Rufai Oseni‘s opinion piece draws a parallel between the viral Gwo Gwo Ngwo dance and the deception of Nigeria’s political class, highlighting how the masses are led astray by false promises and manipulation.
This dance has been trending for days. The dance steps are prominent on every nook and cranny of social media platforms. Everyone wants to dance that dance of twisting the waist and raising one leg, turning thereafter to pursue themselves in a very comical manner.
I sat down to look at the sense in the dance as popularised by Brain Jotter. All I could see was the gregarious instinct of the masses and the craving to join the bandwagon.
What is Gwo Gwo Ngwo? Gwo Gwo is just the last part of the lyrics, filled with rich meaning and moral lessons.
Tired of the hullabaloo of the Gwo Gwo ngwo challenge, I took the time to listen to the lyrics from the beginning to the end.
Gentleman Mike Ejeagha is a maestro who knows his onus with legendary dexterity and sagacity.
I don’t know what he had in mind when he told such a story, but as iridescent as that story is, it shone in my mind with a lesson that made me shed tears.
“The Elephant represents the poor masses, and the Tortoise represents the political class that comes with deception, tricks, and manipulation.”
Listen to the storyline. There was a bet from a king that anybody who brought an elephant to Him would marry the king’s daughter.
Bringing the Elephant was no mean feat. This made other animals shy away and see the demand as a tall order. The Tortoise, in its crafty and deceptive nature, went and told the Elephant lies. Lies were too pleasant; the Elephant could not but fall for them.
What was the lie? That King wants to make the Elephant the Chairman of its Ofala celebration. Ofala celebration is an elaborate celebration of festivity. It sounded too prestigious an offer to be the Chairman of such a festival.
On the appointed day, the Tortoise went to the Elephant. The Elephant got ready, and they set out on the journey. At one point, the Elephant got angry over the Tortoise’s snail-paced movement and feared they would miss the festival. So when the Tortoise requested that it sit on the Elephant’s back to facilitate their movement, the Elephant didn’t hesitate.
While on the Elephant’s back, it requested that the Elephant allow it to tie a rope around its neck for stability.
“May God help THE MASSES to realize THEIR power over the political class of deceptive intents and use it to liberate THEMselves from their slavery.”
The Elephant allowed it, being too obsessed to be the Chairman of the Ofala, anything that would be an obstacle to it must be dealt with.
As they approached the king’s palace, the Tortoise raised his voice and sang.
“Nnam eze akpatam enyi, Nnam eze akpatam enyi.”
(My King, I have brought the Elephant)
“Nwa mbe isi na ikpata onye, Nwa mbe isi na ikpata onye.”
(Small Tortoise, who do you say you have brought? The Elephant queried)
“sim ana ya chebe enyi dube enyi, odikam si na akpatam enyi.“
(I said let the earth protect and guide the Elephant. Did I say I have brought Elephant?)
“Asim ana ya chebe enyi dube enyi, odikam si na akpatam enyi.”
(I said let the earth protect and guide the Elephant. Did I say I had brought the Elephant ?)
“Okwa enyi ga abu isi oche, okwa enyi ga abu isi oche.“
(Is it not the Elephant that will be the chairman?)
“Enyi na aga ayi so gi na azu“
“gwo gwo gwo ngwo (Elephant continue to go we are behind you, gwo gwo gwo ngwo)
“Until we rise above their lies and deception, the same way the Elephant was tied at the King’s Palace for shame and ridicule, the same way we would continue under their suppression and subjugation.”
What do you make out of this story? So many? For mine, it is a reflection of the deception the Nigeria poor masses experience in the hands of our tricky political class.
The Elephant represents the poor masses, and the Tortoise represents the political class that comes with deception, tricks, and manipulation. They come to us, the poor masses like the Tortoise came to the Elephant every election year with hopeless hope, fake promises, and manipulative tendencies while leading us to places of doom, destruction, hardship, shame, and economic slavery as we dance gwo gwo gwo ngwo not knowing we are being led to our destruction pools and points.
By size, just as the Elephant is 30 times bigger than the Tortoise, so are the masses bigger than the political class. In the same way, Tortoise deceived the Elephant, the political class has been deceiving us. Shame!! Gwo Gwo ngwo as we sheepishly meet our Waterloo.
May God help us to realize our might and power over the minion political class of deceptive intents and use it to liberate ourselves from their claws of manipulations and slavery.
Until we rise above their lies and deception, the same way the Elephant was tied at the King’s Palace for shame and ridicule, the same way we would continue under their suppression and subjugation.
The ball is in our court!!
The opinions expressed in this article are strictly those of the author, and does not necessarily align with the views of JolibaLive News! or any of its staff members. The author is in no way associated with this online news blog.
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