Suddenly, somehow, you realise that you have made it. You remember how you swam against the ocean's currents and you were not drowned.
He was a terrible god. No! He was bloodthirsty and a killjoy. Or better still, he was terrible, bloodthirsty, and a killjoy - all of them combined. How else can you describe Chinua Achebe's 'Aru oyi dedede' - the god who takes a man's life when it is sweetest to him.' He must have been a really terrible god, Aru oyi dedede, with a very perverse sense of humour. Figure it out for yourself. You have struggled all your life for relevance. You were not born with a silverspoon. Your parents were extremely poor, and most of your childhood, you could not remember a day you ever had three square meals - not even on your birthday when, with a stroke of luck, you found yourself sharing a bottle of Sprite with your siblings to celebrate your special day. You remember with painful memories how you went to school barefooted and hungry. You remember looking at the well off kids with understandable envy, wishing that their parents were yours.
All these experiences were enough to scar you and put you down permanently. But not you! Instead, they all contributed to making you resolve to succeed, no matter what it took. So you scraped and scratched, scrounged, and saved, as the years rolled by. Suddenly, somehow, you realise that you have made it. You remember how you swam against the ocean's currents and you were not drowned, how you were buffeted by the mighty winds and you were not blown away, how you burnt the midnight candle and you were not humiliated, how you denied yourself the frivolities of youthfulness and conquered your raging passions. All for this moment! You have made it! You stand it awe of your achievements and survey the mountains from which you ascended the heights. And you are grateful and thankful that you did not give up. And just when you were about to take delight in consuming the fruits of your labour, to begin the process of living the life you had worked for, to begin the process of repaying your parents for their steadfast support in spite of their circumstances, Aru oyi dedede, the killjoy, comes to claim your life. He takes everything - your sweat, your hopes, your expectations, your joy, and your life - just when it is sweetest to you. Aru oyi Dede is a bloodthirsty, terrible, and perverse god - the ultimate killjoy.
The unfolding story surrounding Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari aka 'super cop', Ramon 'Hushpuppi' Abbas, and the Federal Investigation Bureau, (FBI) in the United States is becoming one more vindication of the power of 'time' as the greatest revealer of all things. When time combines with truth to hunt a person down, the consequence or consequences are always devastating. When will people learn that whatever is done in the dark will eventually be exposed to the light? When will they learn the dangers of operating in the shadows, or living a double life? Have we not been told that you cannot be both hot and cold at the same time? That you cannot run with the hares and hunt with the hounds?
It seems that Abba Kyari never believed in the impossibility of eating his cake and having it. Yes! the investigation in far away United States is still ongoing and we must refrain from hasty conclusions, but we know that the reason this situation does not bode well for Abba Kyari is because it is a foreign based investigation by the thorough, no nonsense FBI. There is no room for the usual sacred cows in Nigeria that must be protected no matter how. There is no way Abba Kyari can be resurrected and rehabilitated the way the killer policeman of the Apo six infamy was brought back to life and rehabilitated. Life is indeed a bitch. It turns on its own circle, spewing forth good and bad. But woe to those who sow the wind. They will, in due cause reap the whirlwind.
Abba Kyari, the super cop is down, brought low by a common low life fraudster who thrived in deceit, lies, and theft. He tells us stories of tailors, assassination attempts and his heroic role in preventing the killings of Hushpuppi's family. But he does not tell us of his trip to Dubai and his rides in cars provided by Hushpuppi and his stolen millions in dollars. He is silent about the exchange of messages and pictures with the internet fraudster, and his attempts to impress Hushpuppi with his various publicly acknowledged achievements as a super cop. Of course Hushpuppi was mightily impressed. So impressed was he that, like Boko-Haram who pledged loyalty to the 'impressive' ISIS, he, Abba Rahmon alias Hushpuppi pledged his loyalty to the super cop with the words:
"l'm really happy to be your boy"
If only they knew that Aru oyi dedede, the god who takes a man's life when it is sweetest to him, was around the corner.
Now the super cop has been brought down by Hushpuppi and he has become a super villain.
Somebody once said:
"When mugu fall, bobo go fall. When bobo fall, police go chop."
But what happens when mugu, bobo, and police fall?
How are the mighty fallen. Let he that is standing take heed lest he fall.
Aru Oyi dedede is just around the corner.