THE GUARDIAN (Lagos, Nigeria) 02 July 06 A Tale of Two Cobras (Kunle Sanyaolu)
Keeping snakes as a pastime is certainly a dangerous venture. Like most instinctive killer animals, snakes are cold-blooded and may decide to strike at even the masters who have been feeding and providing for them. That is exactly what happened to Mallam Bello Maimaciji, a citizen of Katsina State. At 55 years, Maimaciji had for so long lost count of how many people he had saved from imminent death arising from snake bites. In Maraba Maska, described as a sprawling village in Funtua Local Government Area of Katsina State, snakes compete with human beings for space. They come in all shapes and sizes, most of them harbouring dangerous venom that can kill in a matter of minutes. Mallam Bello met his untimely death from one of the numerous snakes he dealt in, an average-sized cobra that stung him twice, even while he was holding it and searching for the appropriate herbs to disarm it. Before then, he had the reputation of being a snake specialist. He caught snakes live, treat cases of snakebites, buy as well as sell snakes. Bello had saved many people from being killed by snakes bites. He was indeed popular. Two days before his death - he died on Monday, June 5, 2006 - Bello had reportedly treated four cases of snakebites successfully. The victims are now normal and free from the dangerous venom. On the fateful day, Bello had, in the process of selling two snakes to some customers, noticed a rather aggressive black cobra that attempted to bite him. Ordinarily, there should have been no such attempt because the snake was supposed to have been subdued by Bello's inherent charm against snakes. One of his customers in fact opined that perhaps the medicine in Bello was no longer potent, cautioning Bello to be careful of that particular snake. Bello took the warning seriously, but not sufficiently so. He took the snake in order to apply some herbs into it through the mouth and consequently tame him like several others in his snake box. While looking for the right herbs, the snake bit him. Within seconds, Bello's hand started swelling. He tried to apply herbs on it and asked his wife, Rahinatu who was all along present, to prepare another herb therapy. His right hand kept swelling. By the time the new herb recipe was ready, Bello was not in a condition to administer it upon himself. He had started to vomit profusely. He realised the snake's venom was killing him, but he could do nothing about it. Even as his wife frantically tried to do something to save him, Bello fell, never to rise again.
Roughly three weeks later at another setting in London, England, a pet shop worker was stung by a nine feet king cobra. Adam Ockerell, in his 20s, was attacked while feeding the reptile whose poison is so deadly it can kill an elephant in three hours. Ockerell was not as unlucky as Bello. All it took to save him was for the shop manager to flag down a police car, minutes after the attack, telling the officers: " A man has been bitten by a king cobra. He'll be dead in 15 minutes unless you get him to a hospital quick". Adam was promptly taken to Frenchay Hospital, Bristol, where he was admitted to intensive care. Later, he was given anti-venom rushed by courier from a Hospital in London. He remained critically ill for hours thereafter, but he was saved from what could have been imminent death. What happened to Bello could have been replicated in him. The effect of a cobra's venom in the human system takes the same pattern. According to a snake expert, Dr. Robert Bustard: " Getting help so soon almost certainly saved this man (Adam) from a horrible death. He'd have become seriously ill very quickly. His breathing would be difficult, he'd be vomiting in minutes and going hot and cold. Then he'd start shaking and shivering and could have fallen unconscious. All these stages came to pass in the case of Bello, but luckily, not in the case of Adam.
The two events were widely reported in the newspapers. In Bello's case, a Nigerian newspaper; and in the case of Adam, a foreign tabloid. The two victims shared some characteristics in common. Both had been dealing in snakes before the attack on them. They had probably become so familiar with snakes that they never really saw them as too dangerous. From indications, they never thought their life could be imperilled, let alone snuffed out as in Bello's, by the snakes they nurse and even feed daily. The difference in their circumstance was that Bello was in a primitive setting, where he was indeed considered to be the main expert in catching snakes and treating victims of snakebites. No one seriously imagined that one of his snakes, indeed one thought to be small compared with others, would eventually send him to early grave. He was seen as a man with extraordinary powers to charm and deal with snakes. This perception alone is enough to have prevented his wife and neighbours from rushing him to a hospital following the bite. That is if there is a hospital nearby and if the hospital had anti-snake venom to counter the poison. It would appear that no such clinics abound in Marabar Maska, else dozens of snakebite victims would not be rushing to see Bello. Again, the problem could be the cost of procuring orthodox treatment for such victims. If the cost is high, victims in a largely agrarian village setting will seek alternatives, or simply end up dying.
The two incidents mark a reflection of how the decency and organisation of a society can help to save lives. In the year of our Lord 2006, and for a country that attained independence 46 years ago, it is detestable that a society would leave its citizens to the mercy of dangerous reptiles and other wild animals. From all accounts, snakes pose a serious problem to the villagers of Marabar Maska. Several other villages and communities abound in the North with similar problem. People die of snakebites, in large numbers and very frequently. Yet there is no visible, concerted effort by the government to eradicate the snakes. Often, there are no functional clinics or hospitals to address problems of snakebites. And so, the country remains backward in the midst of abundant resources. The painful thing is that, snakes may be proving a veritable source of misery to many poor Nigerians in the rural north; it is actually a tiny proportion of problems of the ordinary Nigerian. Governments of Nigeria at all levels have neglected the citizens, whose life has consequently been rendered less meaningful.
Absence of policy or inadequate implementation in vital sectors such as health, education, housing public transportation, job creation among others, has marginalised the common Nigerian. It is so sad that incidents that would be arrested and controlled within minutes, elsewhere, would invariably turn out to be unmitigated disasters in this country. The cases of Bello and Adams should send strong lessons to the so-called leaders of Nigerian. The country is in dire need of authorities that will show concern to the quality of Nigerian life compared to the life's of their counterparts in other countries. If such concern existed, Bello would not have died so cheaply. But his case is prominence because he was an expert in snake affairs. Hundreds of other peasants die of similar incidents regularly and no one baths eyelids. Similarly, Nigerians are giving up their lives daily due to minor ailments, poor living environment, sheer stress of surviving in a harsh, hostile neighbourhood, as well as suffering occasioned by absence of affordable public transportation system. The tale of two cobras is a simple reminder that for all the politicians in government boasting to have achieved much for their subjects, they haven't even began to address the problems of their subjects.
A Tale of Two Cobras

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