THE LOST TREASURES OF CHINUA ACHEBE

Novelist Chinua Achebe

They are the proverbs… They intersperse all of Achebe's works, and they are quickly forgotten, lost and neglected, by a people for whom they are meant to elicit deep thought and create a future. A future that takes into cognizance their history.

“Proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten”… But Nigerians probably prefer to eat the yam without the oil. For we neglected the essence of the wholesome soul food that the sage Achebe prepared for us. By Jove, even he, Achebe, sometimes forgot the sweetness of the meal he prepared. For in our interactions so far as a people, we have not shown the depth required, the depth expected of a people properly trained in the art of living together, or the science of nation-building!

“Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter”. Replace the lions here with us Africans, and the hunter as the white man. He came and consistently hunted us down. We were the quarry. And he turned around and wrote glowingly about his prowess. We did nothing! We absorbed all the stories told about us as the gospel truth.

We refused to seize the moment, to create a future. Winston Churchill, Britain's greatest Prime Minister, had answered when he was asked by a journalist 'how would history see you?'… “History will be kind to me… for I will write it”. Chinua had sought to remind us of the importance of writing OUR OWN HISTORY. But the message was lost on us!

Another priceless gem escaped into the vast sewage system that we call our minds. Perhaps never to be found again… Writing our own history is not only about reliving the distant past. It is not about conjuring fantastic and romantic stories that sometimes play up 'our glorious past', even if that past was not that glorious… It is about sometimes telling ourselves the truth, for it is said that a people's history not only tells them from whence they came, but also why they are where they are, and of course the destination they should aspire to achieve!

We have not shown we understand the distillation of history. Or even the transience of time. Worse still, Africans and Nigerians especially, are not capturing our contemporary times the way we should. Are we defined by the voodoo and ostentation we show on Nollywood?

The armed robbery incidences and mutual distrust? Is that what we are about as a people? Are there no other stories to tell? Why are most of our writers steeped in fiction? For the fear of telling the truth exactly as it is? We no wan die? But who no go die? Why can we not see that in doing what no one else is doing, lies immortality.

Just like Achebe lives on today, in the hearts of millions around the world? Writing our history, paradoxically, is the same as creating our future. The focus of every poem, every fictional writing, every documentary, should have posterity at its base. Our actions and inactions, must be strategic.

In this age of information, every move is important. That is how the white man (the hunter), was able to “glorify himself” with the story of every hunt. At our expense (the lions). But our narrative, till date, is turned against ourselves. We choose each other as enemies, we play consistently into the hands of the hunter. If only we knew…

“A man who lives on the banks of the Niger, should not wash his hands with spittle”… Ha! Nigeria was even named after the Niger river! But look at us today. A few have effectively cornered the commonwealth! The vast majority are left in the lurch! They ordinarily have palm oil at home, but they eat their yams white, bare. They have salt, but they eat bland food. They have mattresses, but they sleep on the bare floor. They have meat aplenty, but their meals are unbalanced.

All because a few who see themselves as 'anointed' by who? decide consistently, over the years, to arrogate what belongs to everybody. They have embraced a worse form of capitalism, than what the creators of capitalism themselves had in mind! They build mansions of a thousand rooms. They display their shallowness; their belief that greatness is in earthly acquisitions. Hmm… the people are at the banks of River Niger, yet they wash their hands in spittle…

“The sun will shine on those who stand, before it shines on those who kneel under them”. We have advocated that we should get more serious as a people. Alas, we are counted among the top three countries in the drinking of champagne. That was in 2011. Today, we are probably numero uno.

Our leaders feast daily. Its an 'owambe' government. They rebury their great grandfathers, their gorge on meat and drinks. And women. And then they lay prostrate. No one is taking the brave steps required for a national renaissance. So we wait, and wait, for the sun to shine on us. If only we could get a purchase. The Chinese and Americans, the Europeans, tower above us, intellectually, and in patriotism, and in bravery. They get the full benefit of the sun, while we stoop in prayers… And in delirium….

“Eneke the bird, says that since men have learnt to shoot without missing, he has learnt to fly without perching”. Hmmm. Achebe is telling us about the difficulty of living in today's world, especially as a collective.

He is telling us about the near impossibility for an unwary people, to build and maintain a nation. Nations never sleep. They keep taking advantage of those who are stupid. George Orwell had said 'A people are able to sleep peaceably at night, because of rough men, standing guard, ready to do violence on their behalf'.

Those are the people of Britain, USA, China and the rest. Here in Africa, in Nigeria, our “rough men” have risen in violence against us. Most who are saddled with working for the people, have since sold out their souls. Therefore we didn't learn how to fly without perching. And every stone, every bullet, aimed at us, hit the target, with devastating effect! Who will save Africa? Who will save Nigeria? Achebe adds another word of wisdom “If we fall back, can we complain that others are rushing forward?”

And yet another “When suffering knocks on your door, and you say there is no seat, he tells you not to worry, because he has brought his own stool”! Wishful thinking! That is what killed Africa, nay Nigeria! 'It cannot happen to us'… 'We are a great nation'… 'God forbid!' But beyond wishful thinking, we forgot that God is for every man, and only assists those who assist themselves. We do nothing tangible to prevent suffering from becoming the chairman of our stead. No planning. No savings. No introspection. No strategy. Only parties and enjoyment. Abeg, pop the champagne!! That is all our young musicians sing about. Champagne, Bakassi and Boobies. What a future ahead of us!

“He is a fool, who treats his brother worse than a stranger”. That goes to all who hurl insults across tribal and religious divides, for a living. We are brothers. All Nigerians. All Africans. We are united by our history of suffering. By colonialism and the rest. Why can we not see this? But it could be worse he warns. “When brothers fight to death, a stranger inherits their father's estate”.

This seems to be getting closer in our country! “The language of young men is to pull down and destroy; but an old man speaks of conciliation”. I begin to feel older than some grey haired men, who recently called for the government to put arms in the hands of Nigerians, so that retaliation could be the order of the day. My people say, not all old men are wise…

But there's even more admonition for all, on the best way of sojourning this planet. “A traveler to distant places should make no enemies”… Or better still, especially for those who have enjoyed the kindness of every tribe and tongue, and every religion in Nigeria, but still harbor venom in their hearts instead of gratitude, he says “Travellers with closed minds can tell us little except about themselves”. Talk about walking through life, being blindfolded by selfishness and inordinate and foolish ambition!

Achebe was futuristic! “A disease that has never been seen before cannot be cured with everyday herbs”. Apart from emphasizing the authenticity of research and development, and of science, this adage speaks to the mind of Africans who are deeply rooted in the past, who don't want to change at all. Those Africans who are still busy burning witches in year 2013 in Kenya and Nigeria, Liberia and Cameroon.

Those Nigerian 'Christians' who are busy forcing their children to drink Sulfuric Acid in order to cast out witches, or driving nails into the brains of little children as a form of exorcism. Those lazy, dimwit Africans who are so irresponsible, they have to shift their woes on the supernatural. Achebe is saying we cannot keep doing things in the same way while expecting different results! That is called insanity.

He is saying we cannot keep playing politics wherein 90% of the commonwealth serves a huge, useless bureaucracy, and at the same time, expect economic prosperity for all. He is saying we have to be less greedy if we don't want to be extinct.

And lastly, “The man who has never submitted to anything will soon submit to the burial pit”. This goes to those who feel they are invincible and on top of the world. And we are not in shortage of them in Nigeria. Often they are people who never imagined themselves to one day come to positions of power. As George Bernard Shaw said 'Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get to positions of power, corrupt power'.

I have since concluded that those who have constituted themselves into Nigeria's albatross really are cowards at heart. They surround themselves with paraphernalia of power, and money. But they are afraid at heart. When, not if, they depart mother earth, they should by now know, that even their children will be afraid to identify with their names. But people like Achebe are not afraid of death. For they are even greater in their positions of eternal rest. This is my tribute to Professor Chinualumogu Achebe. Am I not honored to be able to write this?