By Abdu Rafiu
Again, it is spring. Gardens everywhere have grown full green. The weather is soothing. For the uninitiated in our clime, spring is the period between the end of the dry season and beginning of the rainy season, signaled by the return of the sun to the Equator third week of March from the Southern Hemisphere. In Europe where the seasons are clearly delineated into four compartments, there are four seasons—winter, spring, summer and autumn. Not surprisingly, Chambers 21st Century Dictionary which prides itself as The Authority on English Today (Note the definite article ‘The’) defines spring as “the season between winter and summer, when most plants begin to grow, and usually thought of in the Northern Hemisphere as consisting of the months of March to May inclusive. For me, it is the all encompassing season of awakening, of rain, of bloom and beauty. We carry the spirit of spring in us; when that season arrives in the Tropics we know. Something in us tells us it is springtime. The onset is heralded by thunder and lightning.
Welcome, it is springtime. Lawns everywhere have grown full green, enrapturing and calming the souls. And the air wears the thick, sweet smell of foliage. There is bloom everywhere. The birds are singing merrily every minute. For man and animal, it is the time to hope for bumper harvest in no distant future. Animals have grasses to graze. Birds have enough cover for their nests. Rivers are filling up again for swimming mostly by children, and to provide clean water for domestic use. The fishes are in their elements. Lizards are kings where there are no cats and kittens. They can crawl down the trees or even walls. Squirrels jump from one tree to the other on the premises. So sweet and soothing is the season that we pay homage to the rains Spring brings: “Ojo maa ro, ojo maa ro, itura l’oje…” This can be roughly translated to mean: “Rain, fall; rain, fall, you are soothing and it is soothing to have you.”
The onset of spring is heralded by thunder, storms and lightning. Thus spring is beyond geographical delineation. The servants of the Most High are in their accustomed loyal and unceasing service, driving in waves, strong winds, gentle winds, breeze, soothing air and the herald of lightning and thunder and rain, heavy and constant, as the season drives us into rainy season called summer in the Northern Hemisphere.
When lightning flashes and thunder roars, we dash under the table or bed. Because of the attendant catastrophes sometimes, hardly do we have the right presence of mind to recognize that without storms and lightning, the electrical balance between the ground and higher atmosphere, the ecosystem and all, would be disturbed and life on earth would be uninhabitable. Earthquakes, an activity by the nature beings called gnomes, are programmed to see to the remodeling of earth surface and building of hills and mountains through new forms. Through the enlightenment of these times, we learn that flooding through hurricanes is to engender climatic balance between the polar zone and the tropics. Old and unserviceable trees are sorted and pulled down by hurricanes and force winds so that young trees could come up and flourish and new ones sprout. Soil is enriched through alluvia soil thrown up by flooding which also refills the depleted water reservoir under the ground and raises moisture level. In other words, painful and horrendous as our experiences may be at every turn of the coming of the hurricane and lesser storms, floods or earthquakes or fires, the elemental beings in charge are not on destruction mission. They are in fact reformatory agents. It is we men who would not listen to their entreaties and warnings. And so, McKenna says in his immortal words: “Nature is not mute; it is man that is deaf!” If it were not so, how is it, for example, that animals and birds, apart from those that are caged, are hardly swept away by hurricanes or fires in the bush? They pick the warnings and move to safety well ahead of the imminent disaster.
Springtime is here. Trees that bear medicinal herbs to heal our ailing bodies are receiving renewal. Several years ago, such trees and indeed many a growth people would have regarded as disturbing weeds and invited a gardener to help clear and throw away, are today appreciated as indispensable gifts of nature at this time. The parasitic mistletoe (Viscum Alba) is in full bloom on many trees. A nervine, hypotensive and cardiac depressant, it has been found to lower high blood pressure and to raise low blood pressure, when tea made from its leaves is taken regularly over a long period. A colleague who has preoccupied himself with medicinal derivates from herbs and herbal remedies has this to say:
“It is said to act directly on the vagus nerve to reduce the heart beat rate. Besides, it is believed to strengthen the peripheral capillaries. Taken with one or two dessertspoonful of natural honey it is said to induce soothing sleep.”
He goes on: “I have been pleased, too, since the rains returned, to find the columns of aloe vera, until then dying under the blazing sun, suddenly recover and green up. Many women, I understand, add the gel of aloe vera to their setting lotion before they go for a hair set. Some others are said to use it as a conditioner before hair setting. This, I understand, is more effective. Yet some others use it as a face mask and have gotten their men to try the gel as an after shave. Ancient medical records in China, Korea and Japan suggest that aloe vera contains about 60 ingredients of outstanding medicinal value. But it was not until the news that the leaves cured the wounds of atomic bombing victims in Japan during World War 11 that modern medical science began to show interest in the plant.”
Wonderful blessings of spring! Many fruits came into season, mangoes, for example. We now learn that these fruits give of their nourishing or healing best when they are in season. Contemplating the phenomenon of spring, one can’t but come to the conclusion that whatever gives rise to this season and what it offers, affects not only vegetation as is generally assumed. Since spring is the time of renewal and renewal implies activating or imbuing with that force which effects renewal and this falls in the realm of nature and not man, it means that everything which derives from nature must be subject to the dynamics of nature. Think of thoughts and ideas, benevolent or destructive. They appear to multiply rapidly and flourish at this time with little push or nourishment. Spring is the season of protests and riots, of tension among people and in government and its agencies. Think back and see major and ill-suited events which had occurred in May, locally and overseas. Russian-Ukraine war, rather than abating is escalating. Killings and destruction of cities and edifices are escalating. We may remember also the many great and good events which have taken place over the ages in May, shortly before, or after. They are overshadowed by negative events which linger more in our memories than the positive activities. This is because it is evil which predominates in the world.
In the month of May, all thoughts and deeds, good or evil, are driven, subjected to greater motion, blossoming, maturation, ripening and harvesting, thus to closing of cycles in consequences of increased regenerative power released into Creation for renewal but which also serves in effect as quickening power of all processes at this period. This has been so since the beginning of Creation as has been revealed to all men seeking the truth of life and existence in this unique period of enlightenment spreading across the globe.
The outpouring of power taking place in May will continue for as long as Creation is permitted to exist out of the immeasurable Love of the Almighty Creator. The power streams down from the Summit of Creation to the lowest part that is the earth. It renews the entire Creation. Acts of goodness are subject to the same, like grasses and mushroom sprouting after the first rains, flowering and blossoming amply evinced in the luster and enrichment of the lilies of the field and hue and soothenness of flowers. But where are the good men? The microscopic few will require lanterns in broad daylight to fish out. And so there are protests. And so there is hate, there is man’s inhumanity to man, and there was pogrom! The great, blessed month of May! It is Spring all over again.
Waste not, want not
The profligate life of Nigerians manifests not only in marriage ceremonies and burial rites but in political activities and quest for political offices as well. Have you heard? Please, lend me your ears! Whoever wants to fly his party’s flag to serve his people or Nigeria at the highest level of the Presidency, a form just for expression of interest alone is costing the moon. And the money so paid is not refundable should he lose the nomination bid by his party.
To go for President as a member of APC, you fork out N100 million; for Governorship, the price is N50 million; for the Senate, N20 million; for House of Representatives, N10 million; House of Assembly, N2 million.
In PDP, to go for the presidency, it costs N40 million to give effect to the dream of applying to fly the party flag; if interested in the governorship, to pick the form it costs N21 million; Senate, N3.5 million; House of Representatives, N2.5 million and House of Assembly, N500, 000.
In NNPP, the nomination forms cost as follows: For President, N30 million; Governorship, N11 million; Senate, N3 million; and House of Representatives, N1.2 million.
In YPP, the prices for the forms are: for the president, N20 million; Governorship, N10 million; Senate, N3 million; House of Reps, N2 million; State House of Assembly: N400, 000.
SDP, form to purchase as an indication of interest in the office of president: N35 million; Governorship, N16 million; Senate, N3 million; House of Representatives, N1.7 million; and State House of Assembly, N500, 000.
The party that goes by the name AAC says its forms are free. All that is required for anyone to express interest in being nominated is to pay party membership fee, and if the person likes, he may make donation to it as well.
The humongous sum of money does not include what you spend on air tickets flying up and down to all corners and crannies of the land to make consultation or show yourself, nor does it include wrapped gifts for chiefs in attendance, wives and children and for the host himself. If N100 million is paid for expression of interest in being nominated alone, N40 million; N35 million; N30 million or N20 million as the case may be, excluding expenditure on warming up and rehearsing, as well as, in good naturedness and generosity of heart, remembering the victims of one tragedy or the other with bags of rice and donation of nothing less than N50 million here, another N50 million there; and yet another N50 million there and more to wipe away tears and bring succour. Hangers-on are not yet in the reckoning, nor is publicity blitz factored into the expenses. There are covert and overt expenditure by prospective gladiators. All these have nothing to do with campaign funding later when the real jostling starts and throwing of mud taken as given begins.
Nigeria is the poverty capital of the world, and it is the most expensive to pick up forms as expression of interest in nomination to wave the party flag for an elective office to serve one’s fatherland. The national chairman of the APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu said boldfacedly and so thoughtlessly that his party had no apologies for fixing the costs that high! No consideration whatsoever for the implications the prices will have on the overall health of the nation.
It is hardly known to a great many that a man who uses his wealth to oppress others and drag the value of life down will himself be a victim and will be the servant of those he once ill-treated.
Conclusion: Next week
The Guardian
