Society : Inconclusive
NCONCLUSIVE
The first thing that caught my eye was the fact that Prince Abubakar Audu had an EFCC case from 2003 still hanging over his head. It reminded me of a discussion I had once with a possible PhD supervisor about the concept of Rule of Law. I told him, it does not exist in Nigeria. What we have is the boundary between the sea and the shoreline, not exactly defined, is it? So, if you steal will you be caught? I don’t know. If you are caught will you be charged? I don’t know. If you are charged will your trial commence? I don’t know. If your trial commences will it end? I don’t know. If it ends will the judge deliver judgment? I don’t know. If he delivers judgment will you be sentenced? I don’t know. If you are sentenced will you serve it? I don’t know.
This is the main reason why interest rates are so high. I’m not lying. The CBN has spent the last few weeks flushing the banks with cash, crashing inter-bank lending rates to record lows, but the banks will not lend into an economy in dire need of cash, why? The levels of uncertainty are too high. So, who killed Bola Ige? I don’t know. Where is the $20 billion Sanusi said was missing? I don’t know. Is $20 billion missing at all? I don’t know. Who are the members of the fuel subsidy cabal? I don’t know. Is there a fuel subsidy cabal? I don’t know. Where are the Chibok girls? I don’t know. Will you keep the subsidy? I don’t know. Will you remove the subsidy? I don’t know.
My brother, it is hard to get a direct answer from the Nigerian about anything. So, the time is either ‘to 2’ or ‘past 2’. And if I ask where the clerical officer is I will be told to ‘exercise patience’. If I wonder why Sosoliso crashed, it is, ‘Don’t question God’. And if I want to know why you cheated on your wife, you will answer, “Which kin question be dat?” Like, seriously, don’t you ever get curious enough to de-construct a television just because you want to know how it works? I think children are born like that. But something about the Nigerian system eventually reduces us all to the sort of people who will happily accept ‘I’m coming’ as a valid answer to, ‘Where are you going?’
I have my ideas why this is so. One of them is that the answer is too hard sometimes. For instance, if the evidence points to the serial corruption of say the Director of Finance in the Ministry of whatever, but that man also happens (nominally) to be ethnically an Hausa Fulani and religiously a Muslim, and you the accuser happen (nominally) to be ethnically an Igbo and religiously a Christian, you may find yourself engaged in an intense debate within yourself about the wisdom of giving a literal interpretation to your findings. It is the ‘sensitivity’ of these things, you see, so I told my European academic that Rule of Law is only possible WITHIN a society, not BETWEEN societies with ethno-religiously charged boundaries, simply because the prosecutor may find him or herself unable to follow the cold facts to wherever they lead.
So, we will bury a man who may have been murdered, also because it is a lot easier to bend speculation to our personal ends than it is to bend the Truth. I tell you, this culture of ours is one that - either because it is not ready or it is not willing or it is not able to dig all the way down to its skeletons - has learned to thrive in a state of perpetual inconclusiveness. My brother, when will this end? I don’t know.
The first thing that caught my eye was the fact that Prince Abubakar Audu had an EFCC case from 2003 still hanging over his head. It reminded me of a discussion I had once with a possible PhD supervisor about the concept of Rule of Law. I told him, it does not exist in Nigeria. What we have is the boundary between the sea and the shoreline, not exactly defined, is it? So, if you steal will you be caught? I don’t know. If you are caught will you be charged? I don’t know. If you are charged will your trial commence? I don’t know. If your trial commences will it end? I don’t know. If it ends will the judge deliver judgment? I don’t know. If he delivers judgment will you be sentenced? I don’t know. If you are sentenced will you serve it? I don’t know.
This is the main reason why interest rates are so high. I’m not lying. The CBN has spent the last few weeks flushing the banks with cash, crashing inter-bank lending rates to record lows, but the banks will not lend into an economy in dire need of cash, why? The levels of uncertainty are too high. So, who killed Bola Ige? I don’t know. Where is the $20 billion Sanusi said was missing? I don’t know. Is $20 billion missing at all? I don’t know. Who are the members of the fuel subsidy cabal? I don’t know. Is there a fuel subsidy cabal? I don’t know. Where are the Chibok girls? I don’t know. Will you keep the subsidy? I don’t know. Will you remove the subsidy? I don’t know.
I have my ideas why this is so. One of them is that the answer is too hard sometimes. For instance, if the evidence points to the serial corruption of say the Director of Finance in the Ministry of whatever, but that man also happens (nominally) to be ethnically an Hausa Fulani and religiously a Muslim, and you the accuser happen (nominally) to be ethnically an Igbo and religiously a Christian, you may find yourself engaged in an intense debate within yourself about the wisdom of giving a literal interpretation to your findings. It is the ‘sensitivity’ of these things, you see, so I told my European academic that Rule of Law is only possible WITHIN a society, not BETWEEN societies with ethno-religiously charged boundaries, simply because the prosecutor may find him or herself unable to follow the cold facts to wherever they lead.
So, we will bury a man who may have been murdered, also because it is a lot easier to bend speculation to our personal ends than it is to bend the Truth. I tell you, this culture of ours is one that - either because it is not ready or it is not willing or it is not able to dig all the way down to its skeletons - has learned to thrive in a state of perpetual inconclusiveness. My brother, when will this end? I don’t know.
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