Kach, aka Uche Kachikwu, the son of oil minister Ibe Kachikwu, has released a song about “balling” with a cameo appearance from controversial Kogi West senator Dino Melaye.
The obscene display of wealth in the song’s video, with dollars “raining”, flash cars and even more expensive homes, is unlikely to go down well in Melaye’s constituency, where many state employees are struggling without pay for nearly a year as they approach the Christmas break.
Nigerian activist and writer OluTimehin Adegbeye wrote recently: “Poverty is criminal, and this global maxim takes on a distinctly Nigerian flavour in the face of the impunity of our political class”.
This impunity has been taken to previously unseen levels by Melaye, who alongside colleagues in the National Assembly are the highest paid legislators in the world, with very little to show for it in terms of legislation for the benefit of long-suffering Nigerians. Melaye has become infamous for flaunting his garage-full of expensive cars and pictures of his plush Abuja mansion on social media.
One Nigerian reacted on Twitter to the song:
Behold, a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. At a time when his constituents were still struggling with the realities of a recessionpic.twitter.com/C539gHaR9U
— M14E (@knightofdelta) December 19, 2017
Melaye, who has grown beyond parody in line with his expanding belly, has always fancied himself as a singer and earlier this year taunted those who accused him of lying about graduating from Ahmadu Bello University with this.
The song in Yoruba loosely translates as: “You will be beaten mercilessly if you fight someone who is stronger than you”.
Politicians like Melaye have been beating down poor Nigerians for too long. But their day of reckoning is surely coming in line with the Nigeria saying: “Many days for the thief, one day for the owner of the house”.
