The PDP masquerades are eating in the open, By Funke Egbemode

There are things that the initiates must not do in the presence of the uninitiated. Where I come from, masquerades do not eat or sit with women. Masquerades do not even eat, do they? They are from another world and are treated like that. In Yorubaland, they arrive through the ‘Igbale’ forest and return to the land of the ancestors via the same route. Accompanied strictly by the initiated.
I still remember vividly the visits of the family masquerade to my father. He is the eldest male and the representatives of the ancestors always accorded him the respect of an ancestral visit once in three years. Madigbol’esu (do not collide with Esu) is a fierce and feared masquerade. And when he came to the earth, everybody knew.
Before his arrival in our compound, my father would have gotten ready the drinks of the elders. Once ‘Baba’ arrived, all of us children and my mother would relocate to another part of the house. Daddy, his brothers and Madigbol’esu would go into the sitting room, doors and windows securely locked. All of us knew the drill. Even the dancers that accompany the masquerade knew the drill.
In PDP, the elders, the initiates and the novices are all talking at the same time. They are hurling the sacred things at one another in the market square. The PDP masquerade is eating in the open. Like they used to and I am warning them, like I did many times in the past.
“Awo ko gbodo t’oju ogberi da’fa nu.”
Why is it so difficult for elders of the PDP to go into a  room, secure the doors and windows before sharing the drink of the elders? Why are they fighting in front of the uninitiated? Why are the PDP masquerades yanking each other’s masks in front of women and uninitiated men? Do they need an oracle to tell them that an unmasked masquerade is no longer a masquerade? He’s just like me or the next guy.
Am I supposed to respect that man (yeah, that is what a disrobed masquerade is, an ordinary man) even if he still attempts to speak in a guttural voice?
These disrobed men and women had held many conventions in the 16 years they were in power. Each one had its own colourful drama. But I thought that meant, these elders came away from each convention with a lesson. I thought the PDP would have learnt at least half a dozen lessons, from where the APC would have to borrow half a dozen leaves. For where?
When I spoke with one of the elders of the PDP that convention morning, I asked if it was not possible to do the PDP convention magic and still elect their officers. When he sounded more unhappy than confident, I knew the masquerades were on their way to the market. And the trip was short. With windows open, doors ajar, the masquerades went for one another’s throat, the women and children watching in shocked silence.
Each elder had to prove that he was a bigger elder. A community where there are no leaders is a community on its way to extinction. The gray hair on the heads of PDP elders must begin to count for something.
The old men must sit together and sop behaving like children. The way they are all dragging at their umbrella, it won’t be long before what remains of the PDP covering finally peels away. And when the harmattan comes, the man who wears only his underwear will know the true meaning of cold.
So, is this the end? How will the PDP masquerade find its way back into the sacred grove? Now that the uninitiated have seen the mouth of the ancestral being, can the masquerade still claim that he is not a mere man?
Are the APC masquerades learning anything?

THANK YOU, GOVERNOR WIKE

As the months became weeks and then days, the reality of my first ANEC as the President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors kept me awake at night. I went even to the bathroom with a to-do list. I had fears. I was anxious. By the opening ceremony day, I was so tense I thought my skin would crack. I needed a make-up artiste to put on an extra face and then adrenalin did the rest. But the man of the event was the host governor, Barr Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, the Rivers state governor. He welcomed us with open arms. He answered our questions and made himself available throughout the program.
I and a few EXCO members were in Port Harcourt six days before the conference. We had no police escort. We ate out and we went shopping. We trekked the streets. The governor was not aware we were in town. And all through the conference, we had fun. We went safely and returned safely. To God be the glory. Thank you Governor Wike for being such a great host. I know we all left Port Harcourt with a different opinion of who you are.
From all Nigerian Editors to all the governors, eminent Nigerians who sent representatives and Governor Rauf Aregbesola who personally graced the occasion; our speakers, our friends, we say we will not forget.

Credit: Funke Egbemode