My Conversation With Rufia Oseni.

By.Jarlath Uche Opara

Days ago, the “gwo gwo gwo ngwo” dance by Brain Jotter revolutionlized the social media platforms.

Every Tom , Dick and Harry got on the bandwagon, both the lyrics and dance became trending. For the few days it lasted, nobody saw beyond the dance steps and the ,”gwo gwo gwo ngwo” lyrics.

For me , that dance and the “gwo gwo gwo ngwo” lyrics didn’t make any sense and couldn’t see why everybody was falling on top of themselves, trying to be part of the challenges.

The following day, I sat down and listened to the song by the legend Mike Ejeagha “Nnam Eze Akpata M Enyi (Gwo Gwo Ngwo) From beginning to the end. As I listened to that song, the musings poping up from the lyrics diminished the “gwo gwo gwo ngwo” dance to nothing, bringing forth instead, a deceptive dance we have danced and continue to dance for years .

A lot of inspirations hit my mind, but the deception which we have collectively suffered in the hands of our political leaders became my take away from that lyrics. So in my reaction to the dance which I considered too infantile, considering the rich lessons of how our leaders have enslaved us, I wrote a piece Gwo Gwo Gwo ngwo : A Dance Of Deception.

The piece was written on Wednesday last week and posted same day. Before dusk the piece got an unusual traction and the trending began.

It was an eye opening to many Nigerians who had previously listened to the “gwo gwo gwo ngwo” lyrics and possibly danced to it but never understood what that song was all about.

This revelation from my piece was more appreciated by none Igbo who through my translation of the lyrics which were written in Igbo understood the song better.

The following day, a friend sent me that piece with Rufia Oseni on it as the author. In few seconds another friend sent me same piece without a name trending in different platforms.

It was a shock, how Nigerians can be so sucked in with piracy without scruples. I was not immediately miffed by such, afterall, the message is being circulated, making Nigerians to be conciouness of the deep deception they have suffered in the hands of our political class.

My anger however got deep when I began to read comments on those platforms as were screenshot and sent to me by friends who knew I was the original author.

At that point I decided to call the attention of Oseni Rufia to it. He told me how someone sent it to him without a bar line and he published it with “I published as I received”. I believed him and he offered to re- publish it this time with my name on it.

Despite this, the pirated copy with his name continues to trend. Today I made screenshot of those platforms where the pirated copy was still trending and his response was “I was not the one that changed the name to my name. I see a lot of these things, the social media is a place of mischief so I don’t bother”.

I have followed him on Arise TV, his scathing critical stance on injustice, corruption, impunity etc I couldn’t reconcile the piracy with such personality of his. Honestly I believe him, Rufia Oseni I have known wouldn’t stoop that low,my sincere conclusion.

This piece is to let those who are behind this mischief to stop. Your continuous spreading of the version of the piece with his name, is a mischief on his long time built impeccable image .

The original author of that piece is Jarlath Uche Opara Jarlathuche@gmail.com