Tufaces’ coldfeet: Between the voice of Jacob and the hand of Esau

It was the transition period between my primary and secondary education. With all of my exams out of the way, I usually spent all the time with my ears hanging on the radio, hoping and praying for a miracle. If there was a power cut, I would quickly turn on the radio attached to the rechargeable lamp.

I still remember how it felt when any of Platashun Boiz's songs came on air. Like Yvonne Chaka Chaka I'll find myself saying "thank you Mr. DJ for playing my song"

Though we know that 20 children cannot play together for 20 years, the split of the group which was then the rave of the moment hit all of us by surprise. If there was however one thing that did not take any one by surprise after the fall out, it was who amongst the three will stand tallest solo.

Ever since then Innocent Idibia, popularly known as Tuface, named after the ancient Roman god Janus (Janus was nicknamed the two faced god because Romans depicted him having two faces. One looking forward to the future and the other looking backward to the past) has constantly dropped hit songs back to back.

When he sings the whole world listen, when he speaks the industry keeps quiet and when he is silent people still dance to the melody of his silence. Such is the reverence of Tubaba.

Jesus Christ once advised that any man seeking to build a house must first sit and evaluate the cost, draw out a plan and access his ability to complete the house before commencing. For it matters not the extent to which construction work goes, if the owner fails to finish the project he would be laughed to scorn and ridiculed for abandoning his work mid-way.

A woman who suffers a still birth would weep just as bitter as the one who suffered a miscarriage in her first trimester. What Jesus underscored there was that a 99% level download is just as useless as a 1% level download. Did Tuface take his time to ask just how deep and deadly the water of anti-government activism is? Did he read about Fela and price he paid for voicing his disapproval about the government? From the look of things, Tuface didn't. If he did he probably under estimated the risk he was exposing himself to in the first place.

Never start a fire if you are allergic to smoke and never act impulsively. Perhaps Tuface thought he was fighting a just course, and that was enough to see him through. After all in the movies good always triumph over evil. Life is not the movies. Life is a true life story.

Here in the real world life is brutish, nasty and short especially for those who collide or attempt to collide with the powers that be. Like Voltaire, the French writer and historian once said "It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the government (established authorities) are wrong."

Having fully committed himself, Tuface seemingly realised albeit belatedly, that the certainty of victory at the end of the day does not guarantee the absence of casualties. Was John the Baptist not right when he chided the king that it was unlawful to have his brother's wife? That did not stop his head from ending on a tray.

His hasty retreat generated mixed feelings as expected. With many berating him, and others applauding. I advise we cut the young man some slack. During Man O' War drills in my NYSC days in the hills of Umunna, there were many senseless and good for nothing songs we sang to keep the morale high during those drills. Amidst the nonsense songs, one made and still makes sense to me.

It goes thus "who no go no go know, who no go no go know, wetien I see". Have we taken time to ask why the fire that seemingly burned uncontrollably in his belly extinguished with not even ashes to show for what once was? Who no go no go know wetien Tubaba eye see.

The greatest form of blindness is not your inability to see the visible things before you, rather it is your inability to see the invisible things. He is not the first neither would he be the last to grow cold feet just when war is nigh. Another musical icon Sound Sultan had his to say in one of his songs in 2010 “I want to be like Moses, eh show my people dem to the promise land. But then I notice something. People wey try am don dey underground’

I have listened to him sing for nearly two decades. I can recognise his voice no less than a mother recognises the cry of the child she bore. That man in that video was certainly the face of Tuface, the voice was not his, neither were the words contained therein. He was reading a script.

The question we should all be asking is who wrote the script? Age stricken and blind, Isaac was sensitive enough to know that the voice was Jacob's while the hand was Esau's. Here, those of us with sight still cannot see that the face is Tuface's but the voice is that of someone elses'. All through the years in my study of events and governments around the world, there is one thing I have come to know.

An oppressive government will never see the end of an oppressed people. Oppressed people always see the end of oppressive governments. In this I find consolation, in this I find solace, in this I take refuge.