Junk Mail - Special Edition
A Touch Of Nokoko
By Kofi Akumanyi
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Dear Editor,
Re: Idiagbon's remarks on anti-drug campaign. Having read The Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters, Maj- Gen Tunde Idiagbon's advice to traditional rulers and other opinion leaders throughout Nigeria to educate their people on the evil effects of drug abuse, I am inclined to ask a few questions which I hope would clear the way for more discussion on the issue.
In the first place, it is totally wrong for the honourable Chief of Staff to put this heavy responsibility on the shoulders of our innocent traditional rulers, who everybody knows are not into drugs like marijuana, cocaine etc.
In fact, the popular belief is that such drugs are circulated in certain classes of the society - musicians, jet- setting businessmen who need a little lick to liven up their highly strung nerves and, of course, soldiers in and outside the barracks.
That is not to state, however, that one has to experience drug taking before one could advise on its harmful effects... but..
Salif Adamu, Lagos.
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Dear Editor,
I am highly incensed (as I'm sure any people around the world must also be) about the senseless hi-jacking of planes around the world by extremist organisations who believe they could solve their political and religious problems only through violent acts.
The Beirut Shi'ite Moslems' attack on TWA plane brings the contradictions in violence and religion sharply into focus. Soon after killing the American Marine officer on board the plane and throwing the body onto the tarmac, the television cameras focussed on a Shi'ite hi-jacker facing Mecca, praying right under the beleaguered plane and its passengers.
The question is: are we all serving the same god who exhorts us to eschew violence and not spill innocent blood?
As they bow every day to pray to God, I am sure he will continue looking down their ****-holes till judgement day...
Robert Nimo, Twickenham
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Dear Editor,
I am not quite sure whether the Editor of the Mirror realised what he was doing when he published the June 4, fun games (Talking Drums, June 24, 1985).
Among other graphically descriptive antics, The Head of State, Flt-Lt J. J. Rawlings playing for Team 'B' was reported to have been twice warned for bad tackling and for "making sure that if he missed the ball he did not miss the man"!
Unbelievably, when some "army wives" invaded the pitch in an effort to disrupt the match, the Head of State himself got down from the Presidential dais "and joined the melee"
At the risk of being branded a spoil-sport, I seriously question the propriety of such acts by the Head of State whose pontification on morality fills the airwaves every day, and especially when he sends messages of condolences to the presidents of Belgium and Italy after the Brussels football hooliganism.
Is the June 4 fun games a reflection of the fact that some people would never learn to play any game (political or otherwise) by the rules...?
Ato Emissah, Kumasi.
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Dear Sir,
“... If Nigeria's Jehovah's Witnesses have refused to sing the National Anthem and recite the national pledge, according to Maj-Gen Idiagbon (Talking Drums, June 17, 1985) then it shows, without any equivocation, how far this group of religious 'fanatics' are ready to go to challenge the authority of the state.
In Nigeria today, the military has proved that in their estimation every malaise in the country can be effectively cured by a simple stroke of the pen by way of a Decree. For example Decree 4 has effectively silenced the once-powerful and vociferous press in Nigeria.
Well, Maj-Gen Idiagbon, how about a Decree to bring the recalcitrant Jehovah's Witnesses back into the fold?
While you're at it, please don't forget the Maitatsine sect whose violence has twice disturbed your great strides into development of the country.
I am positive that a few bullets through the heads of these hard-nosed fanatics would lay the ghost of fanaticism to rest…
Alhaji Baba, Ilorin.
