Mey (L), Isa (M) and Wey (R) in Seoul, South Korea
Efio-Ita Nyok|1 November 2016
From the 31st October edition of his daily social media column, Dairy of A Ninja Lawyer (#diaryofaninjalawyer), where he blogs about his experiences as a lawyer and such related issues, First Baba Isa, a burgeoning Nigerian legal expert popularly referred to as FBI (derived from the initials of his three names) has charged Nigerians on patriotism. For those of you who barely know him, you will recall that it was FBI who rejigged the almost forgotten law and by this reminded Nigeria's secret police that there's a crime in the nation's law books called Cyber Stalking (Hmmmmm, as a Blogger I have my reservations… but that is not for today).
FBI's charge on patriotism is inspired by his present experience in Seoul, South Korea where he is currently undertaking a short course on 'Competition Law And Market Economy Growth'. In his class of more than 20 delegates from over 15 countries FBI narrates an experience where students where reckoned with based on their nationality irrespective of their unique personal identities. For instance, if a student comes late or makes an excellent contribution, instead of call him by name and, thereby identify him/her and only him/her, by whatever commendation or condemnation, the entire class identifies him by his/her nationality.
FBI confesses to have an initial challenge with either condemning or commending an entire country based on a single individual's contribution, beautiful or ugly as the case may be (Yes, philosophers also do, they say it falls prey to an error in reasoning called Sweeping Generalisation). However, after his present stay in Seoul, his orientation completely changed. He ends up his blog post with this charge: 'It has become my business to launder the reputation of over 200 million people. I dare not let them down'.
Excerpt of FBI's 31 October 2016 Dairy of a Ninja Lawyer:
'I'm finding out how easy, very easy, it is for one person to lift or tarnish the image of an entire country.
'I have always angrily wonder why I will be considered a criminal because of the activities of a certain person or group of persons who committed a crime far away from where I am just because they are Nigerians.
'We are over 20 delegates from over 15 countries in the world in my class and we have introduced ourselves several times since our class started last week but we seem not to remember our names or we don't care. We simply call each other the names of our countries.
'When a delegate comes late to class, we go: "Hey, Pakistan, you are late; " "Cambodia, it's your turn; " "Vietnam, have you done the task?"
'Today I made what my course mates considered an excellent contribution. As they clapped, they were saying: "NIGERIA, good one NIGERIA."
'I wanted to tell them my name is not "NIGERIA" but I didn't. I'm here because of Nigeria. And I realize that for the next few days that we will be here, I dare not mess that image in their head by coming late or doing anything that will make them call me "NIGERIA" in a derogatory way.
'It has become my business to launder the reputation of over 200 million people. I dare not let them down.
Please when you get the chance, don't let me down too. Don't let your country down. Don't let your family down. Don't let your God down. Don't let yourself down.', FBI concluded.
Thanks for not letting us down First Baba Isa. We will return the gesture.
Efio-Ita Nyok
Is a Blogger, the Editor & Publisher of NegroidHaven.org
