Wednesday, May 30, 2007

tick-tock tick-tock then nada


i feel like i'm in a bloody anti-climax. tick-tock tick-tock the timer counts down to 00:00 and then, just as we brace ourselves and excpect the worst...nothing.

the bomb fails to go off, the rocket won't launch, the calabash tips over but it's abominable contents fail to spill out.

so maybe it's not as dramatic as that whole y2k bug thing. maybe we (or is it just me) were being a bit too cynical in expecting a bit of drama on May 29th (democracy day...hmmmpff). or perhaps not, these days, cynicism is the Nigerian reality. remember that half-assed attempt to 'blow up' the INEC HQ on the morning of the Presidential elections? wasteful and potentially disastrous as that was it sure did stir things up a bit, and we still dunno whodunnit ordowe?

which brings us to that rather uneventful event at the Eagle Square yesterday. no demonstrators, no detractors chanting, no rolling gas cylinder-laden, well filled petrol tankers to add some colour to the event, nothing. what would have been the highest point for me even ended up to be a dud-i was hoping at least one of the presidential outriders who were 'thrilling' the crowd by performing dangerous stunts on their government issued bikes (with the taxpayers' fuel at #75 per litre) would fall off, but no, nothing, nada.

in 1999 Obasanjo had one star phrase from his speech: NO SACRED COWS

in 2003 nobody was really interested in what Obasanjo had to say...by then we had more sacred cows than there are in India

yesterday Yar'Adua had a good phrase for us to hold over his head and beat him with whenever he acts contrarily: SERVANT LEADER

we'll hold him to that and hope he's the servant of the people rather than OBJ's puppet. even Geppetto let Pinnocchio live at some point. let's see how long the strings stay on, and get pulled.
anticlimactic as yesterday was, i think we are on our way to a better place. i'll stay cynical to stay alive. but for now i'll have to go and find my climax somewhere else