Baba Sala And The 7 Devils In Disguise

Why is underclass revolution in the pressure cooker going to blow up in everyone's face? The devils in disguise are hiding under ethnic loyalties. Since we encourage them with one heart, one mind and the only one life we have, we become pawns easily disposable. Unless we learn from old Baba Sala, (not the later one that never heeds his own advice) we will continue to pray for heaven that nobody wants to die for.


Baba Sala is a comedian that dazzled many people with his jokes in those days. Out of those jokes are some philosophies of his seven lives, like ancient Egyptian god rebounded as a cat. So Baba Sala claimed he never dealt with worldly beings with one life, one mind or one heart, he has seven. He could have been dead many times if he had one life. To escape dangers and land on feet, cat must be resilient and agile. The world is beautiful, some people are something else.

Baba Sala jokingly preached: watch out! He never fathomed the wickedness of African rulers we have today. His philosophy revealing enemies within, still stands. African philosophy comes in religions, books like Fagunwa or Achebe, in folklores and dramas by Ogunde and many others. Their empirical evidence has matched other world philosophers. But our students spend more time researching Greek and Roman philosophers that learned from Sudan's era in Egypt.

There are myths in every religion and culture. The most universal is some adaptation of Heaven and the Devil. Even the devil was kicked out of Heaven never to return. Angels that pleaded for his return were cast out and became devil's angels. As powerful as devil is in hell, there are few Africans he would not tolerate for fear that they might overthrow him. When some of the few Africans came over, as Nigerian rulers, devil told them to go and start their own hell.

No African, from Equatorial Guinea to Nigeria and beyond could ever think the day would come when Africans became so disillusioned, they wondered if colonial masters were better ruler than local rulers they trusted with one heart and one mind. This is even more pronounced when we divide ourselves into different ethnic groups where politicians find comfort to appeal to our hearts and minds. It is their natural sanctuary and license to loot and kill at our expense.

If the oppression Africans rulers are perpetrating on their people today are from any other, there would be cries all over the world. But then, the accomplices are not far away as foreign partners used to suck milk and honey out of the richest continent. Kwame Nkrumah called it neo-colonialism. Pitiful Africans work in mines digging out diamonds, gold, oil, uranium and tantalum used in electronic capacitors. Yet none of these have elevated Africa out of poverty.

Africans would rather run away from their rulers and die across the seas and deserts than stand up and fight back their oppressors at home. University students that used to be the conscience of the communities either flee or are contented with toys and gadgets made from plastics and African rare metals. These are sold back to us to pacify our students, young men and women.

Well, the cost of education is so high, it is out of reach to gifted poor young men and women. The irony is that these rulers that jacked up the price of both public and private education never paid a penny toward the cost of their education. They were all on grants and scholarships to any university and military academies. They were all on welfare from their cradles to their graves. Today they incapacitate the generation that are supposed to elevate African countries.

Can anyone believe that Nigerian rulers in pursuit of foreign contracts, actually planned a brand new city inside Tsunami? A city being built for foreigners knowing full well that only super rich Africans in minority could afford to live there. These are Africans creating Apartheid inside their own Country. The same rulers cannot even produce enough technicians and engineers locally to sand fill areas taken over by flood.

It is amazing that we only have slow glowing revolutions in terms of kidnapping, high crimes and religious upheavals, not a full blown revolution in Nigeria. No other people have taken so much in a generation without revolts. Not even Africans during the slave trade. We have work to do. We must find out why this young generations of Africans are still dormant allowing chronic looters to get away with murder in their midst. Their fathers and mothers resisted them.

The amount of salaries and allowances they pay themselves is enough to cause a revolt. The indirect tax on the road in terms of bribes, tolls, private and local enhancements going into individual private pockets have not caused a revolution. Indeed, the only people that are mad like hell are old rascals tear gassed by police and pensioners dying on queues demanding their past overdue money.

It is not an exaggeration to say that Nigerians have become desensitized to looting in billions, privatization of public agencies at ridiculous prices they give themselves and public buildings they allocated and resell to themselves. They legalize previous coup d'état so that chief plotters can get “allowances” and privileges. They change the law and call it due process that is not available in the countries due process was born.

Your fathers and mothers fought their own battles against oppressors from different continents and from their own local people. Most young men and women have done the same all over. What is this generation of African youths waiting for?

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Articles by Farouk Martins Aresa