Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Political humor from Lagos

Sometimes political humor can cast a bright light on political reality. Jeremy Weate, in naijablog passes on these bit of jokes now circulating in Nigeria.

33 Nigerian miners trapped underground

Last night I dreamt that 33 Nigerian Miners were trapped underground and the govt sent a capsule down to rescue them one after the other, but the rescue had to be called off as the trapped miners could not agree amongst themselves on who goes first.

Zoning was suggested but they could not agree on which zone will go first.

Eventually a struggle to all board at the same time… led to the attempt being called off.

Oh dear. Sorry it was only a nightmare. In fact the real problem was that FEC awarded the capsule contract to Ibori* and we are still awaiting delivery 3 mths later. There is a probe going on to unravel this and retrieve the award sum before we get to the issue of what formula to adopt for the rescue and which miner comes out first. Meanwhile traditional rulers from the miners' towns are paying solidarity visits to the President to thank him for his efforts to rescue the miners.

And the First lady has just invited the wives of the Nigerian miners to Abuja for dinner at the Hilton to honour them! At this meeting, they will pray for the good Lord to rescue the miners. The first lady will lead prayer warriors into battle to attack the devil and enemies of Nigeria, whose wicked acts are constituting an obstacle to the rescue efforts. The first ladies from the 36 states will also be in attendance. All including the wives of the miners will wear the Goodluck for President Ankara**.

CNN reported early this morning that after 10mths underground all the 33 Nigerian miners have died and the Nigerian govt has declared 7 days of mourning during which the Nigerian flag will be flown at half mast.

*James Ibori was a governor of Delta state and suspected of flagrant fraud.

**Ankara is a printed fabric used for stylish women's clothing and it's often used to convey political messages.