A Christmas of CHANGE

This year’s Christmas is just 48 hours away and it is like nothing is happening.  Really, CHANGE is here and things have truly changed. I cannot remember what the situation looked like by this time last year after the Change Train steamed off on May 29. But I remember that in the build-up to the 2014 Christmas, a colleague put a call to me, announcing that I had been penciled down for a live cow as a gift from one of the rich federal agencies in Abuja. He asked to know how I intended to collect the “happy Christmas”. I told him to give me a moment.

I ruminated over the offer with an empty mouth, literally! Then I came to the conclusion that the present was a Greek gift because the facilitator of the cow had an issue in the office, and I did not want to compromise my position just because I wanted to eat meat. I rejected the gift, even if it were a cash cow. What is more, I had signed off beef many, many years ago.
Yes, Christmas is in the air. The bells are jingling. But there is nothing much on the ground to show that the festivity is 48 hours away. There is little to look forward to. No thanks to Buharinomics… a euphemism for recession. Everywhere is quiet. Traders are complaining of low patronage. Hampers are stocked in various supermarkets but no one is picking them. Hampers are hampered!
In the good old days when we were kids, the Christmas and Easter seasons were like a day in Paradise. We eagerly looked forward to wearing new clothes. Rice, stew and chickens were washed down with all manner of soft drinks. Children of today have nothing to look forward to during Christmas or Easter festivities because they eat jollof/fried rice and chickens on daily basis which they flush down with assorted minerals.

Abuja is on the low side. By this time in 2014 when Jonathan was in charge, hampers were flying all over the place. Bags of rice, gallons of vegetable oil, packets of Maggi/Knorr cubes, hefty looking live chickens were exchanging hands. Christmas goats were seen sweating in various homes despite the presence of harmattan! Aside from the jingling bells, Christmas decorations of various hues were blinking all over the major streets as well as in public buildings and various homes in Abuja at night… a beauty to behold at night. I am using Abuja as a point of reference because it is the eye of a nation in distress.
I also remember the Christmas of 1983. We had celebrated the occasion before Buhari and Idiagbon struck barely a week after. The 1984 Christmas that followed was very bleak because the economy had been gang-raped by the politicians of the Second Republic. Consequently, we had to be queuing for virtually every basic need ranging from rice to semovita, sugar to salt, milk to tea, bread to butter and detergents to bar soaps as if the latter were solely meant for folks called to the bar of honour (lawyers) or bar of booze (alcoholics).

But come to think of it… why is it that Buhari always has the misfortune of taking over power when the economy is in a shambles? In his first coming as a military head of state with the late Tunde Idiagbon in tow, he spent the two or so years battling with the economy that was mired in austerity. The duo were still battling to overpower the monster when Gen. Ibrahim Babangida eased them out palace coup. His second coming was also preceded by a receding economy. And so overwhelmed was he that he recently declared that if he had known the enormity of the damage on ground, he would not have made a return to the seat of power. In fact, he was not ashamed to tell a bemused citizenry that he contemplated taking to his heels when he came face to face with the monstrosity that his predecessor had unwittingly created for him. His military courage must have failed him at the time he made that cowardly pronouncement. I tell you!
Well, recession or not, the Christmas is already banging on the door and we must answer the knock. If you have His grace to witness the occasion, be thankful to Him for life and good health. There are those who have all the riches to make the festivity a carnival. They can fell cows, slaughter chickens and turkeys, stock their private bars with all manner of imported drinks, show off their wardrobes stocked with designer suits and heavy receptacles of jewelry but are denied good health. Nothing is wealthier than good health.
Christmas must come and no one can stop it whether or not you have the means to celebrate. But remember, there is more to the occasion than merry making. I will leave that to the priests.

However, my greatest worries now are that it is payback time. As the outgoing year rolled on, my Muslim neighbours queued in front of my house to spoil me and my family with all kinds of eatables ranging from rice, chicken, mutton, chin chin, cakes to soft drinks during their own festivals. If Buharinomics could not hamper them from darkening my door, what alibi will I have if I do not show up at their own doorsteps with fried/jollof rice complete with chicken and assorted drinks, chin chin and cakes? None!
Should I expect any “happy Christmas” from “Sai Baba”? That will be a miracle. And miracles do happen… even Baba’s electoral victory was a miracle! If it happens, I won’t eat it alone.
A merry Christmas (in advance) to you all!