There is, so said Solomon David, the third King of old Israel, a time to live and a time to die. People gets born everyday and likewise they die, daily. But when a person shall become indifferent to oxygen is a day nobody knows.
This Death takes his victims, most of the times unawares. A man may just take a stroll down his street, only for him to return to his abode a corpse. Courtesy, the Grain Reaper.
And just about anything can serve as an Eviction order the mortal, sending him willy-nilly down the River styx. A feather has knocked down a giant before, not to talk of a sneeze.
A wink, perharps from a femine fatale, has done deadly damage. That was why a sage I known sang this song.
Iku O, Iku O,
Maderu iku bami
Igbese ni’ku je
Gbogbo wa la ma san
Olowo aiye aku
Talaka ilu olo
Ologbon a ye n’ku
Ka to wa so mugo
Ajaja awon ti won
lawon to ni le
gbogbo won lo ma ku o
gbere!
Death, Oh, Death
Don’t threaten with Death
Is death not a general debt
That all mortals must re-pay
The wealthy do die
Certainly, so too the wretched
The wise and the clever perish
Not to mention scatter-brains
In particular those who rejoice
And best of being principalities
In this world
All will succumb to death all!
Dying, being so common-place is no big deal, after all. How the society receives the news an individual’s-death is a different thing all-together.
Generally as a role, the society regrets the exit of a member it considers useful or promising such exits are marked with palpable display of sorrow. But when the story is otherwise, society rejoices and heaves sighs of relief. “Ketekete ku, iso pin” (Good riddance to bad rubbish) they say.
On June 8 1998, when the news of the sudden death of the “Maximum Ruler General Sanni Abacha filtered to town, Majority of Nigerians, became intoxicated with exhilarating joy! Spontaneous celebrates broke out in many parts of the country, almost as if everybody had become jackpot millionaires.
The reason was not far fetched-when alive, the despotic and murderous Abacha was a terror to his nation.
Last Monday (23rd February 2009) was a day of general contagion of excitement and happiness in the Lagos state judiciary and the bar. Some people were so happy that they walked about on their heads.
I made a discreet enquiry as to the cause of popular delirium and discovered that the cause of the mass happiness was the cover story of an “Obnoxious Publication”
I went to read the story myself and I couldn’t understand why people were besides themselves with excitement. To me it was actually a small story of a Chief Judge who will soon leave office ahead of his due time.
Pray what’s so special about that?
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