SOLILOQUY: Bi Iku ba'n pa ojugba eni - Nigerian Entertainment Today

By Ayeni Adekunle

?It is only in the presence of death, that we can truly appreciate life??

The past few weeks have been filled with parables. Bi iku ba?n pa ojugba eni, as the Yorubas will say, owe ni?n pa fun?ni. And the deaths have been frequent: Amadi Ogbonna, Femi Ajayi (FA), HRH Ilufemiloye Oyedeji (the aged father of my good friend ?Layinka Oyedeji), IK Brian, Remi Osholake, and just last week, Cletus Nwachukwu of The Guardian.

I?ve seen death close up. After my mom died in 2004, I was so sick I could not attend her wake keep or burial. When you?re so sick that hospitals are giving you back your money and asking your family to take you elsewhere, you know there?s something seriously wrong. I?ve lost a sibling, lost my father, and several close friends and relatives. But it?s impossible to understand, or get used to the principles of death and dying. So each time I hear of another death, whether of someone old or young, I shiver.

I know we have different destinies and destinations; different fates. But I still can?t help but wonder ? what if that was me? You know the feeling, right?

We carry ourselves like we own the world; like we know how we came to be; how or why we got here. Most times, we get so carried away, absorbed in our own self-importance, we forget we?re just like candles in the wind, like the moods of an unstable person; we forget we?re like power supply from PHCN ? here this minute, gone the next. Bosses act like semi gods, landlords behave as if the world begins and ends on their property. The rich believe they?re superior to the poor, the healthy look at the sick with pity, the privileged look down on the lowly, with no plans of picking them up. And death sits around the corner, playing ludo with his friends; his wrapper tied firmly around his waist, pako in his mouth, as he runs through his list and decides whom to ?take? next.? As it turns out, he doesn?t decide to pick the poor over the rich; the sick over the healthy, the educated over the illiterate, or the masses over the powerful. He doesn?t decide the servant deserves death more than his master. He doesn?t discriminate.

And that?s why I shiver. Because, each minute I breathe could be my last; it could be yours. It doesn?t matter who?s in good health and who?s in ICU. Someone in ICU today may get better and live for another 40 years, whereas some of their friends or family weeping for them in their ICU moments, might pass on one week after. My good friend Alaba Whensu died in 1994, after only complaining of a headache. Our friend FA was found dead in his car. Amadi had worked all day the day he died. He was not in an accident on his way home; he wasn?t hit by a Policeman?s stray bullet. Just an asthma attack at work, and that?s it. Remember Tunmise Adekunle? The THISDAY writer died on his chair in his Ojodu home while working on his stories for the week. Minutes before the crash that ended Dagrin?s life, he was on the phone with some friends. Look at CD John? Or MC Loph who was en route the village for his wedding?

Five years ago, my friend Kingsley James was taking his family out on a quiet Sunday evening when robbers shot into his car, seriously injuring his wife and her months-old baby. His wife, Adeyinka, 31, did not survive it. Blame her death on the robbers, and on the horrible state of our emergency and medical services. My pop, Anthony Adefaratimi Ayeni was in great spirits when we had popcorn and drinks at my sister?s Gbagada home on the night of May 9, 2011. When he became restless later and had to be rushed to the hospital, the rains and bad road ensured they couldn?t make the less than 10 minutes journey on time. The first car got stuck in the mud, and they had to send for another car from the house. When a man is dying, every second counts.

I believe my father, like Kingsley James? wife, may have lived, if we were in a place like America, Germany or Britain. If you stop for a minute and look around you, your family, friends, colleagues or neighbours, I?m sure you?ll find you can point out a few preventable deaths or misfortunes. If you can?t find any, think of the ALUU4. Think of the DANA victims.

Honestly, it?s actually easier to die here, in Nigeria, than most other places I have been to. My health situation in 2004 became so worse because the first hospital I was taken to had misdiagnosed. I?ve since found out that?s a big problem around here. So if the hospitals don?t kill you, the Police could. Or the armed robbers. Or? floods. Or traffic. If you don?t die in a plane crash or road accident, Boko Haram bombs might be waiting for you in church next Sunday, to help Mr Death complete his assignment. With so many things working together against our survival, it?s no surprise that the average life span of the Nigerian has been put at 47 years. How old are you?

We all want to live long and grow old. We want to have good health, travel the world, see our grand children and enjoy the best of life. But that guy sitting in the corner, with his wrapper and chewing stick, is daily looking for whom to snatch and transport to the other side. Unfortunately, there?s no ?expo?, and he cannot be bribed to either tell us who?s next, or swap names. Aren?t we then better off living this minute like we won?t see the next? Don?t worry, that?s not a bad thing. So no need to be scared. While living this minute like you won?t see the next does not mean one should start designing one?s obituary advert, write one?s obsequies, book a spot at the cemetery and go through the details of one?s burial with the planner, so we?re certain everything goes our way when we?re finally gone, it also does not mean we should live in panic and subsistence; living with no future ambition.

What it means, really, is that we should be the best that we can be today, in all areas of our lives. It means we should make the best of today, instead of procrastinating ? because, for all you know, tomorrow might never come?

Source: http://thenetng.com/2012/11/soliloquy-bi-iku-ban-pa-ojugba-eni/

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