Everybody is somebody and everybody is nobody.

The two major religions accepted that Adam and Eve were the first human beings created by the almighty God and so I asked a question in the church one day. ‘Were they created as children or as adult male and female’? People in the church were taken by surprise because  not many people have given this phenomenon  their thoughts. After many discussions and deliberations, the general concensus were that they were created as adults.

My question was informed by some facts in the scripture, the bible says they were naked but they were not aware that they were naked just like children. It was not until they ate the forbidden fruit that they realised that they were indeed naked. We do not know how long they were in the garden or how old they were before they ate the fruit to determine whether they grew into adulthood.

Furthermore, their marriage were not consummated until the fruit was eaten since they were not aware of the usefulness of the resources located in the midst of their bodies. In my own view, though they may had adult body but their faculties were not fully developed and just like children.

Though at the time of the deception by the snake. Adam was not in, he was working in the garden and left his wife at home and since baby cannot work in the farm, we can infer that they were adult. Again we cannot tell how long it took Adam from creation before started working in the field. In any event, I accept that they were created as adults, young man and woman.

So, apart from Adam and Eve that it was believed that they were created as adults , all other creatures started their life as babies. No controversy about that.

Thus we can say the biggest man on earth was once a baby. There is no one that does not pass through childhood to adulthood. One of our proverbs point us to right direction.’ Agba wa bura b’ewe ko se e ri’. In a loose translation, it means ‘adult, come and swear that you did not behave like a child before.’

Majority of human beings were born poor whilst few were born with silver spoon and few into Royal families. However, whether one was born poor or with riches, no one was responsible for where or how he was born. We had no influence on where we were born just like the marks on our palms. We just found ourselves where we were born and who are our relatives or who were not, whether black or white, it is a matter of where we find ourselves.

In that realm and whatever position we find ourselves in life, it is imperative to understand that we are somebody and we are nobody . I reached this conclusion after careful observation within my short period of existence and I have seen things. I have had the privillege of living amongst different race and different class of people.

I have seen people gaining promotion beyond their wildest imagination, I have seen the poor becoming great and the rich also becoming poor. When I was young, there were some young people that we envied or wished to be like, some young people that were driven to schools in their parents vehicle while most of us trekked to schools, they had breakfast at home while we would buy food at ‘iya olounje Ayo’ with the little money we had and some did not even had money at all, we called them ‘Tirogo’ ‘parasite’ since they had to depend on others to live.

In all these, their future or anybody’s future does not depend on this as events in life have shown. In the school, we discovered that some people were just so brilliant but some were not, even though they tried hard and if success in life depends on how brilliant they were then those who were not brilliant would be automatic failure in life but it wasn’t so.

It was just the beginning, some people were very skilful in sports and whilst they may not be academically sound like their counterparts in ‘books’ but their feet on the round leather game was exceptional (think of Messi, Ronaldo, Kanu Okocha Mikel Obi. Etc)  some are gifted in the use of fist, Mayweather the American boxer did not attend any school and he is the richest boxer in the world, our  Anthony Joshua was a bricklayer in the UK but now one of the richest boxers in the world.

A parent came to see me in the UK, he is a friend,  he needed my help   his boy was behaving badly and not academically sound , he wants me to direct my children to help him out , to befriend him and teach him their ways. I agreed to help him out, I spoke to my children and they promised to help, that was two years ago. However, the boy likes music and planned to be a musician and before my children can do anything to help at all, the boy became a world star in music and his star is still shining, his musical success is outstanding beyond anybody’s imagination.

He partnered with another boy and the first song was a hit. He still lives in the UK. The last time I spoke with one of the parents she was asking me a legal advice of the musical contract for his son. Things have changed, the boy is now somebody and I rejoice with the parents. The stone that the builder refused is now the head cornerstone. From nobody to somebody.

How true is the world of King Solomon in the Bible “I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all” we are therefore victim of circumstances orchestrated by God.

In that vein, it is correct to say that whatever we are is God’s gift and if we realise that we are nobody before but it is God that has made us somebody then we will be kind to others who are yet to be made somebody or those who have fallen into hard times.

It is sad that in my findings in life, it is those who were nobody before, who God  has catapulted to high level that abuses the privillege and look down on others that have not attained greater heights.

Let me quickly correct myself because I remind myself that it is not every one that is promoted by God in that some people used diabolical means to become rich and attained higher positions. We have yahoo boys in our midst, we have those who killed their fellow human beings to get money or power and we should therefore be not under any illusion that when such people are in power they will do anything good.

They will certainly become tyrant or extremely wicked on the people they have authority over. I say in my haste that  such people may  look like somebody but they are nobody since power is meaningless when not cemented by the will of the people.

I started pondering about this matter when I read in Social media how our politicians are recycling themselves by putting their offspring to political post and  by using their influence and their ill gotten wealth to intimidate and impose their children on the less privilege. They had one thing in common, they have forgotten their backgrounds and how God picked them from gutter as nobody and made them somebody.

Many people are now thinking that the children of nobody cannot become somebody again in the scheme of things in Nigeria. But is this fear well founded and what is the role of God in this matter or in our lives? Dr Dokun Bojuwade, a veteran journalist and  former Director of MAMSER (one of the most brilliant men i have ever met)  taught me something very important , he told me that “God did not seek our consent before we were born and he will take us  against our wish” this statement summarises all the happenings in life and ——-

Aborisade is a lawyer, a human rights activist, and a historian.