I have often heard that men from the Northern part of Nigeria could be really crazy when angry. I’ve heard about the violent tempers of these guys who could behead anyone who got an inch close to their wives or their cattle! I have also heard that if medals were to be given for having violent tempers, then my Northern brothers would be natural gold medalists. I came so close to observing a flagrant display of violent temper at its best sometime ago. I was seated in a commercial bus and I watched in horror as a car ahead collided with a motorcycle. For an instant, I thought the man on the bike was dead or something. He had no helmet on for chrissakes! But he wasn’t. In fact, he turned out to be a policeman wearing a uniform that had MOPOL clearly printed on it. Alas, he was a mobile policeman! Along with the other occupants of the bus, I prepared for the drama that was about to unfold before us.
The MOPOL guy seemed not to have felt any pains at all judging by the manner in which he got off his fallen bike and raced to his assailant’s car which had now parked a few metres ahead. By the time the driver got out of his car to assess the damage he had done, the policeman had reached him and the next thing I saw was the man on the ground and the policeman pummeling him with blows meant to remove all of his teeth if possible. The crowd that had now gathered pleaded with this new assailant to have mercy on his victim. The pleas seemed to make matters worse as the MOPOL pulled out a dagger from his belt and . . . No, he didn’t stab the driver, but I bet he would have if only there hadn’t been so many witnesses. Man, I was scared. As my bus slowly moved away from the scene, I managed to catch the policeman’s face and noticed his tribal marks. His angry voice and accent further proved that he was a Northerner. I sighed and silently thanked the good God that had restrained him from using that dagger.
‘Temper’ simply refers to ‘a state of mind as regards calmness or anger’ and a violent temper is no doubt a vice we sometimes have to fight. No one existing on this planet could ever lay claim to never having had a reason to get angry at one time or the other. Even babies do get angry; at least my daughter does. Jesus Christ himself got angry sometimes in the Bible, so we certainly do have a right to get angry but what really determines maturity is the manner in which we control ourselves whenever we get angry. Unbridled tempers have broken so many homes, caused so many wars and so many untimely deaths. I don’t think I have seen any good effect violent tempers have ever had so what’s the point of accommodating it anyway. I’ve come to believe ‘controlling temper’ remains one of the greatest personal wars we all have to fight. Even if the war can’t be totally won, it could be controlled to a reasonable tone.
