The Unlikely Nature of Karma: Its Crudeness and Finesse

The death of one of the most eloquent politicians to emerge from Northern Nigeria, during the Easter holidays, threw the Nation into a deluge of shock, eulogies and recommendations.

Alhaji Abubakar Rimi (1940-2010), a Second Republic Governor of Kano State, known for his ability to state the truth in rather unconventional ways, ‘a political good guy’; died on Sunday the 4th of April at Aminu Kano University Teaching Hospital (AKTH), Kano- the aftermath of a Cardiac arrest, after bandits attacked his envoy.
In usual Nigerian fashion, the Director of the Teaching Hospital, has been removed and the top officials are being probed, due to gross ineptitude on the part of the staff in Emergency procedures; as the deceased’s driver has narrated how his boss was left for a long period of time before being attended to. The irony lies in the fact that his personal physician referred the envoy to the Teaching hospital, for more comprehensive treatment.

THE TRUE NATURE OF THINGS

Nigeria is a country where nothing works but everything happens. It is a known fact that all sectors of the economy have ground to a halt: Education is in a pitiful state and has been patched up with the emergence of pedigree-less private universities and polytechnics, and fluctuations in the curriculum-as the elite send their wards to foreign universities; Security is non-existent and we are all at the mercy of God and fate, to the extent of relying on thieves to man our estates so they don’t turn around to rob us; Manufacturing died a long time ago and we import everything down to tooth-picks;

Alhaji Abubakar Rimi (1940-2010)

Agriculture took the back seat to Oil and in a bid not to sound tribalistic, we have become so inefficient as a Nation that only the Savannah Zone North produces everything these days- thanks to irrigation (and one strike from a group of traders leaves the whole nation hungry!); Power, the fickle necessity that makes life itself a difficult journey of candle light and grease stains; Transportation is a thorn in our flesh and a hiccup in our throats- congesting our roads with trailers and haulage trucks, as the trains and ferries lie in the ruins of past; Religion has become the street light of flamboyance, family business and idol worship- that prevents the words of truth from permeating our hearts and attitude; and Health, the colossal ghost who watches from afar when citizens pop fake/ expired drugs as Chemists become doctors, doctors become bus drivers in Europe and political leaders fly abroad for medical treatments to repair sprained wrists, have cosmetic surgery and cure headaches…

KARMA: HER CRUDENESS, HER FINESSE

It is amusing to see that our leaders only truly notice the state of deterioration in the country when a prominent person dies. Nigerians die every day, from gross misconduct: People were electrocuted in Benin when a Transformer exploded; the current UBTH (University of Benin Teaching Hospital) strike has claimed lives; armed robbers terrorize citizens day in day out in their homes and on the Express ways; poorly constructed roads are ruined from the weight of haulage trucks and are left in states of ruin for years, causing ghastly accidents; the police carry out their frustrations on the populace, drunkenly brandishing their guns only to run in the face of real attack; the brain drain is getting worse by the minute as our universities become breeding grounds of dumb people who have lost the ability to THINK!

All these are due to the fact that the Trillions of Naira earmarked for development are kept in the pockets and vaults of a selected and elected few. These same ‘elite’ now have the guts to probe Teaching Hospitals and other Parastatals when one of their own dies. What is there to probe? Are the officials responsible for the diversion of funds to throw weddings and buy houses in the Hamptons? Or are they responsible for the fact that Teaching Hospitals don’t even possess oxygen tanks?

A common Cardiac arrest killed Rimi and a bullet wound killed Bola Ige and the Chief Medical Director’s take the fall. Why can’t the Minister of Health be probed? Or the IG of the Police Force called to face the music over the state of security in the Nation? Or the Minister of Works and Infrastructure made to answer for the deplorable state of the Kaduna –Kano road that just claimed the life of Fatima Ibrahim (Former Minister of State for Energy) in a ghastly motor accident?

It is always sad and crude when life is lost, especially one that made such a positive impact and I console the family; but it should be noted that no matter how privileged the political elite are in shielding themselves from the mess they create in the country, retribution is always around the corner, as actions have a spiraling effect; so it’s either they actually get up and fix what’s broken or they should please spare the average Nigerian of this sudden re-awakening and surge of pseudo concern for the state of the nation (and stop trying to make Ghadaffi look like the bad guy) and keep the newspapers free for the real news to be printed.