Onye-kpa-Ndu? The Igbo Compassionate Question Died In Abuja, Nigeria By Kelechi Abonuyo

‘The ailment which troubled him really held him at a very bad spot. It made him suffer. He was emaciated, having lost so much weight. His Adam’s apple now seemed oversize, and each time he swallowed, it moved up and down, multiple times for that one swallow, like a needle attached to a sewing machine.’’ KOA…. Nigerian Writer.

People of different cultures are in fact forbidden by custom, and sometimes by sentiments, from speaking ill about the dead. It is like a moral code, which forbids many cultures from blaming the dead, no matter how wickedly s/he lived. It is a mark of respect for the dead. Death in itself is enough karma for the dead.

The Igbos’ respect for the dead predates the death proper. For instance, if someone is ill, for real or even in pretence, they are forbidden to make a joke out of it. Illness is death by instalment, especially as ‘‘our hearts, like muffled drums, are beating funeral marches to the grave’’.

In order to blame and shame those who vilify the sick, Igbos of Nigeria ask a compassionate question [in Owerri-Igbo dialect]: Onye kpa Ndu? Who is the sole guarantor of life? Absolutely, none. No one is the sole guarantor of life in abundance. It’s only God. Chi ji Ndu.

It is something repugnant to social justice and dignity to blame the sick for being ill. But about this time, there appears the need for a recalibration of moral codes. It is a necessary shift in paradigm, especially as politicians make shows out of President Mohammadu Buhari’s circumstance.

It is no longer news about the ill-health of Mr President, as the Head, which made Nigeria to be ill as well, for which he vacationed to the United Kingdom. It has been more than four months altogether, since taking charge of the reins of Nigeria.

In order to shore up Buhari’s dwindling presidency, members of his kitchen cabinet arranged gullible and, or, curious governors, most of them All Progressives Congress (APC) party members, to visit him in the UK. The Vice-President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, visited a fortnight ago.

Recently in London, seven governors or so feasted their curiosity on Buhari’s true state of health. In order to prove to Nigerians that their president is hale and hearty – as funny as it sounds, the governors claimed to have had lunch with him. So, really the feast excludes the sumptuous meal they had with the president and the anxiety they unleashed on eagerly attentive Nigerians.

In spite of the messages of confidence [that] these governors are escalating, speculations are still high, especially as one of the seven governors lost grip on the ‘‘safety catch’’. He said, ‘‘yes, the illness had taken a toll on his (Buhari’s) health’’.

It is indeed a big toll. From the exit photos of him and some family members, lanky Buhari has become lankier, padded neck to toe to put up stately appearance.

This is why our lead quotation, from KOA – Nigerian writer, captures his frame. For the president so sick and still clinging to political power with his fangs, then there must be more to it. There can’t be anymore anything compassionate in Onye-kpa-Ndu – the Igboman’s philosophical and deepest respect for temporal/physical wellbeing – the dignity of man.

Instead of preferring staycation, he stepped out and continued to rake in additional costs for Nigeria already in recession. This is indeed a medical vacation. It does come across as if the president clung to power in order to utilise the healthcare privileges of the office of the President of Nigeria. Otherwise, how come in a country as complex with economic, political and security problems as Nigeria, made worse by the latest downgrade in economy, a sickly president would want to linger on a day longer?

The president’s high cost of maintenance is made worse by the disclosure of rogue politicians, including the senate president, who milk Nigeria dry, as their cash-cow. These rogues are drawing pensions from multiple past positions held, whilst still heavily remunerated in their present positions as senators, which altogether are estimated at billions of Naira, of tax payers’ money.

It’s at this juncture that PMB lost his righteousness once again, as he is no longer better than the ‘‘thieving’’ politicians.

For a man as sick as reported, with clearer picture painted with our lead quotation, the best he can do is to resign his presidency, since the illness now trickles down every facet of Nigeria’s fabric. Most of us who gave unflinching support for his presidential ambition now bury our heads in quick sand like the proverbial ostrich. There is no sign of any form of relief in sight.

Buhari has to resign. He has no more energy to combat Nigeria’s problems. There is no point hanging on for the sake of doing the time of the North at the presidency. It’s just absurd. He has to resign.

Buhari may not be returning to Nigeria anytime soon, and he is likely to continue to live on high cost on the back of Nigeria. The governor-member of the delegation, who quipped with those words, confirmed the fears of anxious Nigerians thus, ‘‘Mr Buhari should follow the advice of his doctors and not be stampeded into rushing back home.’’

The above statement credited to the governor is an incentive for a continued vacation in London, at the expense of taxpayers’ money. The statement is a groundwork and launching pad, orchestrated to prepare the minds of Nigerians. It is the handiwork of the monolithic North. It was a ‘‘prepared text’’.

But this governor actually missed out the vital part of the prepared text, which the Northern Oligarchy and her cousin APC should have to advise the president to do the needful. The governor himself acknowledged that, ‘‘after all, he has left the country in a very capable hand, fiercely loyal, competent, cerebral and unambitious’’, when he was referring to the Vice-president.

There’s obviously no point to make Nigeria ‘‘fathered yet fatherless’’. In sane societies, the ‘‘next item on the agenda’’ would have been a simple one. In fact next two items. Firstly, the president hands over to his deputy by taking a precipitate action of resignation. Then, secondly, if proved that his present health status is a pre-existing condition, for which he never disclosed at the time of vying for the highly coveted office, he would have deceived millions. The consequence is that he pays back the medical bills to Nigeria’s treasury. This scenario, not hate, was specifically the basis of previous article (1&2), titled, ‘‘Northern Nigeria and Her Invalids………….’’

Nigerians respect and comfort their sick. However, in a customised presidency such as we presently have in Nigeria, it is difficult to be told the truth about the state of affairs. The activities that play out on daily basis are reminisce of the late former President Umaru Yaradua ‘‘drama’’, which very nearly plunged Nigeria’s nascent democracy.

Speculations are rife and are made worse by these trips to London, from Nigeria. It’s as if politicians want to ascertain the ‘‘true position of things’’ in order re-calibrate their political inclination. There is no point for this, if the president can save the day quickly.

So, this is how the inaction of the president and the pretences and lips-services by politicians killed Onye-kpa-Ndu in Abuja, such that the question lost its dignity and moral value.

Only in Abuja, Nigeria!

Contact the writer: kabonuyo@yahoo.com