Daily Independent Online.
*
Thursday, June 17, 2004.
On the wing of power
By Asoya Ngozi
Flying on the ADC’s Boeing
737aircraft piloted by Captain Peter Ogboh, from Abuja to Lagos on Tuesday, I
had the opportunity to thoroughly reflect on what it means to have power. The
power that exuded from his expertise reminded me of the true nature of power. I
will touch on the finesse; the difference that I observed between the smooth
operator and the near tout experience I had in another private airline a few
months ago.
I am not a regular flier and would
certainly not stand a good chance to win ADC’s frequent flier rewards nor
any other airline’s reward package for that matter. The import of that is
that every time that I fly, I take note of all the experiences, all the lessons
and all the pictures that traveling may present. Didn’t they say that
traveling is a part of education?
The first lesson that I learnt and it was
by a colleague who called my attention to it was that flying actually creates a
feeling of power. Imagine how effortlessly, it takes to soar into the sky and
over everything below. The tall houses, the iroko trees, the monuments that we
have erected in honour of our heroes and heroines and so on, they just fizzle
into nothingness the higher the aircraft flew. Just feel the minimization of
those numerous environmental materials that ordinarily make physical life such
a difficulty. They just wither into minuscule objects that they do not matter
any more.
The take off symbolizes the kind and
expertise of the pilot you have. A rough and jerky take off could mean many
things including the fact that the
pilot is either of a frame of mind that his being in control of the aircraft
makes him a handy tool in the hands of the numerous forest gods and goddesses,
who are perennially looking for blood to assuage their vile thirst or that he
belongs to the school of half-trained, ill-trained touts whose bravado only the
wastage of lives of passengers can attest to in the event of a bad day. There
are bad days in the air by the way, so that makes expertise paramount. As it is
with a take off so is it with the landing. Usually, if the take off is
horrific, it is as well to assume that the landing would be similar.
Back to the hopes, aspirations and dreams
that Captain Peter Ogboh and his team were directly charged with successfully
taking to their destination, I will not stop marvelling at the realization that
there is some secret feeling of power which flying gives. But to turn more
specifically to the lessons, it was suddenly obvious to me that inside the
aircraft was like inside the portals of powering through the air. As the pilot
was tearing through the clouds, it was easy to see how, though fazed,
occasionally, men of power such as our lords of the Aso Manor can wave aside
all irritants, like the Labour Movement, the press and so on. Had those clouds
been as strong as the rock or a tree, there is no way any pilot would have
braved them but a dissipated and disorganized resistance that resembles a body
of clouds is no such cause for worry for any experienced pilot. I wondered how
varied and multi-shaped the clouds were and the ruthless manner that this ADC
flight was tearing through them- could it be that the President was bold enough
to jet out because the NLC inspired strike was a mere irritation, the type
caused by these fleeting clouds?
Another lesson I learnt was that when at
the top of the clouds, you could lose sight of the ugly earth below. The
numerous villages and settlements below are so unsightly, so shapelessly
arranged they can make environmentalists churn in shame. But so is our country-
little wonder the President chooses to fly away at the slightest opportunity
and, you can bet, travelling at night ensures he does not see those unsightly
communities.
Another lesson that I learnt is that when
the clouds get treacherous and disturbing such that they cover the pilots view,
the answer was to accelerate and go higher still. That way, the aircraft stays
above the fray. It is a lesson in power because, again as with our Aso Rock occupants,
powerful men know how to shield themselves and protect themselves by becoming
incommunicado in the face of crises. Having allowed things to get so bad, they
hide away from the maddening crowd and stay so far only their orders would be
felt. This method could lead to being removed from reality, though because
under this situation, the people of power would begin to see the world from the
binoculars of those in the thick of the crises containment. That is why some
people always pray for crises so that they can exercise power de jure.
The most important lesson in my view is
that a very big chance to start living a strange world exists if care is not
taken. Imagine being attended to by all those beautiful airhostesses all the
time. The comfort and coziness is so deceptive a regular flier could mistake
the frequency of such feel good to be the real world.
Generally, it is smoother while sky high
than when either taking off or landing.
To take off, the aircraft needs so much
speed and force, that the fastest car needs three times its highest speed to be
able to equal the required speed to get a lift. If it does not get sufficient
speed, there would be insufficient lift and insufficient lift can only mean one
thing… Now, in the hands of a very experienced pilot, the landing is not
out of the ordinary and frightful.
It is in the area of landing that I am most
interested today. Having stayed in power for so long as our president has
stayed, and having become a member of the aves family, he must have imbibed too
much of the attributes of the flying creatures that he no longer sees the world
from the same binoculars as we do. Now having become so deeply steeped in power
and not knowing that he has just been singled out by God for a purpose, I hope
President Obasanjo has not become so removed from reality, he does not know
what he would tell Babangida or Yar Adua or even an Abiola if, any of these had
been in power instead of himself. Imagine being called the Nero of our times,
that is not a very encouraging thing to hear about the same man who sees
himself as God’s greatest gift to our country.
When he flew out to dine and wine with the
mighty G-8 was he not ashamed that before him, a fleeing president, who left
his country smoldering in the flames of Labour induced strike, were three
countries that were a few years ago, of comparable economic and political clout
but were being considered for enslistment into the group of developed
economies? Is it not ironic that a man who left his country in such a hurry
while the crises was on was only a spectator to the consideration of India,
Brazil and China for membership of the G-8? What is so special about a
shameless president who rushed away from a troubled household only to see his
peers being told by the same people that he thought would be so impressed with
his strongman image, decorating and adulating India, Brazil and China. Does it
not make our leaders weep that India is today considered and accepted as better
than Nigeria? As a child, India was never one of the places I looked forward to
going to for higher education. Graduates of their higher institutions were so
denigrated that they were employed on a step lower than their peers from our
own universities. Twenty years after, Nigeria is considered inferior to India.
That I think is a measure of how we have depreciated. I suspect that is why our
beloved President needed to fly out of our presence in order to get whiff of
fresh air.
Let him remember that flying no matter how
high has its limits. There is a time to land. Whether he likes it or not
Obasanjo will meet us here when he has satisfied his insatiable flight of
fancy. All those unsightly things that he sees about us from the air and which
put him off about us, he will still meet them on his way down. I hope he has
the good sense to prepare the ground well enough for his landing. He will never
remain in the air. Abacha could not.
