by Onochie Esiobu

Have you ever wondered why mad men in Nigeria never walk in the middle of the road to be knocked down by an on-rushing vehicle, or why they search the dumpster for food to eat and clothes to wear or why occasionally they give you a glance under the hot sun with a smile on their faces and atimes call you mad also? Well, I have wondered, and come to the conclusion that even in their state they still teach lessons that are applicable to day to day living.

As a 9 year old, I followed my mother to the market and was fascinated by this mad man moving around in dreadlocks and carrying a Fanta bottle he used to scare people that stared into his eyes. As he moved towards people I noticed that they either ran away from fear or they shouted at him back. So I decided to look at him and trust me the shout I received from my mother was more than enough to burst my ear drums. Did that shout stop me? You bet it didn’t.

Sitting down at the back of the car and in traffic the mad man came to the side of the car and looked me in the eye. I was excited and looked back knowing that the car was my defence. He blurted out some words I could not comprehend, raised the Fanta bottle to attack the side glass and the car moved on. I received another round of shouts from my mother but at that point a thought was registered in my head,’ why did he raise the bottle at people that looked at him intently’?

It then dawned on me that even in his state, he still had something to cover. The phase “see through” explains it all. People are so conscious of their inner core that once you begin to observe them and decipher the hidden parts they begin to raise the bottles to fend off opinions that can change them. The Nigerian state and its political gladiators are in no way different.

If you tell a Nigerian that the reason why we are where we are is because of the politicians he jumps to his feet and says YES, they are. If you tell that same Nigerian that his lack of common sense application is the reason he votes wrongly, he jumps to his feet but this time with a Fanta bottle to break your skull. “How dare you talk to me like that?” he blurts out. Even though right there in his store is the bag of rice with the party logo that he voted for and is now insulting. He might even be wearing a t-shirt with the man’s face on it.

Tell a politician that the people are for him and love him and he dances” aje ku iya ni oje”, tell that same guy that the people don’t want him again and he says he will fight till his death to keep his office raising his Fanta bottle to break any head that comes near him. He evades INEC officials and comes on Instagram to show us his exotic cars to tell us, “Ntooor”.

What of the youths? We know we have the power to be in charge and love all the accolades we get about being the saviours of the land but rather choose to raise our Fanta bottles when the accolades don’t come with financial gratifications. We fight and break ranks because we want to keep territories and are afraid that ‘out of sight is out of relevance’.

Ah! How dare I forget the labour unions and their archaic unionism methods? Strike today, strike tomorrow for the pockets to be stuffed but tell them that they should upgrade and you are done for. Of the 33,000 primary school teachers that were tested in PRIMARY 4 work, the failure rate was 66% (21,780) in Kaduna state. I wonder what it will be nationwide.

The conundrum is set. People don’t want to be seen but forget that leaders must be seen through. In seeing we are able to adjust and align for better productivity. Yes, its agreed that our society has formed us and that our survival instincts has made us do things that have been detrimental to us, however A WISE MAN’S EYES ARE IN HIS HEAD. He allows light to penetrate his core, changing his thinking and modus operandi.

Fanta bottles raised can only break few heads, changed minds through light can break down all barriers. At the end we all want the same things for ourselves and our generations, Peace and Prosperity. So don’t fight that you are deficient because all it takes is for a people that are angry to face you head on and the ‘Gbagbo effect’ is unleashed.

Not all sane men are sane, not all mad men are mad for even mad men teach life lessons.

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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