Advertisement

Ndubuisi Ezebuiro: Dot in a Circle: The unintended metaphor for the success, indispensability of Ndigbo

 

When in a recent interview with Arise TV, President Muhammadu Buhari, in what many comsider derisive, described the place of the Igbo people in southeast Nigeria as only “a dot in a circle”, it was clear the message he was passing, something similar to his “the language they will understand” statement that led to the ongoing loggerheads the Federal Government is having with Twitter.

These statements of the President are obviously not a Freudian slip but the loud pronouncement of the contents of not only his heart but also that of other self-appointed “circles” in Nigeria.

However, as demeaning as the “dot in a circle” statement may sound, it is actually an unintended metaphor for the leadership, success and indispensability of the Igbo in Nigeria.

The dot may be small, and probably appear so insignificant in a circle, it is nevertheless, the most powerful and pivotal part of it without which the circle can neither make progress nor prosper.

For example, in the game of football, the pitch has a centre circle that is actually useless and big for nothing. It has no function whatsoever but derives its importance in that tiny dot in its centre without which no match can actually commence. In fact, every goal scored on the pitch derives its legitimacy from the fact that the kick off took place right on the dot in the circle. When goals are scored, the conceding team will have to take the ball back to the dot in the circle to recommence the game. Even after a half, the second half of the game will have to be commenced from the dot inside the big for nothing circle. With the current situation in Nigeria, can we confidently say that the “circle” in Nigeria is as good as the big circle in the football pitch? Your guess is as good as mine.

The dot in the football pitch is not only found in the big for nothing centre circle, it is also in the very critical areas of the pitch; it is in the north of it, it is in the centre of it and it is also in the south of it; in both eighteen yard boxes. If a penalty has to be taken at either end of the pitch, it has to be from the “dot”. It is the same with the dots in Nigeria, they are everywhere: the north, the centre and the south driving the economies of those regions. If the nation prospers, it is at the benevolence of the dot. While the centre circle in a football pitch occupies so much space, it can not boast of any function and single contribution to the beauty of the popular game.

The importance of the dot can also be compared to a VIP usually surrounded, or better still, encircled by his retinue of aides and security operatives. While these aides form unintended circles around their Principal, they put their lives on the line for the VIP who as an individual encircled by numerous operatives, is nothing but a dot in their circle, yet, he is the most important of all of them. Though a mere dot, his importance is of very high premium to the extent that the operatives are ready to lay down their lives for him because they know that his existence guarantees their own livelihood even if they are gone while in active service. It is exactly the same thing with that Dot in a Circle in Nigeria.

So, if anyone thinks he can address the Dot roughly “in a language that they understand” because he sees them as “spare parts dealers” who are only “a dot in a circle”, that person should think twice because this Dot is actually the live wire of that “big for nothing circle”.

Ndubuisi Ezebuiro contributed this piece from Umuahia, Abia State

Post a Comment

0 Comments