Prisoners of Jebs

"The Bulgarians were not impressed. They wanted the contract directly and not by proxy. They sent the Chief back empty-handed. The Chief returned home, abandoned the contract, went into hiding, and that was that. The Nigerians made a show of looking for him. A solitary policeman was dispatched to trace him. He had no means of transportation, he said, and ended up in a bar somewhere in Ikorodu, a few miles from Lagos. And that too was that."

"Thus was the Jebs prison built at many times its true cost. It was a truly beautiful prison with manicured lawns, clean cells in dormitory blocks, administrative offices, football fields, a clinic, and other civilized facilities. The Nigerians were very proud of their contribution to the erection of Jebs. They bragged about the numerous millions they had spent on it. But everyone knew the true story, so no one listened."

"Chief Popa was a great organizer and threw himself into organizing a faction whose duty it was to defend the Director at all times. For his effort, Chief Popa was rewarded with the Director’s ear. In this ear were bags of rice, cartons of corned beef, cartons of milk, puncheons of alcohol, crates of tobacco, and sundry other good things of life. Popa grew fat on the Director’s ear."

"To ensure the reproduction of such an economy of pleasure, the posts, palaces, and public places have been filled with buffoons, fools, and clowns at various levels, offering a variety of services—journalists, insiders, clerks, hagiographers, censors, informers, praise singers, courtiers... Their function is to preach before the fetish of power the fiction of perfection. Thanks to them, the postcolony has become a world of narcissistic self-gratification."

"…head the size of a sheep, large ears so it could hear the smallest sound, long, powerful hind legs and rather small forelegs or hands…"

"Because apart from his power over individuals, he was a terror to the social fabric of individual nations. Because society exists on the notion that there is right and wrong and that the demarcation between them is clear and unmistakable. But when the Kangaroo makes it possible for right to become wrong and vice versa, then the nation reaps a harvest of turmoil."

"remained the main hope of the African continent, of Black people throughout the world."