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Nigeria: What a shame!
 

ANNOUNCE THIS VIEWPOINT TO YOUR FRIENDS!
 Wednesday, June 28, 2000



 Femi Ojo-Ade
 [email protected]
 


 




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Unaware of developments at home, I recently phoned a couple of relatives' offices on Monday, May 29, 2000, only to hear the shrill sounds of phones ringing off the hook, while entertaining negative thoughts. On Tuesday, I was somewhat relieved to learn that our patriotic civilian government had been kind enough to declare the glorious date a national holiday.

I phoned home again a few days later. Once again, there was that familiar sound indicating people's absence from the office on working days. The explanation: fuel price had suddenly been hiked by 50%, and the labour union had decided to go on strike. Simultaneously, there was the matter of June 12 being declared a state holiday by certain (Yoruba) governors, while the maze-snatching nationalists at Abuja were threatening to punish them for such unpatriotic action. Later, I was again somewhat relieved to learn that peace had returned to the giant of Africa and everyone was ready to go about the business of working hard for the good and greatness of the nation.

Nonetheless, both the Day of Democracy and the attendant events have led me to an evaluation of the past year and, I daresay, the conclusions are far from being positive. Indeed, the very idea of democracy remains a dream, or a nightmare, in a country where freedom seems to be defined in terms of its absence. You are free to feel insecure in the darkness of cities where nothing functions. You are free to enjoy the dictates of authorities rigged into power, democratically, sworn to uphold rights that they have summarily turned into privileges for those that agree to be their donkeys and horses. You are now free to complain unlike ever before, in the full knowledge that your word or action will remain meaningless in the scheme of things in a land where development is the exclusive right of the minority living on the mountain from where they patriotically piss on the majority.

As at now, one year after the change of guard, the balance-sheet from home has not been any less atrocious, that is, if one removes the element of freedom to suffer, no more in silence but in protest. Perhaps it has to do with the long period of militarization foisted upon a people that may have forgotten what it is to breathe without being ordered as to when and how to do so. Thus, the green-uniformed masters, working hand in glove with their other, variously and flamboyantly attired civilian collaborators, have succeeded in making our people accept as normal a life of mediocrity, murder, and manipulation. Given that spirit of resignation to God's and Allah's will, everyone is bound to rejoice at the slightest sign of change, even when it is crystal clear that the bottom line is a sea of endless lies.

When I talked to my people about the sudden price-hike of fuel, they were very happy to inform me that the government had been reasonable in negotiating for a tag of 22 naira. Yet, the same optimists were quick to add, that fuel remained scarce, and that some dealers were selling at 100 naira, reminding me of the dark days of post-election 1993. My people have apparently forgotten that, then, as today, human lives were unnecessarily lost at the altar of oppression and repression in a country where the powers that be have holes in the heart, where hypocrites profess love for those whom they hate to death, and where the most progressive factor in official policy is the size of the current saviours' pockets.

My people were elated to observe the Day of Democracy, and the Days of Strike, and the Days of Christianity and Islam, even though they realize that, working days are hardly different from holidays. When you go to bed and wake up hungry; when you spend half a day getting to the office or factory where power is a constant absence; when you have spent a decade, or more, living in stagnation, if not in retrogression, what reason would you have to celebrate anything at all? Perhaps it is simply a matter of thanking God, or Allah, for being alive!

As part of the national celebration, I read that certain individuals were given presidential pardon, and that the name of Salisu Buhari, the young convict recently removed from the House of Representatives, featured prominently on the list. I agree with The Guardian (June 19), that the President's haste in the matter is unfortunate and that the quality of mercy has been considerably strained. I would go further to aver, that the single act is symptomatic of the totality of the central leader's position: He is surrounded by mediocres who have managed to imprison him in a mess of corruption and confusion. Pity that the likes of Beko Kuti and Chris Anyanwu, epitomes of the potential of greatness that may never materialize, have been thrown into the same polluted pot as the young moneybag. It would not be surprising if Buhari were to return as House Speaker; for, he would blend perfectly into an institution ruled by erstwhile collaborators with criminals and murderers, and by current robbers who see nothing wrong in budgeting billions of naira for themselves when the population is dying of unmitigated poverty and disease.

As one reads news from home, one cannot but wonder how the pauperized population would manage to live with the actions of rogues and renegades pretending to abide by the rule of law. One wonders how people agree to stay put in darkness. One cannot comprehend why no one demands accountability from those that claim to be anti-corruption crusaders. One cannot imagine how people stomach the greed of politicians traveling abroad for days on end, on astronomical estacode rates paid for by the public, doing nothing more than sight-seeing and sleeping around. One wonders about the meaning of this Democracy that continues to decree death on human lives and hopes, and on the dream of a Nigerian nation. What a shame!

Professor Ojo-Ade, formerly head of Foreign Languages at OAU, Ile-Ife, is now attached to St. Mary's College of Maryland, USA.




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