Folake Abiola and the Agents of Depression -By Hussein Adegoke

There’s the popular story about an artisan (a vulcanizer or someone like him) who was seen by a very wealthy man. He was happily having a nap in the scorching sun. Not only was the heat intense, the discordant cries from the generators around would have debarred any average mind from having a sound sleep. The moneybag wondered how, in the last night, he had a difficult time at slumber. Yet upon the cooling condition of his room, his thick and spacious mattress, and his state-of-the-art mansion facility, his mind was not at rest. He could not even squint how much more doze for one minute.

Reflecting on this, I remember Late (Ms.) Folake Abiola who was found dead in her residence on Friday May 27, 2022. Folake was described by many as “a Christian, a devoted church goer… suffering from depression.” Until her death, Folake was said to have had neither a spouse nor children and many people would perceive the absence of these “fulfillments” in her life as the cause of her plight. This, being so or not, is not the concern of this treatise. Fọlákẹ́ Abíọ́lá, FCA, was a fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Chartered Accountant. She was the head of accounting at Globacom Nigeria Ltd. Of no doubt then is Folake’s success and in no wilderness is her name in the mention of iconic classes.

It is understandable that money is of substance but of course, it may not be the key to happiness. A wrong perception harboured by individuals not so endowed with riches is that wealthy people are the luckiest. No, that is not true. Beyond the facade of their monstrous mansions, powerful henchmen, and exorbitant vehicles, they also batter with their consciences. Like the poor, they suffer from misfortunes, disappointments, frustrations and dynamic trials. There are gloomy days for them, too. And in fact, they can be said to be less fortunate, empirically. The nature of the humankind prefers him to share his experience when he is troubled. Since it is not out of the world to be in penury, one could always share this with people, loyalists, to gain a soothing nerve. But some trials are beyond the words of mouth—stuff like barrenness, impotency, curse, horniness, to mention just few.

The case of Folake was unknown to all (and could have been unbeknownst to even her) until her death. Anything could lead to one having a depressed mind and one, perhaps the least, of the multilayered reasons for it is poverty. How then do the poor reason their plight to be the worst?

The agents of depression abound in all who squander resources in the face of impoverishment, especially if the impoverished person’s plight had taken the brutal faces of those who threw the latter into wretchedness to propagate. Recently, former Vice President Atīku Abubākar emerged the flag bearer of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). In his emergence lies all usual forms of political gerrymandering and carpetbagging. Unlike in 2019 when the party’s primaries took place in Rivers, Abuja was the place of this year’s convergence. Atīku reportedly spent almost 10 billion naira in winning more than 800 delegates in a contest that happened on just a day. We speak of this in the same place we have countrymen struggling to rouse 500 Naira a single day.

If each delegate had gotten $15,000 (according to Daily Nigerian) from one aspirant, it would make 6.75 billion Naira spent by Abubākar in one day. How could any individual have procured such wealth in our darling ‘wretched’ country—where opportunities are limited. There are many stories about Atīku’s fraudulence but this author is choosing to believe none. However, what I have seen getting tested in the history of time is that no one allows his wealth to drift away at these exorbitant rates on mere frivolities and political permutations. Anyone ‘bribing’—to even legitimize the word as Nigerians have made it seem—delegates in the tune of billions in Nigeria (upon our impoverished state) has a question to answer.

Nigerians have made a life out of none. People have turned abnormality into normality. Young men in their prime are wasting away on construction sites to earn a living a day. Ditto women, and underaged children who have abandoned school and have found their homes on the street. Nigeria has become a joke to itself and one could only wonder what the future—that is perpetually getting bleak—holds. While many faces have become some pools to dry tears, some others belonging to the agents of depression are full of forsaken merriment.