Only the headline of this piece is mine. Its “body, soul and spirit” are strictly Adeola Soetan’s. The article is deep. It’s extraordinarily profound.
The reason it’s awash and trending. I find it irresistible. It is compelling. I am yielding it to this space for good reason. You would want to read it many times over.
Its lesson is quite telling. Everyone will have a useful bite. Yes, for us, the living. And uncanny tribute to the dead: The good, the bad and the ugly. It is well penned.
Originally it came under the banner: Fela Anikulapo-Kuti and Mee Mofe-Damijo. I merely re-christened it. I tried to align it with the current situation. A sort of synergy, so I naively thought: Tribute to the dead.
Soetan starts here:
When Mee Mofe-Damijo asked Fela about the happiest day of his life, Fela responded that it was the day his father died. A shocking Mee asked, why? The maverick Fela replied: “My father and mother used to beat me well, well wen I dey young. So, if two persons dey beat you and one come die, shey, you no go be happy?”
Mourning or jubilating over someone’s death that has good or bad affects on your life is optional based on one’s experience. So, let those who mourn former President Muhammadu Buhari and those who jubilate over his death breathe.
Mourning in Yoruba land is not expressly cultural contrary to the age-long popular opinions. Mourning comes with some provisos. That’s why Bashoun Gaa was not mourned in Oyo till today because of his tyranny and overwhelming control over Alaafin.
The death of any Alaafin Oyo ordered to “sigba” (commit suicide) by the Oyo Messi for his harsh rule of the empire was always greeted with wild jubilation by the people.
Elemeso (Okunrin ti a o ri) the mystery tormentor of the Ogbomoso people killed by Soun Ogunlola in a fierce war of liberation was never mourned. Ogbomoso people wildly jubilated his demise.
If a man dies in his in-law’s home, or a man sleeps with another man’s wife and he dies by thunderbolt (Magun) in the process, he won’t be mourned by Yoruba culture.
Duplicitous moral mourners
Well, many of today’s mourners of Buhari were happy to receive the news of the massacre of over 300 Shite Muslims murdered in cold blood by the military convoy of General Tukur Yusuf Buratai, Chief of army Staff (CoAS) to Buhari, and the dead were hurriedly buried in mass grave. Many of them also applauded the maiming and massacre of armless peaceful #EndSARS protesters waving Nigeria’s flag at the Lekki tollgate, Lagos.
When the Ibadan home of Sunday Igboho leader of “Yoruba Nation” was attacked in the night under Buhari tyrannical regime by combined team of armed DSS and Army, and some helpless and armless citizens were murdered in cold blood, our latter day mourners jubilated and justified the extra judicial killings.
Strangely, some Abobakus of Buhari regime particularly in the South West hurriedly denied the army attack claiming Igboho & Co stage-managed the attack in order to blackmail Seriki Integrity. And these Abobakus never apologised or mourned the victims after the military attackers claimed responsibility.
When Boko Haram attacked a train in transit from Abuja to Kaduna, and a young beautiful medical personnel lady managed to break the news on her Instagram that they were under serious attack so that security personnel could immediately intervene for rescue operations.
But many Buhari mobs of Abobakus, some of today’s duplicitous mourners, declared on social media that the young lady was lying in order to embarrass “our regime.” The lady and some others died in the hands of Boko Haram. These Abobakus never apologised nor mourned.
Mourning of anybody, especially those elected or selected to public offices cannot and must not be taken for granted. It is a product of how positive or negative they have affected lives of their people.
Do I need to remind us that the death of General Sani Abacha was greeted with mass jubilation across Nigeria because of his tyrannical rule of looting, pain and blood? And do I need to also remind us that the death of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti was received with mass mourning by millions of the people in Nigeria and across the world for his invaluable contributions to social change for better humanity?
I was coming from Ibadan that day when I heard the sad news of the demise of Fela on Ray Power Radio in the cab I hired to take me from Berger to DSM secretariat at Agbotikuyo when Kenny Ogungbe, after playing Fela’s music on Ray Power, said: “That was Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, may his soul rest in peace.”
The driver reconfirmed. I immediately told the driver to take me to Fela’s Afrika Shrine instead of Agbotikuyo. The crowd of angry crying mourners I met there was too much to penetrate to get inside the shrine.
Abacha like Buhari were “government boys” all their adult lives till death. Fela was not in government for once. In fact, he was a serial victim of many successive tyrannical and inhuman governments. Yet Fela was still being mourned and celebrated till today across the globe.
Lesson here is that, mourning or jubilating over your death by the people after your exit is a function of your attributes, integrity and how you affect people’s lives while alive. So, let those who still stand in private or public life today be careful of how they will like to be remembered.
When government and its blind unconscientious followers destroy people’s humanity through bad governance and inhuman economic policies, they should expect inhuman response by the dehumanised citizens.
Those who are saying that mourning a dead person, more so a leader in public space is expressly cultural and compulsory are only displaying illiteracy and ignorance of that culture they are pretending to project (at least in Yoruba land). They should visit their cultural and political history for further enlightenment.
And Soetan closes his case!
•Soetan can be reached on 08037207856
