The mentality of victims of the social system during a pandemic invokes a persistent sense of vulnerability to their oppressive leaders, nonparticipation in the civic process, distrust of the system, and often thoughts of negativity. With such a hopeless mindset, it is excusable when they are excited over the death of those who gradually drowned them into the darkest sea of social wretchedness. 
Anytime a dictator or an oppressor dies, there are often three major communities of mourners. First, the community of hypocrites who shower sympathy messages and praises; then a community of victims who jeer and cheer them as a relief to their afflictions. The last is a community of “everyone-will-die-one-day” attack dogs, whose only job is to intimidate and shut down the victims.
No wonder, in Africa, there is this culture of “not speaking ill of the dead”. A little search indicates that this saying is not grown in Africa. The original Latin phrase is De mortuis nihil nisi bonum (also De mortuis nil nisi bene [dicendum]), which means “Of the dead, [say] nothing but good”. It is also abbreviated as Nil nisi bonum, which is a mortuary aphorism demonstrating it is ‘socially inappropriate’ to speak ill of the dead. Generally, it has become socially acceptable to paraphrase the saying in many variations including but not limited to: “Speak no ill of the dead”, “Of the dead, speak no evil”, and “Do not speak ill of the dead”.
Until writing this piece, I hadn’t bothered to trace the origin of this belief. All I can remember is that I have lived in that ethnic environment; a culture, where killer-monsters are glorified at death by the very victims they incapacitated. African history is replete with dictators that have been ‘translated into sainthood at death’! The deadlier the dictators, the whiter the sepulchers in which they are buried.
Unfortunately, I have lived through that hypocritical culture and witnessed when the “Butcher of Uganda”, Idi Amin Dada Oumee (Ugandan President from 1971 to 1979) made a victim of his people. I also witnessed how his victims in Uganda glorified him when he eventually died in 2003.
Unfortunately, I have lived through that hypocritical culture and witnessed when the “Butcher of Uganda”, Idi Amin Dada Oumee (Ugandan President from 1971 to 1979) made a victim of his people. I also witnessed how his victims in Uganda glorified him when he eventually died in 2003.
Again, when Robert Gabriel Mugabe, the unapproachable Zimbabwean Dictator died in 2019, most of those who consecrated him were the same defenseless victims he enslaved, tormented and rendered useless. Those who dared to criticize or challenge their shameless actions at the time were castigated and threatened with ‘spiritual retribution’. The good news is that, most Africans outgrow this culture as they progress through the realities of life and death.
Days ago, I asked God to forgive all the enemies of the masses grounded by the indomitable COVID-19. Hours after my prayers, British PM, Boris Johnson, who was fighting his coronavirus symptoms was discharged from St Thomas’ Hospital in London. Unfortunately, Abba Kyari, the trusted Chief of Staff to Nigeria’s President did not make it.
As a scholar of management and leadership, I look at death differently when it involves custodians of people, their resources, and their sociopolitical prospects. Leaders are humans and deserve prayers for forgiveness of sins at death. They are also overseers of organizational assets and must be subjected to the scrutiny of their official integrity through stewardship. Thus, the death of a leader must entertain reactions from not just those whom he callously empowered, but also those he cold-bloodedly tormented.
Seven days ago, I said a prayer and asked God to forgive all the enemies of the masses grounded by the indomitable COVID-19. Hours after my prayers, British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, who was fighting his coronavirus symptoms was discharged from St Thomas’ Hospital in London. Unfortunately, Abba Kyari, the trusted Chief of Staff to Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari, did not make it. He died from complications of COVID-19 after about a month-long battle with the virus.
For those still not familiar with Mr. Kyari, he is the de facto President of Nigeria shadowing executive duties for his ethnic brother, President Muhammadu Buhari who is equally battling a deteriorating health condition. To many Nigerians, a combination of President Buhari and Mr. Kyari has been a sour experience as they have led ruthlessly. For the past five years or so, the Buhari regime has shown no concrete agenda to improve the lives of Nigerians. Nor does the administration pretend an attempt at any time.
The average Nigerian provides his water, generates his electricity, provides his healthcare, and protects himself – not from armed robbers but from the very enforcement system meant to protect the society. Whereas Nigeria’s political terrain mandates a six-geopolitical zonal structure, the agenda led by a combination of President Buhari and Mr. Kyari remains discriminatory and nepotistic, and have only focused on their ethnic interests to the detriment of Nigeria.
So, when some Nigerians went to the social media to toast the death of their President’s Chief of Staff, I knew where they were coming and where they were heading to. Of course, these are compassionate people who also believe that “everyone-will-die-one-day.” But they are also victims, plagued by a feeling of rejection, desolation, and misery. They are victims of misunderstanding of the depth of their pains by the outsider who cannot relate with their predicaments.
The mentality of victims of the social system during a pandemic invokes a persistent sense of vulnerability to their oppressive leaders, nonparticipation in the civic process, distrust of the system, and often thoughts of negativity. With such a hopeless mindset, it is excusable when they are excited over the death of those who gradually drowned them into the darkest sea of social wretchedness without at safety latch.
Yet, no matter how we cry or frown, Mr. Kyari is dead, and I am not going to question the Book of Proverbs (21:15), that “When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers.” If Kyari makes it to the Paradise – he would surely have a personal discussion with Almighty Allah about his schismatic governance ideology and the ruthless stewardship he led in Aso Rock. He would tell Allah the truth about his trip to Germany – the power Deal with Siemens, then convince Allah that Nigeria needed this “Power Deal” more than testing kits, ventilators and hospital beds for the COVID-19 victims.
There lies Kyari, Oh Allah. For Your Grace, he may have served only a population that fitted the spheres of his ethnic interests. But by his selfish will, he did scorn those he was constitutionally mandated to serve and saw them perish. To you great Allah, I will not question your judgment.
I did not also question your judgment when you brought President Buhari from the near grave and placed him back to Aso Rock to continue his mediocrity of Africa’s largest economy. Consequently, Allah, I will not question your judgment of Abba Kyari.
I did not question your judgment when took away a sitting Nigerian tyrannical President General Sani Abacha, while he slept under an overdose of Viagra with two prostitutes. I did not question your judgment when you permanently confined another dictator, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida to a wheelchair. No, I did not. I did not also question your judgment when you brought President Buhari from the near grave and placed him back to Aso Rock to continue his mediocrity of Africa’s largest economy. Consequently, Allah, I will not question your judgment of Abba Kyari.
As I have consistently explained, I will not stop praying for victims of oppressive governance, and would always allow Almighty Allah to sort out their killer-oppressors. How he does that is not my business. This is exactly why I do not cry when bad people die.
As an African and a person of Faith, I believe in a Divine Power Deal, which no mortal can negotiate. You can call it my Covenant Deal too. It may seemingly take time, but it is sure. It is the last call of the oppressed and repressed. Call it Karma or Divine Justice. Karma has many faces of judgment and a variety of dishes it serves all men – especially Dictators who are too powerful for their constituents. So, if it is Abba Kyari’s turn to answer that call through COVID-19, let him face the Divine Justice. The masses rejoice because they feel a breath of fresh air, a sign of freedom, a different kind of hope and a positive anticipation of their collective future.
All they have is HOPE…
♦ Professor Anthony Obi Ogbo, Ph.D. is on the Editorial Board of the West African Pilot News.
