A letter from Herbert Macaulay 1

A letter from Herbert Macaulay (1)

DEAR compatriots, it is not often that I get to write to you. I venture out only when we on this side of the great divide feel seriously aggrieved about a subject or a topical issue. It might take a full week for this letter to get to you. I don't mind the length of time at all. The distance between where we are and your land is great, far greater than you can imagine.

My suggestions are timeless, not bound by time and circumstance which is the fate of mere mortals like you. By the way, I send you greetings from Chief Awolowo and Dr. Azikiwe. They have been restless since the last elections. Awo has been at pains to understand why Afenifere fell for the grand deception of the PDP. He has been trying to reach Adesanya with little luck. Somehow, the chemistry never synchronizes. Awo is not happy about the attempt to kill the Ekiti State governor. Since December 2001, he has been pointing a touch light at the brigand who plotted the execution of his former confidante, Bola Ige. He prays day and night for justice. When Iyiola Omisore was sent back into custody, there was jubilation here.

Tafawa Balewa is always cheerful here, giving a knowing smile about politicians and their antics. Always a gentleman, he never fails to remind us about how the bloody military truncated his rule in 1966. When Nzeogwu and Ifeajuna arrived here there was a tempest of epic proportions. It took the combined strengths of Kiliwe Nwachukwu and Giant Alakuku to stop the upheaval. Often we ask him to make speeches and we just enjoy his golden voice without paying attention to the contents of the speech. By the way, we do not practise religion here. We simply venerate God. So you fellows down there must behave properly. What shall it profit a man if he professes religion and suffers the loss of the true knowledge of God Almighty!

As for the Great Zik, he has given up on his successors. The day a governor was kidnapped and forced to sign a resignation letter, the old man could not sleep. That day he begged God to return and right things. Somebody, I can't remember who it was, quietly asked him to hold his peace. He made reference to Okadigbo's insulting remarks about the ranting ant and concluded that those ambitious fellows in Igboland would not respect him at all if he ventured back. He still worries about the clash between his sons and the woman who kept him company before he left the earth. He wonders what Ojukwu is up to calling for an interim government. Does he want to rule through the back door.

If he wants the Nigerian people to take him seriously, he should shave his beard and speak like a Nigerian. The sight of a Fidel Castro beard frightens the Americans. Who wants a Marxist-looking fellow in charge of the most populous black African nation.

Zik keeps screaming “Education for the youths" into the microphone, hoping that someone downstairs would hear him. You see, he is worried that all the Igbo boys are going into buying and selling without a sound academic background.

The Sardauna greets you too. He does not understand the fuss about sharia. When the world campaigned against stoning Safiya to death, he felt greatly pained. He wondered why the senior citizens in the north did not stop the politicization of a strictly religious matter in Zamfara. I felt sorry for this great man that day. He kept praying and stayed away from us for a long period of time. At a point, he threatened to carry out a jihad against politicians who were 'monkeying' around sharia. He is a bit calm now that the fever has subsided. I am sure that his letter calling on the Zamfara state governor to soft-pedal will soon reach you. All the nationalists here have mandated me as the foremost statesman up here to do the letter. It will come in series. That is to say, for the next three or four weeks, I shall be speaking on issues on which we have reached a consensus hereabouts.

The last general strike embarked on by the NLC was spectacular. In a way, Oshiomole reminded me of veteran Pa Imoudu, the man who fought the wily, cunning and strait-laced British to a standstill in our time. Those were the golden years. By the way, they come from the same part of the country. Is this a coincidence or are there some natural elements that make people from that area, strong union men

It might just make sense for all labour leaders to study how men of the Edo stock manage to be so strong these days when settlement has become a norm.

We were very sad about the strike. Sad, because the whole fiasco could have been averted. For a moment I thought you fellows were up against a foreign ruler, not an elected leader. In the current dispensation, organised labour is the hope of the common man, against oppressive and hopeless policies. Labour therefore must be strong. I like what they have been doing to companies that keep workers on starvation wages. You see, colonisation by our own people is worse than colonisation by a foreigner. Some of the companies have actually brought messengers and cleaners from their home country. As you know there are very many able-bodied men and women loitering around the country. In our time, we would have fought such companies to a standstill. The Chinese and Lebanese companies are most despicable in this regard. It's a great irony that now that the communist state of China has embraced capitalism, the citizens have become worse than the progenitors of vampires!

Tell Oshiomole to keep up the good job. He must gird his loins against the future. He has seriously bruised the large ego of somebody at Aso Rock. And if I know that man well, he has the memory of an elephant. He never forgets. But the strength of Oshiomole is in the support of the people. As long as he takes up popular issues, he would always have the backing of the majority. I will write on the issue of Warri next week. Oged, as you all know, is no more around to keep the flag flying. So I say to you all 'Keep the flag flying', in spite of hunger, inflation, and an insensitive government.

March 2004