Welldone To Those Who Choose To Laugh At the 'Oga-At-The-Top' Syndrome

Let me first start by saying that I have watched the ‘Oga at the top’ clip and it is quite hilarious. And then, let me advice those who have not watched the clip to go and watch it. But in case you still haven’t watched it, I shall give you a very brief summary.

Mr Shem Obafaiye, the Lagos state commandant of the civil defence corps was a guest on channels TV Sunrise daily a few days ago and was asked a simple question by the male presenter of the segment: “what is the website of NSCDC?” He didn’t know. He tried to bluff his way out of it by mentioning that his Oga at the top had not given him permission to say it. His exact words were ‘the website of NSCDC, I cannot categorically tell you one now. The one that we are going to make use of is going to remain known by my ‘Oga at the top.’ After several convincing attempts by the obviously amused Channels Presenters, Mr Shem was persuaded to give up the website address and he finally said ‘It is www.nscdc’ he pauses and mutters and said ‘Yes so’ and then coughs and adds ‘that’s all.’ It was embarrassingly obvious that Mr Shem didn’t know and was merely giving excuses to cover-up his ignorance on national TV. Instead of him to confess that he didn’t know or couldn’t remember which would have caused him lesser embarrassment, he feigned excuses which exposed his complete ignorance and incompetency! Since then, the clip has gone viral on every social network from BB to twitter to face book to YouTube! Cheeky Nigerians have even gone ahead to produce musical clips from it (there are even different styles of a very hilarious ‘my oga at the top’ musical remix - some on guitar etc - about his goof on YouTube), beautiful T-shirts imprinted with the words ‘my oga at the top’ etc.

Recently I read an article pleading with Nigerians to stop ridiculing Mr Shem because the writer felt that Nigerians had gone too far in making a mockery of a man’s mistake etc. Some writers like Segun Adekoye even went as far as wearing the cap of self judgement and calling Nigerians who joined in the laughter ‘shame on you all.” Because in his own righteous opinion, he believed that Nigerians are exhibiting the ‘#Aluu 4’ mentality. I beg to differ. Not only do I want this mockery to go on but I wish someone would put it on a billboard, print face-caps, and produce mugs and souvenirs with it – because to me, it is quite a brilliant attempt at satire. This is my own opinion only and many may not agree with me. But those with a great sense of humour in seeing the ridiculous in the ridicule – of using laughter to bring to light a serious national issue in a country besieged by all forms of incompetency from the top of governance to the ground level will see this as an opportunity to let off steam by laughing. And for that laughter I say to you all – Well-done! Why?

Yearly the Transparency International (a global coalition against corruption) scores countries based on how corrupt their public sectors are perceived to be. This is meant to force the government of these nations to take notice and act to stem the corruption tide in their countries. The CPI (corruption perception index) places Nigeria in the 135th position out of 176 countries surveyed. Nigeria is also listed among the world’s most corrupt places to do business. Where does Nigeria stand in good governance? While Nigeria holds a good position in the AU because our foreign policy strongly promotes democratic unity in Africa and we are actively involved in peace-keeping missions in Africa, Nigeria has no remarkable records of good governance in its domestic front. Nigeria is a sorry example of bad governance in the African continent. Corruption is endemic in the public sector. Our leaders have appropriated government properties and benefits for their own selfish gains. Basic infrastructural amenities like health, education and fuel are either outrageously expensive or barely inaccessible to ordinary Nigerians. Nigerians are kidnapped and killed daily by criminal and terrorist groups and poverty is widespread in the midst of plenty. Government appointment is based mostly on the culture of mediocrity and not meritocracy - based on a ‘who you know’ mentality, godfatherism or nepotism.
(Please read: Time for good governance in Africa–Transformation of the continent: http://africaw.com/forum/f17/time)

Recent events in the nation especially the Alamieseigha’s pardon has caused outrage in Nigeria. According to Punch news, ‘Jonathan has taken the culture of corruption to horrific levels.’ BBC describes it as an “irresponsible decision.” Nigerians and the world are questioning the quality of leadership that gives pardon to a criminal still wanted for financial fraud outside Nigeria. It is distasteful coming from an insensitive President who doesn’t give a damn about what Nigerians feel.

Enter Mr Shem Obafeiye and his goof. In view of what Nigerians have come to know and understand about their leaders and public sector ‘I-don’t-care’ mentality, is it any wonder why Shem’s blunder is used as the ridicule scapegoat for many an incompetent ‘oga at the top’ syndrome? For anyone to suggest that Nigerians are being unfair to Mr Shem may be due to religious, moral and official hypocrisy. The ridicule of Mr Shem Obafeiye will never be able to capture the daily frustrations of Nigerians. It is only a tip of the iceberg of the realities in play in Nigeria. Non-Nigerians and foreigners wonder how Nigerians put up with the deplorable living conditions that we are subjected to yearly. How do Nigerians put up with the constant mistreatment, abuse, neglect and oppression by our leaders?

Mr Shem goofed; he made a mistake, agreed. Mr Shem also happens to be the civil defence corps commandant of a whole Lagos state, agreed. Mr Shem is a senior management staff of the civil defence corps, agreed. That means as a ‘big oga’ in his own right, he may have been provided with the perks of office like a PA, an SA, a driver, etc. What that means is that, when a serious news station like Channels TV invites you to be a guest on their sunrise daily segment, you should know that you are not appearing on ‘nite of a thousand laughs.’ You also know that you are not appearing on any of the comedy shows hosted by AY or any of our comedians. You are coming for serious discussions that concern your organisations which happen to be the NSCDC. A competent commandant who wants to be taken seriously by the millions of Nigerians and non-Nigerians alike who may be watching this segment should have prepared himself adequately for the likely questions that may be asked. His PA/SA or whatever assistance the government has provided him as a civil defence ‘oga’ would be on hand to help him with any information he would need for the interview. Now even if he didn’t have these assistants, it is expected that he would have prepared for the interview, read-up or brush-up on stuff about his organisation that he might have forgotten. But no, Mr Shem didn’t even do that. He did what many Nigerian ‘ogas’ do – walk into an interview unprepared. Mr Shem’s ignorant action was perceived by a vastly educated and IT-compliant audience as highly disregarding of Nigerians. In a rapidly changing Nigeria where information technology is now at the tips of one’s fingers via the internet, social networks, smart phones, etc Mr Shem’s ignorance for a person of his managerial level in government, came across on that fateful day as a highly incompetent ‘oga’ who chose to take Nigerians for granted. And Nigerians reciprocated by making a full-blown spectacle of him.

I would advice those who cannot understand why Nigerians are laughing to look beyond Mr Shem Obafeiye’s goof. Look beyond the t-shirts and the slogans and then you may begin to come to terms about why Nigerians are laughing. If something terrible happens to me say, I lost a million dollars and rather than cry and whine, I choose to laugh then I may be seen as either hysterical or brave. If my house and all its contents get razed to the ground and I choose to bear it with equanimity by laughing, then my neighbours may regard me as either hysterical or brave. However, how can you beat a child and tell him not to cry? Ok the child now decides to laugh and yet again, you are angry because he is laughing. He cries, you complain. He laughs, you complain. What then do you want him to do? You want to lock him up completely in spite of all the horrible things you’ve done to him and still deprive him of the simple pleasure of laughing? You must be crazy and perhaps evil.

IF I WERE SHEM OBAFEIYE: now supposing I was Shem Obafeiye, I would ask for another interview session with Channels TV. Of course, this time around, I would come well prepared to apologise to Nigerians and may be explain that human that I was, I didn’t know the answer then but I know it now. I would apologise and then laugh at myself to take the bite off me. I would choose to turn a goof of mine into a money making venture after all God has a way of turning our mistakes into testimonies. I would then go to C.A.C/copy right agency and get a patent on the phrase ‘Oga-at-the-top.’ I would use it to create an idea, a very strong conceptual idea about a certain kind of leadership quality. Design car stickers from it and turn it into a humorous money-making venture. Mistakes are bound to happen due to our imperfect human nature itself. It is how we choose to turn those mistakes into good use that makes us better human beings. Our ridicule is not just geared at Shem but it is geared towards every form of abuse and incompetent management that Nigerians are subjected to; it is geared towards a syndrome that is responsible for the disdainful way we are treated by our leaders.

Nigeria’s ridicule of Shem sends a strong message to all Nigerian leaders not to take people for granted because if given the opportunity, they too will be mercilessly ridiculed. The power of laughter in the form of ridicule that Nigerians are exhibiting is a warning to our so called leaders to do their homework first before coming on national TV. Since our leaders won’t listen to the people neither will the people stop ridiculing them. If we don’t make an example of bad governance and incompetent leaders then how can we hope to speak-up against the bad tide of bad governance in the country? Laughter is the salve that keeps us from going mad in this country called Nigeria. You could say it is the opium of suffering Nigerians where religion has failed woefully. If our laughter and ridicule is powerful enough to create change in our public sector and perhaps our government and leadership positions all over Nigeria, then wouldn’t you say the laughter is achieving what incessant complaints, writings, pleadings, pain & misery is not achieving? If our laughter is powerful enough to reach up to the ‘ogas at the top’ and curb this malignant spread of incompetency, reduce bad governance and bring about progressive change, then what are we waiting for? We ought to keep laughing! This culture of dominance and fear created by ‘ogas-at-the-top’ has got to stop! May be this Shem episode has shown Nigerians another way to let off steam. Those who don’t like the laughter can choose to frown and cry – I choose to laugh! And LOL too!

By Chalya Princess Miri-Gazhi
@signetseal