Kini iwuri elewon? What is a prisoner’s pride?

We all giggle as Aunty J returns from the Bakery next to our home in Rigasa, Kaduna, with torn cloth and a scratch on her face but stories of triumph of having dealt with this woman who has a proclivity of taking advantage of the unspoken rule in our home that you must not engage in physical combat. Every now and then, this woman I will call Mama Ga always find a way to provoke us for any flimsy reason she can come up with. As Aunty J gave us the testimony of her defeat of our community Goliath with details of how she exposed her underwear and sat on her, we all laughed when Mum walked into the scene with a facial expression we all dreaded; we all changed mood but it was too late. Next, she ask us “kini Iwuri elewon?” Mum had been told what happened and expected to meet her /us in a sober mood, but it was the opposite.

My mother believes that there ought to be appreciable progress before you could call for celebration. When Jonathan was spending huge money on cake and centenary celebrations, I had mixed reactions about the purpose of the jamboree. I know people say to celebrate small wins, but I have had to rethink what celebration meant a few years ago when in celebrating some successes, I gained more pounds than I thought I lost. What are we celebrating or campaigning for, really? Constant electricity, water, and sanitation? Security, safety, and sanity? I imagine that we will soon see a huge figure of budgetary allocation for the 62nd Independent day celebration. I hope not. Flooding in Kogi, displacements of people from homes and farms due to insecurity, and we are dancing at campaigns, really? Sewing clothes that masquerade will refuse to wear. Repeating the same mantra and promises that you can't keep. Seriously, kini iwuri elewon? Is it that we are respected beyond our shores now more than in the 1960s?

I love Judeo-Christain text so much, not because it is without its imperfections, but because sometimes it communicates timeless truth. One scripture's reference to emotional and social intelligence for leadership says, "Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child, And your princes' feast in the morning!"

Posted on Facebook on October 25, 2022

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