By Busuyi Mekusi

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Certain natural elements have a way of invading human privacy, including dust particles that usually travel with air. Similarly, if not for persistent cleaning, most exquisite places would be held hostage by spider webs, particularly in areas where both the domestic and wildlife variants are predominant. Another set of insects with permeating propensity are ants. Ants are habitually holed in the ground, and very cautious of their vulnerability so much that they avoid the volume of water that can easily sweep them away. Ants are wise enough to earn divine or mythical recommendation for human beings to learn from.
One of the unexpected places we find ants are on dining tables, as they always go in search of any source that would help them access sugar in the most edible form. This is because sugar is a rich source of calorie which ants require to move about in their service to their queen; ants being very hard workers. To stay alive, however, beyond sugar and sweet, ants also need protein and fats to ensure the continuation of their colonies. Sugar ants variant called Pharaoh ants, just like ‘Sugar Daddies’, are believed to be known carriers of Staphylococcus, a bacterial infection that is contagious to humans as well. Ants are not satisfied with the crumbs under the table, and they are the last unaccredited protocol officers on the dining table after each meal. ‘Sugar Daddies’ present unique noticeable characters which become necessary for mention in the face of the available metabolism of ants.
‘Sugar Daddies’ are a creation from the sexual abuse of young ladies by old(er) men, which made them a personification of the greed in humans. Man craves for sweet things, with most of their attainments often nothing more than sugar-coated poisons. The insatiable desires of human beings locate them within the myth of the greedy squirrel that eats ripped plantains and wag its tail in ecstasy, forgetting that sweep things kill faster than other consumables. Sex, wealth and socio-political and religious powers are at the centre of the aggression of ‘Sugar Daddies’ against oppressed and exploited seekers of survival and socio-economic comfort who are mostly vulnerable youngsters. These ‘Sugar Daddies’, like hawks, prey on the tender ‘chicks’ who are treated, most times, as objectified cat fish that is made susceptible to the point-and-kill format of fish-pepper-soup. Beyond the physical explanations given to these many preying, some of the ‘Sugar Daddies’ are believed to be using young ladies for metaphysical life and wealth renewals. ‘Sweet Mamas’ are better clients to young lads, including their domestic workers when they need no distance caller. Sex and sexuality are unusual measuring equipment!
Eating habits describe one socially and economically, to the extent that the tenure and texture of Kolanuts is considered best established in the mouths of elders. The eating habits of ‘Sugar Daddies’ is reminiscent of the personae in Kola Ogunkoya music titled: ‘Sweetie Baby’. In the refrain of the song, the apparently elderly personality in the music encourages the co-interlocutor, inter alia referred to as ‘Sweetie Baby’, to call him by name and pull his beard, apparently depicting devaluation of one’s worth and prestigious social placement, as he has been deafened by what he seeks to eat. This complicating and complex habit of eating is a verisimilitude of the Biblical loss of Esau’s birthright to Jacob, by reason of the porridge that he needed to quench voraciousness.
Young ladies’ quest for socio-economic belongingness, migration and intractable material consumerism have caused them to throw caution to the wind, with the identification with, and association to, groups formerly known as ‘Aristo’ and now designated as ‘Slay Mama’, among others, with Nigeria higher institutions of leaning serving as breeding place and hotbeds. I remember the confrontational encounter I had with a female undergraduate student of mine, as a young university teacher, some two decades ago, after she was reported to me for belonging to the infamous ‘Aristo’ Club. I could see her chest beat vigorously after my blunt appraisal of her, and the solemn promise she made to stop the unprofitable adventure. She returned to me the following week with a bottle of wine to appreciate me for the fact-talk, which she said would not have come from her blood-brother. The recent encounter I had with a professed ‘Slay Mama’ by reason of sharing the same claustrophobic space of a Toyota Sienna from Jabi Park, Abuja, left me confused about the impunity with which a deranged individual could inscribe her personality. The ‘Sweetie Babies’, no doubt, are the Achilles’ Heels of ‘Sugar Daddies’!
The postmodern Nigerian space is highly sexualised, with the human body, particularly the female body, converted to a space for the performance of power. Some Hip-Hop artists have perpetuated debased orientation of angry reactive youths who desire to vent the frustrations caused by their economic and political dispossessions by the political class but could not reach their aggressors, and rather target one another in a cyclical sharing of rage. The rich and affluence continue to divide the oppressed, as that to them is the best instrument to sustain their subjugation of the underprivileged.
Drug, sex and dubiously primitive accumulation of wealth are some of the alternative weapons used by the so-called weak to respond to a vicious order emplaced by pernicious leaders. Herbal hawkers at major Nigeria parks, sufficiently complement different processed concoctions advertised on the various media outlets, and sold to willing buyers, mostly males, on how they could be helped to enhance their sexual powers that would make it possible for them to satisfy their female sexual partners.
The environment is clement for drug/substance abuse, with the percolating Samson-like libido that drive people to dangerous sexual zones these days. The foregoing has been woven into the many narratives surrounding Michael Usifo Ataga (Super TV CEO) and Chidimma Adaora Ojukwu’s unusual habits of eating. The self-acclaimed Separatist leader, Nnadi Kanu was also rumoured to have been caught napping on Jezebel’s laps.
The dealings and partnerships between ‘Sugar Daddies’ and ‘Sweetie Babies’ are demonstrative of the negatively skewed relationship between the proverbial dog and goat. While the dog would breast-feed her puppies, it would pounce on the kids of the goat at will. ‘Sugar Daddies’ treasure their daughters but take delight in preying and pawning those of others to satisfy their questionable and often perverted sexual and ritual needs. Religious hypocrites have turned sacred spaces to bloodied altars where they break virginity. Hawkers of wares are now sex peddlers and toys for manhandling by voracious men. Little girls now go about with big holes under them. Definitely, for every sugar daddy, there is a sugar lady! Couples, who live apart from each other by reason of work, academic engagements, socio-economic aggrandisements, etc., are helping to institutionalise infidelity, as their emotional and sexual susceptibility aggravate their wanting to resolve and neutralise economic, school and workplace challenges with sexual performance. Furthermore, sex is now a form of ownership and a form of exhibition of authority under an oppressive system.
As ‘Sugar Daddies’ multiply with the passage of time in the Nigeria socio-economic and political spaces, there is a serious and urgent need for caution. This is more so as sugar-bearing daddies could also be assailed by hurting ants in their illicit trade and partnership. Ants have a unique way to corrupt ointments, and the bacterial they get from their interactions with sugary substances are injurious to both their existing and would-be partners. There is an urgent need to achieve a reorientation and rescuing of the youths by using commissioned music Ambassadors to dissuade them from drug addiction and cultism. The concerns shown recently by PMB and the NDLEA Chairman/CEO, Buba Marwa, about the dangerous link between drug abuse and insecurity are not misplaced, but should result in quick concerted efforts made to re-order the unacceptable narratives. Evidently, with the ongoing habits of eating by ‘Sugar Daddies’ and ‘Sweetie Babies’, the future of Nigeria is very dodgy!