BÙGA: THE YORUBA MAN’S ULTIMATE WEAPON

While it is common for a typical Ibo man to first of all fire warning shots before launching full scale assault on an aggravator (and for a Warri man to launch full scale assault, complete with back-hand slaps and flying kicks, before even hinting at a caution), a Yoruba man would rather stick to his ultimate weapon; pre-fight, in-fight (there rarely is one) and post-fight: BÙGA.

For naija ehn people too dey speak grammar

Pesin match you, you run go bring hammer

Na small tin na, you go dey vex begin shout

Commot shirt – you go dey rake dey make mout

Oya fight na, you begin run go carry bottle

Use style find people around to come settle

Na mout you dey make jo Oò le ja {You can’t fight}

Oò le ȿe nothing, all na bùga

Excerpts from Eldee's timeless jam "All na shakara"

What is Bùga? It actually means “show off” or "attract attention" e.g. Dance Dance ko Bùga won – meaning “Dance and attract people's attention”

Tunde Ednut's take on "Dancing and attracting some attention"

Another definition of Bùga is “bluffing” or “making empty threats”, and for the razz ones among us, it means “making mout”. It is this definition I'm basing this piece upon.

Honestly though I initially never really agreed with the fairly accepted notion that we Yoruba folks love this art of Bùga a bit too much… till I witnessed it with my own eyes!

It was on Adeniran Ogunsanya street in Surulere, the street where Shoprite is yea. A minor traffic was on the Shoprite-lane of the double-lane road, and I was exiting Surulere so I was stuck in the go-slow. As my mind drifted from the traffic I noticed a confrontation between two middle-aged men in the practically empty 2^nd lane. On the left (hereinafter referred to as the “aggressor”) we had a 5’11” presumably jobless bros i.e. a tout. On the right (hereinafter referred to as the “aggressed”) there was a typically short keke marwa driver, his height estimated at about 5’5”.

The two contenders gripped themselves by their shirts and where hurling insults and threats at each other. Usually on the streets of Lagos when a fight is brewing, like in this case, someone will come to separate the quarreling parties – whether it is a passerby, a friend/family of one of the vexed, or at worst the Police. But here, the coast was clear! The road was literally empty: no peacekeeper, no concerned friend! Just the perfect time to show some karate skills (or at least gidigbo) to we the onlookers stuck in traffic on the other lane. And the party was just about to get started!

The aggressor makes the first move and aggressively shoves the aggressed while still maintaining his grip on his opponent’s shirt to sustain the aggression meted (Chei! I badt!!). The aggressed will not be pushed aside so easy though, and he responds by tightening his grip on the aggressor’s shirt and pushing back with just as much aggression as the aggressor handed out. I’m guessing the aggressor was quite stunned coz the next 45 seconds was quiet; the aggressor most likely re-assessing his chances and realizing his fine-boy just might get dented should things get messier. The aggressed on the other hand still looked like he had some more metric tons of fight in him. So here we are: a tout and a keke marwa driver… holding themselves… alone on the road… staring at each other provocatively (quite a recipe for a porn flick though *hahaha*)… then they slowly loosen their grip, then walk off to pick up their belongings that fell off during the minor tussle. The sad End!! At this point I drove off, laughing like crazy that the rumours were in fact true!!

and that was how d fight (that did not start) ended

You just gatta love the Yoruba man jare. We definitely add a new definition to that saying “The pen mouth is mightier than the sword”. I mean, why exchange blows when you could just share a few words and holds yourselves tight? I mean, everyone loves a little bit of romance... ok maybe not