One would assume that Iran, being predominantly a regious society, ruled by the clergies, would not naturally see the massive demonstrations that engulfed the entire Islamic republic after the recently held elections which saw the hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad being elected for the second time.
The world is a witness to the zeal and enthusiasm by which the ordinary Iranians as well as the oppositions took matters with the system challenging the election as fraud, demanding for its annulment. Even though the will of the people had been subverted in the most ruthless manners imaginable, we however witnessed how loud the collective voice of a people determined for a change and justice could sound so loud. The pressure on the ruling elite to conduct another election was so much that reluctantly, another election was held, within days. The results of the second election are still being challenged by the main opposition leader Mr. Mir-Hossein Mousavi, along with his vast supporters, who still demonstrate today in the streets of Iran. Not even the government threats and crackdowns, with the use of militias and police, ordered by Iranian highest authority, the supreme leader Ali Hoseyni Khāmenei could stop the people from demanding a fairer deal.
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One would therefore wonder why ordinary Nigerians fail to respond in the same manners when their will and common dreams for a better future are subverted. Elections in Nigeria are almost always flawed, with the ruling elite, stealing votes in the most brazen orchestrated and arranged selection process. The answers could be found in the ignorance among the Nigerians populace. There is a clear political apathy among the people, which serves even more to erode this interest in the political affairs. This is a subject that has confused many people who desire a change in the way the country is run. However, this stand-in-the-fence posture could only help perpetuate the old system. The ruling class knows this and they try hard to keep it so.
The sort of mass movement against election rigging that we all saw happen in Iran few weeks back if attempted by the masses of the Nigerian populace could actually go a long way in restoring sanity and credibility in the system. We’ve got to take the bull by the horn; we cannot afford to stand on the sidelines forever, while our beloved country Nigeria, rich in both human and natural resources, being ruled by thugs and miscreants, who hardly know their right from left.
The question that confounds everyone is why is it that we do not say NO when stuff like this happen in Nigeria? Well, I think the answer could be found in the fact that Nigerians are simply tired, disenchanted and angry, which is understandable. But then they too, like the ruling class, must share in the blames on what is going on and accept full responsibility for the appalling situations in the country. Man is the architect of his own fortunes and when we continue to shift the blames on the ruling class, we are in effect giving them more rooms to manipulate and cheat us.
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Hardly has there been a time we see such mass demonstrations, save for those organized by few notable selfless Nigerians, the likes of Wole Shoyinka, Femi Falana, to name but a few, and then of course, the politicians themselves aimed at the wrongdoing being done against the people and future of this country. Are we completely ignorant or blind to the woes facing this country? The answer in one word is NO. Nigerians are hard-working, intelligent, industrious, and conscious people who want to learn. We aim high. Evidence of this enthusiasm could be seen in the gusto with which the Nigerian sports enthusiasts follow doggedly football events, especially the famous Premiership and Championship competitions in far away Europe. Ordinary Nigerians who love sports know how much all football players in their various clubs across Europe earn. Ask an average Nigerian sports fan how much Samuel Eto’o of Cameroon earns in Barcelona, or when the next transfer contract for Ronaldihno will be concluded, without blinking an eye, he tells you. But when you ask even Sir Ferguson who coaches Manchester United this same question, he must first consult with his records to give accurate flawless answer.
So brilliant are Nigerians except that they let their mind, focus be carried away in affairs that hardly concern them. To be sure, nothing is wrong with being a football enthusiast; what is however wrong is when we over do things. We all know that too much or too little of anything is bad, so goes the saying. How sweet it would be if only we could put one third of our time and energy on the real thing, on the matters that really count! Back home, we are unaware of the amount of our money each government official ‘earns’ or steals from the business of ruling the country. We have no ideas what sort of system of government being run or what rights and benefits we are entitled to in the country. Instead, we are seen engaging in endless and aimless arguments, about wrong information force-fed us by the same ruling class, to put the wool over our eyes. No one knows what is really going on. The yurubas argue for their people in government. The Hausas do the same while the Ibos are not left out in this pathetic nonsense. Rather than confront the monster called corruption that has for so long subjected all of us and this country to ridicule, we argue blindly, chasing shadows.
You therefore ask yourself if we really know what we want for our dearly beloved country. Something is fundamentally wrong somewhere. To the ordinary Nigerians on the street, provisions of the basic things that make life worth living would potentially be more than enough. Such amenities include good road networks, constant electricity power supply, decent housing policies to help the less privileged, improved security, food, excellent school system, and good health care system for all-so that if the President himself is ill, he wouldn’t go overseas for medical treatment, putting his life in the hands and care of foreign doctors and physicians, risking our number one asset, a situation of great dangers which constitute the most dangerous threat to our national security.
Let’s take a pause and return to the Iranian situation briefly. To be sure, the situations in Iran are not totally the same as we have in Nigeria. My Iranian friends who by the way hold strong feelings and anger against their government tell me that there are good motor able road in every corners of Iran, health system is good, electricity is stable, pipe-borne drinkable water is available, even to the point where gas is directly to every household. Yet, when they felt their will trampled upon, they took to the streets, to demand freedom, justice, equity, and disentanglement from Islamic Legal system, also known as Sharia Laws, which unfortunately are in force in some parts of Nigeria.
What we see in Nigeria is quite different. Not even when the school system, from primary up to tertiary levels of education, awash in corruption, with regrettably inadequate number of trained teachers, absence of full decent library, empty laboratories, none of these situations could awaken the spirits of uprising in our heart. Not when millions of the country’s oil revenues are being stolen and stashed away in foreign banks or when these men flout their ill-gotten wealth in public, oppressing the masses are we aroused to the imminent dangers that face all of us. And not even when the 2007 general elections in Nigeria were brazenly stolen by Obasanjo’s PDP, aided by the remorseless ‘professor’ Iwu did we fight for justice and common rights. We failed to respond in the appropriate manner the situation demanded.
It’s never too late to do something. It’s rather better to be late than never. Now is the time to learn from the events around us. Now is the time to demand of the government the kind of decent representation and system we dream of, for the good of the next generation. It’s not a matter of who the President is or where he comes from, and hardly is it an issue if the guy from the Eastern part of the country isn’t given a chance to rule. We’ve got a collective responsibility here and if we fail to exercise that responsibility then we must hold ourselves accountable for whatever wrongs that are done to this country.
The ball is in our court; we’ve just have to play it!!
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