Kogi’s Paddy, Paddy Governance

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When legendary Fela sang about paddy, paddy and arrangee government long ago, many did not understand the full ramifications of it. Not the least did Nigerians cotton to the debilitating insalubrious effect it could have on governance. By way of disambiguation, the Afrobeat King was singing about government not tracked on merit and procedures but on favoritism and large doses of chicanery.

 

 

Though Fela sang about this canker under a military regime, just as worms do not discriminate the colour or shape of an apple, it does not matter the nature or appellation of a government in power; so long as it is “arrangee” it can only run on well laid macadam of perfidy.

 

 

What might Hardball be heckling about this time? Well, it’s about an invitation circulating in the Confluence state of Kogi, in North- central Nigeria where a state event tagged – wait for it – THE CHIEF JUSTICE OF NIGERIA SPORTS COMPETITION, KOGI 2016 is on. In case you are minded to attend this novel sports fiesta, it would have kicked off yesterday and venue is the Confluence Stadium, Lokoja, Kogi State.

 

 

Now, before Hardball is accused of mischief, what do you, dear reader make of this if not a dubious epoch? Let us attempt to put the situation into perspective by pointing out that by what is surely an act of rascality of a blatant kind, a state government drags the noble act of sports festival under a billow of dust. Unbeknownst to the administration it seems keen on splattering mud on the pristine Office of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (OCJN) and in the process, stamping on a hitherto edifying tournament a badge of dishonor.

 

 

Hardball is so thoroughly scandalised he can’t breathe as a result of the odium of this singular misdemeanour. One does not imagine the big men in Luggard House, Lokoja need consultants to school them about separation of powers and the need to always maintain a ‘decent distance’ between the three arms of government.

 

 

And one would have expected our revered CJN to have been much affronted and alarmed on this matter being broached in the first place. Perhaps he was not informed? Perhaps his permission was not sought? In which case Hardball shall be free to wonder: now that Kogi State is honouring the OCJN with an annual sports fiesta, what is it in commemoration of?

 

 

 

With due respect to the OCJN, since no one was perspicacious enough to notice the state government’s distemper and cure it, we, innocent bystanders, shall take a bit of liberty to ask a few more questions. Would this so-called sports festival perchance be a reward for a favour rendered or expected to be rendered? Would the OCJN in cold blood and good conscience draw a judicial sword against this state’s high officials after so much celebration, feting and even feasting?

 

 

And as for the state government, it misses the rich point about sports while merely exploiting a sports festival as a means to its narrow, ignoble end.

Credits: Hardball | The Nation


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