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Hall of Fame

posted on Friday, June 25, 2010 04:40 PM

In some parts of Nigeria and other parts of Africa, names are not just words or terms by which a person is called. Names have significant terms of references, reputation or title of an event or occurrence. This is why most parents name their children based on happenings and situations that serve as a constant reminder of the past events. Mine is not an exception! It is to this effect that an African would name his/her child Obaseosuwake, Keyusobase, Oluwaloseyifunmi, Chukwuemeka, et al irrespective of how difficult it may be for a foreigner to pronounce such names. Spiritually, importance is also placed on names and its significance; Abram became Abraham, Jacob became Israel, Saul became Paul among others.

In recent time, it has not been uncommon to see how Nigerians give ‘dictionary’ meanings to names of people whose actions or inactions have negatively dominated national or global discuss.

My first encounter with the dictionary meaning of these names was during the Farouk Mutallab’s failed terrorist attack while onboard an American airline. So, we now have sentences like, ‘would you stop that mutallabness’? Following Mutallab’s addition to our ‘dictionary’ meaning was Michael Kaase Aondaoka, the then Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the federation, who happened to be the worst Attorney General and Justice Minister Nigeria has ever produce. Aondaoka used his position to legalize everything illegal; he interpreted the constitution and laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to suit his ‘Paymasters’. Pari passu Aondaoka’s addition to the dictionary meaning was Yaradua, the past president of Nigeria who according to newspaper reports was said to have died of acute pericaditis alongside a host of other health conditions.

At the time Yaradua was given a ‘dictionary’ meaning in Nigeria’s dictionary of hall of ‘fame’. The polity was highly heated, all because he refused to either transmit a written letter to the national assembly which would have given his vice the power to act on his behalf while he underwent medical treatment far away in Saudi Arabia or by refusing to resign based on his incapable state of health which affected his ability to carry out official duties. So it became necessary to laugh away our ‘sorrowful’ state as a nation by using the verb Yaradua in our discussions. For example, my girlfriend went yaradua on me again. Why the Yaradua, is everything ok?

Lest I forget, Prof. Maurice Iwu was also given a meaning in Nigeria’s dictionary of ‘hall of fame’ for conducting flawed elections but still went ahead to give credence to the elections which was generally accepted to be marred with irregularities by the international community and its beneficiary.

Interestingly, the recent addition to our ‘hall of fame’ is Kaita, because of Sani Kaita’s recent barbaric act against a Greek football player in South Africa at the ongoing World Cup, which contributed immensely to our inability to qualify for the group stage. "KAITA" (Noun): A man who single-handedly hinders the hope of his country for reasons best known to him. "Kaita" can be used in place of words like Jeopardy, Hinder, Sabotage, Disrupt, Antagonist, fool etc. Examples are "Don't kaita what we have been ...building for 11 yrs in one day". "Don't be a Kaita" e.t.c. According to reports, Kaita’s house has been burnt down in Kano; he has received over 1,000 death threats. Those who can’t threaten him are cursing.

Just as I have always opined, Nigerians like scapegoating one person for her collective failure, caused by the citizen’s actions or inactions.

Before now, it was Iwu must go for conducting unacceptable elections, yet we forget the fact that credible elections go beyond just an INEC chairman. It involves a thorough process of voters’ education and registration, co-operation from security agencies and personnel, citizenship mobilization and participation towards ensuring that their votes count among others. It won’t be long before we add Jega to our hall of fame and chant Jega must go! Just as Lagerback would soon go. After all, he couldn’t take the Super Eagles to Semi Finals or prevent Kaita from raising his boot against the Greek player before the viewership of over five hundred million peoples of the earth. We forget that Kaita did not just learn the display of violence in the pitch perhaps; it is as a result of incessantly accumulated and unwarranted domestic violence between Mother and Father, Father to children or vice versa. It also shows the level of intolerance which is characterized by poor standard of education in our society.

Today, someone has demanded withdrawal of the 1,000 death threats Kaita has received he demands that the threats should be channeled to Yakubu Ayegbeni for not converting the two clear chances he had of scoring the winning goals. Like a friend rightly opined and I rephrase with some additions, if our corrupt politicians feel half of the anger we have directed on our football players, we would have been better off as a nation and produced a better national team that would bring us the glory we deserve.

Elections are by the corner. Voter’s registration has not commenced, only a few citizens are asking questions. Electoral reform is still a mirage. All that constitutes a good process for conducting a free and fair election which would produce good governance and lasting democracy is not in place and from all indications; more credible names that mean well for the nation would be joining the hall of fame as a result of our failure to place a demand on the system and its custodians.

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