by Cheta Nwanze

 …this video of a so-called customer service person for Arik Air at the Calabar Airport tells us just how far we have to go in our service culture in this land of ours. Arik Air sadly, is a major culprit.

According to conventional wisdom, the order of precedence in Nigeria is Prez, Veep, Big Gavel, Little Gavel, then Big Wig. Asides Big Wig, all these chaps are elected fellows, and Big Wig is well, the custodian of all that is legal. Nowhere in this order of affairs does it mention Big Khaki. So when some unknown khakis decide that it is prudent to hold Little Gavel to ransom, you have to ask three questions: “Is it Prez, Veep or Big Gavel that gave the order?” Second question, “If neither one of these three gave the order, then what the [snip – language] is happening? Final question: “if the nation’s number four citizen can have his authority questioned so, and his person, and by extension office harassed in so brutal terms, what prevents someone from going further up the food chain?”

From one slope, we swing over to another, and today, the High Wigs will let us know if the nonsense of party defection will finally come to a stop. What we all know though is that whatever decision they make, will be rapidly sent up the chain until the Supreme Wigs are forced to take a long look at the whole thing. Maybe then, and only then, will we finally start having political parties that are built on ideology, rather than as game shows.

And speaking of game shows, the fun and games that have been organised by #BokoHaram have led to a further 650k people emulating the Isrealites in the Sinai Desert. What the story did not tell you is that Nigeria, as of May, had 3.3 million members of the lost tribes of Israel, the third largest in the world after Syria (brutal civil war for four years now), and Colombia (FARC insurgency for five decades), and more Israelites than Iraq (country about to disintegrate). What the story also failed to say, is whether these 650k are an addition to the 3.3 millions.

Meanwhile, this video of a so-called customer service person for Arik Air at the Calabar Airport tells us just how far we have to go in our service culture in this land of ours. Arik Air sadly, is a major culprit. A quote from a friend: “I was in the car with one of my ogas the other day and he was complaining about his driver, who acquiescently allowed “big cars” to pass at a pothole or a traffic hotspot but will oppressively deny pedestrians who wish to take advantage of the slow traffic at such spots to cross the road. He concludes: the biggest oppressor of the masses are the masses. We live in a class crazy society.”

Bits and Bobs

Day 74 of the missing Chibok babes, and well, #BokoHaram have added 60 more to their growing harem. The 60 taken over the course of three days from the same place…
Meanwhile eight people were forced off the mortal coil in Kano, yesterday. God rest the dead.
In other news, some of that Bigot’s aides are singing hymns, while their principal is still under the covers. These massive cash withdrawals being the reason.
In Ilorin, Salim Wahab, 33, asked an Area Court to dissolve his marriage to Mariam, due to her ‘obsession with parties’. He should think of the future and send her to “Nigeria’s Got Talent”.

Right of Reply
Joy Owomhanre wrote,

I am still trying to understand Abdur-Rahman Aderinoye’s stance. He kept saying you should verify and authenticate your facts. I indeed was expecting him to tell us if the loan was less than N7B or maybe more. But the only thing he added was that it wasn’t only GTB but then Intercontinental bank and others that jointly sued Alj Alao. ‘to somebody like YOU that could recall a bit of the issues’ I though you would have had much more relevant information to add to show that Alj Alao, contrary to popular perception, was in fact a saint. Besides, if a man has gone to great extremes to reduce your quality of life by directly or indirectly thieving while alive, he should be known as what he is even in death. A THIEF

Excape from Sabibor, A wonderful world, The pianist, Inglorious bastards, these are just 4 out of maybe 1k movies on the 2nd world war and its holocaust. My brothers and Sisters, nobody has taken up arms yet to vent or show disgust on Germany. Instead, we visit as tourists and school and intermarry with them. These type of movies only take us down history lane and reminds us of how bad situations can get if not checked on time as humans also have animalistic / beastial tendencies. (If anything, now is the time to have the HOAYS movie premiered). Moreover, it goes to show that Nigerians simply do not read again. With all the hype of this movies, one would have expected the book to be sold out by now.

For the APC states who have really forgotten about the poor peoples mandate that got the leaders there, pls put Edo just below Lagos in that list of yours.

And finally, Nollywood deserves to be nos 3 on that list. The criteria is all about quantity and the figures speak for themselves. Nobody in the committee ever used the quality tape to measure.

Geoffrey Njoku wrote,

I am a bit ambivalent about what happened in Ekiti. On the positive side, the more a party in power is defeated by another party shows that we are gradually maturing. PDP though in power at the State and Federal levels was thrown out of Imo in 2011. Gradually, gradually, just maybe in time we will get there. On the negative side, a policy may hurt people in the short run but has long term sustainable benefits. I do not know the depth of the people’s ire against Fayemi but to hold it against a governor because he asked school teachers to write a test is taking it too far. Some teachers are known to have failed primary 4 test. Any wonder why we breed educated but illiterate children?

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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.