I remember clearly.

That time in the past.

When I experienced the power of the tongue.

It was a concert.

A multinational entertainment show organised by the late co-founder of a popular bank, house of assembly member, gubernatorial candidate, pro-democracy fighter and industrialist.

The year was 1991.

The venue was Tafawa Balewa Square Lagos.

It was a musical concert that had stars like Dionne Warwick, Mariam Makeba, Gladys Knight, Lionel Ritchie, Natalie Cole, Danny Glover, Karen White, Color Me Badd, Melba Moore, Shalamar, Shabba Ranks the list goes on and on.

Who performed alongside Nigerian artistes like Majek Fashek, Ras Kimono, The Mandators, Christy Essien Igbokwe etc.

It was hosted by Dionne Warwick and Mariam Makeba.

The mission being to raise funds to help the children of Africa and of African descent with regards to health, poverty, education and emotional stability.

It was to last for three days in the month of November.

The public interest for the concert was lukewarm.

Being that it was the period of the national census.

Coupled with the fact that the ticket were expensive.

Then stories started to spread that there was going to be a surprise performer at the concert.

On radio and television the organisers kept saying.

"There is going to be huge surprise waiting for you at the concert. You have to be there to see who we are going to shock you all with..."

In days the name of the surprise performer was leaked.

Michael Jackson.

He was touring his album Bad then around the world.

So the story was that Lagos was going to be one of the stops.

Immediately tickets started selling fast.

Journalists wanted to verify the information and the organisers were tight lipped.

Saying only.

"Just wait for the surprise."

The more they said it, the hotter the stories became.

Suspence.

There was talk that Micheal Jackson was on a huge ship off the coast of Lagos and will be flown in via helicopter on the night of the show.

There was talk that his scheduled appearance was announced on CNN and BET.

People said they read about it on Ebony magazine.

People said they watched Michael Jackson himself speak about his attendance at the concert on TV during some award show, where he confirmed that he will be there.

Expectations were high.

Fever.

The day arrived.

Tafawa Balewa Square was agog with throngs of people.

Everyone dressed in their best and ready to party.

Performer after performer performed.

People danced and sang along to the songs that were being sung on stage as they waited for Michael Jackson.

There was no social media or cell phones at the time, so gist was from word of mouth.

"He is coming..."

"IBB and Aikhomu are not here because of protocol. They can't arrive before Michael Jackson..."

"I saw the helicopters myself flying towards the ship where he has been waiting..."

4 a.m arrived.

No Michael Jackson.

The stories began to change.

"He has diarrhoea..."

"He said he will not leave the ship if a whole battalion of soldiers do not escort him..."

"He lost his voice during rehearsal..."

It was not the organisers themselves saying these.

But the people who had paid heavily for the tickets.

They were manufacturing excuses for the organisers.

They were cooking up stories to console themselves.

Lies being told to themselves by their ownselves.

The organisers were silent.

The concert ended.

There was no promised surprise.

There was no explanation why there was no promised surprise.

No one asked them.

They just said their thank you.

And the people left there happy and satisfied.

They had lied to themselves and believed it as truth.

While the people who benefited from the lie stood away and allowed the seed they planted germinate, grow and flourish.

I watched people leave.

No one was asking questions.

No agitation for answers.

Just area boys scattering pocket of crowds in their quest to make money from the attendees.

The people actually believed that Michael Jackson was billed to come.

They saw no posters of him.

No videos or audio of him saying he will come.

They didn't read it either from Ebony magazine or any reputable newspaper.

The organisers never mentioned him by name as the surprise.

They never refuted the stories of him coming either.

They just let the people be who they truly are.

And they smiled to the bank.

We never even heard how much was raised or what it was used for.

We all just moved on, secure and happy, in the comfort of our delusion.

No questions asked.

No raucous raised.

Jejely wakaing on to the next delusion.

It was that day that I knew for a fact that a lie told confidently and repeatedly, irrespective of the absence of backing facts or proof, ultimately becomes the truth to the undiscerning majority.

And even today we are still telling lies to ourselves on behalf of people who only just need to sow the seed of an idea or a promise, after which they begin a conspiracy of silence while watching us defend them, justify them and create excuses for them, even in the face of them not doing what we believed that they would do or giving us anything to back up the excuses that we make up to defend them.

We all are co-conspirators with our enemies in the creation and unleashing of the misery that befalls us.

And it didn't just start now.

We watched our forebears do it and we now do it.

Believing, fabricating, defending, justifying, excusing.

Lies that were told.

And those that were not told.

For a truth, everything seems new, but yet everything is still the same.

Like then.

Like now.

Hmmmmmmmmmm.

Lagos

Jude Idada
April 17, 2024

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