Obi Cubana, left, spraying money

Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. – Proverbs 22:6.

To Obi Cubana children and the youths who attended or read and watched the burial of his mother, who watched the spectacle that took place at Oba, Idemili South LGA, Anambra State, recently, what were they taught? What did they learn? What legacies were left for them? What will they leave for the society they will lead since the youths are said to be the leaders of tomorrow?

Some say what happened at Oba was an obscene display of wealth. Others say it does not concern anybody since Obi Iyiegbu (Obi Cubana) and his gang spent their money as they deemed fit. Different strokes for different folks.

Yet, you have some say it was not Cubana that spent the money, but his friends. My friend answered them, ‘show me your friends and I’d tell you who you are’.

We used to say ‘vanity of vanities, all is vanity’. The Cubana show has added another one: poverty of poverties, nobody should be poor’.

Many of my friends have been asking me to weigh in on the matter. I have continued to maintain somewhat of a distance because the society we live in now is not the same with the one I was brought up. So, if I am not careful with what I write, these small boys and girls and those who think otherwise like Kanayo O Kanayo, will come after me and call me all sorts of names: beefy, jealous, envious, old school, poverty-stricken, lazy, etc. So, my mouth shut up!

The only thing I know is that, in life, whatever gives you happiness that is not against the law and does not infringe on the rights of others, do it. Life is about happiness. Remove it and life becomes meaningless. Life is even short. Live yours today as if there’s no tomorrow. But remember that there will always be a tomorrow. Remember that as the big goat is chewing grass and regurgitating, the small one watches and learns and repeats same.

What legacies are we living for our children? A legacy which gives the impression that you make money, however it comes, and throw it about in such a manner as we saw at Oba? A legacy of noise, boisterousness, obscene display of wealth, as my friend called it?

The dollar is an American currency (USD). It is the only internationally recognised means of many international payments. It is so hard to make. It has remained of a high value. The highest currency remains $100 note. If you throw it about, American system follows you to find how you made it because it’s considered unthinkable for Uncle Sam to be battered in such Cubana manner. Our naira is not likewise. The highest note is the N1,000. It is cheap, of a low value and millions of it can be made with one stroke of a pen and often nobody cares how you made it. That’s why we spray it and add USD like we are spraying a very cheap perfume. And it smells. We are teaching the world how to spray money. Wonderful legacy.

I attended Merchants of Light School, Oba, which field was the venue of the Cubana show. Our Motto is “Omnes Unum Sumus” which means “We are all one”. Obi Cubana’s father, Alex, was our French teacher and games master. That school shaped me and taught me both morals and how to live a good and responsible life. It is owned by the Anglicans and although I am Catholic, I learnt to sing many hymns in that beautiful school: “New every morning is the love our wakening and uprising prove;
through sleep and darkness safely brought,
restored to life and power and thought”.

I miss that school. I want to return there and do something for it. Someday, I will. But I don’t want to go there to spray and pick money. That’s not what it taught me.

Some many things have been said about Obi Iyiegbu and his friends; how they made their money, how stupendously rich they are, how nobody bothered about how they struggled, how we should all hustle to make it, how businesses boomed at Oba that fateful day, bla, bla, bla.

It does appear that everybody has an opinion. Even some fathers and some mothers see nothing wrong with that. This thing called opinion? It can be confounding, I must tell you.

For now, let me simply say that what happened at Oba leaves much to be desired. I don’t care what anybody thinks or says, no society deserves to watch her citizens make money and then throw it about as if it came cheap and means nothing. Money does not come cheap and should not be used so cheaply.

The truth of the matter is that the richest people in the world are not found in Nigeria. Those who hold billions of dollars they made through legitimate and known channels don’t spray it; they invest it in people, projects and charity. They use it to help society by teaching it how to fish and not by giving it fish to eat. They don’t hang cows in a row of barbecues and watch as hungry citizens struggle to cut some slices. It is debasing, to say the least.

To those who say he has promised N1m to 300 youths of the town. So what? I’m not saying he’s not rich and has chains of businesses. Wouldn’t the N1m have been better announced in place of throwing and spraying wads of notes? Didn’t it come to deflate criticisms of the obscene display of wealth? Why is it so easy to fool us in this society? I’m not fooled by the after thought N1m stuff or his richness. Is he richer than Dangote? Is he richer than Cosharis, Emma Bishop Okonkow, Mark Zuckerberg, name them. I’m more concerned about the message the Oba show sent to our youths and what it says about us.

Our society is debased by the day. Like an ill wind, it will blow no one any good.

The Oba show was nauseating. It left much to be desired. I don’t care what you think or say, it was completely obscene and indecent. Period.

This is my opinion.