25.03.2018
You can tell of a collapsed nation when a government becomes so proud of a hastily prepared and rehearsed script like Dapchi debut. However, one looks at it, it has made Nigeria dirtier. If Nigeria finally decays, greater part of the autopsy must read the APC while the PDP takes the remainder.
From whatever projectile one views Nigeria, one observes a fading empire. There is no rescue in sight with a president who does not know that he does not know and does not want to know. Enyinnaya Abaribe describes him as I-do-not-know President who even might not know he is the president. From budget theft, NNPC Board scandal, Maina reinstatement, Oil subsidy scheme, appointment of dead people, Fulani herdsmen attacks on many states, IGP disregard of directive to virtually everything, the president has denied knowledge of all.
The ruling party now compares evils and sinks on ottoman that it has committed lesser. If it is not Femi Adesina arguing that more Nigerians were killed by herdsmen and more girls kidnapped under Jonathan than Buhari, it will be the reverend Vice President ignoring heaps of scandals under his nose to explain how Jonathan supervised the looting of multi billion dollars that could have been used to build Niger Bridge and construct all the roads in Nigeria. No wonder, the opposition has called the Lilliputian a serial lair who is as shortsighted as his diminutive height.
Nigeria is in trouble and most youths still think it is a contest between pro-Jonathan and pro-Buhari. The prevailing inclination has always been to compare the two as if when one is declared a better candidate, we are good for it. While Buhari is no match to Jonathan, Jonathan was not without swollen scrotum. We need to widen our curiosity in searching for answers.
In the run up to 2015 General Elections, I told friends that if the fight would be between then presidential contestants, I would void my vote. Indeed, I lived to that threat and even extended it to some local constituencies where I faced a hard choice between two dubious candidates and where there were clear signs that my vote would not count. As wrong as you may think I was, I freed my conscience and I am no less patriotic.
In my state, where I would have voted, the same people who won under the slogan of anti-imposition or zoning are imposing themselves and obstructing political structures because they want another term. There is no single sin which former regime committed that the present samba boys have not squared. Yet, many still delude they are the best.
When Obasanjo talks about third force as a counter to the PDP or APC politics, I understand him to mean an alternative thinking that rejects the current status quo. All members of the APC are not villains as all members of the PDP are not saints. The current grandstand of the PDP is a posture of accidental saints, the pride of a better finger of a leprous hand. Go to PDP states today and you will realize that Hitler and Stalin are not dead.
This is time to eschew party, ethnic and religious affiliation. It is unlikely that the greater percentage of northern will buy a message of new Nigeria that will not allow them to exchange pleasantries with Boko Haram. The feeling is that the present government represents all that the region has always wanted.
This is time for the south to demand strongly for resetting the password of the present structure. Charity begins at home. As I have always proposed, the youths rather attacking social critics should move to drain all our ponds, expose and starve the political hippos. When we use fishery techniques of sorting to separate overgrown reptiles, we can create aquatic conditions that can allow all fingerlings thrive. Depending on needs, overgrown fishes are either eaten or sold to those who keep them for fun.
Alternative critical thinking is the only way to rescue Nigeria. There is no constitutional structure or democratic institution left standing again to rescue Nigeria. We may need to embrace calabash justice in salvaging our society. The current practice where youths fight for either of the sons of Eli will only produce less of Dele Giwas and more of Abachas sustained by foot-soldiers of ex-convicts and social never-do wells. It will delay the spirit that can reset the password. As we square to face 2019, we should look beyond two sons of Eli and look for Samuel wherever he may be.
