Wariboko, Crying-more-than-the-bereaved-10-shortcomings-of-a-proverb

[Toyin Falola]

https://punchng.com/crying-more-than-the-bereaved-10-shortcomings-of-a-proverb/

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[Cornelius Hamelberg]

• As always, it’s morality and ethics, the desirable human qualities such as love and empathy, that His Eminence is preaching about. 

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• Moving from the nation Nigeria  - a nation made up of many nations, moving from Nigeria to another troubled corner of the global village, here’s a case in point, as reported in al Jazeera: 

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• “Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan died in Israeli custody early on Tuesday after being on a hunger strike for nearly three months. Adnan’s body has yet to be returned to his family for burial.”

With such naked human rights transgressions so visible to  the whole wide world, in this case, on the international stage, be it at the General Assembly of the United Nations, or on the decision-making floor of the Israeli Knesset, which unfeeling son of a gun is going to be yapping about me , you , we , us “ crying more than the bereaved” ? 

Only some rednecks who do not believe in God  - have no chesed in their hearts and yet continue to  act like the devil as described in  John 8:44 and  to assert vaingloriously and falsely that  their father “GOD” gave them the land…

The Royal Asses and Prince Lincoln : Humanity 

[Salimonu Kadiri]

To begin with, *Crying more than the bereaved* is an observation of a behaviour displayed by a crier for personal gains and as such, it is not a proverb. A proverb by nature contains words of advice or warning and the expression, *crying more than the bereaved* is neither an advice nor a warning. In Ghana, there are professional funeral criers who are hired and paid by the bereaved to cry at funerals. In reality the behaviour of Ghana funeral criers has nothing to do with compassion or sympathy with the bereaved.

The genesis to the article titled, "Crying More Than The Bereaved" and which is wrongly classified a proverb was stated by Professor Nimi Wariboko as follows, "During the last governorship elections, Igbo in Lagos complained that they were subjected to vile anti-Igbo rhetoric, dehumanisation, demonisation and physical violence by their fellow Nigerians (in Lagos). Some non-Igbo columnists, activists and other well-meaning Nigerians came to the support of the Igbo. Subsequently, we heard one of the familiar ethnicity-driven jingoistic refrains: Outsiders weeping more than the bereaved." The alleged Crying More Than The Bereaved statement with reference to the alleged experience of the Igbo in Lagos during the gubernatorial election, according to Professor Nimi Wariboko, implies that Igbo are not worthy of the compassion of their fellow Nigerians or human beings. If the Igbos in Lagos were the only victims of electoral violence in the March 18, 2023, governorship elections in Nigeria, one would have agreed with Professor Wariboko that the Igbos were unjustly treated and the perpetrators of such heinous crime should face the wrath of all patriotic Nigerians. Let us look at what happened in Lagos during the the governorship election.

There were 13,325 polling units in Lagos of which disturbances were reported in 130 polling units, amounting approximately to 1% of the polling units. The results of the Lagos gubernatorial election showed that the incumbent Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, of the APC polled 762,134 votes to retain his office while Gbadebo Chinedu Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party polled 312,329 votes and the PDP candidate, Abdul-Aziz Olajide Adeniran, polled 62,449 votes. Now that the evidence before the entire world is that the total votes cast for the foremost three candidates in the election was 1,036,912, how could it be ascertained that only non-Igbo ethnic groups were allowed to cast their votes in Lagos as ethnic warriors would like us to believe? What amount of force would have been required to select 1,036,912 voters in order to prevent Igbos from voting in Lagos? And to what degree of certainty can one assume that the 374, 778 that voted for the LP and PDP gubernatorial candidates in Lagos State were all non-Igbo voters? Answering those questions would prove that stories have been invented to support the persecution and prevention of Igbos from voting during the last gubernatorial election in Lagos State. Why is it easier for Nigerian intellectuals to play ethnic card about elections in Nigeria when the electoral processes are based on questionable grounds?

Take for instance that INEC told Nigerians that there were 7,060,195 registered voters in Lagos State, but 6,214,970 collected their PVC and were qualified to vote. On the election date, only 1,182,620 were accredited to vote. The discrepancy between those who are eligible to vote through possession of PVC (6,214,970) and those who actually voted (1,182,620) was 5,032,350. Instead of manufacturing ethnic discontents, I think our learned Professors should be interested in the reasons for discrepancy between the eligible and actual voters in elections all over Nigeria which is not limited to Lagos State. While maliciously gossiping intellectuals were telling the world that the Igbo were subjected to vile anti-Igbo rhetoric and physical violence during the last governorship election in Lagos State, Southwest, they deliberately kept silent over what happened throughout the whole country pertaining to the elections. For instance, INEC informed the world that 2,112,793 were registered in Enugu State, Southeast and the number of collected PVC was 1,995,389. On election day (18 March 2023), 381,971 voters were accredited to vote showing a discrepancy of 1,613,418 between eligible and actual voters. However, the result of the election could not be declared because of disputes over Nsukka and Nkanu East local government votes. In Udenu local government area, violence was reported in 13 polling units while Igbo-Eze South LGA reported violence in 3 polling units among others. Later, Dr Peter Ndubuisi Mba of the PDP was declared winner of Enugu governorship election with 160, 895 votes against Chijioke Jonathan Edeoga of the Labour Party with 157,552 votes, Frank Nweke Jr of APGA who came third with 17,983 votes and Uche Nnaji of the APC who polled 14,575 votes. Noteworthy is that the LP gubernatorial candidate for Enugu, Edeoga contested in the May 25, 2022 PDP governorship primary and scored 9 votes against Dr Mba's 790 votes. Thereafter, Edeoga left PDP to become LP gubernatorial flag bearer on August 4, 2022. The same scenario was played in Lagos State where Gbadebo Chinedu Rhodes-Vivour deflected from PDP after its May 25, 2022 gubernatorial primary to become Labour Party governorship candidate on August 4. 2022. 

As if maliciously gossiping intellectuals are beset with one eye that could only see in one direction they failed to see that the electoral processes during the gubernatorial election in Enugu state, among others, were many times worse than Lagos. This was attested to in the press release issued on March 24, 2023, by UPGA gubernatorial candidate in the March 18, 2023 election, Mr. Nweke Jr.,  titled: Enugu Guber Poll An Assault On Democracy. In his press release published in major online Nigerian media he stated : Very early in the morning of Saturday, March 18, 2023, town criers travelled through several communities in Enugu State ordering anyone who would not vote in favour of the People's Democratic Party to stay at home.

The House of Assembly candidate of the All-Progressives Grand Alliance for Udenu Constituency was attacked and almost killed on the morning of the election, while polling units within his jurisdiction were condoned off by the police and military officers. At various polling units across the State, PDP thugs, party members, hired criminals and some compromised members of the police and military threatened voters at polling units and chased those who could not be bought over or intimidated into voting for the PDP. In Nsukka, voters recorded and reported gunshots at the polling units allegedly instigated by the Labour Party. At 7:20 pm on election day, shots were fired sporadically at the Nkanu West Collation centre in Agbani while the military stood aside and watched. 

 Enugu state in the Southeast is totally Igbo and all the contenstants in the 2023 gubernatorial election were Igbo indigenes. Yet, one of the candidates could narrate what he experienced from his fellow Igbo contestants which if it were to happen to the Igbo outside their State of origin, it would have been termed anti-Igbo hostility.

S. Kadiri

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From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com>
Sent: 02 May 2023 19:56
To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Wariboko, Crying-more-than-the-bereaved-10-shortcomings-of-a-proverb

 

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[Toyin Falola]

Sir:

“Crying more than the bereaved” is a proverb. It is widespread. There is an Hausa variant

 

When a man cried more than the bereaved husband at a funeral, everyone one knows there must have been something!

TF

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[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Dear Baba Kadiri, 

Re - Mishlei/ Proverbs

The saying sometimes is that “ An explanation is not a proof”, that an explanation of e.g. the Holy Trinity, however lucid, and no matter how profound, is not tantamount to proof of its existence. Not necessarily. 

In this case, as usual, many thanks for your elucidations. It was another quod erat demonstrandum. Bigot or not, anyone who does not see the proverbial light after such clarifications, supported by incontestable evidence, must be up to no good, up to their old mischief and wiles, propagating prejudice,& malice, what the highfalutin refer to as “ethnic jingoism “  

I understand that quite naturally Ojogbon would like to raise his schoolteacher’s cane as a corrective measure, in support of his fellow Alagba Wariboko, as in “ one good turn deserves another” / “scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” and that in cognisance of the fact that eminent professors belong to the same guild, so to speak, that means that loyalty to one another is an essential part of their moral code.(Among the corrupt politicians/ Ali Baba &  his cabinet of  40 Thieves,  in the name of “Honour among thieves”, there is a similar sense of loyalty among the wrongdoers, and the thieves’ ethic is,” We are in this crime together”, as some kind of collective responsibility) 

In this dispute, I beg to differ with the Ojogbon that In the English Language in which Alagba Waribko wrote, I would like to assert that  "Crying more than the bereaved " is an idiom, not a proverb. 

Being infinitely less than omniscient, and not being an authority on  His Majesty’s English ( or indeed an expert on what Besserwisser Kperogi has pointed out as President Trump’s “infelicities” of Language), Cornelius Ignoramus would not like to stress or to press the point any further but would like to leave you with this link for your further consideration 

What's the difference between idioms and proverbs? | Britannica Dictionary

In my view, the Hausa / Hausa poetry example that Ojogbon gave, is an idiom incorporated into a meaningful sentence.

[Salimonu Kadiri]

My dear Menahem Hamelberg and professor Falola,

I want to restate a fact which you know already about me. English is not my first language!! Premised on that fact, whether the expression *crying more than the bereaved* is a phrase, an aphorism, idiom, a jargon, or a proverb is insignificant to me. What is important to me, regardless of the classification of the expression in English language, is the message is conveyed by the expression to listeners when uttered to someone. To me, it accords with logic and common sense that when someone is said to be *crying more than the bereaved* that someone's action must have been adjudged by witnesses or listeners as a clamour by the crier for personal loss of benefit/advantage from either the dead or incapacitated person and neither as a demonstration of empathy to the bereaved nor sympathy for the hurt or demisedas the case maybe.

The Yoruba language equivalent of *crying more than the bereaved* is GBÀRÀNMI DI ELÉRÙ, AJÍ NI DÓ D'OKO ENI. Literally translated to, a helper to carry a load claiming the ownership of the load and a rapist claiming to be the husband of the raped. Feeling a pain of slapping more than the sufferer is expressed in Yoruba as, "TANI A GBÁL'ETI TANI ETI NRO." The art of *crying more than the bereaved  was obvious  when on Wednesday, 8 March 2023, Ayo Adebanjo's Afenifere Yoruba cultural organisation in a communique, asserted as follows, "That the results of the lawful votes at the election available to the Afenifere through credible sources confirm that his Excellency, Peter Gregory Obi, the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party won the said election and we thus support his decision challenging the contrary declaration by INEC. The deliberate non-compliance by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with its mandatory guidelines during the exercise encouraged 'electoral brigandage' at the polling units." https://gazettengr.com/peter-obi-won-feb-25-election-we-back-his-decision-to-challenge-tinubu-afenifer/ 

The communique was said to have been signed by the Yoruba Afenifere leader, Ayo Adebanjo, and its Secretary, Sola Ebiseni. If we are to abide by Professor Nimi Wariboko's proverbial meaning of *crying more than the bereaved* anyone opposing Ayo Adebanjo and his Yoruba part of Afenifere group on his communique over who won, the presidential election will be guilty of dehumanising, demonising and showing no compassion to the Igbos who were denied the opportunity of producing a Nigerian President. Ayo Adebanjo is, at least, one of some non-Igbo Nigerians who, according to Professor Nimi Wariboko, came in support of the Igbo Presidential candidate, Peter Obi, who failed to win. 

Ayo Adebanjo and his faction of Afenifere Yoruba cultural group was *crying more than the bereaved* when he referred to unnamed credible sources in their communique that confirmed to them that their self-styled Excellency, Peter Gregory Obi, won the Presidential election. The ulterior motive behind Ayo Adebanjo's support for an Igbo presidency in the person of Peter Obi is his aversion for the INEC declared winner of the Presidential election, Bola Ahmed Tinubu with whom he was in Alliance for Democracy (AD) party from 1999 to 2003. Yoruba Afenifere cultural group, of which Ayo Adebanjo was a front member, was the pillar behind the Alliance for Democracy  (AD) that went into alliance with the All Nigeria Peoples' Party (ANPP) in the Presidential election of 1999. The Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in that election was Olusegun Obasanjo while AD and ANPP joint candidate was Olu Falae. Although Obsanjo was declared the winner of the Presidential election, he was rejected in the entire Southwest, including his own polling unit. As the 2003 presidential election was approaching, the elders in the Afenifere reasoned that it was absurd that the Southwest could be voting against their own Yoruba-son-president and therefore directed AD to adopt Obasanjo as their Presidential candidate while fielding AD canditates in all other elective offices. Bola Ahmed Tinubu, then the AD Governor of Lagos saw an unbeheaded viper in Obasanjo and therefore warned AD of getting nearer him. His warning was brushed aside and after the 2003 elections, only Lagos State under Bola Ahmed Tinubu survived the bite of the viper, Olusegun Obasanjo, whose PDP had captured all other Southwest States. Thereafter, Bola Ahmed Tinubu pulled out of AD to form AC that progressed later to ACN. Between 2003 and 2007, President Obasanjo did everything in his power to cripple Lagos State Government under Bola Ahmed Tinubu, including the seizure of federal revenue allocation shared to Lagos State. Tinubu filed a case of unconstitutional action against Obasanjo's led Federal Government for seizing revenue allocation entitled to by the Lagos State's government and won, but Obasanjo disobeyed Supreme Court's judgment. However, since Bola Ahmed Tinubu pulled out from the AD, the party became oblivious and he became object of envy and hatred by Adebanjo's faction of Afenifere. That is why Ayo Adebanjo will address Peter Gregory Obi as "His Excellency" as if he had won the February 25, 2023 presidential election in Nigeria and that, of course, will make Ayo Adebanjo one of Professor Nimi Wariboko's non-Igbo activists and well-meaning Nigerians supporting the turn of an Igbo to be President of Nigeria.

S. Kadiri

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From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com>

Sent: 05 May 2023 14:41

To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Wariboko, Crying-more-than-the-bereaved-10-shortcomings-of-a-proverb

 

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