By Mrumun Kur Koko
There was once a “Kaduna mafia”, a term coined by the famed journalist, Mvendaga Jibo, to describe the preponderance of Kaduna-based, and mostly, Barewa College Old Boys in government at that time.
This group dominated the civil service, the security forces and even the business sector. Their main qualification was affinity to their political godfathers and the unscripted Arewa or northenisation agenda, which some dubbed an Islamisation agenda.
Ever since, we have seen the emergence of other “mafias” seeking to entrench a hegemonic hold on our body polity, not so much for the advancement of a national agenda but often for their clannish interests.
We had the “Technocrats mafia” in the OBJ days, where you needed roots in the ‘Super Permsecs’ era or ties to the Brentwood institutions to get into power. It may have done the nation some good, but who says mafias are essentially evil?
We had the “Katsina mafia” in the Yar-Adua days and the “Creeks mafia” in the GEJ days, where Niger Delta godfathers and (ex?) militants called the shots.
All these were benign compared to most malignant of these mafias as unveiled in the PMB era – the “Ka-Daura” mafia. This was a deft combination, or integration, of the Kaduna and Katsina mafias, sprinkled with elements from the soon- to-emerge “Lagos mafia”. History will tell how this particular Ka-Daura mafia damaged our national psyche through sheer socio-political mututations. They were wolves in sheep clothing.
Then comes the Lagos mafia under BAT. This one has been long coming. They had their “John the baptists” or forerunners in the PMB era, preparing the way for their “Messiah”, BAT. Like every other mafia, they have their terms and rules of engagement.
To be enlisted in the Lagos mafia, one must have to pledge absolute (political) loyalty to the “Lion of Bourdellon”; they do not tolerate nominal or moderate loyalists. And then, one must have roots either in the NADECO struggle or the “miracle era” of Asiwaju as Lagos Governor.
Little wonder, this mafia harbours a weird combination of revolutionaries, pragmatists and even reactioniaries.
Anyway and anyhow, they are now here. They dominate the current regime, occupying prized positions in the executive, legislature and, as it emerging, even the business sector.
The hype is that they have a magic wand to fix our country, having scooped medals in the “Lagos revolution”; debatable as this maybe. For I have lived in Lagos long enough to realise that what the World Bank will not finance or commission in Lagos does not exist – water in Lekki for instance.
They are renowned and praised for revenue generation as consummate tax masters, for what Lagos state will not tax does not exist; even farting in public could attract air pollution fines.
Now that the Lagos mafia is here, we welcome them and wish them well. We pray that it will not be “Eko for show” but more substance than sound and hype. May it not be “Lagos for Lagosians” but Lagos for all Nigerians. For though tribe and tongue may differ in this our native land, in brotherhood we must stand.
Mrumun Kur Koko
TheBasicTruth@protonmail.com
● Kur Koko sent this via TheBasicTruth@protonmail.com
