There is a tribe in Nigeria that is not biological. It is mainly social. But they are the fastest growing group of people in the country. They rose steadily over the years and have grown phenomenally and may have reached the apogee of their growth in recent times. Their existence has become very noticeable among all parts and segments of the country such that they have acquired notoriety among pastors, imams and everyone else.
Everyone now acknowledges their existence and talks about the harm they cause in the society. Without any notice of a naming ceremony they have acquired a name for themselves. A name has emerged for them in our corrupted English called Pidgin. They are called ‘’ Chou- Chou’’ people. I do not know from which of the many languages we have in Nigeria that this special, descriptive name for them was coined. But ‘’Chou-Chou’’ tends to connote or denote ‘’here and there’’ or ‘’from here to another’’ or ‘’ talk -talk people’’.
From wherever they came and what their name suggests, their mode of existence and operation and what has conferred on them notoriety is mainly talk. They like to talk and almost do nothing else that is important. Their talks are not centered on important things and issues of life. Rather, their talk is usually centered on people and their supposed foibles and this talk is usually behind the backs of the people they talk about. They do not talk about people in their presence. No. they dare not. They do not have the courage of their convictions to confront the people they talk about with the allegations they usually level again them behind their backs.
Yes, they talk about people, governments, institutions and organisations behind their back. Users of the Standard English language call them gossips, back-biters and misrepresenters. The ’Chou-Chou’’ people are great destroyers of reputation. They are great assassinators of characters. They are great mis-representers of what important people actually say and mean. They often ruin or spoil the community peace. They often set an entire community ablaze with their wild allegations, insinuations, misrepresentations and fabrications. Their greatest forte is that they usually dabble into things and affairs they are not competent in. This is to claim airs that they are a people of knowledge and understanding when they are actually not.
‘’Chou-Chou’’ people are the ones who usually know which choir girl the pastor of a community church is having a liaison with. They know who the adulterers and fornicators are and who is playing the whore against her husband. When others are ready and on their way to the farm, market or office, they stay behind in beer parlours, hair-dressing saloons and betting houses to tell tales about people on the go about their lives and people committed to the enhancement of their destinies. They do great harm against certain persons and against certain communities.
I think they were the horde in the Bible who surrounded Moses the great leader and gave him such great hell of a time. They murmur, gossip and complain perennially. They founded a ministry and pursued it with great zeal and dedication. Their ministry was called GMC (grumbling, murmuring and complaining). No one satisfies them. Nothing pleases them. Their tongue hardly gives praise to God, least of all, we humans. They can witness a miracle the past one hour and in this very minute, they find something to rile against. They have no faith in God or man. The 600, 000 people that Moses led were the ruin of him. He could plead their cause but when they caused him to fail, the 600, 000 people could not plead his cause. In moments of their faithlessness, they will call him ‘’This Moses’’.
They have become a plague and a nuisance in our country. Every place you go you will find them. The way they love to talk about others you cannot help but ask yourself whether those people have nothing else to do but to concern themselves with what others, who are usually better than them, are doing or not doing. They are always in the know about things about others. They do not have the wisdom to pause and ask themselves why they are always talking about others and no one bothers to talk about them, at least, positively. When they are ever talked about it is usually in the negative about the wrong things they have said about others.
‘’Chou-Chou’’ people have received our censorious attention today because their ill tribe is growing dangerously. A nation where some seem to specialize in speaking ill of others and hardly do anything else that is edifying is a society that cannot grow and develop and fulfill its potential. That is our cry today. If you are a member of the Chou-Chou tribe, quit it today. They are not good for Nigeria.
