by Cheta Nwanze

….Doyin Okupe was left reeling in shock yesterday, when Aunt Oby refused to shake his hand. He took his complaints to Twitter, here and here. I beg to differ with your conclusion Doyin. Aunt Oby has just proved to us that she is of a different breed to all of you. She is not a hypocrite!

In ancient Greek, the word for acting was hupokrinesthai, a word which the Romans so loved that they borrowed it, and integrated it into their own language, Latin. Being that the Romans conquered vast swathes of territory in Europe, it is only logical that their language served as a basis, or at the very least, a strong influence, in modern European languages. Thus it was that the ancient French borrowed that word in their own language. Fast forward 10 centuries, and in 1066, the French (Normans for those of you who are pedantic), conquered the Saxons and Angles in England. One of the things that was imposed on the hapless serfs, eventually, was language. Such as the word, hupokrinesthai, which neither the Saxons or the Angles, quite got what it meant. In a process which we are seeing in today’s Nigeria with the merger of English, Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba et al into our Pidgin, Norman French merged with the Anglo-Saxon language to become English. As this happened, words began to take on different meanings, and different pronunciations, and of course, different spellings. Thus hupokrinesthai, over the course of centuries became hypocrite. The lesson in this, is that a hypocrite, is essentially an actor of a sort.

Thus it was that the Nigerian politician, that very interesting breed of human, is only living up to his acting credentials when he, and he constantly does this, displays his hypocrisy. Consider this: a former Aviation suit, Femi Fani-Kayode, has written a whole lot of treatises, insulting the person of the Prez, insulting the person of the PDP babariga, insulting Uncle Reuben, extolling the virtues of the APC, and quite importantly, questioning the basis of Nigeria, and asking for an Oduduwa Republic. Then he made a volte-face, and is now quite happily ensconced in, the PDP.

But it is not only Mr. Fani-Kayode that is displaying his Oscar winning skills for all to see, the Akwa Ibom etibho is displaying his as well. Thus it was that yesterday, Mr. Akpabio asked the Akwa Ibom state House to, err, repeal his retirement package. But as always, the devil is in the detail, and well, it is the Will of God that the pension law will stay, just the amounts involved will be readjusted a little.

Finally, a slight note on Nigerian politicians and their penchant for acting: the truth is this – the reason that Mr. Fani-Kayode was so well received in the PDP, his second time of joining that party, is that politicians this way know the score. They act. They tear each other up in public, then quietly back-slap each other behind the scenes. This is one big play to them, and they act it out. Which is why #DoyinOkupe was left reeling in shock yesterday, when Aunt Oby refused to shake his hand. He took his complaints to Twitter, here and here. I beg to differ with your conclusion Doyin. Aunt Oby has just proved to us that she is of a different breed to all of you. She is not a hypocrite!

Bits and Bobs
Yesterday, we were told that 10 khakis had been court-martialled, and I wondered why they hadn’t been shot. Today we know better. There was no court-martial.

There was no court-martial because the khakis were in the process of becoming landlords.

And after some become landlords, someone will make away with billions. You see, there are 3756 official police posts in Nigeria. A bomb detector in each of them will cost a wee little pile of dosh.

Finally, a word on Nigeria’s worst kept secret: GEJ can’t stop corruption because Nigerians aren’t willing to help him stop it, and the religious leaders who hold so much influence, aren’t willing to tell Nigerians to help.

Right of Reply

Tony Chukwumah wrote,

Brilliant piece on Ambode. I need to meet the man to help run his campaign! What rut! I’ve paid taxes in Lagos for 13 years and yet can’t vie for office! Rubbish!

Ade Pedro wrote,

Rubbish you wrote today. How can an Ondo man come to Lagos and want to become governor? You igbos just want to use this as an undergrond way to get power.

Chxta responds,

Nicely put Ade, I owe you a cookie. Your statements betray just how parochial you are. Let’s look at the ethnic bits first: this is not a Yoruba problem, or an Igbo problem. It is a Nigerian problem. The current governor of Abia state, on assuming office, fired all Imo state “indigenes” from the Abia Civil Service. In his own tenure, he’s gotten his comeuppance as Abia is well, Abia.
We have to think of our shared future, and attitudes like yours do not encourage that. I only feel a lot of sympathy for you.

Segun Balogun wrote,

So, as a social critic, you dont consider Ambode’s ambivalence about his state of origin something worse than the “attacks” from his political enemies? Which is worse: perjury or political gimmicks? Does anything stops Ambode from coming clean on this?

Chxta responds,

First Segun, I don’t define myself as a social critic, whatever that is. Second, Ambode, by declaring his intention to run for the office of governor of Lagos, has clearly stated his state of origin. Last time I checked, he did not go to any court to deny his origins, unless of course, you do not know what exactly perjury means. Let’s put it bluntly: Ambode is from Lagos. Happy now?

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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.