Back in March of 2011, I wrote
this blog post titled "Convivial Form, Violent Substance". At the top of the post is a picture of bruised and battered Hajiya Halima Aminu Tijjani, a female politician from Kaduna State who was brutally beaten up by party political thugs on the orders of Barrister Musa Soba, Kaduna State Chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
Nothing happened to Barrister Soba. The police did not arrest or investigate him. His party did not sanction him. Society did not ostracize him.
Part of me wants to be angry with we the citizens of Nigeria, because it seems like we do not care about important things like this. On the other hand, part of me realizes that things like this are NORMAL in our federal republic. For most citizens, getting upset at this is like getting upset at the sunrise, the sunset and the change of seasons. It is part of the natural order, and frankly the only thing that would have surprised people would have been if Barrister Soba did not behave the way he did.
I bring him up again because the Kaduna State ACN suspended Barrister Soba last month, not for his criminality, but because the party didn't do well in the State. It is bad enough that this is the only reason they would suspend him ...
... but what makes it worse is
the national ACN (a euphemism for ex-Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu of Lagos) "nullified the suspension", as reported by the newspaper NEXT.
So, Barrister Soba is back in charge of the Kaduna State ACN.
Sorry, Hajiya Halima Aminu Tijjani. It seems nobody but me gives a damn about you.
