Goodbye, 2011, Welcome 2012

In a few hours from now the year, 2011, will become another closed chapter in the book of Nigerian history. And, subsequently, any semblance of impact it would later make would be something of an occasional point of reference, if ever our poor sense of history would permit us. Therefore, as its end approaches it would be pertinent to make a brief review of how Nigeria had fared and to use this review as a mirror on which the nation would see itself and possibly move, if desired, to correct the series of indiscretions the citizens and their leaders had committed.

2011 was a carry-over from 2010 regarding the series of jostling, horse-trading and promises the myriad of political parties had made to the electorate in the course of votes soliciting. And as these jostling continued the citizenry quickly identified four possible political parties that were considered frontrunners in the elections. And cardinal amongst these frontrunners was, as to be expected, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

Speaking about the PDP brought to focus the many presidential contenders, among who would have been a high-stature Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida but for the ‘most unkindest’ cut on his jugular by his trusted northern comrades. On the other end of the spectrum was President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan unarguably not considered a primus inter pares vis-à-vis other contenders.

Rather President Jonathan carried a golden tag of immense goodwill that set him aside as the nearest-to-certainty to clinch the presidential ticket from his closest ‘adversary’, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. Therefore Jonathan was considered the ‘continuing president-in-waiting’. The goodwill that was showered on Jonathan arose from the general observation about his sterling sense of equanimity in the face of obvious provocations from the erstwhile presidential cabal that characterized the late Yar’Adua’s regime. Little wonder then that when some Nigerians blew the whistle of a foul game in the PDP Presidential Primaries, not a few Nigerians looked the other way, all in the attempt to create a room for the installation of a ‘good man’, as the nation’s president! And to fast-forward the video of events, in order not to bore you, we now know that the rest was history as Jonathan is the president of the federal republic of Nigeria.

But my fast-forwarding of these events has inexorably unearthed the ugly lines of video clips that bared their ugly and dangerous fangs on the entity called Nigeria. The sore losers in the presidential election had made it crystal clear that they would make Jonathan’s presidency a hell on earth; and indeed a hell on earth it has become.

2011 was the year the dreaded Boko Haram, far removed from the doctrine of Islam but yet clinging tenaciously to Islam, assumed a new garb provided by international sponsors and trainers to visit hellish mayhem on Nigeria. It was the year it became pointedly clear that the irascible international outlaw, the Al Queda, decided to wage a proxy war against Nigeria using the Boko Haram as the material instrument for this devilish act.  It was the year that that Centaur, whose only means of pacification was human blood, was finally transported to Nigeria via one of the country’s porous borders. It was the year many a Muslim faithful were unfortunately deceived into believing that the Boko Haram was fighting a religious war against the nation, even when the latter had not by thought, words, commission or omission, contemplated any war against the Boko Haram. As we all know it is something in the realm of fantasy for a country to contemplate war against some few members of its citizenry. It was the year many of these Muslim faithful enlisted into the sordid and despicable act of suicide bombing all in the attempt to make martyrdom through a fast-track process, without realizing the hideous and self-destruction this would cause on them here on earth and in the life beyond! It was the year many a Muslim faithful scarcely realized that false religious teaching under the guise of Islam had gained a foothold and secured a shameful niche in the hitherto Islamic landscape of the country.

And, as this was happening, many a Muslim faithful did not realize the tenuous and tendentious argument couched in the Boko Haram manifesto, one of which was to wit: a call for the establishment of Shariah in Nigeria or, in the least, in the northern states of Nigeria. As far as we know the shariah had been existing in most northern states. If there is anything like ‘double shariah’, then the Boko Haram should come out to tell the world. If the Boko Haram is serious about shariah in the north, then it should ask the leaders in the northern states why such had not been applied in the face of the unbridled thievery associated with many leaders in the north. A cursory look will make this clearer: the former governors of Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Zamfara, Nasarawa, etc, had been found to swindle their various states of billions of naira. Maybe, this form of financial crime could be outside the scope of the Shariah jurisprudence? Or is the shariah made for the talakawas only, where someone who stole a chicken, to overcome a debilitating hunger pang, faced amputation under shariah laws? If people are serious about the shariah then there must be a holistic approach to its implementation; after all, the monies these ex-governors stole belonged to the people of the Muslim ummah.

2011 was the year the Boko Haram moved a step further in its avowed course of irresponsible campaign of religious irredentism by turning its scorching floodlights against the United Nations property and its workers in Abuja; this shameful act was sequel to an action to decimate the lackluster and sick baby called the Nigeria Police at the latter’s headquarters in the same Abuja. 2011 was a year the Fulani herdsmen suddenly became well-trained guerilla fighters and adept at handling dangerous automatic weapons; it was a year these Fulani people developed the intent to exterminate, if possible, entire households and villages in Plateau State and, later, in Kaduna State. It was also a year when the Christians had gone ahead to visit their own type of mayhem on unsuspecting Muslim populations in those areas. And how have the relevant authorities fared in the face of these obvious acts of treason by the Boko Haram?

2011 was the year the leader of the nation, President Jonathan, came on air to tell Nigerians that the Boko Haram treasonable acts of terrorism had come to live with Nigeria and Nigerians! It was a year when the constitutional chief security officer of the nation was no longer the chief security officer of the nation! It was a year when the chief security officer of the nation made a veiled statement to the effect that Nigerians should learn to endure terrorism in the way a person unfortunately stricken with the dreaded HIV would be told, since the latter has no known cure at the moment. It was a year when the president, by design or default, implicit or explicit, made it known to Nigerians that every Nigerian should take care of his/her own security matters, since the government had become incapable of protecting Nigerians!  It was a year the president appeared to have developed thick skin and became impervious to the people’s plight. It was a year the president had learnt to stare down the fear-stricken Nigerian population, the way a surgeon would stare down impersonally at a fear-stricken patient lying helplessly on the surgical table. But if lack of security was the only draconian problem facing Nigerians, maybe the citizens would have endured such death-procuring situation with some level of patience and fortitude. But, unfortunately, this was not to be the case.

2011 was the year the fight against corruption was no longer the fight against corruption. It was a year when the Nigerian administration would have frustrated all efforts by the UK to bring James Ibori to justice; it was a year the Nigerian administration would have brought back James Ibori to Nigeria to escape the long arms of the British law. 2011 was the year the can of worms was opened against many ex-governors, some of who are currently sitting like angels in the nation’s highest arm of the Legislative House, the Senate. It was a year it was discovered that these ex-governors had swindled their various State governments huge sums of money to the tune of mind-staggering billions of naira. It was a year when the EFCC appeared completely overwhelmed by these mind-boggling financial crimes. Whether these overwhelming situations on the EFCC originated from the increasing cases of financial crimes or crass and brazen decision to cover up the perpetrators of these crimes would be left to posterity to analyze. 2011 was the year the serving EFCC Chairman, Farida Waziri, was sent packing because she happened to have unearthed the mind-boggling sleaze committed by a minister of the federal republic of Nigeria; and the sleaze found its way in the purchase of a villa in Vienna, Austria.

Consequent upon this, people began to wonder whether the tail had begun to wag the dog or the dog was still, as usual, wagging the tail. Put succinctly, was this minister the de facto president of the nation? Nigerians are still waiting for the result of the investigation into the acquisition of this villa in Vienna; Nigerians would be happy to see this minister sue the Vienna newspaper for defamation, since she and her handlers had denied such ‘damaging’ publication.

2011 brought out a hitherto unobserved trait in the Nigerian mindset. It was a year people had come to see that many a Nigerian would love to hold political office without such a person having the slightest idea what such an office stood for or what it entailed. Our president had made all human and even subhuman efforts to clinch the office of the president of the nation. When he succeeded in this he had the temerity to float the ludicrous metaphor of David and Goliath where he placed himself in the stead of David who, contrary to the source of the story, did not defeat the Goliath. In fact the Biblical David defeated Goliath with just a stone hurled from a sling but Jonathan, the Nigerian David, and with all the military and police arsenal at his disposal was a frightened chicken in the eyes of his perceived Goliaths! What a vile and contemptible situation! In consequence it was a year the nation witnessed an unprecedented highest level of general insecurity that seemed to be escalating with each day; it was a year general poverty developed labyrinthine pathways to embrace the coming year of 2012; it was a year pigheadedness reigned supreme over matters deserving more reasoning, while lassitude, phlegmatism and listlessness were the tools for handling projects that would be salutary to the citizenry.  It was the year the nation saw lots and lots of grandstanding by the president in the face of increasing waves of terrorism and other violent crimes.

We hope that 2011 would not corrupt 2012 to the extent that people might have to force their way into shops to forcibly take away food to assuage debilitating and mortal hunger. But if this is what that would amount to, we should expect the shariah system in the north to procure more sharp knives for amputating would-be petty food thieves.

2011 was the year the nation was told that the index of performance of the Nigerian president rested on positive endorsements from America, the UK, France, Germany and other Western countries. However, positive endorsements from the voter population who installed the president were of no consequence! It was the year the Managing Director of IMF, Christine Lagarde, did not relent in making Nigeria remove the contentious oil subsidy. We would want Ms Lagarde to tell us the minimum wage in her native France, and how France has managed corruption. And by the time she would be able to articulate all these, she would have come to realize that Nigerians are not that stupid as not to recognize the philosophy behind the oil subsidy removal. She would come to realize that the bone of contention was the mindset and character of the average Nigerian who would rather embezzle any revenues from the subsidy removal than use such for the development of the economy and the nation. Evidence about this are there for everyone to see, including the fact that the usual yearly budgets meant for the same purpose of developing the economy and the nation had gone into private pockets, leaving the nation and its citizens gasping like asphyxiating animals. Yes, Ghana, has removed subsidy but Ghana will surely use the revenues obtained therefrom for Ghana’s development but Nigeria would not!

That is the main point here!

2011 had come to show Nigerians the true nature of the federal government of Nigeria. It was a year the presidency voted billions of naira for the feeding of the president and vice president and their respective families. It was a year the president said that he knew the removal of fuel subsidy would visit untold hardship on the common man who barely subsisted on less than a dollar a day. It was a year the president told the people to endure the hardship that would be brought by fuel subsidy removal while he and his family, friends, relatives and cronies would be feeding fat on the commonwealth of the people. It was a year that had made people realize that the fictional story of George Orwell’s Animal Farm had come to reality in the Nigerian landscape; hence all animals may be equal but some would definitely be immeasurably more equal than others. It was a year that would surely portend the play-out again of Queen Antoinette’s outburst that if the people did not find bread, they should eat cake! This was an outburst that precipitated the French Revolution of 1789 that toppled the kingship of Louis XVI. In our present case, the Nigerian president was saying that if the people, in the midst of their suffering, would not afford a day’s meal, then they should starve, after all, they would be doing such sacrifice for the nation!

Talking about Queen Antoinette brought to focus the recent playing out of that historical incident in Nigeria. 2011 was the year Dame Patience Jonathan sacked a government agency in order to float her pet NGO. Come to think of it, of what use would that NGO serve the public, compared to the helmed-in government agency? This incident should arouse serious discussions among Nigerians because the office of the First Lady is just a ‘constitutional malapropism’. At the most, the first lady should be seen and must not be heard, except entertaining guests in the Aso Rock Villa.

The action of Dame Jonathan was a piece of a domino tile on the domino game board, made important by Hajiya Turai Yar’Adua who ‘elevated’ the post of the first lady to that of a de facto president of the nation. It is time Nigerians put a stop to this overbearing and obtrusive actions of the nation’s first lady before we see even more serious conducts in future.

2011 was the year the combined forces of Nigerian security could not defeat the dreaded Boko Haram, in spite of the presidential order made to go after these terrorists. It was a year many a discerning Nigerian began to wonder whether these security operatives were damn or outright incompetent or were deliberately flouting the president’s orders in order to allow the Boko Haram continue uninterruptedly. It was a year the Boko Haram boasted that it would carry out whatever destructive plans it wanted with or without oppositions from the police and the military. It was a year many a Nigerian of discerning mind began to wonder whether these Boko Haram people were not working in concert with the Nigerian security. It would appear the footprints of this co-operation were vivid enough. It was also a year when these security operatives had redoubled and escalated their gusto for harassing, maiming and killing innocent civilians.

2011 was the year Nigeria failed flat and woefully in all areas of sports. Compared to previous years, I would place this mass failure on a pedestal near an unprecedented situation. This is even galling considering the army of talented players the nation has in football for example, and talented sportsmen and women in other areas of sports. It was a year many relatively unknown teams from other parts of the world could afford to poke their fingers at the nation’s football eye and dare our soccer team. Just like in other departments of the nation’s administration, one would not be wrong if one stated without hesitation that corruption by sports administration officials played a major role in wrestling Nigeria’s sports to the ground. But I must add that some of the nation’s sportsmen and women would not be exempt. I say this because I cannot see an expert in a particular sport like football just deciding to play badly because of one grouse he/she had had against the coach or other sports officials; this, I think, is a height of indiscipline and non-patriotism.

The question that arises from all the above is: how would 2011 impact upon the coming 2012? If the benefits of hindsight are anything to go by, I would say that, as of now, one might not be opportune to see the silver lining up the dark tunnel. I say this because, the first clash between Nigerians and the government would be fuelled by the removal of fuel subsidy; and this clash could come in the early part of 2012. Would such a clash portend an amalgam of forces that would worsen the security climate? We wait and see. Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde is now the Acting Head of the EFCC. We are aware that he was Ribadu’s hitman during Ribadu’s tenure as EFCC head.

But did Lamorde produce creditable results at that time? It is for the nation to judge. But now he is at the helm of affairs, he might be a different Lamorde; so, again, we wait and see how he will tackle the neck-breaking load of corruption cases in the country. Would the effect of the dreaded Boko Haram ease in 2012? I seriously doubt because this dreaded sect is becoming increasingly intoxicated with its series of successes and would hence not relent in its avowed devilish mission. This is to be expected since the sect is perfecting its various combat tactics, under the tutelage and watchful eyes of Al Queda ambassadors. Moreover, the apparent apathetic attitude of the Nigerian security operatives whose actions are devoid of preventive measures is sure indication that the Boko Haram is not destined to disappear in 2012. And, whether the Nigerian president likes it or not, he should swallow his words and come down from his high horse to apologise to Nigerians over his shoddy attitude and puerile grandstanding in handling the Boko Haram crises.

But, how do we go about making the year 2012, the beginning of a series of healthy and prosperous regimen for Nigeria and Nigerians? The existential answer to this question lies simply thus: our fate is in our hands! I cannot understand why a nation so blessed in material and human resources should resort to continually shoot itself in the foot! If the nation’s leaders are not secret appendages of foreign and international masters, then I don‘t see any reason the nation would not wake up from its self-imposed limbo. In my view I think the first sign of recovery would begin when Nigerians (the leaders and the led) realized that we do not have any other country apart from Nigeria. This was what Buhari said in 1983 when he assumed the leadership of Nigeria. With that thought in tow, the mindset that committing financial crimes would be like tearing down the fabrics that hold the nation would come into play. That would then galvanise constitutionally authorized persons to deal severely and decisively with anyone known to have stolen the nation’s funds. Relatedly ministers and other relevant departments charged with providing and revamping the decaying infrastructure would be held directly responsible for any dereliction of duty; I cannot understand why for 14 years many of the decaying roads all over the nation are still in pitiable state of disrepair while money had been made available in each of these years for such rehabilitations. Meanwhile thousands of people continued to lose their lives on account of such criminal neglects; and ditto for the other infrastructure including our hospitals, schools and universities, etc.

Finally, all the stakeholders on security must not only be seen to tackle headlong and decisively the present security cankerworm, they should really get a move on and see that the nation’s security is restored. Saying that terrorism has come to live with Nigeria and Nigerians is a statement that makes its author criminally liable. We cannot exercise any tolerance to terrorism and neither must we wait for the US, UK or Israel to come and solve our security problems for us. It would be like inviting a stranger to come and find for us a lurking viper in the dark recesses of our bedrooms.

Do we want to revamp the nation and bring it back to its past glory? I think we should begin to think what history would remember us for. Would history remember us as people who plundered and destroyed Nigeria, thus making it uninhabitable and a pariah in the comity of nations? Or do we want to be remembered as people who built Nigeria and made it the envy of the international community? The ball is squarely in our court. Remember that no one has ever been buried with all the money and chains of houses he had acquired when he was alive; everybody will be placed in a snug-fitting three-feet wide coffin and buried deep in a six-foot hole. That is all we shall take away when we leave this world. So what’s this nonsense about trying to amass by shameful means all the wealth and monies that don’t really belong to us, while the masses are dying of hunger, starvation, illness, general deprivation of other necessities of life and want? Don’t bring the wrath of God on you for the wrath of God is very, very unbearable; even the devil cannot sustain it. Just do your work with altruism and leave a footprint of glory in the sands of time.
Happy New Year!