FEATURE ARTICLE

'Yemi AdegbiteTuesday, December 23, 2014
[email protected]
Brampton, Ontario, Canada

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THE NIGERIAN NATION

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igeria in every respect is looking more and more like an apparition. Many unreal things happen daily, it looks like a state of nature as described by Thomas Hobbes. Nigeria has been turned to a beggar nation by those who are "(s) elected" to govern it! Think of anything at all, it is possible in Nigeria. Things are not as they look, and everything is like a fleeting illusion! An Apparition of a mega country if you will. For those of us afar off, Nigeria looks like a big jungle where people have the power to act according to his/her might with impunity, we have never had it so rough in the history of that country.

You will see a drunk police, paid with the public tax money (or at least, with public oil money) wielding an assault rifle terrorising ordinary Nigerians on the street, and in some extreme cases brutalized and or killed civilians with no consequence whatsoever. Only in Nigeria will a civil servant embezzle public money to the tune of billions, and all he/she gets is a couple of thousands naira fine and gets off the hook! A government minister (Allison-Madueke in this case) will purchase or hire a 10 billion naira jet to fly around as she wishes while majority of the people live in squalor. Worst still the National Assembly cannot even summon her for a simple explanation! Stella Oduah erstwhile minister of aviation after procuring unauthorized bullet-proof limousine that cost millions of naira was gloriously eased out with glamor! Her only punishment was a ticket to go to Senate in 2015 under the umbrella PDP!

The corruption and money laundering case against Abacha's son was withdrawn by the GEJ led corrupt and inept government and replaced with a ticket to fly the PDP's flag in Kano state as the governor in the next election. Only in Nigeria will seven (7) (dis) honourable men seat and chase away 19 other members, usurp the power of the speaker, pass appropriation bill, and approve list of commissioners and legalise executive actions that stated on a wrong side of the law! There is nothing honourable in what these people did, it actually discounted their intelligence that was a collective stupidity on their part. They need a good math teacher who can proof to them that 7?19.

Gov. Fayose makes beggars out the proud Ekiti people by distributing fowls and rice to may be at most 200,000 people. I ask, what about the others? Whose money was he using to purchase all those stuff? In the same Ekiti State, a sitting Judge was beaten up mercilessly and assaulted with no finger raised by the powers that be! Only in Nigeria will the Inspector General of Police be so overtly and downright partisan, get up with his men and occupy the National Assembly under a spurious and flimsy innuendos and occupy the House, sacked and teargased the elected men and women, yet nothing happened. Just because the Speaker of the House went to the party where his conscience was all this while. Not that alone the IGP referred to the sitting speaker of the National House of Assembly, the number 4 in command as one Aminu Tambuwal! The IGP backed it up with further insult that he does not recognize him as the speaker of the House REALLY!

Boko Haram wantonly and routinely kill people and operate freely like there is no government charged with the duty to protect lives and properties in the country. Soldiers ask for better equipment and ammunition, they called it mutiny and condemned them to death! What a twist of an irony! This is a perversion of justice. This is a sham. People with good conscience should rise up and protest on behalf of these unfortunate boys. While I do not support a capital punishment, for this matter, if anybody should die, it should be in the reversed order! The ship of the country is recklessly making it to the rock occupants are scrambling to get a vantage place or position to sit in! The list of parody taking place can keep going on and on. That is why I equate Nigeria to an Apparition. In a country where a normal government exists, such things should not have happened. Having said all this, without any fear of contradiction, I can make some exceptions in many states of the country, where we have progressive governments who are making lemonade while the central government throws lemon at them. History will be kind towards them, and posterity will recognize them.

The late sagacious Nelson Mandela said this about Nigeria and I will put it verbatim

"You know I am not happy not very happy with Nigeria, I have made that very clear on many occasions. Yes Nigeria stood by us more than any nation, but you let yourselves down, and Africa and the black race very badly. Your leaders have no respect for their people. They believe that their personal interests are interests of the people. They take people's resources and turn it into personal wealth. There is a level of poverty in Nigeria that should be unacceptable. I cannot understand why Nigerians are not more-angry than they are"

Mandel had never lived a month in Nigeria up to his death, and he can summarise our leaders' behaviour so accurately. Nigeria, a blessed and rich country but with poor people can no longer continue business as usual. The Federal government under GEJ has proved beyond any reasonable doubt that he is incapable of leading the country. I don't care what his apologists are saying, they will continue to sing his praise because is in their selfish interests to do so. The terabyte-level corruption going on in Nigeria is unparalleled. Alhaji Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the then Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria broke rank and came out openly that the oil money is not remitted, they castigated him, they vilified him, and now, he is His Eminence the Emir of Kano, case closed!

2015 Is Upon Us.

Nigerians, we have a real chance to rid the country of all the corruption, impunity, stagnation, attrition, indolence, the extreme expression irresponsibility and irresponsiveness on the part of the federal government led by the PDP under the watch of GEJ. His foot soldiers will equate him with Jesus, Nelson Mandel of Nigeria, the best president that Nigeria ever had, etc. The facts on the grounds paint a whole lot of different pictures. These are cannon-fodders who will say anything to justify their pay cheques, please discountenance their pronouncements, regard those statements as what Williams Shakespeare described as "�a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifies nothing�" Please ensure that you vote wisely, and protect your vote jealously by all means necessary! PDP can no longer rule Nigeria, the only credible alternative is APC. APC is like a destiny child, midwifed by providence to set Nigeria free from the bondage that beset us through the actions and inactions of the directionless PDP led government. Baba Obasnajo, hate him or love, he will tell the truth as he sees it. He almost single handedly crowned GEJ, and he has realized the fatal error and stop his support for him. GEJ cronies called him names and denigrated him, the old man will not budge. I like him for that. He used his office while in power to fight corruption, with the then fire brand Alhaji Nuhu Ribadu, (Though he has since gone back to his vomit). Accept his method then or not, but the fact remains that, he did fight corruption!

Advice to APC Led Federal Government In 2015

It is very imperative that once the APC takes over the federal government of Nigeria, it must ensure the rapid annihilation of the dreaded Boko Haram sect and rehabilitate the displaced people in all the affected areas.

Sponsor a new Bill that will make it impossible for any vice president who for one reason or the other serves the unfinished term of his/her boss, goes on to succeed his/her boss and then contests for a second term like GEJ is doing right now.

Thirdly, APC as a matter of urgency should engage the overseas Nigerians. (The Nigerians in the Diaspora). The Diasporas remitted over $20 billion home in 2013 alone. These people deserve a better treatment! They should be allowed to vote and be represented in the policy making apparatus of the country. They deserve a better deal by their share contribution to the economy. It was very childish and outlandish for the outgoing National Assembly to conclude that Nigeria is not ripe for the Diaspora's vote. Many other African countries engage their Diasporas in this way directly, and they rip the benefits that accrues as a result. Now that the oil glut pushed the price down, I had the minister of finance the other time asking for more Diasporas remittance, and I was perturbed! The sector that your government does not even think it exists, now you want more from them. I trust the APC led government will do the right thing regarding the Diasporas.

I want to encourage Nigerians in 2015 and beyond to develop an active participant political culture and participate to the fullest. We should not accept all things the political elites throw at us. People will ride a willing horse to the death! I will end with this amazing quotation from Frantz Fanon - The Wretched of the Earth: "To educate the masses politically does not mean, cannot mean, and making a political speech. What it means is to try, relentlessly and passionately, to teach the masses that everything depends on them; that if we stagnate it is their responsibility, and that if we go forward it is due to them too, that there is no such thing as a demiurge, (a heavenly being) that there is no famous man who will take the responsibility for everything, but that the demiurge is the people themselves and the magic hands are finally only the hands of the people"

Frantz said further that: "Oh my body, make of me a man (or woman) who can always questions"

In 2015, Nigerians must step up and ask their leaders questions, I mean probing questions, no more business as usual and people should be weary of those who will line them up and distribute rice and fowls before elections and during Xmas only. People deserve to live like human beings, and not sub human like some politicians treat them.

I wish everybody a Merrier and a Happier New Year New Year in advance! Power must change hands in 2015. Vox Pupli, Vox Dei.

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