FEATURE ARTICLE

Professor Omoh T. Ojior, Ph.D.Saturday, July 29, 2017
[email protected]


AVERT CATO STREET CONSPIRACY IN NIGERIA:
A NEED TO SEARCH FOR THE AMELIORATION OF THE PLIGHT OF THE PEOPLE

The Cato Street Conspiracy took place in London in 1820.
The situation was not different from what has been
happening for quite sometimes now in Nigeria. So in London
some radicals who were fed up with growing pains of the worst political
and economic conditions in the small Island of Britain had
planned to assassinate the entire British cabinet ministers
while they were all together at a dinner.

y beloved people of Nigeria, I salute you and the courage with which you are endowed. It is said that there is a limit to human endurance. It is equally one of the sayings of the wise in Etsako that okpishia o yor Inighu ne Erthai puno oni Inighu, meaning that an elderly person cannot be in the kitchen and allow the fire to quench.

I think it is time to call the law makers of Nigeria to order. It is the duty of the masses to do this. The rulers of Nigeria, whether appointed or elected, they are representing the people of Nigeria, therefore they are there at the pleasure of the masses of Nigeria. Both the Senate and the House of Representatives need to retrace their steps. They have kept quiet in spite of all that is going on. The people, the masses, youths and children; boys and girls; women and men; old and young: they are all starving from socio-economic deprivation. Still, one is not hearing of any plan being designed by the law makers to acknowledge or to alleviate the pains of hunger and of want. The lootings of public funds have continued unperturbed and unabated as the rumor grows stronger that Nigerian law makers were proposing a bill to seek for amnesty from the war on corruption; that is to be set free from prosecution. Such a bill by implication is an admission that they have actually looted the Nigerian Treasury dried. This is pathetic to say the least.

It is my belief and conviction that Nigerians need to speak out loud and now. Especially, the souls, minds, and Spirit, the intellectuals of this God blessed nation, Nigeria, must in unison din out their cry in opposition to the sufferings of the masses. The Nigerian masses are resilient and this attribute must not be taken for granted or for stupidity by the rulers and looters. Resiliency is a mark of virtue in leadership. Enough is enough. We must speak our mind at this time.

In political Democracy, the freedom to think, speak, assemble, worship, move about without any hindrance and associate freely, are the most beautiful of all the rights of men and women. Your choice is yours in a democracy; it is the sum total or the culmination of power of the people. It is this power of choice, that, in the words of Aristotle, "Democracy is the rule of the poor for the benefit of the poor," and he stressed that "The principle of democracy is equality and not according to value," adding that "In consequence of which the majority rules; the will of the majority becomes law." Nigerians must now use the power of majority. The power belongs to you the people. Use it. The sufferings of the people are now over bearing and over due to stop. It is the will of the people that predominates in democracy, in other words, the will of the people is supreme and, Nigeria is a democracy. The masses of this country now more than ever need to come together and speak with one voice. Come together as a people.

Frankly, the law makers of our land are our representatives, they do not represent themselves; the rulerships that have created the current political, economic, and chaotic social conditions in the country must bear the cross but as of yet they are not. It has been rumored that the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo was not being allowed to do his job. The rumor has gone on and hits us in this far distant land that the Bukola Sarakis want to displace the Acting President. That inordinate ambition will further complicate the nation's problems. Nigeria is not Kwara State that became the property of the Sarakis. The Nigerian state is not the prerogative of the cabal or the Sarakis. Nigeria belongs to all Nigerians and Africa. What mistakes has Osibanjo made to warrant an attempt to embarrass him with removal? What is the problem with the Cabal and the Sarakis; are they daft that they cannot see or hear the world calling on Nigeria to wake up and sit up? What is the sin of Professor Osinbajo as the Acting President upon which he must suffer any form of humiliation?

To the world, Nigeria is becoming a backward nation in our time not because it lacks the means of a sovereign viable state in terms of manpower and resources. It is being made into a backward polity by Nigeria's so-called ruling politicians/elites and law makers who have prized themselves above all else including the Almighty God. They have mismanaged and are still mismanaging the economy, and the social political system that were supposed to be the people's wealth. They recycle themselves in offices with their children whom they send abroad to receive foreign cultural education; a major reason they are not concerned with the plight of the people of Nigeria. According to the learned theologian, Thomas Aquinas, "Government is unjust if it contributes to the advantage of the rulers rather than to the best interests of all." He added that "The farther it departs from the common good, the more unjust does it become." The rulers of Nigeria have hijacked the government of the people and are making it unjust of a government.

Nigeria is not a backward country by any shape or form. Nigeria is the most mismanaged, most abused and disrespected by its rulers; the most cursed by its youths in ignorance; the most looted polity by its politicians due to greed, selfishness, miss-education and ignorance and, Nigeria remains the one country whose people have abandoned its most envied culture in the world. Nigeria is the only country in the world whose youths do not know its history because its rulers banned the teachings of the nation's history. If the young ones were given the requisite education to know how we got to where we are today, they would have respected and love their Nigeria more. They wouldn't have been talking about dividing the country. Nigerian rulers are failing Nigeria and Africa.

Members of the Nigerian Senate and the House of Representatives must be ashamed of themselves because most of them have done nothing respectable in the country since Independence on October 1st 1960. For an example, India and Nigeria were colonized by the same small Island of Great Britain. As soon as the British Union Jack, the British Flag, was brought down, the then Indian Prime Minister, Mahatma Gandhi, pulled off the English coat he was wearing as a symbol of freedom from imperialism and hate for the Imperialists culture; he was followed by every other Indian. They picked back up their Indian way of life, their culture and traditions. The Indians today warship their traditional Indus religion to the extent that even in America today where many of them have dual citizenship, they maintain Indus shrine in many of their establishments and enterprises. In the case of Nigeria and Nigerians, the way of life of the Imperialist Britain became the adopted culture of Nigerians; English is replacing mother tongues, all in Nigeria. All these aberrations are the result of the misrule, ineptitude and stupidity in political maladministration of Nigeria's looters and money launderers.

Change is the Only Permanent Thing in Life

Nigerians need to change their ways; the nation must thrive as a viable entity that it was meant to be. Nigerians urgently need to listen to the patriotic callings of the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, the tone and direction of Edo State Governor, Governor Nogheghase G. Obaseki, and the unbending concerns of Governor Fayose of Ekiti State. Embrace the vision of these sons of Nigeria. The teaming masses, including the youths should stop politicians from dividing the people. In democracy, the people's power is unmatched. From experience and in my current opinion, the Nigeria police have always helped the looters by killing protesters, a reason the people seem to be afraid now to protest peacefully against misrule in the country. But if law enforcement agents, come to realize and know that the protesters are equally fighting for the progress of the police and their family as well, they should become civil and support or protect protesters against misrule in Nigeria. Police need to change their ways also.

One does not recommend the Cato Street Conspiracy in Nigeria, but at the same time, Etsako (eyor khe eso za rthe gbai chi chi chi, a gba lo dai dai), meaning that if you do not have enough sticks to make a closed-up fence, you scatter the sticks in order to complete the fence for protection. The condition of the plight of the masses in Nigeria is calling for reasonable dialogue in the form of peaceful protests that call on the politicians and law makers to order. The law makers need to legislate, legislation that point to a sense of direction for the country; policies that address the plight of the people. Bring the subject of Nigerian History back to the school curriculum throughout the country and teach it to the Nigerian youths to know how we got to where we are. The law makers, as a matter of urgency and importance, should recognize the importance of the culture of the peoples of Nigeria, not only in dances and songs, as is shown on the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) International. An Act or enactment is required to give force to the compulsory teaching of Nigerian languages in schools and their being used to communicate in the country. The masses of Nigeria do not need to study French language, but Nigerian diplomats may. It is shameful that young Nigerians do not speak their mother tongues.

In order to return sanity and consciousness back into the country, policies that eliminate cultural and moral decay are needed now more than ever. As is obtainable in the North of the country and at the Federal Capital, Abuja, behaviour of the people should not be left unguided. The spate of ritual killings in the country should be a matter of great concern to the rulers. Stiff penalty that would deter a would-be culprit should be imposed. Sexual promiscuities should be checked. The idea of members of the ruling class sending their children outside the country for their education should be proscribed. The current war on corruption should be stepped up. The people should not give up or leave the matter alone in the hands of the authorities. In other words, one is calling for the full participation of the people.

Many Nigerians have been praying in foreign tongues un-known to our ancestors and the God of our land; for this reason, the prayers have gone to nowhere and the problems facing the people continue unmitigated. Nigerians should remember our ancestors in their prayers and pray through them in our languages that the ancestors understand. To forget our ancestors is to allow the non existence of them who are our closest allies and quickest intermediaries to our God.

Nigeria is a great country if only its challenges are confronted by Nigerians. A divided Nigeria is a destroyed Africa and total defeat of the Black race and its continent. The Nigerian Press has not done enough as a most potent weapon against misrule of miss-educated Africans. Aware men and women of the Press should fight to preserve our motherland and not to divide it to face ultimate destruction. Nigeria stands to save Africa and the world. The late Nnamdi Azikiwe, the Adelabus, the Tony Enahoros, the Aminu Kanos, Mitama Sules, the Akanu Ibiams, the Awolowos, the J. S.Tarkas, the Mbonu Ojikes, the Ojukwus, the Gowons, the Adeniran Ogunsanyas, the Njogwus, and our living legend, Professor Wole Soyinka; they all know this very well. Our teaming population engulfed in the foreign religious dogmas and our rulers and politicians have refused to see the spiritual nature of our culture to embrace and use it to discipline our peoples. It is one of the reasons that I had recommended over the years that an Oath of Office in Nigeria should be administered with an Ofor, Sango, Akazi traditional Icons, etc., instead of the Bible or the Koran that has never dealt with any of the unfaithful public office holders in Nigeria. A people that fails to know and respect from where they came will not know and respect where they are, and of course, such a people will not find a way to where they need to go. This is one of the major challenges facing our peoples, Nigerians. The challenges must be defeated by the people, and it is now. Our true independence is not yet achieved until we restore our way of life, our culture that imperialism had affected. Let me leave you with or remind you of Lord Macaulay's speech to the British parliament on February 2nd, 1835.

Thus:

"I have travelled across the length and breadth of Africa and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such caliber, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage and therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Africans think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their selfesteem, their native culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation".

Lord Macaulay's Address to the
British Parliament on February 2nd, 1835

Source: Dr. Sadiq Ikharo
Vice Chancellor, General Services
Peralta Community College District, California, USA

Omoh T. Ojior is a Professor of Political Science

IMAGES IN THE NEWS