What An Irony!

DONATE

SUPPORT WWW.JOLLOFNEWS.COM

What An Irony!

Sunday, 08 January 2012 23:46

Ebou Gaye

(Poem) - You claim to have all the answers to all ailments
Offering to cure patients free of charge
And boast of having provided your country with state-of-the-art health facilities and good medical experts
Yet, you travel and send your family members abroad for medical treatment,
In countries you call enemies of Africa

What an irony!
Can’t you cure yourself and your family members?
Why deny yourself and your family members your services?
Don’t you trust the health facilities and medical experts in your country?
Do you consider it wise, reasonable or advisable to seek medical treatment from your enemies?

You regard your compatriots in the Diaspora as riffraff and nonentities,
Who have nothing good to offer their country
And call them unpatriotic citizens, saboteurs, detractors and dish washers
Challenging your home-based compatriots to show you anything realized by your Diaspora compatriots at home
Saying that the latter should wash their hands,
Off matters affecting their home country
Yet, you invite them to a meeting at home
Claiming that you want to make use of their knowledge, expertise, skills, talents and resources,
To accelerate the socio-economic development of their motherland

What an irony!
What is the motive behind this sudden change of heart and stance?
Have you run out of ideas and resources?
Have your Diaspora compatriots changed attitude instantaneously and become productive?
Are you not putting the cart before the horse?
Don’t you think it is more rational to make the atmosphere conducive before starting a dialogue?
Is your move meant to quicken the socio-economic development of your country or repair your soiled, battered image?

You preach Pan-Africanism ad nauseam
Claiming to be an ardent Pan-Africanist
And customarily castigate Westerners in your vapid, vacuous, inane, frivolous tirades
Calling them pests, locusts, encroachers, exploiters and haters
Yet, you don’t want children born on African soil
But prefer and endeavour to secure Western citizenship for your children
And buy expensive properties in the West

What an irony!
Are you not telling Africans to do as you say but not as you do?
Why not practise what you preach?
Are you a real or a fake Pan-Africanist?
Is Pan-Africanism determined by words or actions?
Don’t you think actions speak louder than words?
Don’t you believe in leading by examples?

You recently flayed a foreign government for arraigning children involved in riots
Forgetting that armless, harmless schoolchildren have been butchered with impunity under your watch,
For protesting over the killing and rape of their colleagues
With the perpetrators of the heinous crimes granted blanket immunity,
Adding insult to injury
And later had children incarcerated,
For allegedly attempting to barricade your way with a string

What an irony!
Is it logical to lambast a foreign government for maltreating its children while shamelessly brutalizing yours?
Is this not a case of advising others to take bath while wallowing in the mud?
Do you care more for the wellbeing of the children in that country than that of the children in your own country?
Are you telling us that the former are superior to the latter and deserve better treatment than them?

You pretend to be brave and possess supernatural powers
Yet, you use the meagre resources of your country,
To purchase and pile up heavy weapons
And build bunkers and tunnels,
To be used as hideouts and escape routes in case of emergency
Surrounding yourself with guards armed to the teeth all the time
Buying the loyalty of armed and security forces with incentives
Hiring witch-hunters to pinpoint suspected sorcerers,
By forcing them to drink hallucinogenic, poisonous concoctions,
Resulting in serious health complications and deaths

What an irony!
Why all these precautionary measures?
Why do you need tight security?
Why do you need the services of witch-hunters?
Can’t you give your demons instructions to crush those who bear malice or grudge against you?
Can’t you cast a spell on those who try to undermine you or frustrate your efforts?
Can’t you simply disappear when faced with danger?

You have sworn by the Holy Qur’an,
To serve your people without fear of favour, affection or ill-will
And always tell your compatriots that you would not compromise their security
Asserting that you are ready to die for them
Yet, you clearly manifest your utter reluctance to investigate cases of assassination and disappearance,
Of your compatriots under suspicious, mysterious circumstances
And fly into a rage when reminded to take necessary action
Coming up with absurd, implausible, preposterous, untenable unconvincing arguments,
Making silly, opprobrious, taunting, sarcastic, provocative remarks
In your desperate, goofy, futile, lame, vain attempts to cover up or exculpate yourself,
Thereby arousing more suspicion
But always eager to order an investigation,
In matters affecting your security
And punish culprits or suspects without hesitation

What an irony!
Haven’t you reneged on your obligation and promises in this respect?
Are you not more interested in your personal security than that of your compatriots?
Don’t you believe in the holiness of the Holy Qur’an?
Do you think you can outwit God?

You portray yourself as a devoted Muslim and an espouser of the cause of Islam
Yet, you organize wrestling contests for women,
And beauty pageants for schoolgirls
Claiming that you want to promote culture and girls’ education,
By dishing out money and awarding scholarships to winners

What an irony!
Do you think such acts are in line with the teachings of Islam?
Why subject women to such a demeaning, debasing, degrading, dehumanizing treatment?
Why not use interviews and the academic records of schoolgirls to determine eligibility for scholarships?
Or you want to tell us that academic potential is governed by beauty?
Are you genuinely interested in promoting culture and girls’ education by organizing such competitions?
Are wrestling contests and beauty pageants the best means of promoting culture and girls’ education?

Evidently, you are a shady, dubitable character
Who can you convince with all these contradictions?
Only the gullible!
Who do you expect to take you seriously with this hypocrisy?

Only the naïve!
Who can believe you with your quadruple standards?
Only a credulous fool!
Written by Ebou Gaye