“As dead flies can cause even a bottle of perfume to stink, so a little foolishness outweighs wisdom and honour” — Ecclesiastes 10:1
We live in the part of the world where people easily take offence anytime the word ‘foolish’ is used in describing their perceived folly, rightly or wrongly. But two of the world’s greatest books, Bible and Qur’an, do not mince words in telling the ‘fool’ who exactly he is. I will therefore take a cue from the two books and call a spade by its real name.
Both books have described a ‘fool’ in many ways. Per some of the descriptions, almost all of us can be aptly described as ‘fools’ because we have at one time or the other engaged in foolish acts. But it depends on the kind of fool and whose fool you are.
So I ask: Are you the kind of fool who will never learn from his folly? Are you the kind that will adhere strictly to religious doctrine to please your Maker? Or are you the kind that will engage in all manner of machinations, fair or foul, for the sake of your political party?
An interesting spectacle played out in my neighborhood sometime last year. An overzealous pastor and his members usually inundated the ears of the whole community with their daily all-night services. One night, an angry resident went to the church to confront them, which led to heated verbal exchanges. The angry resident asked, “You fools, don’t you know that your neighbours need to have a peaceful rest?” The pastor calmly replied: “We are fools for Christ’s sake; whose fool are you?” The man quietly turned and walked away. But it is worth noting that the daily noise did stop, with the exception of Friday nights.
The fool under my microscopic lens today is of a peculiar kind. Not only does he repeat his folly, but does so with no shame as well. He is also the political kind and does not mind doing anything to win political power.
We were all in this country during the 2016 campaign and we saw what happened. Almost every political gathering attended by the Zu-za candidate, President Ogwanfunu, saw people roaring their support for him. For the first time in the annals of this country, we saw a candidate organise and attend three political rallies in three regions on the same day. The Abeikus, Dumelos, Tracys and the rest were given huge cowries to campaign for him and the party. Not forgetting the rented supporters to rally grounds, to make it look as if the party and its candidate were very popular.
What did we see in the end? President Ogwanfunu was given a very sound beating by candidate Nana Dee. We all saw the flurry of punches from the ‘short man’, which sent him crushing to the ground. We also saw the facial cuts, the copious nose-bleeding and the puffy face before referee, Charlotte Osei, counted him out in the tenth round.
Fortunately for him, the defeat gave birth to ‘Onaapo Bitters’, an effective herbal concoction with 44.4% alcoholic concentration, which acted as a catalyst to speed up his healing process. The puffy-looking President Ogwanfunu, who had lost weight and was a pale shadow of himself, has regained full strength courtesy of the wonder bitters.
One will expect that the events of 2016 and the outcome would teach him a lesson. But what we witnessed last week clearly shows that he is yet to learn any lesson from his humiliating defeat.
Many of my compatriots were shocked last Friday to see a viral video on social media, in which a handful of students from Nalerigu College of Nursing and Midwifery are seen wailing on the floor and wielding placards with inscriptions ‘apologizing’ to President Ogwanfunu ostensibly for voting against him in the 2016 polls. The irony of their action hit me the moment I watched the video. How could they apologize to the president who cancelled their allowance and froze employment?
So I watched the video again, this time very intently, and I heard the voice in the background directing them to kneel. It became clear to me that it was a choreographed action. I was thus not surprised when it subsequently emerged that the nursing students had been contracted to act. The management of the school even claims some of the supposed students in the video are not known to the school.
Hmmm! The wind has blown and we can now see the messy anus of the fowl.
Many may be surprised about Zu-za’s folly, but not “Yours truly”. For Proverbs 26:11 has stated clearly that: “As a dog returns to its vomits, so a fool repeats his foolishness.”
See you next week for another interesting konkonsa, Deo volente!