“Our life is what our thoughts make it” -Marcus Aurelius.
“The nature of God is mercy”, according to Rev. Fr. Paul Chukwuebuka Mbah, the Curate, Regina Mundi Catholic Church, Babalolsha-Mushin, Lagos State, Nigeria. Yet, I neither seek to explore the Person of God nor expose His nature herein; that, I cannot do (o ju ogbon ori mi lo). My goal in this article is to explore and explain nature in relation to human existential living; particularly, man’s day-to-day experiences which determines his daily living.
According to Wikipedia, “Human nature is a concept that denotes the fundamental dispositions and characteristics—including ways of thinking, feeling, and acting—that humans are said to have naturally (emphasis not mine).” It is often used to mean the essence/whole being of man or what it ‘means’ to be human. As such, one can talk about human nature and/or nuances particularly peculiar to each individual person or group of persons.
Since Tuesday, 31st January 2023 (when the initial deadline for spending the old N200/N500/N1,000 notes), if Nigerians never knew their President, Gen. Muhammodu Buhari; the Supreme Court judgement of Wednesday, 1st March 2023 has clearly shown the true nature of the man who has been governing them in the last seven years and seventy-one days. Most certainly, it is obvious that Gen. Muhammodu Buhari is a sadist who cares less if all Nigerians drop dead without battling an eyelid.
In my article “Humanity Will Always Prevail” (just google it),
“I have tried to no avail to understand the logic behind the needless deaths and the various forms of protests springing up spontaneously in and around the Southern part of the country over the new monetary policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). There is a video of a point-of-sales (POS) guy burnt alive for overcharging in Owerri. It was the death of a pregnant woman inside the banking hall that led to the first arson, because of the monetary policy, in Ibadan. An elderly man was said to have slumped and died inside a banking hall in Asaba. And the list goes on and on leading to arson, wrecking untold hardships on the people while leaving untraceable and uncountable number of deaths in its wake.”
My Late father, Michael Akande Onifade (may God rest his soul), on two different occasions, before his demise on Wednesday, 23rd April 2013 around 11:30 p.m., had told me that: “Ti Buhari ba je President, iya a je awon ara ilu: Should Buhari become the President, Nigerians will suffer”; whatever his reason. I remember he mentioned to me that his (Buhari’s) first advent as military Head of State, was worst off. One can then understand the bewilderment some of us suffered when adults in 2014 chose to campaign and vote for Buhari.
Understandably, one can then wonder “as to whether the new notes introduction is based on good judgement. My reason is not far-fetched. I have stated above that nothing, for me, is wrong with the timing. Yet, whatever you do that does NOT have a human face attached to it is annihilistic, fatalistic, sadistic, barbaric, archaic, and meant to introduce modern man into the pre-historic state of nature; in which life was ‘warre’, “warre of one man against another” Thomas Hobbes in “The Leviathan” (1651).
“It goes without saying that the unintended consequences of the monetary policy have far outweighed the originally intended consequences. In a saner clime, such a policy would have been withdrawn by now or the Supreme Court is obeyed that status quo be maintained. But, not in Nigeria will that be possible; may be in another lifetime. Future generations to take note. Because, both Gen. Muhammodu Buhari, President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Mr. Godwin Emefiele, CBN Governor, have made history with this inhuman monetary policy” (ibid).
Little wonder then that both Gen. Muhammodu Buhari and Mr Godwin Emefiele, the CBN Governor have both kept mum since the Supreme Court passed the historic judgement that the old N200/N500/N1,000 notes should remain legal tender, concurrently with the new N200/N500/N1,000 notes till Sunday, 31st December 2023. If it is not sadistic human nature, what else could be used to describe the dispositions or the “body language” of the duo?
‘Wagbemiga Mary-Peter Onifade
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