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'Begging' As A Tool For Blackmail

Started by bamalli, August 04, 2007, 06:11:34 PM

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bamalli

Very interesting article

'Begging' As A Tool For Blackmail

By Hakeem Jamiu,


July 27th, 2007

'Begging' according to the English dictionary means to
ask somebody for something in a very intense, humble
or even humiliating way. It may also mean to ask
people for gift of money or food especially in the
street. But for the purpose of this article, it is the
first meaning I will restrict myself to. Begging in
Nigeria has been taken to a ridiculous length such
that people will intentionally do wrong with hope that
when they beg everything would be sorted out. The
aftermath of the just concluded flawed elections
prompted this article.

The ridiculous extent to which begging has been taken
could be found in our everyday experience spanning
marriage, office, business, friendship, religion and
politics. For example in a relationship between
husband and wife, the man may be promiscuous but each
time the woman catches the man cheating on him, the
man will beg but will do it again. It is also the same
thing if the woman is promiscuous, she will always beg
even though what she did was wrong she will beg but
will do it again. In an organisation, an employee who
normally comes late to work and had been warned
verbally many times will beg each time and will still
come late. The believe of the Blackman is that begging
will always do the magic. A randy pastor or Alfa
caught with another man's wife will beg and blame his
action on the devil. If the pastor or the Imam
embezzles funds belonging to the church or the mosque
he will beg. When a Nigerian contravenes any law and
he is arrested by the law enforcers the next thing is
begging even when he committed the offence knowingly.
A school principal in Ibadan recently was beaten to a
pulp purportedly on the orders of Chief Lamidi
Adedibu. The woman's offence was her refusal to accede
to the request of the vice -principal to release
students of the institution to attend the House of
Assembly Inauguration. They are now begging the woman
to keep quiet and not to take any action so that the
important personality involved would not be
embarrassed; what arrant nonsense? (The vice principal
has since been arrested by the men of the SSS) Events
before and after the April general elections has
further brought the phenomenon of begging to the fore.

It has shown the funny nature of the African man and
how his mind works. One event that was embarrassing to
Nigerians was how a former military administrator in
one of the Northern States, Col. Akherrghger
prostrated flatly for a former PDP Chairman, Barnabas
Gemade begging him to forgive him for whatever offence
he might have committed. The prostrating military
officer wanted Gemade to support his electoral
ambition and he had to go to such a ridiculous extent.
The colonel is now a Senator. During the April
elections, a lot of irregularities took place in the
form of brigandage, thuggery, ballot paper thumb
printing, ballot box snatching and stuffing. In fact,
innocent people were shot. The ruling PDP was the
worst culprit in this respect. In many states
especially in the South- West, no voting took place
because the voters were scared away by the sound of gunfire
from soldiers, mobile policemen and thugs and yet
results were declared. The result of this was that
candidates who later emerged from this flawed process
did not reflect the wishes of the electorate. The
consequence of this is the crisis of governance we
have on our hands in most states across the country.

As usual, begging is a ready made tool employed by
those who wittingly stole the mandate of the people.
In Edo state, many people were surprised when
Professor Osunbor the governor who emerged on the
platform of the PDP announced he was ready to
prostrate for Comrade Adams Oshiomole of the AC who
feels cheated at the polls if that would make him drop
his case at the tribunal and thus allow for 'peace'.
In Ekiti State the phenomena of begging has assumed an
amazing dimension and has been taken to a comical
level. Immediately after the April 14 elections, many
delegations from various socio -cultural groups and
individuals were chasing Dr. Fayemi all over the
country for the purpose of begging him not to go to
the tribunal to reclaim his mandate. It was even
rumoured that traditional rulers planned to beg him in
the traditional way (whatever that means) which he
could not refuse. Discerning observers always wonder
about the logic behind this kind of behaviour. How
could you beg somebody who is aggrieved not to seek
redress in the law court? What makes it more appalling
is the fact that the people begging him are the same
people who directly or indirectly deprived him of his
mandate. Despite the fact that the victory of Mr.
Segun Oni was a subject of litigation at the election
Petition Tribunal, he has been carrying on as if he is
a maximum ruler. Instead of him to engage all,
stakeholders in consultations, he has embarked on
strings of illegalities in his bid to sideline the
opposition but this has backfired as the wheel of
governance in Ekiti has been grounded to a halt.
Again, instead of doing the right thing by reversing
the illegalities, he has resorted to begging members
of the opposition.

In the same vein, the AC lawmakers in Ekiti State are
being 'begged' to join their colleagues in the House
of Assembly. What the 'beggars' did not tell the world
however is that they have excluded the AC lawmakers in
participating in the affairs of the house of Assembly
by enacting the obnoxious standing rule which states
that the Speaker, deputy speaker and other principal
officers must be elected from lawmakers from the
ruling party, a rule which runs contrary to the
provision of the Nigerian Constitution. While the
Ekiti lawmakers are insisting that the standing rule
be reversed by those who connived to enact it in the
first place and the house properly inaugurated, they
were instead busy begging the AC lawmakers. In Osun
State, three out of the eleven AC lawmakers were
arrested in front of the House of Assembly on the day
of inauguration on trumped up charges. The remaining
eight in solidarity with their arrested members
protested against the general harassment and
persecution of the opposition by Brigadier General
Oyinlola's government have stayed away from the house
of Assembly. Instead of the ruling PDP government and
party leaders to make concessions by being magnanimous
in victory, it has resorted to begging the AC
lawmakers to return to the Assembly. The same scenario
of needless begging is playing out at the Federal
level. Former vice –President Atiku Abubakar and AC
Presidential Candidate has been hounded all over the
world from (Abuja to Dubai) while trying to beg him to
withdraw his petition at the tribunal. This is a

man they rigged out of his State in Adamawa. The
riggers humiliated him in his backyard by illegally
disqualifying the AC candidate for the gubernatorial
elections. They made man out in his own backyard are
now begging him all over the world but he has stuck to
his guns. It was reported in the dailies that the
Emirs have been begging the Presidential Candidate of
the ANPP, General Muhammed Buhari to drop his petition
and join some of his party members in the Government
of National Unity by Yar'Adua.

But like his AC counterpart, he has rebuffed this
move. There is nothing really bad about begging or
apologizing if somebody has done something wrong
unintentionally but begging is meaningless and
ridiculous when it is used as a tool of blackmail by
those who would always willingly do wrong only to fall
back to begging after the damage must have been done.
The election petitions at the tribunals must run their
course and no amount of begging must be allowed to
truncate this process. It is dangerous for the polity
to sacrifice justice on the altar of begging. It is
then we shall begin to hear phrases such as 'please
let us move the state forward 'or 'please for the sake
of peace and progress let us forget the past and move
forward'. If the electoral heist is not redressed by
the court, it would be worse in 2011 as those begging
now would be more daring and desperate because they
know that begging will always do the trick even when
innocent lives have been lost. Peace and moving
forward is only possible with justice.

•Jamiu is a media consultant and columnist


kharuldeen