The corruption in the oil industry cannot be stopped under this regime of subterfuge: In 2012, no government official could disclose to the House of Representatives Fuel Subsidy Committee who had approved the un-appropriated expenditure on “fuel subsidy” between June 2011 and January 2012.
Nigeria is presently standing naked before her peers. The love of money in the country is growing too disproportionately against our love of country. As it is widely known, the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Prophet Jeremiah said in his lamentation for his nation in the sixth century BC, “All her people sigh, they seek bread; they have given their pleasant things for meat to relieve the soul: see, O LORD, and consider; for I am become vile.” In the madness to satisfy the belly, truth and honor are being sacrificed. Many Nigerians are yielding to the temptation of giving away their “pleasant things for meat to relieve the soul.” Some Nigerian rulers can give, and are indeed giving anything to retain political power, even at the peril of the nation.
They inflict great damage on the nation thereby. I look at the place where there should be righteousness, the religious circle, and what do I see? I see filthiness in their skirts. The love of money has corrupted their words and blinded their eyes. The traditional institution, the pantheon of custodians of culture, has become the hunting ground for thieving politicians whose only reliable weapon is the people’s commonwealth, wrongly and audaciously acquired. Many of the royal fathers have lost their golden voices at the sight of the fat wads. I trained my eyes at my constituency; the so-called intellectuals have forgotten the principle of philosophical piety. Men and women of letters, who should be the guide of society, have rather yielded themselves as mercenaries in the art of sophistry.
The people, the masses of Nigeria, have a choice to make. If I am trapped in a deep well, and someone comes and lets down a rope to pull me out, but rather than gladly seize upon the kind gesture, I ask, “Can you tell me your religion and ethnic group?” I should be called a fool. Nigerians who are living in the country do not need to be told what condition they are living in. They know about the quality of life they are enduring. If, in spite of all these, they sell out, it is a choice they have made; and they will live with it. An adult should know what is in their best interest. Is Nigeria not sick? And is there no cure? If there is a cure, why is it not administered? Four or five years is a long enough time to reduce the pains of daily living for the people. Must I beg Nigerians to make the right choice of who should lead them?
If you are an importer of goods, would you choose to have a very weak naira? As a consumer, can you afford a fifty-per cent increase in the cost of all goods and services that you need monthly? Can your fixed income accommodate that as a civil servant or company worker? As a business man, if customers can no more patronize your business because of hike in prices due to a very weak naira, how can you pay for your needs? Must I beg you to punish poor economic management and corruption? Your permanent voter’s card (PVC) is a weapon; use it wisely. Listen to your conscience, observe the evidence, and then, when you are alone in the voting cubicle, cast the ballot for the health of Nigeria.
Nigeria is slowly dying:
I have spoken about a weak naira, which is presently, officially, exchanging at about 200 naira to a US dollar. And if we do not change the driver, it may reach 300 naira to a dollar. The implication is that Nigerian workers will have their fixed income cut in half. Private schools will have to raise tuition fees very highly next academic session. This will further deplete disposable income for many families. And if the news going around is true, and I believe it is since governments in Nigeria are finding difficult to pay salaries, tens of thousands of Nigerians will lose their jobs in both public and private sectors after the 2015 elections if the driver is returned. Many Nigerian professors will have to re-locate out of the country, thus worsening the dearth of professors in academic programs within Nigerian universities. Just like the Nigerian government had built electricity generating plants without first putting in place a reliable gas supply arrangement, we are now building many public and private universities without adequate professors. If the free fall of the naira is not reversed, and urgently so, many Nigerian professors will leave.
The salaries and allowances of Nigerian public officials are unsustainable. I have written a lot about this. The only body that is constitutionally empowered to fix salaries and allowances is the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC). The present government has ignored the amounts fixed by the RMAFC and approved outrageous hidden allowances for public officials. This is a drain on the economy that must be fixed. A strong Nigerian leader is needed to do this and free up resources to be invested in education, health, and infrastructure that will create jobs and improve the quality of life of the Nigerian citizen.
Insecurity in Nigeria is an open sore that has refused to heal. Nigeria needs a leader that understands how insecurity develops and how the cancer can be cured. We need a leader that can be trusted to lead the fight against terrorism in the West African region.
The corruption in the oil industry cannot be stopped under this regime of subterfuge: In 2012, no government official could disclose to the House of Representatives Fuel Subsidy Committee who had approved the un-appropriated expenditure on “fuel subsidy” between June 2011 and January 2012. No one in government gives a damn about questions on why annual fuel subsidy expenditures have risen to trillions of naira since June 2011. We need transparency in the oil industry and revival of our refineries, both of which are impossibilities under the current regime.
The electricity market in Nigeria has cost the Nigerian consumers too much with little service. We need to re-examine the privatization policy and free the Nigerian electricity consumer from the oppression of the DISCOS in spite of the existence of the NERC.
The Nigerian president seems to forget how he rose to his current position. I find a biblical character that is comparable to him, whom he must learn from and avoid the sorrowful mistakes NOW. I wish to conclude this epistle with a very frank address to Dr. Jonathan as my dear president. I will talk to him as a Christian brother. I will bring to him a message from the Holy Bible as a pastor. I only hope he will read, think and act. Sometimes I wonder what comrade Reuben Abati would be writing now about President Jonathan’s government if he were not serving under him. I know bro. Abati will read this epistle and I pray he pass on this urgent message to my president.
I will not compare President Jonathan to King Nebuchadnezzar, as Professor Soyinka did. I think King Jeroboam Nebat is a more suitable comparison:
“Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Forasmuch as I exalted thee from among the people, and made thee prince over my people Israel, and rent the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it thee: and yet thou hast not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in mine eyes; but hast done evil above all that were before thee: for thou hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and hast cast me behind thy back. Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung till it be all gone.” [1 Kings 14: 7-10]
The message above was sent by Prophet Ahijah to King Jeroboam through the king’s wife. In first Kings chapter eleven, it was the same prophet (Ahijah) who met Mr. Jeroboam on a road and gave him God’s word, “I will make you king over ten tribes of Israel.” Jeroboam was an orphan, a servant of King Solomon’s. That prophecy came to pass in chapter twelve. Soon after, an evil fear got into King Jeroboam, “And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David: If this people go up to Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah.” [1 Kings 12: 26-27].
This fear of losing the throne drove King Jeroboam to introducing official idolatry in Israel, a sort of religious syncretism, a very poor imitation of the Jewish religion. In chapter thirteen, a young prophet was sent to warn the king in Bethel. God warned the prophet against as much as eating or drinking there. He delivered the message in the presence of an angry King Jeroboam, who ordered the arrest of the prophet. Instead, his hand dried up, and he had to plead for the restoration of the hand and not of his heart. He made an offer to the young prophet, who rejected it and left the town. An old backslidden prophet, who lived in Bethel at the time, brought back the young prophet to a sumptuous meal at Bethel with the aid of a lie. On his way back, the old prophet provided an ass to the young prophet for a more convenient travel. As judgment from God for disobeying his commandment not to eat or drink in Bethel, a lion attacked and killed the young prophet on the way, and remained there watching over his dead body. The lion did not harm the ass; and the ass also remained there without running away or being afraid of the lion until the old prophet came and took away the corpse (the lion did not attack the old prophet either). That lion was an instrument of judgment ONLY for the disobedient young prophet!
Someone close to President Jonathan told me that when a former president of an East African country (a devout Christian) told then Deputy-Governor Jonathan that he was going to become Nigeria’s president, he responded with incredulity. Dr. Jonathan became Nigeria’s president without breaking a sweat. Now, he is in a frenzy to hold down the office. And what is he doing to achieve this? Mr. President knows the secret plots and evils and compromises he has indulged in. Some have come to the fore. Remember Jeroboam. The lion is coming. I warned in 2013 about this lion that swallowed up the leopard. Everyone that requires a comeuppance shall get his. Mr. President should ask now for the restoration of his heart and not of his presidency; it is too late to ask for that. He must suspend all egregious efforts to remain in office. The gate of the palace has been firmly shut against him now. The kingdom was taken from Yar’Adua and given to him on a platter of gold. His fear has turned him into another. The kingdom is departed from him! It is time to nurse Nigeria back to health again.
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