FEATURE ARTICLE

Olanrewaju AjiboyeThursday, January 6, 2005
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Lagos, Nigeria

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THE MANY LESSONS OF THE TSUNAMI DISASTER


ithin the last few months, I have watched from the sidelines, based on a self-imposed curfew or hiatus, the tirade and intricate developments that have continued to entangle my beloved country, Nigeria. What good this abstinence did me, I cannot really tell because, the harder I pulled away, the harder I got sucked in.

I guess I may have �lied� when I told some friends that I will not discuss Nigeria, the lure seemed too tempting to resist particularly with all that is happening around the country: government against government; government against citizens; citizens against citizens; citizens against government. The reasons for these imbroglios are, often times, ludicrous and trite that they do not merit the scornful look of an infant. In other instances they are attempts to settle personal vendettas that could be resolved other than with fist-cuffs.

As I sat on the plane from Albany, NY to Atlanta en route to Houston, TX, I could not help but reflect on a number of issues, �the good, the bad, and the ugly� including my good ole Nigeria.

First, I questioned whether it will be possible to walk into an airport in Nigeria without being harassed by security and/or pseudo security operatives or the hordes of human pests masquerading as �staff� or cronies.

It was the question of �Will it be possible� that led me to this article.

I sank into my seat and as I reminisced, I slowly realized that I was covered in goose bumps. As I looked out of my window seat, I saw the cold bitter December night gently herald its arrival while the lights chorus their presence, as if to say, all hope is not lost.


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I have a fair knowledge of most of the words and vocabularies in The Oxford English Dictionary having read it over and over and by having recourse to it when I come across a strange word in reading. I must however confess that the word TSUNAMI which has become a word synonymous with horror and colossal human and material losses has come to me for the first time through the dreadful incident in the south east Asia that brought an added sorrow at the tail end of Year 2004 that has just ended with so much killings in Iraq in particular and other regions of the world.

The greatest lesson of this singular incident is how it has exposed the fallibility of mankind despite all our much flaunted understanding of the environments around us.. And another great lesson is that all is vanity in this world and that the Powerful and ordinary mortals should learn a great lesson from this event of horrible grief.

To start with, America's response to this disaster as at the time of writing this piece has been a meager amount of USD350Million compared to several billion dollars already expended to an avoidable war in Iraq which has left the world more divided. Though in the wildest imagination of the hawks, they give themselves kudos that America is more secured than before, however close watchers of events could see that it is a temporary victory that may not withstand the test of time.

To come back to the topic at hand, three serious issues should be considered in this Tsunami Disaster:

The Power of the Supreme Being, Scientific Explanation and Suspicions that Accidents may have happened in the handling of new War fare inventions.

As an avid watcher of Discovery Channel on Cable, there have been several programs aired, aimed at rewriting the biblical accounts of the story of Noah, the birth of Jesus and who Moses was? All these biblical stories were corroborated by another great book, The Holy Quran. Of more relevance to this discussion is the Discovery channel's program aired recently on the story of Noah. The program seeks to question the rationale of Noah's adventure of the great flood, it also seeks to question the veracity of the claim of Noah's Ark. Not only that the program at its conclusion raises a poser "could Noah have been a failed business man who fled to avoid the wrath of his creditors and thereby relegating him to a slave as it was the custom then?'

The long and short of this argument is that by this Tsunami disaster though very unfortunate, God has spoken in a clear language that He alone is the Power of all Powers. He is the Supreme Commander of all Commander -In - Chief who so much trust the superior fire power of his army and state of the art equipments to unleash havoc on other Lesser Powers. Were Tsunami to be a Human attack, Fighter Jets, War Ships would have been deployed to repel the attack. Here we are, let the all powerful and all knowing Commander -In-Chief order an attack on raging water. Tsunami's rage did not respect the babies, the children, the old, the weak, the strong, righteous and the sinners (It is a Truism that when Sinners are being punished, the Righteous would share of it}.

If an all powerful, all knowing president had been by the beach at the particular time he could have been washed away by the fiery waves of the Tsunami, and if by chance the much flaunted soundly wrought security provision succeeded in evacuating him, he would have learnt a great lesson in humility. Those whose antecedents are right in this situation are the Pope and other God fearing religious leaders who have always preach and teach fairness and fear of God in our dealings with fellow human beings, World Statesmen who have always lend their voice of reason. And those who are wrong are the Abu Al Zarqawis, the Osama Bin Ladens who seem to know God more than how God knows himself. And the hawks who believe in their Super Power to bully and intimidate lesser Powers regardless of whether they created the Monster in the first place. Terrible as this Tsunami Disaster is, it is a path of wisdom to know that it is within God's power to bring an entirely unknown and unheard of calamity if only to teach the arrogant a hard lesson.

There seems to have been a scientific explanation for Tsunami long before it happened. Simply put it is an underwater earth quake. Just like any other earth quake there seems to have been a long research into the causes of earth quake. To the Scientists, therefore there is an explanation for its causes. However, there is only an explanation but no prevention, but there can be early warning signs. To the extent of knowing the cause and not having a scientific solution to prevent it from happening, that is God's power.

The cheering news however is that the victims, the bereaved, the survivors and the sympathizers have not abandoned The Supreme Being at their hours of need, at this dark period. The vast majority of them have made supplications to God to spare them of such calamities in the near future. They all perceive it as God's wrath and have asked for his mercies in their belief that He only is the most merciful of those who show mercy.

Another angle to explore and which I believe would be explored by scholars and would most probably come on the Discovery Channel in the near future is the angle of accident and or negligence in the handling of War fare Equipment. On a regular basis, new War Fare Technologies are being developed and they must be tested that they meet the required objectives. Most times these testing are done covertly and because they are all man made inventions, mistakes are bound to happen.

To come home, this Tsunami Disaster should serve as a good lesson to our deaf and blind Conquerors who we often refer to as Leaders. We have them in different shades: The Forgers, The Harlots, The Political Contractors, those who ideally should not have risen beyond Senior Drivers in their chosen Profession rising to become the Overall Head of a Unit (Or what do you make of a soldier who should at most be Head of Sentry now rising to a General a title far beyond his capability and comprehension?), The Imadoyes of the fabled D.O. Fagunwa's 'Igbo Irunmole'. It was others who fought for a just and fair Society where those who are in the majority should have their way and those in the minority should have their say, but alas these impostors were the same beneficiaries of what we fought for, won in 1998/99 and lost in 1999 till date.

Hunger, Insecurity to lives and Property, Arrogance of Ignorance, Killings , assault and insult to the sensibilities of the masses they swore to protect are the order of the day. When they are elected to a position of privilege where there are many millions eminently qualified, instead of them to leave a legacy of service to mankind, they are in the mad rush of what to become after their present position. Majority of them are so power drunk such that they speak as if they want to test the will of the almighty.

Out of hatred for a serving Governor, funds accruable to the third tier of government are being held to the detriment of the masses. Matters that they know deep down are political is being made to look purely as legal matter and deep inside them they know it is not so. One would not like anybody to look him in the face and tell him what he does not want to hear. No matter good intention of an action or comment or observation once it looks like an affront to the Big Boss, the source or the author of such action or statement must be brought to his knees. He is all Knowing, he loves the country more than any other person, he is not capable of imperfections, all other views are that of saboteur.

Every act has been reduced to such pettiness that Personal Assistant must tackle even the criticism of a vulcanizer, a pepper trader in Oshodi market. One would not be surprised if a Child is disowned if he/she cautions father that in deed God is the everlasting owner of Power. We have forgotten that we would have been dead some few years back. We have forgotten to visit some prisons if only to show commitment that somebody is in there suffering for a crime he has not committed and we therefore owe it a duty to put human face in our prisons.

We have forgotten that when we were in jail and very helpless, the leaders we now seek to rubbish were the same ones we were writing letters if only to explain our innocence. We have forgotten that cheap blackmail that nearly cost us our lives by the erstwhile Emperor is the same we now employ to deal with opponents. We have forgotten so quickly that the head of government we criticized his policy and adjudged to be very corrupt but who was very mature in tolerating criticisms is the same personality we now have close door meetings with. We now have the gut to humiliate the very religious leaders our wives were running to for deliverance when we were incarcerated and unsure of where it would end.

Both at federal and states level we have become very distant to the harsh realities of the poverty that is ravaging the land. We have failed woefully to use the political power we got by hook or crook to transform the peoples lives and there by secure our offspring's tomorrow, rather we are more interested in endless thieving and carousing in the midst of Jezebels.

This is year 2005, whoever God has put in a position of Power and has been oppressing and tormenting the people, creating friction between Husband and wife as a result of the former's failings to meet the responsibility of a husband, creating frictions between parents and children as a result of the failings of the former to meet up with their responsibilities, failing to protect the children from avoidable deaths and disease, failing to bring succor to the aged in their twilight, forcing husbands, wives, children to be separated by way of searching for greener pastures in other peoples lands in the midst of plenty, destroying the age long cherished African tradition of family and extended families, O Allah unleash on them individually, their Tsunamis and free the people from their bondage. Amen.