Again, I must confess this.
That we hurt one another than this government has even done to us. Who is government? Are they not the people that left our individual societies? They are people whose hearts are brewing nefarious attitudes like wine. Whose heads are cities of lies and bad calculations and all kinds of professionalism towards stealing funds.
What I am saying is this: those demonic leaders that we all are running from started their demonic orchestration from within the family – society – state – country. We all watched some of them as they grew up in the act, but owing to our condoning spirit and myopic view, we speculated their success to be a certainty. Now, they are high up on the pedestal, and are spraying pepper into our eyes. The political wild animals you fear today were once tameable but we jettisoned our responsibility. Like these people I met today.
I saw another face of how we grow claws on one another…
Today, I went with a man to where government distributes mosquito nets. This savvy man, whose mouth drips brilliantly with his right is angry. He decided to reshape the distributors assigned to the task. Because, before we left home, the men that previously collected the nets said only women were allowed to collect it.
When we got there, we presented the requirement. After a brief inspection of the papers, we were good to go. Until they told both of us that, it’s women that are allowed to collect it and the women are expected to come with nylon bags.
He flared up. Why should only women be allowed? Are men not human beings? Or do mosquitos know gender? And besides, when you knew that it’s for only women, why didn’t you guys say it when registering names required that it’s only for only women? Why did you write my name, or am I a woman when you wrote my name?
The distributors, made up of a group of olds – four women, a lady and a man, also stood their ground in response, emphasising on following the guideline set by the government. That is, only women are to be catered for. A younger one among them kept responding to every remark of the man who is more or less a father to me. I watched as her mouth dripped nonsense continuously. I also saw in her a big portrait of corruption.
This vibrant man, again, in enthusiasm asked the reason for the request to come along with nylon bags. After all, each net has its nylon inside in which it’s packed. Why do I need to bring a nylon again?
The lady retorted again, vomiting the stupid lines they has fed her. “It’s for your own protection.”
Again he flared up. For my protection? He couldn’t believe what he heard. Because if truly it’s for the receivers’ protection they won’t be removing the nets from their readymade nylons with bare hands. Something must have spurred their action. Why would you remove nylons from the net and still be asking people to buy nylon along from their various houses. It sounds inexplicable.
He lit them up again, drawing from his well of experience. As a P.A. to a former governor of the state. Who is the government that asks you to do that? You must have been nurturing your gain in the assignment given to you guys.To pay you, did they give you a number to meet up with?
If the nets you are removing with bare hands from their readymade nylons cannot hurt you guys, definitely it won’t hurt others. Also, as you are giving people unwrapped nets like this, where do you want them to see instructions to follow as to the usage of it? Because, on the nylon you are removing is written the instruction.
There grew a huge bough of silence among the distributors. As some nearby shops owner commended the man. We collected the nets and as we set to leave the place, He dropped another bazooka. “And for those who have lost their wives, would they resurrect them because of net? You guys are brutish than a club of wildlife.
And phew! We left the place burning with words.
Olaitan writes from Ogbomoso
