Akpos is everywhere these days

The Tortoise is always a reoccurring character in the folktales we all grew up with. He is often portrayed as the greedy, selfish, cunning or perhaps crafty character who would do everything he can to outdo another person. You will agree with me, that many cultures in Africa have traditions of oral story telling. Skilled storytellers would memorize folktales and captivate audiences with their stories of adventure. It is this skilled art of storytelling. Many folktales have morals, or lessons, for the young audiences. These Folktales or bedtime stories as they are also known are didactic in tune as they usually teach one moral lesson or the other. The lead character usually learns in a hard way that selfishness and greedy are the worst qualities to have. These stories are allegorical representations of human beings the way they live and interact daily. But there is a new character different from the Tortoise we are used to in Folktales. He is a character created on our ‘Facebooktales’ and ‘Tweetertales’. His name is Akpos or Akpors as some other people spell it. But Akpos is the most popular of the two. In every joke or tale that I have so far read online, Akpos is that typical Warri boy who is always everywhere making very silly mistakes. This character Akpos is the one who does all the stupid things. Here is a joke about Akpos tweeted by Tataafo ‏@HelenPaul: Joba: Akpos, why you dey sleep with ruler every night. Akpos: My teacher says she wants to know how long I sleep. Here is another: Sule: Bros why you dey wrap your phone with black handkerchief? Akpos: Rukewe dey owe me money so I dey hide my number before I call am Akpos has become so popular a mischievous character such that Hope Eghagha, the commissioner of education, Delta state, could not help but exclaim on his Facebook wall a few days ago: “Akpos don suffer for this country!” In fact, a comedian has named himself AkposWarriboy. He shared many jokes on ‘himself’ Akpos. AKPOS: I wish I had been born 4,000 years ago. TEACHER: Why? AKPOS: I would not have to learn too much in History Class Here is another joke by AkposWarriboy: AKPOS: You look like someone I've seen on TV before, are you a Celebrity? GIRL: *blushing* awww, thanks, who exactly? AKPOS: Bakary Sagna Therefore, Akpos has assumed that character that employs its cunning tactics to protect itself against powerful people whose pranks usually cause trouble for another character. In most times, he goes away gloating and unpunished. Although in some cases, there is a turnabout where he falls prey to the mischief he started. His figure of mischievous disruption is characterised by rule-breaking, lies, theft, shape-shifting, and wordplay. If you have not noticed this trend, you may do well to watch the messages you receive on your BB, Facebook, and Twitter. An Akpos is always there. Here is a joke by AkposWarriboy to cap it all: OCHUKO: O boy, so U dey on Twitter??? AKPOS: No bros, na person I escort come here.