Hyenas in our midst

By Emmanuel Aziken

Devotees of wild life television programmes know very well the hatred lions have for hyenas and jackals. It is that deep-seated mutual animosity that First Lady Aisha Buhari and Senator Shehu Sani drew on to illustrate the seemingly bestial inclination of the Nigerian political class.

Hyenas and jackals move in packs and would use their numbers to steal food from most animals that come their way. However, they almost always beat a retreat when a lion pride appears. But not always.

In his posting on Mrs. Buhari’s Facebook page, Sani observed that with the lion king away, that the hyenas and jackals are now trampling on other animals and whispering that the lion may not come back.

However, Sani’s claim that it is the wish of the hyenas and the jackals that the lion does not return can be easily disputed. Unless Senator Sani wants us to believe that Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has been incorporated by the cabal which everyone knows is not true.

However, some have said that Sani could be referring to a hyena operating in his native Kaduna with whom he has been at odds with since 2015. The claim is that Sani was passing a message to the sleeping lion that the hyena whom everyone had believed to be respectful and differential to the lion king is not really so. Sani’s supposition is that the Kaduna hyena is wishing to benefit from the permanent absence of the lion king with a promotion to Abuja to become the deputy lion-king.

Devotees of wild life programme also know that when a lion is tired, weak or encumbered by ill-health or whatever, it is incapable of doing much to stop hyenas from trampling on fellow animals.

Hyenas are indeed opportunistic scavengers who will steal food from any other animal including lions, especially if the lion is weakened by ill-health as is the case in the Nigerian animal kingdom.

Sani would want us to believe that the hyenas in Nigeria have stolen political power from the lion king after the genuine canvassers campaigned to enthrone the lion as king.

As Mrs. Buhari said last year, those who did not campaign for Buhari are the ones in government. The cabal as she insinuated, had like hyenas, stolen political power from those who campaigned for her husband.

Another feature of hyenas is that they do not give up in their chase of prey. Hyenas will pursue a prey for miles to the point of exhaustion and use several tactics to get at their prey.

The pursuit of Senator Bukola Saraki as seen in the questioning of his wife, his arraignment at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, and the desperation to even arraign him for forgery when he was not even in a position to forge the Senate Rule Book would show a hyena’s desperation to exhaust a prey.

The unprecedented decision of the Federal Government to lodge an appeal against Saraki’s acquittal by the Code of Conduct Tribunal is also indicative of the hyena’s desperation to pursue its prey to exhaustion.

Another tactic of hyenas is to use their strong jaws to attack preys from their weak sides. They often start eating their prey from the backside while still alive.

God help you in Nigeria if hyenas set their sight on you and you are weak on ethics or morals! If you as a government official accept a wristwatch as a gift, drink tea with contractors or commit the simplest infraction, you become food for the hyenas!

Another feature of hyenas is that as they devour their prey alive, they make noise probably out of excitement.

The noise from the hyenas now feeding on their prey in Nigeria could sooner or later rouse the Nigerian lion-king from sleep. When the lion rises, he has two options; either to pursue the hyenas out of the kingdom or to surrender his kingdom to the hyenas. The second option is often chosen if the hyena pack is strong enough and views the lion as too weak to fight back!

 

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