Trust Nigerians to make a joke out of anything. In the wake of the FBI announcement of the names of Nigerians who had been accused of being involved in internet fraud running into several millions of dollars, a social media ‘joke’ on FBI went viral. It was about the FBI not respecting our Federal Character. This was because the listed names were predominantly from a particular ethnic group. It would indeed, have been funny if it wasn’t a grim indicator of who we had become. Everything in Nigeria has to be patterned along ethnic lines it seems.

It sounded unbelievable that a ranking Senator could be so disgraced— I found parts of the footage really embarrassing —in a foreign land by his own people. Especially since some of those people—by themselves or through their kinsmen—had been responsible for the serial endorsements he had received through the ballot box over the years. To the best of my knowledge, this ranking Senator has not had any problem winning elections in his senatorial district time after time. Even after his alleged ‘sins’ on the Biafra cause, he still won the last election handily. So it is either the elections did not represent the true feelings of the people in which case we need a serious electoral overhaul, or the action was from a few disgruntled minorities as alleged by him. I also find the endorsement of this action at home by many people including enlightened ones, uncomfortable. It is a pointer to people’s feeling at the state of the nation.

One lesson I have never forgotten about the human mind and how it operates was taught me way back in the 70s in the unlikeliest of circumstances. The 70s were the years of the strong anti-apartheid movement all over the world. And Nigeria, led by the extremely likeable Joe Garba as External Affairs Minister, had a strong anti-apartheid foreign policy. In fact, Nigeria was listed among the front line states although it is geographically miles away from Southern Africa where apartheid was in full force.

Last Friday morning found my senior brother and I on the way to Ilesha in Osun state. It was a trip we should have made months ago.

They came out in good numbers to pay a befitting tribute to a man who had devoted more than half of his working life which spanned four and a half decades to active journalism.