By Ernest Omoarelojie
Eric Arthur Blair, better known as George Orwell, will forever be remembered for his 1946 allegorical classic, The Animal Farm. In it, he made a bold metaphorical attempt at understanding human follies through strange and unstable animal behaviors which essentially culminated in the reduction of the animals’ initial guiding group-oriented seven commandments to one dictatorial fiat – All Animals Are Equal But Some Are More Equal Than The Others. The statement has since become a reference point in understanding the Nigerian moral imbalance.
In Nigeria, the case that some animals are indeed more incomparably equal than the others is more poignant. It is mostly so in moral/ethical cases where two distinct measures apply in situating guilt or otherwise. One measure is for the affluent while the other is reserved for the poor. For instance, moral judgement for the poor is often swift with penalty often disproportionately heavy, while that of the affluent is handled with me levity. In more ways than one, the case involving Ogun state commissioner for Environment, Abiodun Abudu-Balogun, who allegedly attempted to molest a 16 year-old minor, has all the trappings.
Already, the case is suffering from expected class hiccups, an obvious marked difference from what it would have been if the alleged offender were from the less affluent group. I can imagine what it would look like if the father of the teenager is the alleged to have touched, treated and or handled the commissioner’s daughter the same manner the latter did. By now, the poor guy would be in handcuffs, paraded in a police facility before media men who would gleefully be asking some obviously guilt-affirmed questions.
But from a well sequented, incredibly cohesive narrative by a sharp adolescent, the case has been watered down to a macabre disjoint with a questionable ending. Obviously, its current trajectory points to a direction through which it is not out of place to conclude that the young lass and her father have been brow-beaten into pleading that the matter be rested even without any indication, from any analytical point, that the teenager recanted on her allegations. Simply, the duo’s pleas seem to indicate that there is a subtle attempt to kill the case and white-wash the commissioner from the pedophile cloak he is already wearing.
“I want to thank Nigerians for showing their support in this matter and I want you to know that there were some misconceptions and misunderstanding between I and the commissioner. I want to use this opportunity to appeal to meaningful Nigerians to allow this matter rest,” she said.
Good job, girl!
Yet, there are questions the commissioner must provide answers to. Among others, the teenager alleged that after the first social encounter between herself and the commissioner, someone else, arguably sent by him, came to take her to a possibly employer who requires the services of a computer operator. The said someone turned out to be the same commissioner into whose home they took her.
The teenager alleged she was left in the car that brought here with strict instruction not to leave the car until she is so instructed.Will it then be too far fetched to conclude that between the emissary only left her in the car to inform “Buoda Komisana” to get ready for the sweet sixteen?
In any case, one of the emissaries later took her to the commissioner’s inner room where the man began some small talks that progressed into breast fondling which almost degenerated into something else if she had not raised the alarm. She was then offered four N500 notes, totalling N2, 000, for her transport fare which she refused to collect until he threatened with a hostage situation if she didn’t.
Will the commissioner swear to Ogun and Amadioha combined or visit Ayilala to prove that the allegations are a figment of the minor’s imagination? Is there anyone who is convinced that father and daughter were not coerced into dropping the case? Would the commissioner accept to undergo a polygraph test to prove his innocence?
I am not under any illusion that “Buoda Komisana” would go through a polygraph test. Neither am I about his willingness to visit Ogun, Amafioha and or Ayilala shrines to rebut the kid’s claims. What is self evident here is that the case has, once more, presented a side of the two frontlines from which we approach moral issues. Thanks again to George Orwell for letting us know that some animals are more equal than the others. At least, it helps us in reshaping our appreciation of our moral disequilibrium.
* Omoarelojie is a journalist and a public affairs analyst.