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The animal called dino

Published

5 years ago

March 9, 2020

By Tunde Odesola

Ever since I was a kid, the printed word held an amazing fascination for me than both the television and the cinema. In the last three years, you can hardly catch me seated before the mega screen of the cinema or the screen of the television. This isn’t to say I’ve grown to dislike the TV or the cinema. Nor is it because I now love news, sports, geographic documentaries, comedy, crime investigation and music less than I used to. It’s because globalisation is pushing Man to the cul de sac of hurtful individualism. Gone are the days when family members sit together to enjoy soaps on TV or series on radio or blockbusters at the cinema – no thanks to the emergence of phones, tablets, iPads etc as purveyors of digital video and audio services from online retailers such as Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, Roku etc.

These new mass media dominators are eclipsing traditional print and electronic media such as newspapers, magazines, television, radio and outdoor advertising. Today, there’s no radio station in the world I can’t access on my phone in real time. Today, my phone not only serves as a tool for wellness, calling, texting, buying and selling, travelling, research etc, I also have the full complement of all the stations on Xfinity live on it, availing me the opportunity of watching live football games, among many other amazing programmes.

Last week, I was browsing in the social media sea of my weather-beaten phone when a video sailed in onboard the ship called WhatsApp. Though the video wasn’t a documentary by National Geo Wild, it was, nonetheless, from the animal kingdom. In the video, a huge dinosaur was seen before a mirror in a cozy apartment. Dinosaur is a big word, you know. But most great things come in small packs. Because of my love for the printed word and for simplicity, I looked up the word ‘dinosaur’ in the dictionary to see if it has a short form and ‘dino’ popped up. Wow! So, the word ‘dino’ is the short form of dinosaur, I thought to myself as I suppressed a burst of laughter.

The dino in the luxurious apartment that looked like a hotel must have strayed in from the wild because it was clearly a misfit in the habitat. Strangely, when it opened its mouth, it began to sing like a human being. This stupid dino must have been overawed by mistakenly finding itself in a human environment and couldn’t help exhibiting the animalistic traits in it. With crooked fingers, the dino tried futilely to video itself in its new-found human environment, using a phone. It attempted to focus the camera of the phone it was holding on itself in a bid to show its face to the human world. But its wish won’t just materialise; the camera won’t lighten up the face of the animal. The pudgy fingers failed to capture the monster’s face on the phone’s camera. Or maybe the camera sensed rightly that the hand holding it was a beast’s, not a human’s – hence, in protest, it blurred the face of the dino into an evil mask unworthy to be shown to humanity. The animal also sang a song of sorrow in the background.

That was when I remembered the late Fuji maestro, Chief Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, in his 1981 evergreen album, ‘Suuru Baba Iwa’, which contains the classic song about the gorilla that wanted to become a human being. In Barrister’s tale, the gorilla failed to remain in isolation for seven days as God instructed it, jumping out to celebrate anticipatory victory on the sixth day of a seven-day miracle. Just like the gorilla in Barrister’s song failed to become a human being as a result of impatience, the dino in the WhatApp video fell short of exhibiting humanistic ideals because of insane greed as captured in the brainless song of lamentation that it sang.

This is the Yoruba song the dino broke into, “Bami gbe o (4x)/Bukata mi, enu mi ti fe, bami gbe(2x)” Translation: “Help me bear them (4x)/My financial commitments are enormous, help me bear them (2x).”

For believers in Darwin’s theory of evolution, the video could earn them bragging rights because it showed the dino replicating human’s manipulative trait. After the first few lines of its supplication to God for assistance in its financial obligations, the dino, in subsequent lines, revealed the real intention why it shot the video – to bask in the opulence of ill-gotten wealth. Knowing full well that children resonate with the masses, the dinosaur cleverly began by begging God for assistance in the payment of its children’s school fees and the payment of its staff salaries. Then it went ahead to the raison d’etre of the video, listing its houses in Dubai, USA and London as some of the financial obligations God should help it bear.

The madness is surely not in its early stages, it seems advanced. The madness gripped the dino by the scruff, seized its soul as it listed the cars in its garage to include Lamborghini, Ferrari, Rolls Royce, begging God to sustain its ostentatious and greedy lifestyle. As the foolish dino was singing about its perishable earthly possessions, it simultaneously showed off the apartment’s elegant interior, videoing the mirror, kitchen, television, trash can, carpet, chairs, lamps, stools, table, drinks, curtains, ashtrays, neighbourhood etc.

How much low can it sink? To think that this dino has no record of inheritance or industry to justify its profligate status highlights the degeneration in the zoo called Najria. To think that this dino was only a fledgling a few years ago and now shamelessly flaunts thousands of hectares of grassland with edible fruits, nuts, vegetables and game for gluttonous consumption show that some animals are shameless thieves, and this fact tears the heart asunder. To think that the dinosaur, who later became one of the leaders in the animal farm, could think and act worse than a maggot is quite disturbing.

I wish human beings can seize this dino and drag it to the psychiatrist for a comprehensive mental evaluation because it needs help urgently. Dinos are extinct creatures, we must keep this last dino alive to teach future generations our story of greed, stupidity, laziness, bigotry, gluttony, avarice, wickedness, deceit and corruption.

I just can’t stop pinching myself and asking, “How did this dino stray into humanity? How?”

Tunde Odesola is a seasoned journalist and a columnist with Punch newspapers

Email: tundeodes2003@yahoo.com

Featured

Over 200 Killed In Yelewata Massacre As Survivors Grapple With Fear, Loss, And Trauma

Published

2 months ago

June 15, 2025

Editor

The village of Yelewata in Guma Local Government Area of Benue State, has become the latest site of mass tragedy in Nigeria following a coordinated overnight attack by suspected armed herdsmen that left more than 200 people dead and dozens more injured and displaced.

The attack, which took place in the early hours of June 14, targeted Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) shelters and residential homes in the area. Eyewitnesses account say the assailants stormed the community from multiple entry points, torching homes, opening fire on sleeping residents, and trapping many inside burning buildings.

Local security volunteers described the scene as “a war zone,” with charred bodies recovered from the remains of burnt homes and many still unaccounted for. Entire families were wiped out in what locals now refer to as “a night of hell.”

The Benue State Government has confirmed the killings and has called for increased federal security presence in the region. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, during a visit to Benue on June 16, condemned the killings as “senseless bloodletting” and promised that “those responsible will be brought to justice.” The attack has since drawn sharp condemnation from Amnesty International, local civil society groups, and human rights observers.

– A Family Torn Apart, Twice –

Among the survivors is Olumide Michael Makinde, a 39-year-old father of two who says this is the second time he has narrowly escaped death in Nigeria.

Makinde was living in Owo, Ondo State, in 2022 when St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church was attacked during Pentecost Sunday Mass. Over 50 worshippers were killed in the Owo church massacre, including his stepfather, Mr. Maxmillian Ogunleye. His mother was among the dozens injured and left permanently incapacitated.

“The whole town was shaking. I lost my father. My mother never walked again after that,” Makinde recalled.

Fearing for their safety, Makinde, his pregnant wife, and their young son fled Owo in the aftermath of the attack and settled in Yelewata, where they hoped to start over. The family began farming, enrolled their first child in school, and welcomed a new baby girl in January 2023. For a while, peace returned, until the massacre of June 14 changed everything.

Makinde recounted the horrifying night his family was torn apart once again.

“We were sleeping when we heard gunshots. Everything was on fire. People were screaming. I grabbed my son and ran into the bush. My wife, holding our baby, ran in another direction,” he said.

Hours later, at dawn, he found his wife bleeding and crying, lying in a pool of blood. She had been raped by two attackers while hiding in the bush.

“She survived only because she was holding our baby,” he said, visibly shaken.

Makinde rushed her to a nearby hospital while the fires still raged in Yelewata. When he returned to what used to be their shelter, it was gone. So was nearly every home in the area. The camp had been burned to ashes, entire families reduced to nothing but smoke and silence.

– No Place Left to Run –

Today, the Makinde family, like many others in Yelewata, is devastated, emotionally, physically, and psychologically. The trauma of surviving two massacres has left deep scars.

“We have nowhere to go. We’ve run twice. We’ve lost everything. My wife… she can’t even talk about what happened,” Makinde said, holding back tears.

Their belongings, livelihood, and sense of peace have all been lost, first in Owo, now in Benue. More than anything, the family says they live in fear. The fear of what might come next. The fear of being forgotten. The fear of being attacked again.

“People think we’re just IDPs,” he added. “But we are people who have been hunted twice.”

For survivors like the Makindes, the massacre at Yelewata is more than just another tragic headline. It is a daily reminder of how fragile life has become in many parts of Nigeria, where homes are turned to graves, and families carry trauma they may never fully recover from.

Featured

Two Suspected Gays Escape Jungle Justice In Oyo

Published

11 months ago

September 14, 2024

Editor

By Dayo Adesina|Ibadan

Two young men suspected to be involved in homosexual activities were on Thursday, 12 September, 2024 beaten by an angry mob, as they described the act (homosexuality) as abominable and sinful.

The suspects, Oluwafemi Azeez Adeola and his partner; Odeleye Adewale Abel were caught at a hotel (name withheld) when a hotel attendant went to perform room service at the room where they were lodged.

The attendant had reportedly informed the hotel authorities of the ‘atrocity’ being performed in one of the rooms.

The ensuing pandemonium threw the premises into turmoil as other hotel guests and angry youths rushed to the room, held them and started pouncing on the two suspects.

One of the suspects, Odeleye Adewale who pled for his life, allegedly confessed to have relocated to Oyo in search of acceptance of homosexual.

Hee was said to have forced to flee Lagos some years back when he was caught with one Olaosebikan Ademola at Ikotun area of Lagos, and never returned to his family for fear of being attacked or killed by members of the community.

Narrating how Oluwafemi and Adewale were caught, the attendant who pleaded not to be mentioned, explained that he was initially suspicious with the public display of affection being shown by both guests when they approached the front desk.

“They could barely keep their hands off each other”, he said, adding: “So, when they requested for room service, I went to their room with the water they had requested for. It was Oluwafemi that opened the door while Adewale was on the bed, naked. I reported them to the manager and other guests came out when they heard noise”.

“The mob that gathered around the hotel decided to lynch both homosexuals but the hotel manager did not want the lynching to happen in the hotel premises, and decided to call in the police.

“So, while waiting for the police, the two young men escaped under the pretext of picking something from the room they were lodged.

“Both of them tricked us. They said they wanted to pick their bags from the room. When we did not see them, we checked and discovered they had escaped through the small gate by the swimming pool”, said the attendant.

Contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Oyo State Police Command, Adewale Osifeso, said he could not confirm the arrest of the two suspects.

He noted that the suspects had taken to their heels before the police arrived, but operatives were trailing the suspects to ensure their arrest and prosecution.

Featured

Shun Planned Nationwide Protest, Group Urges N’Deltans

Published

1 year ago

July 29, 2024

Editor

Group known as Niger Delta Nonviolence Agitators Forum (NDNAF) has urged people of the region to reconsider participating in the planned nationwide protest, citing concerns about potential violence and political undertones.

In a statement, NDNAF National President, Comrade Wisdom Oniekpar Ikuli, expressed solidarity with Nigerian youths on the issues they have raised but advised against a protest that could be hijacked by unscrupulous elements.

NDNAF highlighted the 2012 anti-subsidy protest, led by Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu and General Muhammadu Buhari, as an example of a protest with political undertones.

The organization also noted that the current protest has been linked to Northerners, advising Nigerians, particularly those from the South, to stay away.

NDNAF advocated for dialogue as a means of resolving issues.

The organization encouraged Nigerians, especially youths, to engage in dialogue with authorities, citing the example of David’s restraint in not harming King Saul despite having the opportunity.

NDNAF’s statement emphasised the need for caution and nonviolent means of addressing grievances, urging Niger Deltans to emulate David’s example and avoid retaliatory actions.