By Austeen Anibe Otene
Fellow Nigerians, I am out today to accuse every Nigerian both old and young, male and female, physically challenged and the able bodied. Civil servants, artisans, students, I mean every Nigerian of being responsible for the rot currently happening in our country ranging from economy, environmental, Healthcare, education to social security and human rights etc.
We are best at complaining and our best position has always been to sit on the bench or play the ostrich while the country’s flight continue to loose its altitude.
Our democracy and democratic institutions are constantly looking like a circus filled with comic characters and we are being entertained by the players holding the microphones dressed in the political costumes.
Today what we see in every of our leader is a reflection of our society.
We cannot have pawpaw planted and expect to harvest mango fruits. In government and governance, GIGO is 100% guaranteed which is the garbage IN garbage OUT factor. The quality of leader we elect or support determines the system and type of governance we expect to see.
Sad and painful that we ascribe to ourselves as the giant of Africa yet we remain a laughing stock within the comity of nations. Today in Nigeria, negativity and criminals get the loudest of ovation while hard work, sincerity and dedication to purpose usually takes the back seat in every gathering.
Politically, we have been reduced to a subject of caricature because in most cases, it has become a buy and sell agenda and no longer on moral and merit basis. It is only in Nigeria a man who is openly accused as a criminal or a ritualist is elected through the backdoor and such person is either running a state or making laws for the same citizens who were and still his or her victim.
It is only in Nigeria we find the umpire of an election challenging the verdict of a Supreme Court in disguise. What an affront? This is a shame because we see nothing wrong with it so long as it yielding to our selfish interest(s). Recently the Republic of South Africa conducted her elections, we did not hear about deaths or vote buying or even the election umpire playing a sidewalk with some super rich and powerful politicians.
India which is a more populous country had theirs and we didn’t get to hear of such negativity of vote buying, results manipulation etc. What about Ukrainian that has been under some sort of unrest, they had their election and a comedian named Volodymyr Zelensky scored a landslide victory in the country’s presidential election without a bullet fired.
Can this be in our today’s Nigeria?
But in Nigeria, it is the opposite and it is a shade of every thing that is wrong with our electoral systems.
In my book titled ‘The Chronicles of Grassroot Politics’, I have recommended a way to better our electoral system to enable us bring serenity to our electoral space. Too much of litigation because there is no system to checkmate irregularities and and persons seeking to run for public office. One of my mentors, Cory Booker of the US senate said, Public office is not a pride zone, it is for service. In sharp contrast, this is absolutely not the case in Nigeria.
It has been proven that your reputation is useless when it comes to the Nigeria’s factor. What matters is the amount of money you have to offer. The power is no longer with the people. The power now resides with the few and super rich.
If you speak against these evil, their marksmen will pick you out and according to a Kogi politician issuing a public threat recently, no body will say pim (No one will question them if you are killed). But for how long are we going to continue to live as slaves and beggars in self-denial in our own country?
The value system is currently in the drain. Wealth distribution is brazenly scary as the poor keep getting poorer at high speed and the rich, getting richer on doubling speed. As a country, we are so blessed with all the natural/mineral resources in Nigeria, yet the poverty index is something so awful that gives anyone who understands cold shivers and goose bumps in the thought of it.
The reason why an average Nigerian thinks it is only in Europe or America that their destinies can be reached is because of the wickedness and selfishness here by our so-called leaders. I will throw more light on this in my next epistle.
People are not safe anymore in Nigeria. Children, women and the aged are so vulnerable that they take the most part of the heat. How long can this continue? These persons don’t have anywhere to go to. Nigeria is all they have and we must rise in one accord now to demand for her safety.
Nigeria, in the 80’s was far better a country I met than it is today that I grew up to. Security of lives and property are no longer guaranteed as well as human rights. Nigeria has become a den of kidnappers and terrorists yet no one has got the balls to gazette the Boko Haram as a terrorist organization unlike the IPOB that took no time to have them declared a terrorist organization.
This war in the Northeast is never ending with our soldiers and innocent citizens being killed every day. Who could be benefiting from this war?
It is only in a corrupt nations as ours that you find these things happen such as electoral malpractice, job buying, abuse of processes and the rule of law, abuse of freedom of speech etc. The entire systems of administration in Nigeria has been infiltrated by corrupt individuals hence no branch of government is free from this virus.
We only heard of the Otedola and Farouk’s sting operation just as many others that I may not list here because of space and time. Today such cases like many of them have been swept under the carpet. The attitude and activities of the super rich affects not only our economy and people but also our environment. I will speak more on this on a later date.
No one should tell me they are fighting corruption and doing the right thing while an 80+ year old man who struggles to walk is sitting in the US as Nigeria’s ambassador. There are many cases of such even in-country, yet we have highly intellectuals, educated and qualified young people in Nigeria who are in their prime but what we see is an absurdity called padi-padi government.
Because of time let me summarize with the subject of this post, NOT THE LEADERS BUT US because we have selfishly refused to rise up to the vampires in government to demand for accountability and responsible leadership. We have become docile because we are getting crumbs or because they are our relatives or maybe, we share the same faith etc.
Arise O’ compatriots. Fellow Nigerians, it is either we speak up today for tomorrow; the tomorrow of our children and the unborn or we continue to be slaves in our country.
Freedom is not given, it is taken.
