Overrated Knowing: The Power in Accepting Nothingness
God gives out wisdom free, is plainspoken in knowledge and understanding. He's a rich mine of common sense for those who live well, a personal bodyguard to the candid and sincere. 9ja wake D f**k Up.
Man is on an endless pursuit for answers. From all we’ve found and learned, we are yet to know all that there is to know. I am often discombobulated over our acclaimed authority over issues like what it is, how it should be, and what it should look like, except for what it is. Take love, God, Happiness, Joy, Hope, Peace, Purpose, and History among other important variables that cause us to disagree amongst ourselves to mention a few. As far back as the origin of society, men have always disagreed among themselves over trivial things. Consequently, we are in constant battle with our minds (within and without) because we have neglected the glaring fact that we don’t know shit. Hence, we are seeking opinions that are subjectively developed and objectively distributed, hoping that we’ll find a universal knowledge that will chant acceptance and dash all other philosophies that divide us. I recall my days of atheism and agnosticism. I felt hated. But would you blame me? I confronted everything religion, innuendoes, half-baked knowledge, and of course, I hated myself for being in that state of confusion. As much as this piece is not about my atheism story or deep philosophy, I would love to categorically state that “No one knows anything, including me”. That said, this piece is about a country, a people, who should have never been forced to live side by side with each other, regardless of the prevailing circumstances that led to their union. Yes, Nigeria. Let’s talk about this fucking country, shall we?
Before the amalgamation of this “great country” in 1914, there lived a man who for some fucking reason felt he knew it all. He had learned all there is to be learned from his stupid expensive chemistry class in England, and for the practicals, He decided to experiment with people (It was like a game played among the European countries I think they’ll call it “Let’s fuck Africa chemically”. This is besides, stealing their resources). This country was born from a mixture of divergent Aliens with other aliens, like Martians and humans from movies. I am sure you get the drill. However, there was one thing his chemistry teacher I believe never taught him and that is “chemical reaction was a real thing”. What am I saying he knew, and he was curious to see the outcome In a few months the results were out and this dude was excited about what he had created, his chemistry teacher was prouder and his government fucking promoted him (I mean they should. Still something Nigeria should learn from). Story cut short, Nigeria was born from a laboratory that was run by very stupid people, who described themselves as the enlightened of their generation. A fucking break would do from that nonsense. Nigeria has since grown into a very beautiful woman. I know many would disagree but the fact remains that she has had her very rough days with more to come, and she is still smiling. She is in a big mess right now (like a dark fart) but you know? She is Nigeria, she is beautiful, she can get out of any situation. Again, she isn’t natural, she was made in a fucking lab, and she is a different breed. Now, that’s was vivid picture of the first nonsense we choose to believe, and we stand by it because we say “we know it all”. like really bro?
Let’s fast-forward to 2015, 2019, 2023. These dates are not randomly picked as I can assure you. However, for the sake of building bridges, let’s list them again: 2015, 2019 and 2023. These years are the second evidence pointing to a sequential arrangement of a bad chemical mixture hence a catastrophic chemical reaction. The dates listed above, for the benefit of my non-Nigerian readers, are some selected election years that I was fortunate to have witnessed as an informed person (relatively) because I followed them back to back. These elections among other things projected a century of the “I know best” philosophy popular among the politicians and their victims, Nigerians. Hilariously, political analysts like myself who tell everyone who cared to listen about the numerous problems of Nigeria do not in any way know shit, but we went to school so we deserve to be listened to anyway. The “I know best” philosophy is controversially largely dominating among Nigerians. It is like the engine room of campaigns, elections, and governance in Nigeria. It is very funny to read their opinion on X (Twitter), I cannot get enough of the ‘I know best’- They strongly believe that they know more than others, and their choices are absolute and right. They give their ignorance a religious and ethnic coloration, which further changes the dimension of their “I know best” philosophies. If you are not a Nigerian it would be utterly difficult to understand the nature of such thinking. Though your nation may be plagued with such, and I can assure you it does. However, Nigeria, as beautiful as she is, is bruised with eternal wounds that were gifted to her by her creator. She says “she knows” as a defensive mechanism to counter any ideology that intends to remind her about the lab. Fictitious but it’s as real as could be.
The 2023 elections are perhaps the most controversial election in the history of Nigeria. First, the election was literally between the Hausa (PDP), Igbo (LP), and Yoruba (APC) ethnic groups respectively. Albeit, there is a religious coloration to it (there always is). The APC had a joint Muslim ticket, the PDP had a Muslim flag bearer, and the LP had a Christian. Please note that every Nigerian who affiliates himself/herself with these blocs believes strongly that he/she is right. Secondly, Nigerians were tired of the terrible leadership style of a once-upon-a-time “Saviour” (A super funny guy, like watching Kevin Hart play basketball), but you know, Nigerians, they know best. So, the elections ended like every other election in Nigeria- the courts. You know what’s funny? The relationship between elections and courts in Nigeria can be explained like this: Conduct a very stupid election, make sure you have a lot of money, not necessarily a good lawyer before sending the result to the court to make it right, which ideally in countries besides the ones in Africa, the relationship is quite different- The work. Interestingly, those individuals who come to equity with clean hands watch another election conducted by a bunch of “We know everything lawyers”. Whether they are paid to know it all or not, they are paid for knowing better than others. We hear Nigerians, the “I know best” in union chanting protest songs such as “Tinubu bought the courts, the election, INEC, and Mahmood”. I wish I could input emojis on this piece because what can be funnier than this? Every Nigerian knows that rigging is not a problem, though ensure you are not outrigged. Besides, we rig, because we know best and our candidates must emerge. In an instance where our desired candidate doesn’t emerge, we challenge the results based on the rigging mechanisms applied to outrig us. Do you see the flow?
Nigeria every year on the 1st of October celebrates its Independence from its colonial master- I mean her creators. This is another big lie we have chosen to believe, just like the Santa Clause has no relation to Christmas (Father Christmas). There you would hear the government and its phonies blab about how Nigeria has been united, and how her unity cannot be broken, and other shits like that. Ignoring the Security challenges, terrible governance, corruption, Diseases, Hunger, Poverty, Unemployment, discontentment, Secessionist agitations, Police brutality, and Banditry among a plethora of others. I don’t know anything, hence giving an outlined recommendation would mean I know better. I have however projected to your minds the problem of Nigeria and her solutions embedded in same. Nigeria may have been an artificial creation, a nonsensical country led by nonsense people, divided follower-ship that are yet to understand that their problems are fucking the same, a giant without her might, but she is beautiful, she knows nothing and she has to know is that her problem is her. Fuck, I often pray for a beautiful wife with a functioning brain. Notice that my emphasis was not on beauty alone but on beauty and brain. Nigeria wake the fuck up, wear your thinking caps and know that poverty, unemployment, insecurity, bad leadership and follower-ship, over dependency among other things I wouldn’t mention are no respecters of your ignorance, religion, or ethnicity. Wake the fuck up Nigeria. You don’t know shit until you come to the knowledge of nothingness.