President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria
“I cannot say whether things will get better if we change; what I can say is they must change if they are to get better.” – Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
A federation is a country of individual states or regions that have control over their own affairs but give some powers to a central government for national integration and international diplomacy. But when the foundation is faulty what can we do? We may continue to treat the symptoms of an ailment whose root is continuously being nourished by a pool of structural defects.
The 1999 Constitution is an offshoot of Nigeria’s problem. A handpicked few drafted the 1999 Constitution to protect “THEY, the ruling elite” to the detriment of “WE, the people.” THEY are bad leaders, past and present. THEY are the same of the same, yesterday and today. THEY are few; WE are many. WE are impoverished citizens held down by ignorance. WE are ordinary Nigerians deeply divided by ethnic and religious sentiments. WE are the people, deceived people. WE are the common people who have common enemies but no common sense.
The devil is in the detail and from time to time you see devil’s tail in detail – a mix of ethnicity and tribalism; a mixture of religion and the federal republic; an admixture of ethno-religious politics; a commixture of institutionalised systems of mediocrity;a remix of the federal character principle immixed with favouritism, cronyism, and nepotism.
Nigerians are deeply religious people, but ungodly and very corrupt. It is business as usual for the government to proceed to sponsor religious people from underdeveloped native land to “holy” foreign lands. Those who profit from the chaotic odd sorts won’t cease manipulating a large following of ignorant fools.
Think Nigeria! Think the Nigerian church! There is a church denomination that has some God-fearing formula for sharing tithes and offerings between the local church and the parent church, unlike some Rogue Company Church of “God” that are evil and more exploitative than even the Nigerian government.
The Federal Government sucks the wealth of nations while millions of Nigerians in different communities languish in abject poverty. Parents provide for their children according to needs and means. Children, when they become adults, mind their own business and care for their parents. Nigeria has come of age and it is time in our national life we allowed each people mind their business and every people contribute to common national interest.
Children are the leaders of tomorrow, and today is the tomorrow of yesterday. The youth are fed up to the ear, hearing endlessly that children are the leaders of tomorrow. Children in solidarity with the youth are fed up, to say the least, listening to tired rhetoric from rotten politicians. The youth, yesterday’s children, are harmed to the teeth and fed up to the back teeth. Nothing for boys and girls follow expired men whose mates retired timely to hell. Old mates may join their mates peacefully or face a fiery squad.
The fight against corruption requires the cooperation of the three arms of government. Left arm last term was diagnosed with clue deficiency syndrome but thumbs up with fingers crossed for one man army for executable body language. Long arm went into a coma after a protracted adjudicating miscarriage before marriage and is allergic to quick therapy. It’s a pity leprous arm with swollen legs won’t respond to treatment due to late cancer in its long throat.
When they buy their way to the National Assembly, it’s time to eat and have their cake. They know how to mind their business. Sooner than later Nigerians will get to figure out, with or without comma, monies congressmen grab with both hands, their women front to back behind closed doors oversight out of sight of constituency projects public hearing committee to pass budget to probe Ghana-Must-Go corruption scandal after constitution amendment bill to give immunity to lawmakers.
When they are doing nothing, they would say they are working. When they are busy doing rubbish, they would say they are civil servants. If you blame them, they blame the system and the leaders for their predicament. They’re right, they’re wrong! Their take-home pay cannot take them home and most of them cannot even afford a decent home. Their annual salary is their colleagues’ monthly salary in sister agencies. Salary they receive late is daily earning of counterparts in the private sector.
If I may ask: in a country where nothing works, which work politicians do to appropriate the lion’s share of the national cake? Extreme inequality is injustice and wickedness under the sun! This is Nigeria where contemporaries in the National Assembly receive jumbo allowances. What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
Impunity loves immunity and sycophants befriend mediocrity. Deceitful governors provide for the people mediocre medicare. But the people-deceiving governors would abandon their own “world class” hospital for world-class medical treatment abroad. They say they steal because we don’t stone them. We’re sorry we never stone them. By the way, God commanded us to tell the wicked that it shall not be well with them.
You know them–rogue politicians whose home is by the rivers of blood; wicked politicians whose permanent home is out there in hell. They instigate election violence, killing and ballot rigging. No thanks, they go to church for thanksgiving service.
President Muhammadu Buhari is determined to fight corruption, corrupt people will fight back. They start by crying “witch hunt” in advance. For your information, the devils we know have the credentials to frustrate Buhari’s anti-corruption fight. The battle line is drawn and the enemies have taken positions to fight dirty. All that is necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing. Let men and women of goodwill rally round the President, and let the Nigerian masses come together behind their President. Soon, very soon, the people deceiving people and all political crooks shall walk free scot free no more.
Man in the moon, a man in a shadow on e-voting.
Nigeria is ours; Nigeria we serve. But while we serve with dedication and selflessness under the sun and in the rain between the reign of terror and free reign of evil, politicians and their cronies have since been stealing public funds. Now what do we have? Unemployment, insecurity and tales of woe everywhere!
The security and welfare of the people is the primary purpose of government. Needless to say, insecurity is one reason the Nigerian state faces a bleak future. Governors collect security votes and pretend to be chief security officers of their respective states.
The introduction of the card reader in 2015 general elections, a precursor to electronic voting come 2019, was “one small step” for INEC and “one giant leap” for Nigeria. When it became clear that, with the card reader, it wasn’t going to be business as usual, Goodluck Jonathan’s Peoples Democratic Party laboured to frustrate its deployment. But the then opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) realizing that the power of darkness is the absence of light backed INEC to use the card reader as planned. And it came to pass the APC rose slowly above the horizon to Aso Rock.
However, Nigeria may witness the eclipse of the ruling party if they cast lives matter, states do have own state police and communities like a university campus or a local district reasonably do have district police. It’s long overdue the states were empowered to own their police to tackle crimes. A decentralized police is change we need. Federal police and state police and local police and community policing we pray!
Our fears, our nemesis! We think upside down that no need for state police because governors could abuse the “privilege”! Maybe we should do away with the national security because presidents themselves sometime do abuse their power. In any case, I do not think a country of 36 states would be so unlucky to have in government 36 lawless governors. Moreover, when we get serious we can import security architectures and protocols to checkmate governors, ordinary governors.
Let’s talk about our greatest fear – one Nigeria. Methinks that the life of one Nigerian is more precious than one Nigeria. Today in Nigeria, no place is secure and no one is safe. It is alarming innocent lives are wasted daily across the country. It is sorrowful to know that fellow Nigerians perish everyday due to assassination, armed robbery, kidnapping, ritual killing, cultism, militancy, insurgency, terrorism, religious riots, ethnic violence, jungle justice, violent crimes by thugs, armed gangs, motor-park touts, area boys et al. Crime is everywhere in the world, and there’s no time and nowhere on earth crime will disappear altogether.
Nonetheless, if we as a people would do the needful, Nigeria will become a peaceful country where people can live in peace and leave in peace.
Corruption must give way for Nigeria to move forward. However, fighting corruption is not an end in itself. Government should live up to expectations by providing potable water, quality healthcare, quality education, affordable housing, good roads, stable electricity, broadband Internet, decent jobs, social welfare and, above all, security for the citizenry.
To President Muhammadu Buhari: Be aware of enemies within and without. Beware of foxes that fraternise with any government in power. Don’t be weary of critics but be wary of sycophants.
Change is costly. But when things get better, our lives get better at no extra cost. The “good” people of Nigeria must change for good and things will change for the better.
John Adebisi
adebisijohn21@gmail.com
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