President has gotten N161bn for stabilize fuel in festive period. Yet I still queue to buy at N110 per litre.

The Cabal and its kindred in government houses will always be among us. Either they lurk with greasy palms around Apapa Jetty or they sit in decrepit office in Abuja Pensions Offices watching over their mansions.  Didn’t we see legislators overseeing and benefiting from SEC funds at a go? Or Saint Farouk denying his voice and turning $620,000 in a needle?

On January 1  2012, President Jonathan struck the matchbox tossing the flame into an gaseous enclave. Rage was the word. It’s been a while the ‘Aluta spirit’ that defies restraint possessed me. I ran into the streets protesting this brazen fraud. Caught in the excitement, morphing into angst against an ineffectual government, ‘we the protesters’ were absent at the negotiating table. NLC and TUC showed no hope resided in their yard. Like a movie already seen, they brought the mid-way solutions. The President in series of speeches  postured like a thespian with cosmetic measures that cured no ailment of sleaze.

But the pall of sadness over the wanton corruption tipped with the massive floods that displaced thousands, Aluu4, Dana Crash, Mubi Killings, scores of bombing in Yobe and Borno crisis. While the rich and famous took delivery of private jets, we woke up to a nation struggling to keep its seam in a stitch. With the Governors’ fold now suffering crisis, the affliction lands in the camp of our leaders.

For London, it was the year to bask in her ancient glory. The Olympics was rendered in magnificence but Nigerian athletes except the now revered paralympians  came home empty. Andy Murray will look back with his Grand Slam & Olympic medals and beam smiles. Lance Armstrong will behold his fall in same year and probably give a deep sigh. Chelsea will relish a year the Champions League triumph ended an era of ageing squad. Man City saved by ‘Fergie Time’ won’t forget 2012 quickly. The Spanish in their economic woes played captivating football to keep the European football crown. The Facebook IPO, fall of Zynga and Groupon, failure of Apple maps and launch of new tech gizmos are highlights of the space. In Nigeria the e-commerce war has begun with Jumia and Konga leading the chase.

Obama will also stride in smiles after securing another  four year term while the Republican base remain rattled with  shifting demographics . The squash game between the bankers and Western government still tosses Greece and Spain around. The world in a mild recovery was dragged down the pitfalls of a faulty European economic zone.  China shuffled its leadership pack and also keenly watched its frosty relationship with Japan.

2012 would actually take more than a page in my biography. In my personal space, the last time I had a defining year like 2012 was five years ago when I proudly organized the UNAAB ICT Conference. Not because I found another employer, I just cleared a  new pathway that tickles my spine.  Listing the awards and global itinerary might come with a brush of pride but I am most grateful to the forces of history propelling me.

I kept thinking that day I decided to finally quit my job in the bank.  I dropped my ID card. I signed the exit forms.  I faced the Samuel Asabia building and took a bow.  It was a defining moment to marvel at how the height of my passion has transformed  to running into untested waters. BudgIT, my double helix of civic awesomeness, like a new guitar rocks my life. Sadly, I could not publish my collections of stories. I didn’t write as I would have loved.  I didn’t read as much as I did.

2012 has ended. My President has gotten N161bn for stabilize fuel in festive period. Yet I still queue to buy at N110 per litre. It’s been another bazaar of committees, Diezani is firm on the throne, the fraudsters chuckle in court and the charade is now dressed in SURE-P.  Cursed for its sleazy ways in January, the cabal now have a temporary reprieve almost blowing into a last laugh.  In this scorched sun queuing for December fuel, I try to remember differently. While I trekked miles to Ojota in January, I could have been the unpaid goon of the cabal protecting their interests and their friends in power .

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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

One comment

  1. It's never too late to learn. I'm happy you now realise that you were the unpaid goon of the cabal; the vast majority of your colleagues haven't even realised or are in denial.

    The oil cabal whose interests were threatened by the government could not be happier that the victims were the ones fighting to maintain their sorrows.

    I weep for this country because we're not even close to knowing our problems and we've lost faith and the justification for faith in one-another.

    @OIbhagui

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