Busuyi Mekusi

A beautiful rich ambiguous idea would at best leave one in the valley of contradictions, in relation to conceptualisation and taxonomy. It is for this reason that titling this article threw up various possibilities, which include: “Davido as new General Overseer”; Davido and how not to be a Millionaire”; “Davido and the Arithmetic of Redistribution”. The adopted title is nonetheless suggestive of how a people departed from their past, and got enslaved in a new greedy model of capitalism.
One of the old-time Yoruba beliefs is the idea of reincarnation which, in all intent and purpose, is etched on the notion that a dead person can return to the earth, by reason of the rebirth of mental capacity, such as a soul, or in a physical life form as a body. Whereas people from such a cultural and spiritual belief could have changed their religious orientation, such thinking rules them, as covertly as it may be.
When the personality involved is good, people readily appropriate any of his/her traits found in another human agency, by way of retaining ownership and connection.
Capitalistic tendencies are as old as human existence, with the Biblical account of the ownership of the Garden of Eden conferred on God, while Adam remains the land worker, who must till the ground, trim the flowers and tame the animals. Traditional societies also assumed this bifurcation as title holders owned property and workers, thereby controlling the means of production, just as duplicated after the aggressive poaching conducted following the industrial revolution. Notwithstanding the pervasiveness of religions, with the unnecessary haggling for space and relevance, the 21st century ideological formations in Nigeria support the continuous sustenance of the exploitation of the poor. Interestingly, nature as well upholds the principles of oppositionality, as the Yoruba people opine that the fingers are not equal! The desperate violent and criminal moves by some of the people at the lower wrung of the ladder are unsettling the rich, who fall preys, just like the poor, to the ruthlessness of the monsters they created by their corruptive acts. Nigeria’s centre is too weak to hold the pulls from the fringes!
Similar to what happens by reason of reincarnation, some commentaries were recently made about the legendary-mythopoeia of the famous Alájo Sómólύ, at a time when Davido applied commonsense to teach some millionaires sense. Human beings with outstanding unique attributes do get transformed or transmogrified to legends, either deserved or not.
For Alájo Sómólu, it was not the case of bought or induced recognition, but an acknowledgment of diligence, soundness of mind, and dexterity in the performance of duty, as Late Pa Alpheus Taiwo Olunaike earned his metamorphosis and myth-making due to his ingenuity in thrift collection. He was said to have leant thrift collection in Cameroon when he travelled with an uncle of his. The brand name, Alájo Sómólύ, came to being as a result of the innovative activities of the man, and his base in the Sómólύ area of Lagos, Nigeria. Pa Olunaike was noted for his business acumen, mental alacrity, and high retention as well as precise recalls of the contribution balances of clients, without making recourse to documents.
It was, therefore, not surprising that the man’s trustworthiness and ingenuity escalated him to a metaphor for smart people.
His popularity among the masses was largely due to the fact that he provided a homegrown microfinance-like alternative for saving and loan taking to the large substantial petty traders that were shut out of the services of commercial banks.
The legendary quality of Pa Olunaike is encased in the Yoruba platitude that ‘Ori e pe bii Alájo Sómólύ’ (you are as smart as Alájo Sómólύ) “…who collected thrift for three years and paid back all his customers without writing down a single name and without a single mistake with payment”.
Further to the foregoing good attributes of this enigma, he was similarly characterised as a profitable resource person who knew how best to apply resources, as he was equally said to have sold his car to buy a bicycle, given the relevance of the latter over the former in his trade. This contrasts poignantly with capitalists who acquire things, not because of their need, but simply because of unmitigated avarice.
Davido’s latest phenomenal inscription is clearly demonstrative of the personification of Alájo Sómólύ. Davido, David Adedeji Adeleke, is a Nigerian-American singer, songwriter and record producer. His hit song “Fem” became the unofficial soundtrack for the #ENDSARS movement in 2020.
He recently confirmed that he is presently living in the United Arab Emirate because he “got in a lot of trouble” because of his involvement in the #ENDSARS insurrection. Davido’s net worth in 2021 is put at $40 million. As the consternations precipitated by the leaked report of the Panel to Probe Police brutalities in Lagos State rage on, Nigerian roads are still evidently manned by some brutish personnel, who would readily compare themselves to kidnappers, in order to extract respect and kickback from road users. No doubt, Nigeria needs regeneration that is akin to that of phoenix!
Davido’s characteristics of Alájo Sómólύ are noticeable, particularly his uncommon donation challenge that he began with N100 million but later jerked up to N200 million, to allow him, in his words, process the clearing of his Rolls Royce. He is an intelligent young person, as exemplified in his extraordinary career.
His challenge to his friends and fans to send him N1 million was a deep reflection and evocation of using what you have to get what you want, in the order of the tortoise. Even though Davido did not need the contributions he solicited for, because of his own financial status, he used the notion of ‘one good turn deserves another’ to reinforce his request and goad his would-be givers.
With this background, Davido, analogous to the smartness of Alájo Sómólύ, bated members of the ‘Millionaires’ Club’ who desired to leverage on the popularity of Davido to shore up theirs, by reason of gratuitous identification. Unlike some men of God that like to rob the Peter of the ignorant to pay their wise Paul, Davido, in a swiftness similar to Alájo Sómólύ, announced to the ecstatic followers that he was going to use the N200 million he raised, in addition to his own N50 million, making N250 million, to gift orphanages across the country. A committee that will disburse the money has already been emplaced.
Arguably, Davido’s Alájo Sómólύ style is a panacea for the greedy capitalistic negatively skewed societies of the 21st century. Definitely, we need Davido to help do more, as he helps to further mobilise others in his shoes towards building an egalitarian society. This is even as we need more Davidos on all fronts, rather than for some people to get sick by the constipation caused by their gluttony.
We need donations to ensure that education is not priced out of the reach of the poor; we need Alájo Sómólύ style to fix our dilapidated roads and infrastructure; we need Davido’s Alájo Sómólύ reincarnation to salvage our teaming youths from alcoholism, thievery/scamming, ritual-money, prostitution, drug abuse, etc.; we need Davido’s Alájo Sómólύ template to birth a new socio-cultural and political Nigeria.
As the waiting for many more Davido’s reincarnations continues, Nigeria millionaires should not just frolic with the rich and popular, even though so many of them are lonely in a crowd, but the poor and lowly. We need a resurrection of Alájo Sómólύ of the past, who rewardingly combined smartness and fidelity, to rescue the contemporaneous Nigeria, where dog eats dog!