MY ENCOUNTER WITH A SOUTHERN KADUNA GERONTOCRAT – John Danfulani

MY ENCOUNTER WITH A SOUTHERN KADUNA GERONTOCRAT

By

John Danfulani

At about 2pm Sunday 18th August 2013, I went to my car wash in Barnawa to clean my car…. suddenly, a dark EOD pulled behind me and stopped. The automatic glass of the back seat started rushing down. An Idi Amin-like dark face appeared. Before I could browse through my memory to know who he was, a deep cranky voice blared “Are you Dr. Danfulani?”. I said “Yes Sir”. He went on by saying “I thought my eyes were deceiving me, you were in my house for a meeting months back”. I said really…and concluded by saying “it’s my pleasure to see you again”.

Without minding the environment, he threw decorum to the wind and went straight and poured his mind on my stance on their political decisions, missed opportunities, and refusal to quit the stage for the young ones. He finally warned that am plying a dangerous path because as an employee of a State University there is much they can do to harm me. I took a few seconds to recovery from his shameless and uncouth tantrums.

“Sir, I thought you have a nobler mission or message to relay to Me”, I commenced my counter. “Please be informed, am not lecturing in your or Governor’s University… it’s a state facility that I also have a stake in it”. I stretched further and schooled him on my duties as a lecturer and my rights as a citizen of Kaduna State and Nigeria. And dared him to walk through his threat if he is an elder repute. As the fire in me was burning wild, he ordered his driver to gear-on to their initial destination.

All can now see the type of elders we have. They have led our people to the wrong path, refused to prepare for their retirement, and they are now mortgaging our future to make up their failures in life . Take it or leave it, they have nothing to offer the system and our people. Their main schedule now is negotiating individualistic and parochial deals with governments for self and immediate families. They surely know the lethalism of their action… but they seems to be saying ; all should die so that they can survive.

Thank God the bug isn’t ending at their tables but at the tables of the poor majority Southern Kaduna people who are now commodities they are using for trade. The masses, especially those privileged must mobilize, get involved, and make sure things are changed for good. All hands must be on deck to see that we politically terminate this dangerous specie in the political atmosphere of Southern Kaduna.

Now is time….