By Ola Vincent Omotade
There was a village named Gini, a town blessed with mineral resources and
oil. For a long-time the town had been under the pressure and control of Gbaduze a
strong courageous king that ruled with excess superiority and power. A very sinful
nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, cities where corruption reigned supreme, they forsake the word of the wise and were bent on doing evil, but at the later end Queen Marieke, a woman brought back glory to the land.
There lived a king named Gbaduze, a long living wealthy king, dark shinning
in complexion, a man of his own very word and power embedded due to influence
of the Niger-areas in Okere-aje kingdom. However, when death came calling, he died and the king makers ordered that the Queen to ascend the throne of her late husband and invariably preside over the affairs of the community.
On ascension, she rigorously studied the existing relationship between the
three major tribes in Gini. Queen Marieke decided in her heart to give them a unity test
and see if they would pass the test. The Chieftaincy methodology of the people in Gini
consisted of nine royal and noble chiefs with the Queen as head of the community. Three
Chiefs represented each of the various tribes. Not long into her reign, Queen Marieke organized a meeting where she planned to inform the Chiefs of her desire to award them contracts.
The Chiefs entered into the main palace and took their seats respectively enjoying
their discussion with Emu-Ogidi. They were served palm wine by their own renowned palm wine tapper Lemoyoke. Lemoyoke knew the intricacies of tapping palm wine and would always offer the best. While laughing and enjoying themselves, the Queen majestically worked in to their midst, they all stood to pay her due respect saying may she live long on the throne of her father and fore-fathers. She touched them on their clothes signifying her
love for them. She ordered the guards out so she could have a private session with her Chiefs.
I want to award contracts that will cost millions of Naira, but before she could
complete her sentence, Chief Ndigbo stood up saying Queen, I am the oldest Chief in this village, I was a chief in this village even before the grandfather of the king ruled this village. Shut up, Ndigbo, Chief Omuke said, I am the wealthiest among High Chiefs, I should be in good position to manage this contract, I will neither mismanage nor misuse the money for the
contract because I have my own personal money to use.
Finally chief Emeka broke the silence, saying, I am the most educated.
Education is the true test of knowledge, I know how to manage these contracts.
He advised that the Queen rely on him for the contract execution.
The three chiefs continued fuming in anger while the Queen kept mute
smiling at their stupidity. After a while, she told them a story, There
lived a very wealthy man called Keli who could instantly change a wretched
man to a billionaire. He was one day travelling to a nearby village and sighted
three beggars sitting along the roadside. He moved a bit closer to them and noticed that they all had different challenges. The first one was muscular with a very
big body stature, but had no eyes, the second had eyes, but had two hands
amputated, while the third had eyes and hands but could not work
Keli bundled three million Naira separately in a polythene bag and threw it in
their midst, they were all happy and after a few minutes, the one that could see but had
no hands moved closer to the money with an intention to run away with the money.
The man that was blind was led by the first one to carry the money and immediately
after he carried the money he left his hand and he began staggering. He could go
nowhere with the money, while the third one couldn’t work at all.
One of them taught wisely and said, you have eyes and you can work, you will
lead us and him, he has big body stature. As for me, I am paralyzed, I have hands, but
cannot work, he will carry me as I carry the money. They practised it and it worked.They went home, shared the money and lived peacefully years after.
Our country has many problems with lots of moving parts but we only need to work together so we can put this behind us once and for all. In times of crisis, inter-state saga's, great countries drop their differences, come together and speak with one voice for good of thier countries.
Nigeria is very much like the human body that has been beautifully, painstakingly and miraculously put together by God. Every part is dependent on some other part to function and the whole is greater than the sum of its part.
So also Ngeria consist of three main tribes Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba. If we can unite and seriously practice such unity, we will find our dreams coming through sooner than later. If we
are faithful and believe in ourselves, it will culminate in a viable economy and we will
be forever happy in love.We must not allow those whose agenda or motive remain unclear to divide us or dash our hopes and aspirations as a nation. Where there are legitimate concerns on the structure of this great country we must address them intellectually and through constructive engagement, dialogue and negotiations on a round table. Over 50 years ago the founding fathers seized the moment and fought for our independence and now we must seize this moment and fight for our codependence.
The three chiefs were sober and just learned from a woman who fixed Gini
kingdom. Women can fix NIGERIA.May the labours of our heroes past never be in vain.
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