In his epic novel, Animal Farm, George Orwell (real name Eric Blair) painted the picture of an animal family which badly wanted to free itself from the shackles and bracelets of humankind. The animals protested what they perceived as man’s unkindness towards them. They till the earth, they manicure the lawn, they plant and pull the carts at harvest but greedy man takes all the spoils home. And when they age, the same greedy and shylock man slits their throats and cook them as condiments in his animal-flavoured broth.

This must stop, they reasoned. So, all the animals conspired (some were actually cajoled) to chase humans out of their(?) farm and take possession of their heritage. The conspiracy to oust man from the farm was successful but as the plot continued, some of the animals realised to their chagrin that victory from bondage was not yet won. The elite animals (dogs and pigs – politicians in the farm -) in this instance, seized the moment to assert authority and embark on a mindless ego trip. Ego collided with quest for power and control of the animal kingdom. At the end, the lower animals (the masses) suffered as they were denied basic food. Worst of it all, their fundamental rights which the elite animals promised to restore from greedy man were brazenly trampled upon.

At the end, moral animal transformed to morbid beast complete with all the tendencies of medieval tyrants. While the lower animals toiled and tilled in painful animation, the elite animals popped champagne, clinked glasses and took the form of wicked man.  The Orwellian plot may be about animals but it vividly depicts the Nigerian political narrative. Nigerian politicians have carved out for themselves a kingdom of their own; a kingdom of opulence and affluence while the rest of the people are consigned to a lower kingdom where squalor collide with pain on the streets.

Nigeria is another Animal Farm with two kingdoms. And as was the case in the Orwellian classic, both kingdoms are split along sharp lines. The elite animals, the politicians, too drunk with power, money and the dainties of life, have massed to the stage in a dance of shame. From the polarized Peoples Democratic  Party (PDP) to the  ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), there is no abatement in the devious manifestations of politicians at this critical time of the nation’s life when the masses of the people, abused and debased, pant after good governance.

I have watched with amusement the latest monkey-dance in the PDP. Things have fallen apart in Africa’s biggest political party (a ‘feat’ they trot out with pride as if being the biggest political party translates to biggest enterprise).

In Orwellian Animal Farm, every moment throws up its peculiar scene. The nation’s political stage mirrors this. The recent implosions across the nation draw Nigerians closer to the reality that George Orwell may have envisioned a Nigerian state far ahead of its time. In Orwell’s Animal Farm, the mantra was: ‘All animals are equal’. This would later change to ‘All animals are equal but some are more equal than others’.

The exertions of the Niger Delta Avengers and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) remind one of the birds, sheep and lesser animals in Animal Farm. Check out this scenario. One fateful day, the police and the Army coalesced against pro-Biafra agitators in Anambra and harried them, mowing some down into early grave. The next day, some Igbo political elite were in Aso Rock pumping hands with the President and loving it as eloquently expressed on their faces. The pictures from State House photographers did not lie at all. The Igbo leaders were very happy that their kindred are being killed in the most gruesome manner and for no justification order than that they engaged in a procession to demand for their own sovereignty. It is their right to do so as long as they are not violent. The poor are killed for the rich to prosper.

And this: a group that styled itself Niger Delta Avengers is blowing up pipelines in the creeks. Members of this group are poor, disgruntled folks, some without high school. They fight for the oil harnessed in their backyards (so they claim). But in reality, they are fighting and dying for the elite of the Niger Delta and those of Nigeria in general. It was the ceaseless agitation of poor Niger Delta militants that begot 13 percent derivation and birthed the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC); but who profited most from these? The elite, of course. They received the 13 percent accruals and squandered it. They own oil blocs (never mind the misnomer that more northerners own oil blocs than the Niger Delta elite)  and run the cartel in upstream and downstream sectors. Many of the red-eyed militants were killed in the crossfire, buried and forgotten.  And the elite stand on their graves to throw parties with the spoils of oil for which the buried and forgotten poor died.

In Nigeria’s north, the poor throng the streets killing in the name of God, the poor are used as bomb couriers and suicide bombers while the rich are in Lagos, Abuja, Saudi Arabia and London reveling in obscene wealth and riotous fantasies. This is Animal Farm.

I do not in any way subscribe to the agitations of the Avengers and IPOB even as I strongly condemn the high-handedness of the Buhari government in resolving the issues at stake. Rather than unleash maximum military force against the agitators, government should unleash real development in these areas. Each time I see images of Boko Haram terrorists, the now emboldened killer squad called Fulani herdsmen, the IPOB fighter or the daring militants, I see the picture of a lesser animal in Orwell’s Animal Farm; the picture of a man wickedly denied access to learning and knowledge just so they would remain  eternal puppets in the hands of the elite animals.

Believe it or not, some Nigerians are more equal than others. Nigerian politicians have consistently demonstrated that they are above the law, above the people and unaccountable to no one. They are like the Pigs in Animal Farm – muck-raking and raking the muck at the same time. They are like Napoleon, adjudged by the lower animals to be always right. Of course they are always right.  And it is their right to politic with the destiny of the multitude.  The great Nnamdi Azikiwe, one man who fought the white man, matching him intellect for intellect, for the independence of Nigeria, would be writhing in pain in his grave. His brand of politics of logic, soundness of mind and meritocracy has been torn to shreds. In its place, the modern day Nigerian politician has raised a tainted banner spangled with mediocrity and fervor of primitive looting. Yet, while they politic, governance suffers and so do the people.

I see also the Animal Farm script in President Buhari’s style of leadership. Twice in less than three weeks he has shelved his trip, first to Lagos and now to Ogoni land. Was the President responding to the almighty security report? If he was, why ask Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to represent him on both occasions?  Is the VP immune to public revolt? But all animals are not equal. Some have to fall for others to stand. I dare say that by refusing to make a historic visit to Ogoni, the President has missed yet another opportunity to demonstrate a total allegiance to the Nigerian nation state.

Nigeria may have won independence in 1960, but that solitary event has also put them in further bondage, this time, in the hands of their own people …the politicians. It is a rehash of the Orwellian script: painful and sad.

Published in Sunday Sun, June 5, 2016