Buhari and the Barmecide mentality

Anyone coming in contact with the name Barmecide for the very first time would conveniently pass it as one of those chemicals (insecticide, pesticide or herbicide) used to eliminate pests, insects, etc, in the homes and on the farmlands. It can even be mistaken as a suffix for words like suicide, matricide, patricide or even fratricide.

But Barmecide is far removed from all of the above. In the Arabian Nights, a story is told of a stupendously wealthy man named Barmecide who invited his friend to dine with him. Dishes were served in due order but there were no victuals (food) in them. However, the rich man pretended to eat and his guest had the politeness to imitate him.

It was from this account that the phrase “Barmecide Feast” was coined. It simply means a banquet where there is nothing to eat.
Nevertheless, Barmecide decided to reward his guest with a variety of dishes in appreciation of his sense of humour!

President Muhammadu Buhari can well be viewed from this Barmecide prism. For the past three years, Buhari has been at the banquet in the Aso Rock Villa where he had invited all of us to dine with him, so to speak. All manner of dishes have been served in form of (his) economic policies and programmes. But the hoi polloi are still grumbling. They seem to have forgotten so quickly his warning, shortly after assuming office on May 19, 2015, that tough times awaited the nation in view of the degree of ruination of the economy by the previous administration.

Not many took this modern-day Barmecide(?) seriously when he said that he was almost frightened away from the Villa when confronted by the Augean Stables which the Nigerian nation had become. Buhari had every reason to get scary. Only a Hercules could smile at the sight of such stables. And the president did not pretend to be a Hercules. He does not even possess the physical features or attributes of the mythical strongman let alone pretend to be him.

I must confess here that when the president shocked the nation with the confession, I became rather apprehensive of its implications for our democracy. It is said that a real man is found on the battleground. So, how could a Civil War hero, former General Officer Commanding and ex-military head of state be so terrified to the point of contemplating to flee the Villa? But thank God that he perished the thought of towing the cowardly path.

And so three years down the road, President Buhari has been treating us to a Barmecide Feast as exemplified by the hardship, unemployment, hunger, poverty, frustration leading to suicide, kidnapping, stealing, armed robbery and allied crimes now stalking the land.

But if Buhari is truly Barmecidal in his mentality, I expect him to push the imitation to its logical conclusion if he gets the electorate’s nod to return to the Presidential Villa (the Banquet Hall) on May 29, 2019. Barmecide rewarded his guest for exhibiting the huge sense of humour by pretending to be eating along with his wealthy host. We, at this end, representing Barmecide guests at the table and mimicking Buhari, should also be rewarded with dishes filled with all manner of palatable and finger-licking victuals complete with choice wines for faking eating in the last three years. If we know Buhari too well, the phantom eating will continue in the last lap of his tenure.

Barmecide’s friend was, however, appreciative of his host afterwards. Shall we also be appreciative of Buhari afterwards? Only time will tell!

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