The Oldman of the Waterfronts got up at the appointed time to carry out his duty of appeasing the ancestors before the commencement of deliberations. His face was a picture of extreme sadness. The Parliamentary Hall of the People of the Waterfronts was dead silent. The grief was overbearing and each searched the deep recesses of his or her mind to have a glimpse of the likely reasons for the frequent calamities. The People of the City will utterly destroy themselves very soon, if solutions are not quickly found to check their excessive misrule and infliction of pain on the masses.
With his left hand, the Oldman of the Waterfronts lifted the bottle of the local white brew, the favourite of the ancestors. His right hand went for the little glass cup, permanent companion of the bottle of the local white brew and filled it. Someone once said that irrespective of the size of the god, big or small, you never use water to invoke it. In the same belief, the People of the Waterfronts know that no matter how close they are to their ancestors, it is only the local white brew that must be used to appease them.
“Odumodu, greet ancestor of the People of the Waterfronts,” the Oldman of the Waterfronts began, holding the filled little glass cup with his right hand higher than his height. It was as if the ancestors are far away and needed to be shown what was being poured to them. “He who dwells at the domain between the Land and the Sea, we are gathered once again to pry open the innards of the People of the City in a bid to find out what really pushes them to harm themselves. Take, drink Odumodu and assist us. We cannot stand by and feel unconcerned while our neighbours tread the path of destruction with their eyes closed. An elder speaks, not because of his love for speeches, but because of his responsibility as an elder to direct the straying footsteps of the young ones. Take Odumodu and assist us.”
The Oldman of the Waterfronts poured a little of the local white brew on the ground, paused and continued.
“Otumo-Ogugu, Favourite of the Maidens, he who goes in and out of the Maidens, detecting the unfaithful ones, we also call on you to assist us. It is time for you the ancestors to come together to show us the way forward on this knotty issue of restoring the sanity of the People of the City. Take and drink Otumo-Ogugu and assist us.
“Osokolo, another favourite of the Maidens, he who pursues the Maidens out of the Waterfronts, urging them to remember their domestic chores, take and drink. We need the assistance of all of you, our ancestors before the worst come to pass in this death dance of the People of the City.”
The Oldman of the Waterfronts refilled the little glass cup as he ended the libation and drank all. The bottle of the local white brew and the little glass cup went round the Parliamentary Hall and all followed his footsteps.
Immediately the bottle of the local white brew and the little glass cup returned to the table. The Oldman of the Waterfronts declared a minute silence for the peaceful repose of the souls of the victims of the tanker fire at Ahoada west. They all got up and obeyed.
It was Injibabo, the Fisherman of the Waterfronts, that first indicated his intention to speak, by raising up his right hand. He was allowed.
“People of the Waterfronts, I greet you all,” he began, “Our ancestor, Odumodu, did not envisage what his precious blood would cause, otherwise he would not have bequeathed it to us, his descendants. You all know that he drained his precious blood at the point of his departure and stored it beneath the mangroves, his bones, deep in the mud, his flesh. He did that because he knew that it would be the most sought after commodity in the future and we will all live a happy life thereafter. However, the People of the City got to it first, crudely named it crude oil and have been crudely mismanaging the wealth from it. Now, it is death upon death that visits them. If death does not visit them through the dreaded sect Boko Haram, it comes through the very precious oil they named crude oil.
“People of the Waterfronts, some people thought Boko Haram has taken the forefront in taking the lives of the People of the City. Well, they may be right. But I tell you, there is hardly a year we do not hear of death through tanker explosions and pipeline explosions or even kerosene explosions, killing and maiming several people. Let me just give you a brief history. On July 10, 2000, a pipeline explosion killed 250 villagers in Jesse, Delta State. July16, 2000, at least 100 villagers died when a ruptured pipeline explodes in Warri. November 30, 2000 , a leaking oil products pipeline catches fire at a beachhead in Ebute near Lagos, killing at least 60 people. June 19, 2003 , an oil pipeline punctured by thieves explodes north of Abia state capital Umuahia, killing 123 villagers. September 17, 2004, dozens of people are killed in a pipeline explosion in Lagos after thieves tried to siphon petrol belonging to NNPC. May 12, 2006, a pipeline explosion at Inagbe Beach on the outskirts of Lagos kills more than 250 people. December 26, 2006, several hundred people are burned alive when fuel from a vandalized pipeline exploded in the Abide Egba district of Lagos. Nigerian Red Cross says 269 bodies were retrieved. December 26, 2007, at least 45 people burned to death on the outskirts of Lagos when fuel they are siphoning from a buried pipeline caught fire. May 15, 2008, at least 100 people killed and scores injured when fuel from pipeline ruptured by an earthmover explodes in a village near Lagos, the Red Cross says.
“People of the Waterfronts, the most recent one just occurred last week. More than 200 people lost their lives and many others injured when a petrol tanker fell at Okogbe between Ahoada and Mbiama on the East-West Road, and exploded. Many impoverished indigenes rushed out to scoop fuel for use and sale, a case of one man’s misfortune being another man’s fortune. It was said that in the stampede to scoop the pouring fuel, someone made a telephone call and the tanker exploded. It was a terrible sight to behold. It was the worst disaster ever.
“Now, this very disaster tells who we really are, a nation that leaves what it ought to do and rather doing the very things it should refrain from. Do you know that the root cause of the disaster is the bad state of the East-West Road? Is it not strange that a road as crucial as the East West road, an ever busy road, has been under construction for ages without end, just because the very people that would see to its end flies over it? The resources that should be fully injected into it to see to its completion end up in the pockets of a few and the work crawls like a snail. Do you see how we value our lives? This single accident must have happened to prick the conscience of the powers that be and perhaps awaken them to their duties to the people. Believe me, it tells who we are.”
Arukulo, the man who says he is always at the front of the canoe, got up to speak as Injibabo ended his speech and sat down.
“People of the Waterfronts, I totally agree with Injibabo, the Fisherman of the Waterfronts that the horrible accident spoke volumes of who we are, or rather who the People of the City are. Just hear what Christmas Ede, a resident, said and you will agree that it tells who we are. He said ‘seven years ago, Rivers State Government promised to build a befitting fire service station at Ahoada Town (the headquarters of Ahoada East local government area of the state) but what we have there is nothing to write home about and it is not functioning. Immediately the tanker fell at 6.30am, we contacted the fire service in Port Harcourt, but an unmarked Mercedes Benz truck with ‘the Ateco 1325′ inscribed on it, got to the scene at 12.02pm, when the deed had been done.’ Can you imagine that.
“Everywhere, whenever an incident occurs it will take hours for a rescue team to come and in most cases the rescue team arrives after the deed has been done. If an armed robbery operation is going on, the police arrive the scene hours after the bandits have gone. In Plateau State, the Special Military Task Force, STF, arrived at the scene of the recent massacre hours after the murderers have gone. Dana aircraft fell down and rescue team arrived much after. Really, it tells who we are.”
Angaladikibo, the Watcher of the Mangroves, got up to speak as Arukulo sat down. Angaladikibo has been busy watching the Mangroves, deep in his thoughts
“People of the Waterfronts, I greet you all. Actually, I did not want to say anything today. I decided to speak because of the comments of the Rivers State commissioner for Special Duties, Emeka Nwogu. He said, “What level of poverty will make people to scoop fuel from a tanker carrying 33,000litres of petrol?” You see, he did not understand what poverty could do to someone. He has not learnt that a hungry man’s brain automatically re-arranges itself to think nothing else except the desire to fill the stomach, irrespective of the danger involved or the shame that maybe the consequence. He said he disagreed with Christmas Ede who said ‘poverty is too high in this area, despite the richness in crude oil and gas.” The very incident tells of the level of poverty the people have descended to. It tells who we are, poor people in the midst of wealth. If only we could get our priorities right, all will be well and such incidents will be avoided”.
The Oldman of the Waterfronts filled the little glass cup with the local white brew and swallowed all. ###
By Kenneth Amabipi
0803 668 7846
Email: kennymaps@yahoo.co.uk
