Opinion: Manchester United, APC Lagos and our regard for human life

by Adesina Tosin Nathaniel

On the 21st of April 2017, some football enthusiasts gathered at a viewing centre in Calabar cross Rivers State to watch the Europa League quarter final match between Manchester United and Anderlecht. In the course of the match tragedy struck. A high tension cable dropped on the roof of the building killing 30 people instantly with more than 15 injured. The news spread across the whole country as it was an unprecedented incident. Less than 12hours after this incident, Manchester United Football Club acknowledged the death of the fans in a tweet saying “our thoughts go out to the United Fans, their friends and families affected by the tragedy in Calabar, Nigeria, yesterday” That was a very swift response and a show of sympathy for the lives lost in the incident. Manchester and Calabar are thousands of miles apart but the club got wind of the news and responded in admirable fashion.

Further research into the lives lost might show some of them to be fans of other clubs but it hasn’t deterred Manchester United; what they know is that people died watching a football match involving their club and they’ve showed love. The club didn’t stop at that as their players wore black armbands at their next match as a sign of respect for the departed souls. It shows the premium placed on human lives by the club.

In a similar event here in Nigeria on Wednesday 10th May, 2017, the Lagos state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) held a state meeting at its secretariat on Acme Road Ogba Ikeja. As a result of the meeting, the whole of Ogba  witnessed a gridlock which affected vehicular movement as road users and civil servants  had a hectic time moving to their places of work while some resorted to trekking.

In the midst of this, one Bashir, a staff of the Lagos State government was taking his sick eight day-old son Oluwatamilore to the hospital for medical care but his movement was hampered by the traffic holdup caused by the APC meeting. He made frantic efforts to find a way to the hospital but all efforts failed. The baby died in the traffic.

Immediately this happened the distraught Bashir took to Twitter to vent his anger on Lagos APC and the state Government for his loss. The tweet went viral with lots of Twitter users condoling him while others shared their experiences of the traffic jam. Lagosians expected the state government and Lagos APC to react to the issue as the Governor was present at the meeting together with the National Leader of APC Asiwaju Bola Tinubu but there was none until the Press contacted Joe Igbokwe, the Spokesman of Lagos APC. As expected of a Nigerian, Igbokwe gave a very distasteful reply that “if it’s true we apologize for the incident”

The statement triggered the rage of Nigerians who described it as insensitive and inappropriate but nothing has been heard from the APC since, likewise the Lagos State Government. To show the value Lagos APC placed on human lives, the State Chairman Mr Henry Ajomale was on a political programme on Classic FM with popular radio Host Jimi Disu on Sunday May 14 2017. When the chairman was asked to react to the incident he denied knowledge of the incident. All  effort made by Jimi Disu to convince the APC Chairman  that the party is responsible for the death of the child failed as he disagreed vehemently and the show ended without a concrete statement from the APC chairman on the issue.

This has brought to fore the fact that Nigerian politicians don’t have value for human lives irrespective of the party and position in which they find themselves. The tragic death of the baby meant nothing to the likes of Joe Igbokwe but if a fellow politician were to pass away in a foreign hospital that is miles away from Nigeria, they would be quick to declare seven days of mourning with the flag flown at half-mast with condolence visits to the family and lots of cash gifts. But for Oluwatamilore he means nothing to the Lagos APC and the Lagos State government.

That Lagos APC chose to act in that manner is a reflection of the society we find ourselves and the premium placed on lives in Nigeria irrespective of the political party in power. Under the last administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, about 24 job seekers lost their lives in the immigration recruitment exercise. Despite the casualty, the minister of Interior Abba Morro remained in office until the end of the tenure. Despite several calls for his removal by Nigerians and the APC which was an opposition party then, he wasn’t removed.  Today, the APC which is the ruling party  commits the same acts for which it routinely criticized PDP.

The party has revealed to the world that it has no value for human lives and this goes to show that our political leaders have zero regard for the electorate after the election, which lies in sharp contrast to what Manchester United did for the Calabar victims. The APC and the Lagos State government sure have a lesson to learn from Manchester United. They’ve shown that they are not only interested in people watching their games with high revenue accruing to them but that human lives matter.

May the souls of the departed rest in peace. Amen


Op–ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija

Adesina Tosin Nathaniel is a Forward Looking Nigerian Youth. He blogs at www.donteewrites.blogspot.com. His social media handle is @Donteewrites

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