Writing on the topic in the New York Times of September 5, 2006, Carl Zimmer concluded that sexual cannibalism cannot be an expression of love. I agree. Think about it. Assuming women were like the female praying mantis or the female black widow that feed on the male counterpart during or after sex, how many men would have loved or love to be loved by women? The case of the German who volunteered himself to be cannibalised by Armin Meiwes may give the impression that it is not impossible for some men to have still gone ahead to love and make love with women. But I bet the indisputable fact is that not too many of us would have dared. Of course there are stories of some men who knowingly have unprotected sex with HIV positive women. But the case of the sexual cannibals is different. Borrowing Zimmer’s description, the female mantis does not allow the lover male mantis to survive the sexual intercourse. She devours the head of the still-mating male and then moves on to the rest of his body. So unlike Jacob Zuma, Thabo Mbeki’s former Vice President who got away with his suicidal act, the male mantis will not.
The case of the suicide bombers may moderate this view and slot in the idea that if men were to be left with no other option they would have still played their role as the exerters of the heat of procreation. But I said think about it. What manner of love would it have been? Some male chauvinists would say that if women had the -know -how and ability they would have devoured their loved ones to keep them permanently secured in their bosoms. Think about again. Have you given a thought to the change in attitude of your love after your first sexual intercourse? I apologize. I do not mean to say that men are themselves not embolden after the first mating with their loved ones. What I am trying to say is that sex can define love.
We may not know or gauge the quality of our relationships until moments when some of us, for whatever reason, throw caution to the wind and surrender our lives and fates toothers. We often place our fates in the hands of others in moments of ecstasy. And very often our place in life is determined by such decisions. We are generally too trusting and unsuspecting. We do not notice or recognise the female praying mantis or black widow amongst us. The unfortunate thing is that there are too many of them in this part of the world. Election is around the corner and many of the venomous creatures are slipping away from their webs to have their bites. They are perfecting their schemes and targeting their preys. They are presenting themselves as friends but they are not. IBB is one of them. A man who has no sorry word for his odious past is now masquerading as the lover and friend of Nigerians.
Mrs.Vatsa’s case against IBB brings this issue home. Of course one gentleman had once described President Olusegun Obasanjo as a black widow. He relied on what has befallen all of the President’s friends that started the political journey into this republic with him. The President, he claimed, has consumed all of them. Not a single one of them is still standing.But the old man is on his way back to Otta Farm and I therefore do not deem it worth my while to include him in this write up. IBB has signified his intention to recapture Aso Rock and like I said in some other places, you can judge a leader by the way he treats his friends. You can also predict the kind and manner a leader a person would be by the way he treats his friends. Anybody who is not loyal and can easily betray friendship is a beast of opportunism and can therefore not be or make a good leader.
Reading IBB’s views on the killing of Vatsa, one can easily sense his cold-bloodedness. His friendship with Vatsa does not in any manner moderate his spite for the pain and anguish of Vatsa’s widow and family. To him the killing of Vatsa was incidental to the power game they were all playing. And this is where I have my fears about his intentions. IBB had in many guises and moments in the history of this country wooed and subsequently betray Nigerians. If anybody deserves the appellate of a female praying mantis, that person is IBB. As I have said recently, IBB personifies opportunism. His appetite for power is insatiable. Like a vampire he needs to suck more blood to sustain him and that is what I see in his desire to return to Aso Rock. He is not desirous of atoning for his past. He believes he can distance himself from his past. He is wrong and that the twist his fellow political adventurers are ignoring.
Some phoney and pseudo philosophers have argued that IBB cannot be questioned over the killing of Vatsa because some stupid concept or principle of necessity has insulated him or given him unqualified and perpetual immunity. At the time he killed Vatsa he was over and above the law. What rubbish! Assuming there exist a constitutional necessity that clothes a successful coup with some legality; can such necessity be extended to cold blooded and unlawful murder of a citizen? God forbids that there will ever come a time when a sovereign will legislate himself out of the rule of law. Necessity is talking about empowerment to attend to situations that are not contemplated by the constitution and not empowering or protecting impunity. Even if there were such eras when sovereigns can personify their states and in turn tyrannise the people, the world has since 1945 buried such barbaric powers. The world has since 1945 become a world for the protection of the individual against impunity and political recklessness. In sum, the jurisprudence that I am studying is saying that the bad guys will some day have a date with the law. That is why Charles Taylor is under trial. That is why Sadam Hussein is under trial.
IBB may be lucky to escape justice in court but he would not escape it at the polls this time around. IBB can afford to shun the cries of a hurt and injured widow but fate will not afford him the opportunity to hurt Nigerians again. Nigerians would not allow themselves to be cannibalised again. IBB may escape the prying eyes of Mallam Ribadu, the unrelenting crime buster, but he cannot escape the verdict of fate.
Those who are ignoring his past and investing in his doomed political adventure will soon realise that theirs is a bad investment.
