…What king Cobra said about Buhari government in 1984.
Expectedly, the magazine was banned while its then Editor-in-chief, Dapo Thomas, was declared WANTED by the Federal Government for subversive activities.
Newdawnngr brings it up to you afresh! Nothing has really changed!
COBRA OPINION
DANCING THE “KÖKOMA MUSIC”
There are rulers and there are rulers. Ours are bad rulers. We should call a spade its name. They are opportunists in uniforms. Nothing has changed for the common man. His suffering continues without any hope of salvation . Yes, Lamentation of Sodom. They have done nothing commendable. When we say “they” we mean our present military leaders.
Hypocrites, yes opportunists, again frauds, rogues and all that characterized Shagari’s administration. Enough of holier than thou attitude. We are no fools. Let us examine their actions so far.
There are terrorists decrees all over the place. It is death for cocaine offenders, the great bunkerers and miscellaneous offenders. The giraffes in our institutions of learning will be dashed twenty one years for stretching their necks than normal during examinations.
But have all these decrees stopped these offences? We say capital NO. Save for bunkering that has somehow minimized, crimes continue in our society unabated. Despite the firing squad exhibition, armed robbers continue to kill and terrorize innocent citizens.
The masses are being retrenched indiscriminately without justification. Our leaders continue to promote themselves. They pay arrears for such promotions. But the retrenched workers never obtained any gratuities. In fact, it is agony and anguish all along before they would obtain their salaries and other entitlements. Most of the retrenched workers now parade the streets with conspicuous despondency. We now have rampant cases of suicides, harakiri and divorces.
The traders have also been dancing this kokoma music which the army band are now playing for us. Their stalls and kiosks are being demolished without compensation. Some of them had their wares destroyed in the process. Some of them are now psychologically insane as a result of this in human action of our rulers. Hopelessness is now the order of the day in our society. In the recent past when a new year was approaching, most people usually had high hopes. But now the hopelessness is so glaring and real that to nurture any hope of improvement is an illusion. The reality of our sufferings, the practicalisation and dramatization of our agonies by the actions of our leaders, the dashing of our expectations, the inconsiderate nature our leaders to our situation have all created one peculiar phenomenon, and that is, an absolute hopelessness.
Innocent citizens of enviable personality and honest character are now languishing in different jails in the country. While Shagari, the man who ruined us completely is now under house arrest at a private residence in Ikoyi, Tai Solarin who never took part in the administration during the second republic is now sitting on a round stone in one of our jails with his hands supporting his jaw thinking of the plight and the possible survival of the common man in this our cursed nation. While those Hausa currency traffickers at Bristol had been set free or given amnesty by the head of state, Fela who is not one of them is starting a five year jail sentence. In fact, there is no hide and seek game about the dominancy and discrimination of one section of the country over the other. While most of the condemned NPN or Hausa politicians are having their jail terms slashed drastically to between one and two years, Bola Ige and Co. can only have theirs slashed to ten years or spend the years given to them as presented by the various tribunals.
Now our students are the worst off! No more bursary. To eat now is a luxury. Only few can afford to eat three times a day. The average man will manage two. The not too-well will manage one. Waoh! to compound it all, the possibility of securing job after the duration of their courses is not certain, It is glaringly bleak.
There is a lot to say in a one kobo book. But we shall stop here. The King Cobra however believes that the Kokoma music will soon be danced by the present band. We are all at the corridor of history and we are watching. To those who are dancing the kokoma music now, we admonish them to be tolerant as things will be alright later.
Consolation? Anyway, it is. In fact, “e go better” is nothing but the prayer of the poor man.
Wow!!!!! Oga, this shows that Buhari has always been like that since day one… E go better for over 30 years is still what we are singing till now…. May the Good Lord help us all
I am Soo speechless…..nothing has really changed afterall, military ought to be different from democracy because they are two different ideologies but in the case of Nigeria government nothing seems to be different .Just the different political ideologies faced with the same attitude!!!
If this is Civilian govt as we claimed, govt by the people for the people and all this rubbish is happening in a Country supposedly to be civilized, the so called giant of Africa,I then begin to wonder, where are we heading to as a Nation.
Either we believe it or not, a time of change shall surely come, I don’t know how and when, but be rest assured that Our God will rescue the Nation of Nigeria from the strong enemies.
This is very very true. It’s as if the issues that were present during Buhari’s military regime resonates with our contemporary clime. This article is a wake up call not only to the government but also to he citizenry
I hope we will wake up from our slumber as a nation because no so called government is coming to save us. History repeating itself like a pack of cards with no new game to play. What a country!
Nigeria won’t change by changing the government because we have been fighting a lost war, with the slogan “if you can’t beat them join them”. Throughout these years we have done nothing else but join the caucus of “corrupt Moses(es)” promising heaven on earth. We have to redirect our steps and channel new paths for a better future because one day, “Things go better”.
What a dance indeed. This article obviously means Nigerians are still dancing the same dance. Nothing has changed. Even though we’ve left the military regime. However, the military regime has not been totally eliminated just as the civil war of 1967 has not been totally eliminated. Despite the fact that this article was written far back in the 20th century, it’s still very fresh and sounds as if it was a recent article. Because it portrays the very issues Nigerians are facing. This is a wake up for all Nigerians. Let’s not be ignorant about this. This article is a true reflection.
Which way Nigeria, Which way to go, a replay of history? Just as it was then so it is now, Democracy we celebrate but yet everything seems like we are still in a bondage, will Nigeria ever be free? Nigérians still singing E go better, I hope with this they get a clearer pictire that , this is also a National call for Nigerians to get on their toes and fight for what is right!!!