Zombie no go go, unless you tell am to go (zombie), Zombie no go stop, unless you tell am to stop (zombie), Zombie no go turn, unless you tell am to turn (zombie), Zombie no go think, unless you tell am to think (zombie) . . .

My apologies to Fela Anikulapo Kuti even as I realised that the above lyrics of his song were inspired by a military junta. I take the liberty here to use it as an illustration of the behavioural pattern of a typical Nigerian public office-holder who is a personification of the accessible “public” food is ready restaurant where they wantonly binge on our amala and ewedu.

The fear of denied access to the bounty of the public till effectively keeps underlings in thrall. Of course, once they leave office they can readily and speedily, much to the envy of chameleon’s, begin to preach what was otherwise sacrilegious when they were in office, still

obviously enthralled by the nectar of pecuniary benefits. Such changeling behaviour, no doubt, can mostly be seen through and put down as withdrawal symptoms from being weaned of sucking from the public till.

In cognizance of the typical Nigerian public office-holder, Salihu Tanko Yakasai is a rarity; an anomaly that has spewed the sacrilegious, not just once but twice. Previously suspended for his first sacrilege, he has now been dismissed, terminated and cast out.

How dare he commit the ultimate sacrilege a public office-holder in these parts can commit! His present travails have elicited some sensitivity and insensitivity as well from all quarters.

Are Nigerians allowed to be sensitive or insensitive about an unfolding disaster of a ship at sea buffeted by terrible storms while the captain is ensconced in his cocooned cabin, seemingly leaving the fate of the ship to all manner of shipmates running amok?

Are Nigerians allowed to be sensitive or insensitive to the state of the nation where the power inherent in the sovereignty of the Nigerian state through its organs to secure the lives and property of Nigerians is in danger of being overwhelmed and supplanted by the powers of all

manner of terror practitioners?

Are Nigerians allowed to be sensitive or insensitive when gnashing their teeth at their helplessness in getting submerged deeper and deeper into the debilitating mire of ever-increasing impoverishment?

Are Nigerians allowed to be sensitive or insensitive to the rampaging hydra-headed monster of ceaseless and unbridled corruption that continues to see the hemorrhaging of our resources, effectively dooming Nigerians to poverty even as perpetrators faint and “off your mic” their way out of any consequences?

Are Nigerians allowed to be sensitive or insensitive to the spectre of state “apparatchik” so bent on silence that it will flag down “danfos and okadas” to help move any protesters of silence to “gulags” when banned animal cage, Black Maria, will not start up?

Like Seun Kuti is of Fela’s stock, and like Folarin Falana (Falz) is Falana’s progeny – so it appears that Salihu Yakasai is, indeed, the scion of Tanko Yakasai. Apples don’t fall far from the tree, do they? And apples are just great and quite special unless, of course, they are of the rotten kind? Whatever your dispositions towards any of the aforementioned father figures, they can surely never be accused of being “silent” or “rotten” and so it appears that Yakasai is, indeed, his father’s son – office be damned.

What is clear is that office-holder or not, beholden or not, Yakasai would have been in good company in nascent America when Federalists and Jeffersonians, notwithstanding sometimes very strong differences in held opinions where nonetheless, alongside their compatriots,

resolutely committed in one accord to forever perpetuating the rights of all to liberty and its inherent freedoms.

May the Almighty give us the grace to eschew any insensitivity relating to the rights of liberty of all Nigerians? The rights of Nigerians to free speech and all other freedoms are enshrined in our constitution and should just “be.” Surely, even office-holders and god’s of the now must reckon that a day will come when another will take their place and, they too, like other citizens would want the right to be sensitive or insensitive according to their consciences and, most importantly, according to all our constitutional freedoms.

•Victor Ikhatalor, Human rights defender and good governance advocate, tweets

@MyTribeNigeria; e-mail: kingjvic7@gmail.com.

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