Proverbs are not just the palm oil with which yam of words is eaten; they are the yam. Where I come from, there are a million proverbs for every experience of life. Some people are contagiously sick but they hate being told so. They suffer self-deception, the refusal to believe what is true about themselves. Eni ba ntan ara e, oun ni orisa oke ntan. O di’fa fun Arewa ti ese osi ndun ti nwe t’otun (the one who deceives himself is the one God deceives. It is the case with Arewa who has a sore on her left leg but is applying medicine to the right). I picked that line from my 98-year-old uncle two weeks ago during a discussion. The proverb came back to me as I watched leaders of…
Source: Nigerian Tribune
