One of the consequences of the myriad of election disputes arising from the twelve years of the the People's Democratic Party,PDP, misrule, is that many of us have become more knowledgeable when it comes to the law!
One phrase that we found reoccuring in many disputes, is that a party to a case, cannot approbate, and reprobate at the same time!
It simply means that one cannot approve, and disapprove a matter in the same breath!
You cannot take two conflicting positions in a matter, simply because you feel it would enhance your chances of winning! A typical example of this at work, was when pettitioners prayed the court to declare that no election was held in a place, and to at the same time declare them winners! The courts were wise to ask,"Of what election? The one that did not hold?
It is therefore interesting to see what Goodluck Jonathan, our president by default, has hinged his campaign on: "a breath of fresh air"
One is curious to know, where is this breath of fresh air coming from? Is he saying that he is going to import Britons, and Americans, to run Nigeria? Or, could he have forgotten, even while he is still a beneficiary, that he has been a part of the PDP misrule that has "de-developpd" Nigeria?
Jonathan was the deputy governor in Bayelsa state from the beginning of this democratic dispensation! He then became the state governor when his boss was impeached for malfeasance!
Could Jonathan have forgotten so soon, that he was also the vice president under Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, and that he is still a beneficiary of that regime!
For Jonathan to attempt to distance himself from the old smelly, stinking,shameful corpse, that the PDP rule has become, is laughable, and very unimmaginative!
It is like a fish saying that it is not a part of the water that sustains it, or for a building to deny it's foundation! Jonathan is part of the architecture of failure, misrule, and mismanagement, the PDP has visited on Nigeria!
A vote for Jonathan, is a vote for four more years of business as usual! A vote for Jonathan, is a vote for four more years of his master Olusegun Obasanjo! A vote for Jonathan, would complete sixteen years of the sixty, the PDP has promised to misrule Nigeria for!
So, if you are wise, you will give Jonathan what he truly, deep down in his heart wants, a breath of fresh air for Nigeria! He knows his party has failed Nigeria, but as a loyal party man, he cannot come out to say it! That is why he has sent all of us a secret, coded message, that we should deliver Nigeria from the stench of the PDP, and give her a breath of fresh air!
A vote for the PDP, is a vote for unending power failure! A vote for the PDP, is a vote for fuel scarcity, and corruption! A vote for the PDP, is a vote for leaders who do not feel the pain of the people!
I went to the petrol station yesterday to buy fuel for my generator: I bought twenty nine liters for N2,200.00! At the end of the purchase, the attendant asked me to pay him an extra N200.00 because he had sold fuel into a jerry can for me! That is one of the bright and shinning ongoing legacies of the PDP! They punish us by not building power stations, and refineries, and we pay for their inefficiency!
Let us be wise, shun ethnic politics that lead to more slavery, vote for the real breath of fresh air in this election, General Muhammadu Buhari!
MAY GOD BLESS NIGERIA,OUR NIGERIA,FOREVER!
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Is There Hope For Nigeria?
I have been offline for more than a week now! I have been concerned with more serious matters in the world of brick, and stones! It has afforded me the opportunity of ruminating on the trajectory our great country Nigeria is on.
We have had continuous civil rule for about twelve years now, but the country seems to be worse than it was twelve years ago! If one were to measure progress on the basis of tangible things like access to cell phones, Ipads, and Iphones, et al, we have made tremendous progress!
If, however, we look at the state of our voiceless poor, we would see the clear indictment of twelve years of misrule by the People's Democratic Party, PDP! I know I love bashing them, but they are fair game, and every knock is justified!
In twelve years, more Nigerians have become poorer, while a very small number, is so rich now, that ever Forbes is beginning to notice them! I have no quarrel with rich men! I love wealth, and the good one can do with it! My grouse is that a system that is unfair, unjust, and uncaring, is surely ungodly!
Every leader from Obasanjo, has mouthed all the right phrases of poverty alleviation, but only succeeded in elevating poverty to a national vocation!
To our shame, we have not been able to build one small refinery! Yet we talk about progress! We spread poverty, and export jobs, each time we export crude oil, and import finished petroleum products!
I do not have any new argument to canvass on why we are poor, all the causes, remote, and immediate, as they love to say in the civil service, are all in the public domain!
It is quite simple really, governments, at all levels have failed! They have been failing for the past twelve years, and if allowed to continue, they will fail for another four!
When people argue that Nigeria is a failed State, those of us who are of the positive confession kind, fulminate, and robustly rebut the obvious, and glaring, fact!
If Nigeria were a marriage, it would have concluded divource proceeding years ago! If we were a business, we would have ceased to be trading a long time a go! If she were an athlete, she would have been banned for life, for cheating, and repeated drug use!
The word that comes to mind, when I consider Nigeria, is a Biblical word, REPROBATE! It means failing to pass a test which is common for others to pass!
We have hospitals that kill people, roads that destroy cars, and schools that breed ignoramuses! It is as if the more money we spend, the more difficult it is to get a positive result! what other countries do, without effort, we need to attempt a dozen times, before we succeed, partially!
We can fairly put our failure to achieve, at the feet of the PDP. but not all of it.
We have also been negligent as a people, we have kept quiet when we should have spoken, we folded our arms when we should have thrown stones, we suffered loss when we should have protested, and demanded prompt redress!
In many parts of the world, election to a political office, is it's own reward! The opportunity to influence policy, is seen as enough reward, so political office holders, serve their people! In our own case, when people run for office, they are actually applying for jobs! They see elections as being the same thing as getting a well-paying job! And sadly, that has been our lot.
We have had continuous civil rule for about twelve years now, but the country seems to be worse than it was twelve years ago! If one were to measure progress on the basis of tangible things like access to cell phones, Ipads, and Iphones, et al, we have made tremendous progress!
If, however, we look at the state of our voiceless poor, we would see the clear indictment of twelve years of misrule by the People's Democratic Party, PDP! I know I love bashing them, but they are fair game, and every knock is justified!
In twelve years, more Nigerians have become poorer, while a very small number, is so rich now, that ever Forbes is beginning to notice them! I have no quarrel with rich men! I love wealth, and the good one can do with it! My grouse is that a system that is unfair, unjust, and uncaring, is surely ungodly!
Every leader from Obasanjo, has mouthed all the right phrases of poverty alleviation, but only succeeded in elevating poverty to a national vocation!
To our shame, we have not been able to build one small refinery! Yet we talk about progress! We spread poverty, and export jobs, each time we export crude oil, and import finished petroleum products!
I do not have any new argument to canvass on why we are poor, all the causes, remote, and immediate, as they love to say in the civil service, are all in the public domain!
It is quite simple really, governments, at all levels have failed! They have been failing for the past twelve years, and if allowed to continue, they will fail for another four!
When people argue that Nigeria is a failed State, those of us who are of the positive confession kind, fulminate, and robustly rebut the obvious, and glaring, fact!
If Nigeria were a marriage, it would have concluded divource proceeding years ago! If we were a business, we would have ceased to be trading a long time a go! If she were an athlete, she would have been banned for life, for cheating, and repeated drug use!
The word that comes to mind, when I consider Nigeria, is a Biblical word, REPROBATE! It means failing to pass a test which is common for others to pass!
We have hospitals that kill people, roads that destroy cars, and schools that breed ignoramuses! It is as if the more money we spend, the more difficult it is to get a positive result! what other countries do, without effort, we need to attempt a dozen times, before we succeed, partially!
We can fairly put our failure to achieve, at the feet of the PDP. but not all of it.
We have also been negligent as a people, we have kept quiet when we should have spoken, we folded our arms when we should have thrown stones, we suffered loss when we should have protested, and demanded prompt redress!
In many parts of the world, election to a political office, is it's own reward! The opportunity to influence policy, is seen as enough reward, so political office holders, serve their people! In our own case, when people run for office, they are actually applying for jobs! They see elections as being the same thing as getting a well-paying job! And sadly, that has been our lot.
A passage in the Bible, from the book of Ecclesiastes's chapter 10, sums our situation succinctly,16.
Woe to thee O land,
when thy king is a child,
and thy princes eat in the morning.
17.Blessed art thou o land,
when thy king is the son of nobles,
and thy princes eat in due season,
for strength,
and not for drunkenness,
When leaders are not willing to sacrifice, the nation suffers! When people of no integrity are the ones foisted on us, instead of individuals who are noble, our country can only suffer!
We have another opportunity in a few days time to set our nation on the path of greatness, let us vote out the PDP!
AS WE DO, MAY GOD BLESS NIGERIA, OUR NIGERIA FOREVER!
Friday, March 11, 2011
What Does The World See, When They Look At Nigeria?
I saw a cartoon on Facebook the other day. It was of two individuals, a man, and a woman, standing before two mirrors!
In the first strip, a fat, very portly, and porky woman considers her image in the mirror; what we can see of the woman, is that she is rotund, and out of shape:she has a loose flab of fatty flesh around her midriff like a spare tire!
The woman in her own eyes, sees her reflection as a sexy,shapely, slender, sleek, work of art!
The picture shows the man, a wreck of a human being flexing his atrophied muscles!
His shock absorbers, and bushings, are all shot! Nature, and father time, have not been kind to him! He looks like something a cat ate weeks ago, digested partially, and then regurgitated!
He is not good to look at, and I suspect he does not feel good too inside! In addition to this, he is balding!
His reflection however, is a lie! He sees himself with a full head of hair, he is all chiseled muscle, he is perfection personified!
His six pack, triceps, and biceps, are a wonder to behold!
He is Captain Atlas himself!
What these people chose to see, is a far cry from what is actually there!
What a person says about himself, is never truly objective! It is clouded by how that person wishes to be seen in the eyes of others!
And it is on this platform, that we cast off on our journey of self-appraisal!
Nigeria, in the seventies, and eighties, built her international reputation on the platform of fighting apartheid! We drank the analgesic for another man's pain, and the world applauded us!
While we were busy fixing other nations, our own was in disrepair! Our democratic institutions were incommunicado, by reason of a plethora of military interventions, and we borrowed profligately to pay for our "do gooder" image!
We saw ourselves then, as a bastion of freedom, a defender of democracy, an international peace keeper!
That was how we saw ourselves, but how were we in reality? We had suffered from a series of coups, failed economic policies. We had refused to build on the rich agricultural heritage our founding fathers left us, and we even had our own megalomaniacs in Generals Sani Abacha, and Ibrahim Babangida!The duo refused to install democratic governments, yet they exported democracy to other nations!
That shameful era in our history is now recent history, but the present reality is shameful, to say the least! We have conducted three manifestly, and fundamentally, flawed general elections!
We have had instances in which the Supreme Court of Nigeria, in delivering judgement on cases brought by politicians who felt robbed, agreed that the elections were flawed, but still allowed the ones who benefited from these flawed elections to go home with the spoils.They premised their illogical decisions on the fact that the flaws were not substantial enough, to warrant the cancellation of the elections!
In essence, the Justices were saying, a thief who stole only one million naira, out of an account that contained a billion naira, had not done substantial damage by his action.After all, he had not done enough to jeopardize the prosperity of the owner of the money!
It is only in Nigeria, I suspect, that an election would be in dispute, and one of the parties is allowed to claim the position in dispute, and thence use the resources of that office to fight his challenger in court!
We must seem like brainless people to the rest of the world!
Nigeria has managed to reinvent the wheel, and redefine democracy in her own image, and likeness!
We have worked assiduously to remain the laughingstock of all right-thinking, and well-meaning nations the world over!
Last year, the exalted office of our president, was further rubbished by the actions of a few individuals!
They decided to rule by proxy, without the consent of the comatose Umaru Musa Yar'Adua! They succeeded in doing this, because they knew that Nigerians were very tolerant people, that we loath lifting a finger to defend themselves when wronged!
We are yet to see the individuals who perpetrated this fraud prosecuted!
How do we think the world sees us? What do we think the world would say about us, if called to speak?
We have been getting a smidgen of their views from the leaked Wikileaks cables. The revelations about Nigeria, have been shocking, and shameful!
We have heard how Supreme Court Justices were bribed to decide an election against commonsense, and justice!
We have heard how the Secretary to the Government, Yayale Ahmed, claimed that Yar 'Adua, meant to hand over to him, by-passing the constituted order of succession!
And the most egregious of all our failings, must be the refusal to adopt the Justice Uwais Panel's report on electoral reforms in the country! Had they been adopted, we would have taken a giant leap, and joined the rest of the world, in becoming a civilized nation!
By refusing to adopt them, we have become like that couple, starring into a mirror, and living in self-delusion, which is the worst kind of hypocrisy!
The world has lost it's patience where we are concerned! They sense an unwillingness on our part to change: that is why they are looking elsewhere for alternatives!
We are still lucky we have crude oil, we would discover the direness of our situation, when the world has nothing to gain from us anymore!
Then, perhaps, their views would no longer be hushed whispers behind our backs, but a clarion call from the rooftops!
It is time we saw ourselves for what we are, an under performing, underemployed nation, living in in self-delusion!
STAND UP NIGERIA, YOU ARE MORE THAN WHAT YOU THINK YOU ARE!
MAY GOD BLESS NIGERIA FOREVER!
In the first strip, a fat, very portly, and porky woman considers her image in the mirror; what we can see of the woman, is that she is rotund, and out of shape:she has a loose flab of fatty flesh around her midriff like a spare tire!
The woman in her own eyes, sees her reflection as a sexy,shapely, slender, sleek, work of art!
The picture shows the man, a wreck of a human being flexing his atrophied muscles!
His shock absorbers, and bushings, are all shot! Nature, and father time, have not been kind to him! He looks like something a cat ate weeks ago, digested partially, and then regurgitated!
He is not good to look at, and I suspect he does not feel good too inside! In addition to this, he is balding!
His reflection however, is a lie! He sees himself with a full head of hair, he is all chiseled muscle, he is perfection personified!
His six pack, triceps, and biceps, are a wonder to behold!
He is Captain Atlas himself!
What these people chose to see, is a far cry from what is actually there!
What a person says about himself, is never truly objective! It is clouded by how that person wishes to be seen in the eyes of others!
And it is on this platform, that we cast off on our journey of self-appraisal!
Nigeria, in the seventies, and eighties, built her international reputation on the platform of fighting apartheid! We drank the analgesic for another man's pain, and the world applauded us!
While we were busy fixing other nations, our own was in disrepair! Our democratic institutions were incommunicado, by reason of a plethora of military interventions, and we borrowed profligately to pay for our "do gooder" image!
We saw ourselves then, as a bastion of freedom, a defender of democracy, an international peace keeper!
That was how we saw ourselves, but how were we in reality? We had suffered from a series of coups, failed economic policies. We had refused to build on the rich agricultural heritage our founding fathers left us, and we even had our own megalomaniacs in Generals Sani Abacha, and Ibrahim Babangida!The duo refused to install democratic governments, yet they exported democracy to other nations!
That shameful era in our history is now recent history, but the present reality is shameful, to say the least! We have conducted three manifestly, and fundamentally, flawed general elections!
We have had instances in which the Supreme Court of Nigeria, in delivering judgement on cases brought by politicians who felt robbed, agreed that the elections were flawed, but still allowed the ones who benefited from these flawed elections to go home with the spoils.They premised their illogical decisions on the fact that the flaws were not substantial enough, to warrant the cancellation of the elections!
In essence, the Justices were saying, a thief who stole only one million naira, out of an account that contained a billion naira, had not done substantial damage by his action.After all, he had not done enough to jeopardize the prosperity of the owner of the money!
It is only in Nigeria, I suspect, that an election would be in dispute, and one of the parties is allowed to claim the position in dispute, and thence use the resources of that office to fight his challenger in court!
We must seem like brainless people to the rest of the world!
Nigeria has managed to reinvent the wheel, and redefine democracy in her own image, and likeness!
We have worked assiduously to remain the laughingstock of all right-thinking, and well-meaning nations the world over!
Last year, the exalted office of our president, was further rubbished by the actions of a few individuals!
They decided to rule by proxy, without the consent of the comatose Umaru Musa Yar'Adua! They succeeded in doing this, because they knew that Nigerians were very tolerant people, that we loath lifting a finger to defend themselves when wronged!
We are yet to see the individuals who perpetrated this fraud prosecuted!
How do we think the world sees us? What do we think the world would say about us, if called to speak?
We have been getting a smidgen of their views from the leaked Wikileaks cables. The revelations about Nigeria, have been shocking, and shameful!
We have heard how Supreme Court Justices were bribed to decide an election against commonsense, and justice!
We have heard how the Secretary to the Government, Yayale Ahmed, claimed that Yar 'Adua, meant to hand over to him, by-passing the constituted order of succession!
And the most egregious of all our failings, must be the refusal to adopt the Justice Uwais Panel's report on electoral reforms in the country! Had they been adopted, we would have taken a giant leap, and joined the rest of the world, in becoming a civilized nation!
By refusing to adopt them, we have become like that couple, starring into a mirror, and living in self-delusion, which is the worst kind of hypocrisy!
The world has lost it's patience where we are concerned! They sense an unwillingness on our part to change: that is why they are looking elsewhere for alternatives!
We are still lucky we have crude oil, we would discover the direness of our situation, when the world has nothing to gain from us anymore!
Then, perhaps, their views would no longer be hushed whispers behind our backs, but a clarion call from the rooftops!
It is time we saw ourselves for what we are, an under performing, underemployed nation, living in in self-delusion!
STAND UP NIGERIA, YOU ARE MORE THAN WHAT YOU THINK YOU ARE!
MAY GOD BLESS NIGERIA FOREVER!
Monday, March 7, 2011
"My Fellow Widows?
I wrote, not too long ago, about our love for absurd titles: I could not have been prepared for the latest offering from a popular figure this week!
It turns out, that the wife of the president, Dame Patience Jonathan, (first lady is no official title), is a great lover of esoteric titles!
In that my article, I wrote about how a particular illiterate man, wanted a title that was not common. He had become tired of holding the same titles with commoners, and saw his redemption, when he saw a publication on Nigeria's founding fathers! Each one of them had one common prefix before their names:late!
In addition, the fellow also observed that it was not a common title! So he adopted it, and proceeded to introduce himself at a function the next day as "Late High, Chief Mazi Nathanael " I will leave the rest to your imagination!
Our great dame, has just added to her quintessential collection of linguistic zingers!
The latest installment, is more colourful than all the others in her repertoire! She referred to women at a public function, as her fellow widows!
Is that how much she hated them, or is it an indication of how much she loves herself?
They all could have been widows, but is she? That is what they call calling yourself what you are not!
I thought her husband was still very much alive, and with us? He is not Umaru Musa Yar'Adua! The title "widow" belongs firmly to Turai Yar'Adua!
No matter how much Goodluck believes in luck, he would not wish to have Umaru's luck, or follow in his footsteps right away!
I can attest to that! It seems his wife is not marching to the same song with him! If Turai can become a widow, the dame..... (God forbid bad thing, one could be arrested for even thinking, or imagining, bad things these days)
I once heard the dame, on television say to children " Children, read your book, because my husband, the president, read his book!
It seems the dame, who they say is a former teacher, has not been reading her book properly! She leaves so much to be desired!
People have been touting Jonathan's qualification for the presidency, and their support for it, on his possession of a doctorate degree!
It seems he has not helped his cause with his giving his wife public speaking assignments! They are all diminishing the intellectualness of the Jonathan's household, and bringing it to disrepute!
I fear for Nigeria! I have hypothesized what a speaking engagement involving the great dame, and Michelle Obama, would look like: beauty and the beast comes to mind!
There is no constitutional provision for an office of the first lady. All those who have claimed such an office, have been breaking the law! It seems it is now time for us to critically evaluate it! Maybe a candidate's fortune, should be tied to the performance of his/her spouse! After all, she is going to be representing us too, even if it is wily nilly!
A friend of mine wrote on his Facebook wall, that if he were Jonathan, he would lock up the dame, bury the key, and not allow her to come out till after the election! I agree with him!
Jonathan's campaign, seems to be stumbling with it's humongous foot in it's mouth, week in week out! Last week, it was Bode George, this week's offering, is Linguistics 101, with the great Dame, as the resource person!
MAY GOD BLESS, AND DELIVER NIGERIA,OUR BELOVED NIGERIA FOREVER!
It turns out, that the wife of the president, Dame Patience Jonathan, (first lady is no official title), is a great lover of esoteric titles!
In that my article, I wrote about how a particular illiterate man, wanted a title that was not common. He had become tired of holding the same titles with commoners, and saw his redemption, when he saw a publication on Nigeria's founding fathers! Each one of them had one common prefix before their names:late!
In addition, the fellow also observed that it was not a common title! So he adopted it, and proceeded to introduce himself at a function the next day as "Late High, Chief Mazi Nathanael " I will leave the rest to your imagination!
Our great dame, has just added to her quintessential collection of linguistic zingers!
The latest installment, is more colourful than all the others in her repertoire! She referred to women at a public function, as her fellow widows!
Is that how much she hated them, or is it an indication of how much she loves herself?
They all could have been widows, but is she? That is what they call calling yourself what you are not!
I thought her husband was still very much alive, and with us? He is not Umaru Musa Yar'Adua! The title "widow" belongs firmly to Turai Yar'Adua!
No matter how much Goodluck believes in luck, he would not wish to have Umaru's luck, or follow in his footsteps right away!
I can attest to that! It seems his wife is not marching to the same song with him! If Turai can become a widow, the dame..... (God forbid bad thing, one could be arrested for even thinking, or imagining, bad things these days)
I once heard the dame, on television say to children " Children, read your book, because my husband, the president, read his book!
It seems the dame, who they say is a former teacher, has not been reading her book properly! She leaves so much to be desired!
People have been touting Jonathan's qualification for the presidency, and their support for it, on his possession of a doctorate degree!
It seems he has not helped his cause with his giving his wife public speaking assignments! They are all diminishing the intellectualness of the Jonathan's household, and bringing it to disrepute!
I fear for Nigeria! I have hypothesized what a speaking engagement involving the great dame, and Michelle Obama, would look like: beauty and the beast comes to mind!
There is no constitutional provision for an office of the first lady. All those who have claimed such an office, have been breaking the law! It seems it is now time for us to critically evaluate it! Maybe a candidate's fortune, should be tied to the performance of his/her spouse! After all, she is going to be representing us too, even if it is wily nilly!
A friend of mine wrote on his Facebook wall, that if he were Jonathan, he would lock up the dame, bury the key, and not allow her to come out till after the election! I agree with him!
Jonathan's campaign, seems to be stumbling with it's humongous foot in it's mouth, week in week out! Last week, it was Bode George, this week's offering, is Linguistics 101, with the great Dame, as the resource person!
MAY GOD BLESS, AND DELIVER NIGERIA,OUR BELOVED NIGERIA FOREVER!
Monday, February 28, 2011
Olabode George:Convicted Criminal,Clown!
There is something about shame:it moderates our behaviour! In those days, when we still valued values as a society, shame was something we felt for behaving badly! That was a long time ago! A very long time ago!
Oladode George, a retired naval officer, a former military administrator, and a political bulwark of the ruling People's Democratic Party, the PDP, has become a beacon of shame! Our shame as a nation, and our shame in our ability not to feel any sense of shame!
Convicted validly, in a court of competent jurisdiction, jailed validly, in the most notorious of Nigeria's prisons, Kirikiri, a more circumspect individual, would have left the prison under the cover of darkness, in the wee hour of the morning!
Not so Bode George, he never does things by half! He, in the typical Owambe,(it is there to be flashed in your face!) the profligate pernicious, pompous and extravagantly loud culture, which people who have scant regard for what right thinking individuals think about them, decided to wait!
What was he waiting for? His coterie of praise singer, and hangers-on, people with no moral worth, and only useful for the massaging of another's ego!
And they did not disappoint him: they came in their aso ebi (uniformed traditional attire), and they sang praises, and danced, and celebrated the release of a criminal! He was not sent to prison for resisting the government while fighting oppression, he was sent to prison for betraying the trust of all of us in Nigeria, while holding public office!
The mockery of common sense, did not end there, they carried it to the house of God, and had a thanksgiving service! They thanked God! For what? I do not know! If it had been at some obscure, nondescript location, it would not have been so galling! They chose to push it in our faces, by broadcasting the travesty on an international network television station!
How brazen can one get! Was this the action of a man who was showing remorse? Was this the action of people who are intent on walking the path of uprightness? I very much would dispute that!
That was not the end of the matter, the event was a gathering of the creme de la creme of our society, the ruling PDP was well represented! This was their show! It was more like a political rally, a demonstration of strength!
And who, you may ask, could be bold enough to attend such an event? Well, the former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, who had appointed Bode George to the position that led to his travails, was there to lend his support! And, in the ultimate show of shame, the current president of Nigeria, the one who believes that all of life is guided by luck, also sent a goodwill message!
And what message were the participants at this infamy passing across? That they were above the law, and that they did not care what the law currently says about this man, that their opinion was superior to the constitution's!
They were also passing a message across to us, that our opinion counts for nothing! That we can go to hell, if we like! Bode George is their leader, and must be celebrated!
This affront must not be allowed to pass unanswered!
We must all, as one, give our own verdict! We too do not care a hoot, about the PDP! We will do this, by voting them out of office! From every Ward, and from every Local Government Area of Nigeria, we must give the PDP a red card, as it is done in football! From every state, and definitely at the center, we must reclaim our government from these celebrators of criminals!
We care about who we celebrate, we have a sense of shame, we care what people think about us!
I can tell you the next act, in this melodrama of shame!
The president would soon exercise his prerogative of mercy, by granting Bode George clemency, or pardon, or whatever they want to call it!
They will bleach his record, and expunge every record of the fact that he committed a crime!
That is the PDP way, but it is not our way!
Remember, these people have no shame!
MAY GOD BLESS NIGERIA,OUR NIGERIA, FOREVER!
Oladode George, a retired naval officer, a former military administrator, and a political bulwark of the ruling People's Democratic Party, the PDP, has become a beacon of shame! Our shame as a nation, and our shame in our ability not to feel any sense of shame!
Convicted validly, in a court of competent jurisdiction, jailed validly, in the most notorious of Nigeria's prisons, Kirikiri, a more circumspect individual, would have left the prison under the cover of darkness, in the wee hour of the morning!
Not so Bode George, he never does things by half! He, in the typical Owambe,(it is there to be flashed in your face!) the profligate pernicious, pompous and extravagantly loud culture, which people who have scant regard for what right thinking individuals think about them, decided to wait!
What was he waiting for? His coterie of praise singer, and hangers-on, people with no moral worth, and only useful for the massaging of another's ego!
And they did not disappoint him: they came in their aso ebi (uniformed traditional attire), and they sang praises, and danced, and celebrated the release of a criminal! He was not sent to prison for resisting the government while fighting oppression, he was sent to prison for betraying the trust of all of us in Nigeria, while holding public office!
The mockery of common sense, did not end there, they carried it to the house of God, and had a thanksgiving service! They thanked God! For what? I do not know! If it had been at some obscure, nondescript location, it would not have been so galling! They chose to push it in our faces, by broadcasting the travesty on an international network television station!
How brazen can one get! Was this the action of a man who was showing remorse? Was this the action of people who are intent on walking the path of uprightness? I very much would dispute that!
That was not the end of the matter, the event was a gathering of the creme de la creme of our society, the ruling PDP was well represented! This was their show! It was more like a political rally, a demonstration of strength!
And who, you may ask, could be bold enough to attend such an event? Well, the former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, who had appointed Bode George to the position that led to his travails, was there to lend his support! And, in the ultimate show of shame, the current president of Nigeria, the one who believes that all of life is guided by luck, also sent a goodwill message!
And what message were the participants at this infamy passing across? That they were above the law, and that they did not care what the law currently says about this man, that their opinion was superior to the constitution's!
They were also passing a message across to us, that our opinion counts for nothing! That we can go to hell, if we like! Bode George is their leader, and must be celebrated!
This affront must not be allowed to pass unanswered!
We must all, as one, give our own verdict! We too do not care a hoot, about the PDP! We will do this, by voting them out of office! From every Ward, and from every Local Government Area of Nigeria, we must give the PDP a red card, as it is done in football! From every state, and definitely at the center, we must reclaim our government from these celebrators of criminals!
We care about who we celebrate, we have a sense of shame, we care what people think about us!
I can tell you the next act, in this melodrama of shame!
The president would soon exercise his prerogative of mercy, by granting Bode George clemency, or pardon, or whatever they want to call it!
They will bleach his record, and expunge every record of the fact that he committed a crime!
That is the PDP way, but it is not our way!
Remember, these people have no shame!
MAY GOD BLESS NIGERIA,OUR NIGERIA, FOREVER!
Friday, February 25, 2011
When Governments Kill Unlawfully, What Do You Do?
It is with regret, that I report to you today, that there are two Nigerians who will never see the sun rise , ever! They will never celebrate a birthday, they will always be nameless; for the womb that nurtured them, has also become their tomb!
Their potentials will never be realized, as they are entombed in their mother,forever!
Adeola Olulana, a Nigerian, a wife, a daughter, a sister, and one seeking to give life to her twins, has died!
If she had died in a car crash, it would not have been so painful! if she had died in her sleep, we would have respected the will of God!
But none of that happened to her!
She died by the callous hand of man!
Unknown faceless, graceless,useless men, masquerading as leaders, have killed her! They have killed her as surely as if they had physically strangled her, or fired a bullet from a gun!
At the best of times, surviving each day has become a risky venture in Nigeria! Diseases that lesser countries have surmounted still kill us to our shame!
Pregnant women are safer in war-torn Somalia, than in Nigeria at peacetime!
Polio has been eradicated from Somalia, and Afghanistan, but we still struggle with it, with our oil wealth and all! Shame!
This innocent woman's crime was to get pregnant! Pregnancy is a thing of joy, but for many Nigerian families, it is a source of regretful sorrow!
Like every married woman wants to,thirty five year old Adeola Olulana, became pregnant, it was all she had ever wanted, to be a mother!
God added to her joy, by making hers a set of twins! It was all she could think of, she started counting down the days, she mentally planned the naming ceremony in her head, she thought of all the things she would say, and all the things she would do.
She thought all her dreams, and all her hopes were coming to pass; but she did not count on one thing, the wickedness of the government of the day!
Men who see participation in government as a favour to the people, not an honour to serve. Men who send their wives and children for treatment abroad, while our hospitals are bereft of the basics!
Oh Adeola, the crown of prosperity! You did not count on this, that those who were supposed to ensure that you had a life, planned your death!
Those who were supposed to care for you, turned that backs on you, in your hour of need!
In the midst of our oil wealth, your death shames us all! It pains, beyond endurance!
It was the wee hours of the morning, she felt a sharp pain, she called out to her husband, and friend, Abiodun, it was time! In confusion, Biodun forgot all he had planned to do, everything else could wait!
His love, and joy was in pain, but it was a good pain, for joy was going to come in the morning!
It was too early to go to the bank, so he rushed her to Lagos University Teaching Hospital,LUTH! a federal medical facility! It was a tragic mistake! The hospital was in darkness! There was no soul to be seen!
Where could they be, his beloved Adeola was in trouble, complications were developing by the minute!
Alas! He had forgotten, they were on strike! It is sad because even doctors in the the state government owned hospitals were also on strike!
So he rushed her to Regina Mundi, a Catholic hospital, they were open, but they would shock him too!
She required a cesarean operation, they could perform the operation, but he would need to pay! They asked for a deposit ofN150,000.00!
He knew he was in trouble! He was in Mushin, the worst place to be at 4.00 am in Lagos! He promised he would get the money once it was light! Only save my wife, and my children he pleaded!
They shook their heads, they were not a charity! They told him they had seen too many people like him, people who made promises, but failed to redeem them!
So they turned their backs on him too! The church of Jesus Christ, the Pillar and Ground of Truth, the Church of the Saviour who said "freely you have received, freely give", turned their backs on a soul in need!
As I write this, I am shedding tears! I am weeping, and I just do not understand how this could be!
When did life become so cheap in Nigeria?
So the government turned it's back on Adeola Olulana, the Church of God also turned it's back!
And so, Adeola died!
She died in the hands of her confused husband! She died with her hopes, and her dreams, unfulfilled!
She died with her children, her beloved twins! She had nurtured them to life, now she would care for them still in death! Safe from the wicked country called Nigeria!
Adeola, you have gone, but we will not forget you!
You have died, but your death will not be in vain!
You stood for the truth, you defended it, you upheld it!
Today we promise you, Nigeria will change because of you!
No more would pregnant women die because of money!
No more would a Nigerian's life be worth less than a loaf of bread!
Adeiu ! Adeola!
Adeiu our sister, colleague, and friend!
We will always remember, we will never forget! The government killed you, unlawfully!
May God keep you, and your unborn twins, safe ! May he grant you the peace you have been denied in life!
(These deaths must not be allowed to go like the others, we must respond, and send a strong message to the authorities, please join the "No More,It Ends With Adeola Olulana" Group on Facebook. We must end this climate of carelessness, and scant regard for human life!
Their potentials will never be realized, as they are entombed in their mother,forever!
Adeola Olulana, a Nigerian, a wife, a daughter, a sister, and one seeking to give life to her twins, has died!
If she had died in a car crash, it would not have been so painful! if she had died in her sleep, we would have respected the will of God!
But none of that happened to her!
She died by the callous hand of man!
Unknown faceless, graceless,useless men, masquerading as leaders, have killed her! They have killed her as surely as if they had physically strangled her, or fired a bullet from a gun!
At the best of times, surviving each day has become a risky venture in Nigeria! Diseases that lesser countries have surmounted still kill us to our shame!
Pregnant women are safer in war-torn Somalia, than in Nigeria at peacetime!
Polio has been eradicated from Somalia, and Afghanistan, but we still struggle with it, with our oil wealth and all! Shame!
This innocent woman's crime was to get pregnant! Pregnancy is a thing of joy, but for many Nigerian families, it is a source of regretful sorrow!
Like every married woman wants to,thirty five year old Adeola Olulana, became pregnant, it was all she had ever wanted, to be a mother!
God added to her joy, by making hers a set of twins! It was all she could think of, she started counting down the days, she mentally planned the naming ceremony in her head, she thought of all the things she would say, and all the things she would do.
She thought all her dreams, and all her hopes were coming to pass; but she did not count on one thing, the wickedness of the government of the day!
Men who see participation in government as a favour to the people, not an honour to serve. Men who send their wives and children for treatment abroad, while our hospitals are bereft of the basics!
Oh Adeola, the crown of prosperity! You did not count on this, that those who were supposed to ensure that you had a life, planned your death!
Those who were supposed to care for you, turned that backs on you, in your hour of need!
In the midst of our oil wealth, your death shames us all! It pains, beyond endurance!
It was the wee hours of the morning, she felt a sharp pain, she called out to her husband, and friend, Abiodun, it was time! In confusion, Biodun forgot all he had planned to do, everything else could wait!
His love, and joy was in pain, but it was a good pain, for joy was going to come in the morning!
It was too early to go to the bank, so he rushed her to Lagos University Teaching Hospital,LUTH! a federal medical facility! It was a tragic mistake! The hospital was in darkness! There was no soul to be seen!
Where could they be, his beloved Adeola was in trouble, complications were developing by the minute!
Alas! He had forgotten, they were on strike! It is sad because even doctors in the the state government owned hospitals were also on strike!
So he rushed her to Regina Mundi, a Catholic hospital, they were open, but they would shock him too!
She required a cesarean operation, they could perform the operation, but he would need to pay! They asked for a deposit of
He knew he was in trouble! He was in Mushin, the worst place to be at 4.00 am in Lagos! He promised he would get the money once it was light! Only save my wife, and my children he pleaded!
They shook their heads, they were not a charity! They told him they had seen too many people like him, people who made promises, but failed to redeem them!
So they turned their backs on him too! The church of Jesus Christ, the Pillar and Ground of Truth, the Church of the Saviour who said "freely you have received, freely give", turned their backs on a soul in need!
As I write this, I am shedding tears! I am weeping, and I just do not understand how this could be!
When did life become so cheap in Nigeria?
So the government turned it's back on Adeola Olulana, the Church of God also turned it's back!
And so, Adeola died!
She died in the hands of her confused husband! She died with her hopes, and her dreams, unfulfilled!
She died with her children, her beloved twins! She had nurtured them to life, now she would care for them still in death! Safe from the wicked country called Nigeria!
Adeola, you have gone, but we will not forget you!
You have died, but your death will not be in vain!
You stood for the truth, you defended it, you upheld it!
Today we promise you, Nigeria will change because of you!
No more would pregnant women die because of money!
No more would a Nigerian's life be worth less than a loaf of bread!
Adeiu ! Adeola!
Adeiu our sister, colleague, and friend!
We will always remember, we will never forget! The government killed you, unlawfully!
May God keep you, and your unborn twins, safe ! May he grant you the peace you have been denied in life!
(These deaths must not be allowed to go like the others, we must respond, and send a strong message to the authorities, please join the "No More,It Ends With Adeola Olulana" Group on Facebook. We must end this climate of carelessness, and scant regard for human life!
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Citizens Bimbo, and Seun Somolu
I will attempt to marry some disparate, and seemingly unconnected issues, in this article!
My four year old daughter told me suddenly the other day, "Daddy, the man said "Bobo ajah! I knew what she was talking about, it was the tourism advertisement on the virtues of an Indian holiday.
There is a rash of promotional materials spreading on the airwaves, and in cyberspace! Every country is touting the benefits a holiday within their borders would bring!
The "bobo ajah" line is one of the things that was said to the fellow who had experienced the whole gamut what India is! At the end of the day, the only way he could describe his ongoing holiday to those back home was "Incredible India!
Because the tourism industry is a competitive one, promoters of tourist destinations are plumbing the depths of creativity to put themselves in the consciousness of the holidaying public!
South Africa has been promoting herself as a premium destination worth visiting for years.
The World Cup, put the country at the center, in the tourism universe! It was a masterful stroke of genius!
I had noticed before the World Cup, that Yvonne Chaka Chaka, a popular South African musician, was the face of the "My South Africa",which later became "My South African Experience" promotion.
You could see that there was a method to the campaign. It was not some on the spur of the moment, off-the-cuff thing! Much thought had been given to the campaign! They started with an internationally identifiable face, one of theirs, to tell people south Africa was worth visiting.
Unknown to me, they were not satisfied to have one of theirs testify to their goodness.
So you can imagine my shock, when I saw citizens Bimbo, and Seun Somolu, a Nigerian couple that had holidayed in South Africa, promoting their South African Experience!
I have no problem with them doing that, it is their choice! Even when they showed madam baring part of her bosom on the massage table, it was her body to bare! After all, it was not my wife that was there!
I cannot be angry with them for going on enviable game viewing trips to see real animals, and dinning on exquisite cousine, I salivated, but held my peace. I was going to be eating pounded yam later!
You could see that everything was professionally packaged, to appeal to the discerning connoisseur!
That is something you do not see with tourism promotion in Nigeria! We seem to think that it is only when we put a picture of the governor, or the president, in our adverts, that people would believe us! It is counterproductive! People do not trust politicians!
Enough said about Nigeria; back to the Somolus; what I found most offensive, was what Bimbo said at the conclusion of the advert, she proudly declared, that South Africa, was the real giant of Africa!
That was the last straw! We had always contented ourselves with the belief, that we were the giant of Africa, albeit, a sleeping one!
Here was Citizen Bimbo Somolu, a Nigerian, declaring with perceptible glee, and gusto, that we were not, but that her South Africa, was the real giant! That must make us the fake giant of Africa!
As she made her shocking declaration, I remembered a Yoruba proverb, that it is only a child that was not taught properly, that would point to his father's house with the left hand!
I only saw four left hands on show in the advert, the right hands had been left behind in Nigeria!
MAY GOD BLESS MY NIGERIA,THE GIANT OF AFRICA,SLEEPING OR NOT, FOR EVER!
My four year old daughter told me suddenly the other day, "Daddy, the man said "Bobo ajah! I knew what she was talking about, it was the tourism advertisement on the virtues of an Indian holiday.
There is a rash of promotional materials spreading on the airwaves, and in cyberspace! Every country is touting the benefits a holiday within their borders would bring!
The "bobo ajah" line is one of the things that was said to the fellow who had experienced the whole gamut what India is! At the end of the day, the only way he could describe his ongoing holiday to those back home was "Incredible India!
Because the tourism industry is a competitive one, promoters of tourist destinations are plumbing the depths of creativity to put themselves in the consciousness of the holidaying public!
South Africa has been promoting herself as a premium destination worth visiting for years.
The World Cup, put the country at the center, in the tourism universe! It was a masterful stroke of genius!
I had noticed before the World Cup, that Yvonne Chaka Chaka, a popular South African musician, was the face of the "My South Africa",which later became "My South African Experience" promotion.
You could see that there was a method to the campaign. It was not some on the spur of the moment, off-the-cuff thing! Much thought had been given to the campaign! They started with an internationally identifiable face, one of theirs, to tell people south Africa was worth visiting.
Unknown to me, they were not satisfied to have one of theirs testify to their goodness.
So you can imagine my shock, when I saw citizens Bimbo, and Seun Somolu, a Nigerian couple that had holidayed in South Africa, promoting their South African Experience!
I have no problem with them doing that, it is their choice! Even when they showed madam baring part of her bosom on the massage table, it was her body to bare! After all, it was not my wife that was there!
I cannot be angry with them for going on enviable game viewing trips to see real animals, and dinning on exquisite cousine, I salivated, but held my peace. I was going to be eating pounded yam later!
You could see that everything was professionally packaged, to appeal to the discerning connoisseur!
That is something you do not see with tourism promotion in Nigeria! We seem to think that it is only when we put a picture of the governor, or the president, in our adverts, that people would believe us! It is counterproductive! People do not trust politicians!
Enough said about Nigeria; back to the Somolus; what I found most offensive, was what Bimbo said at the conclusion of the advert, she proudly declared, that South Africa, was the real giant of Africa!
That was the last straw! We had always contented ourselves with the belief, that we were the giant of Africa, albeit, a sleeping one!
Here was Citizen Bimbo Somolu, a Nigerian, declaring with perceptible glee, and gusto, that we were not, but that her South Africa, was the real giant! That must make us the fake giant of Africa!
As she made her shocking declaration, I remembered a Yoruba proverb, that it is only a child that was not taught properly, that would point to his father's house with the left hand!
I only saw four left hands on show in the advert, the right hands had been left behind in Nigeria!
MAY GOD BLESS MY NIGERIA,THE GIANT OF AFRICA,SLEEPING OR NOT, FOR EVER!
Saturday, February 19, 2011
The President We Need,And The One They Want,And The One We Deserve
There is a huge difference between getting what a person wants, or deserves,or truly needs. In the first instance, wants refer to the whole gamut of desires that may not be rooted in reality,or backed up by common sense.
When a person gets what he deserves,it means he has not been cheated,neither has he cheated the giver,he has received what he/she is qualified to get,or has worked for.
Needs,on the other hand, refer to an absolute prerequisite for survival,or sine qua none for continuance of life.
As I ruminate on the sketches appearing on our political canvas,one clear issues irks me deeply.
Are we,as a nation, going to get the president that Nigeria needs at this moment in time?
Or would it be that some people would get the president that they want;or would our complacency, deliver a president that we deserve,because we have let slip the fundamental,and cardinal reasons for electing a president in the first place.
I believe,that the president that we need,is one who would fix the problems of Nigeria. He/she might not succeed in doing so in eight years,but would have succeeded in putting us on an irreversible track of accelerated development,and modernization in the true sense of the word.
It would require deep thought,and bold political steps,to get us to the cusp of development.
We deceive ourselves into thinking that we are a developing,or modern nation. We even call ourselves the giant of Africa!
We are not!
What we are,is an oddity,an anachronism,a consistent inconsistency!
The Maitama,and Asokoro districts,in Abuja today,are some of the most modern,and "developed" areas in Nigeria. I live in Abuja,so I know,but what do I see when I drive through neighbourhoods in these areas,cart pushers, selling water in jerry cans! That is not an example of development, it is an example of the worst of the bizarre!
How can an area planned in the last twenty years not factor in how to provide water for residents?
If you go there in the evening,the deafening cacophony of all manner of imported generators,declare the wealth level of the various households in the area.
After fifty years of independence,we are still grappling with electricity generation in the midst of some of the richest hydro resources in the world!
Drive through most of the streets of Abuja,and you will see the ugliest contraption ever to come out India,the tricycle! In this day,as we speak,there is no efficient mass transit system in Abuja. And it is the case with the rest of Nigeria.Development seems to be like healthy skin peeping through a bad rash of eczema! The unsightliness of the two cohabiting,is galling.
When we get the president that we need,we would plan our development,and assign resources to the right areas,and have a holistic development.
But that is only possible,when we get the president that we need.
If on the other hand,some people get the president that they want;he/she would become,like all the others before,an ethnic champion,and a palace jester. He/she would wear the robes of a nationalist,and but pray the prayers of an ethnic bigot.
The fellow would only pander to the dictates of his/her ethnic group,and those who made him/her president. Contractors would become richer,and the people would become poorer. That has been the story of Nigeria,and we are in danger of writing a bad sequel.
The third possibility,is that we get a president that we deserve. Not the one that we need,or the one some people want,but the one that becomes the default by reason of our indifference,non vigilance,and carelessness.
This would be a president that belongs to everybody,but is useful to nobody. In politics they call such a president a consensus candidate,a person afraid to offend the powers that be,a weakling,and a worm!
This fellow is there because the majority that could have swung the vote in the right direction,did not come to the event. They were too busy twiddling their thumbs,and minding their business.
Such a president would be phenomenally pedestrian in his outlook,and unimaginative in the way he tries to solve our problems.
Believe me,we have problems,big problems.
They are in our education,in our economy,our banks,the power sector,in every imaginable area. Our problems would require deep thinking,and unwavering boldness to solve them.
My fear is that we may just get the president that we deserve,because some people want to enforce who they want on all of us,and this is not the kind of president that Nigeria needs.
MAY WE GET THE PRESIDENT THAT WE NEED
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Bad Leadership vs The Absence of Leadership!
Leadership, in my own jungle definition, is showing the way. It means looking for the best way to achieve an objective!
So when leadership is said to be bad, it means it is showing the wrong way, or not finding the best way! The absence of leadership, is exactly what it says, the lack of, the existence of a vacuum, where there ought to be some kind of leadership!
Nigeria has been going through torrid times recently! We have had continuous religious, and ethnic clashes in the Northern states of Bauchi, Gombe, and Borno state. Plateau state, has been exceptional in the brutality, and ferocity, of the killings. We wake up each day to news of another massacre, and orgy of killing!
Has the government become accustomed to the killings, and it no longer sees them as a problem?
Could it be true, like the words of Bongos Ikwe in his song that, whats wrong is right, and whats right is wrong?
In all this, there has been a perceptible, palpable,and pointedly vacuous leadership!
The government seems to be ever closing the barn door, after the horse, the chicken, the sheep, and the goat, and even the tractor, have all bolted!
They have become experts at commiserating, and doing nothing!
Our country is simmering with pent-up inter-ethnic, and intra-ethnic, inter-religious, and intra-religious crises!
If you add to this miasma, the political, and criminal assassinations, and kidnappings: we are living in a state of anomie!
All this in peace time, and at a time when we are making billions from the spike in crude prices!
It then bothers the question, why then do we have a government in place?
What is the duty of government, if it not to safeguard the lives, and livelihoods, of law abiding citizens?
Could this government be negligent in it's duty, and no one is calling it to order? Or has it become like the hunter's dog, that can no longer hear it's master's whistle, and is thus destined to be lost?
If you look back at the history of the People's Democratic Party, PDP, over the last twelve years, it has presided over the worst period in the decline of security this county has ever witnessed, bar the civil war!
It seems to be living up to it's ugly moniker of being the People Destroying Party!
As far as I can see, this country has not enjoyed leadership of any form! We cannot accuse president Goodluck Jonathan of bad leadership! That would be very unkind, and unfair!
It would be like accusing a student who was not present in class, of cheating in that exam!
What we can accuse Jonathan of, is not offering leadership at all!
He has not shown up when it mattered most! He has behaved like a fellow whose wife, and daughter, were ravished by his houseboy, and all he could do, was to leave it to God!
He is afraid of being blamed for taking a decision that went bad!
Taking bad decisions, harsh, and unpopular ones, and living with the consequences; is all part of offering leadership!
He should stop prevaricating, pussyfooting, and tippy toeing, around our maniacal problems!
They require strong uncompromisingly forthright leadership to solve!
Right now, his curriculum vitae does not have that!
He should stop junketing from one church to the other, looking for prayer contractors to beseech God for him!
He is looking for salvation where help has not been advertised!
Nations elect leaders for the sole purpose of taking matters into their own hands, our own case cannot be different!
Nigeria cannot afford to live in denial, and expect God to do for us "the things which we ought to have done", while doing "the things which we ought not" !
We cannot leave Nigeria's problems to God!
We did not vote God to power!
We voted the PDP!
If we say God is the one who is to solve our problems, then we might as well just become a theocracy!
If the PDP, and by extension, President Jonathan, do not know how to solve our problems through creative, proactive,and visionary, leadership, they should toe the path of honour (which has become extinct in our political landscape) and resign!
Enough, is enough!
I can no longer keep quiet, and watch as Nigerians are harvested from their beds at night, by vile men, who have taken advantage of the absence of leadership, to maim, and to kill!
We cannot defend the fact that Nigerians are relocating from different states, because of insecurity!
Then what is the purpose of government, if it is not to offer leadership?
Good,or bad, Nigeria needs leadership fast!
MAY GOD BLESS NIGERIA,MY NIGERIA,FOREVER!
So when leadership is said to be bad, it means it is showing the wrong way, or not finding the best way! The absence of leadership, is exactly what it says, the lack of, the existence of a vacuum, where there ought to be some kind of leadership!
Nigeria has been going through torrid times recently! We have had continuous religious, and ethnic clashes in the Northern states of Bauchi, Gombe, and Borno state. Plateau state, has been exceptional in the brutality, and ferocity, of the killings. We wake up each day to news of another massacre, and orgy of killing!
Has the government become accustomed to the killings, and it no longer sees them as a problem?
Could it be true, like the words of Bongos Ikwe in his song that, whats wrong is right, and whats right is wrong?
In all this, there has been a perceptible, palpable,and pointedly vacuous leadership!
The government seems to be ever closing the barn door, after the horse, the chicken, the sheep, and the goat, and even the tractor, have all bolted!
They have become experts at commiserating, and doing nothing!
Our country is simmering with pent-up inter-ethnic, and intra-ethnic, inter-religious, and intra-religious crises!
If you add to this miasma, the political, and criminal assassinations, and kidnappings: we are living in a state of anomie!
All this in peace time, and at a time when we are making billions from the spike in crude prices!
It then bothers the question, why then do we have a government in place?
What is the duty of government, if it not to safeguard the lives, and livelihoods, of law abiding citizens?
Could this government be negligent in it's duty, and no one is calling it to order? Or has it become like the hunter's dog, that can no longer hear it's master's whistle, and is thus destined to be lost?
If you look back at the history of the People's Democratic Party, PDP, over the last twelve years, it has presided over the worst period in the decline of security this county has ever witnessed, bar the civil war!
It seems to be living up to it's ugly moniker of being the People Destroying Party!
As far as I can see, this country has not enjoyed leadership of any form! We cannot accuse president Goodluck Jonathan of bad leadership! That would be very unkind, and unfair!
It would be like accusing a student who was not present in class, of cheating in that exam!
What we can accuse Jonathan of, is not offering leadership at all!
He has not shown up when it mattered most! He has behaved like a fellow whose wife, and daughter, were ravished by his houseboy, and all he could do, was to leave it to God!
He is afraid of being blamed for taking a decision that went bad!
Taking bad decisions, harsh, and unpopular ones, and living with the consequences; is all part of offering leadership!
He should stop prevaricating, pussyfooting, and tippy toeing, around our maniacal problems!
They require strong uncompromisingly forthright leadership to solve!
Right now, his curriculum vitae does not have that!
He should stop junketing from one church to the other, looking for prayer contractors to beseech God for him!
He is looking for salvation where help has not been advertised!
Nations elect leaders for the sole purpose of taking matters into their own hands, our own case cannot be different!
Nigeria cannot afford to live in denial, and expect God to do for us "the things which we ought to have done", while doing "the things which we ought not" !
We cannot leave Nigeria's problems to God!
We did not vote God to power!
We voted the PDP!
If we say God is the one who is to solve our problems, then we might as well just become a theocracy!
If the PDP, and by extension, President Jonathan, do not know how to solve our problems through creative, proactive,and visionary, leadership, they should toe the path of honour (which has become extinct in our political landscape) and resign!
Enough, is enough!
I can no longer keep quiet, and watch as Nigerians are harvested from their beds at night, by vile men, who have taken advantage of the absence of leadership, to maim, and to kill!
We cannot defend the fact that Nigerians are relocating from different states, because of insecurity!
Then what is the purpose of government, if it is not to offer leadership?
Good,or bad, Nigeria needs leadership fast!
MAY GOD BLESS NIGERIA,MY NIGERIA,FOREVER!
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