The Elections to choose our Federal Legislators and the President of Nigeria, for the next 4 years, have come and gone, leaving behind a trail of aftermaths. One aftermath is that there are WINNERS and BIG LOSERS.
The Elections to choose our Federal Legislators and the President of Nigeria, for the next 4 years, have come and gone, leaving behind a trail of aftermaths. One aftermath is that there are WINNERS and BIG LOSERS.
Besides this, it has also brought about untold, but predictable mayhem, perhaps, not to the level as we are presently witnessing. Predictable because the Politics of the last one year, especially as played in the NORTHERN part of the country, has been one of REGIONALISM and the tenacious fervour to perpetuate or enthrone the NORTHERN HEGEMONY. I shall leave aside and dedicate my next piece or write up on the WINNERS AND BIG LOSERS, and attempt to dissect why they won and lost. This present piece is aimed at examining, and highlight, the remote and direct causes of the aftermath violence and destruction that we are presently witnessing that have greeted the announcement of the winner of the 2011 Presidential elections. My next write up would deal with the BIG LOSERS of the elections, and explore why they failed.
Not long ago, some decrepit ELEMENTS and scumbags, who rightfully, if this were other more saner climes or civilised country, and where the rule of law prevailed, should be cooling off their hills in Jail, for their INCITEFUL and SEDITIOUS statements, bordering on TREASON, but are allowed to still roam about the land, freely, and continue fanning the embers of violence and carnage across the NORTHERN region, including, dare I say this, the INTERNET. Not long ago, the likes of CIROMA, called for violence and called out to NORTHERNERS to make the country UNGOVERNABLE, if a NORTHERNER, or one of theirs does not become the President of the country. We also heard similar vituperations from the likes of IBB and ATIKU, who at that time were also fanning the embers of ZONING and REGIONAL Politics. It is even rumoured that they were engaged in anti-party activities, and refused to endorse or support the election of their party’s Presidential candidate, President JONATHAN, regarded by them as a SOUTHERNER. I will leave their conduct and anti-party activities to the PDP to deal with them as deemed appropriate!
GENERAL BUHARI (or the ‘meek’ or the ‘people’s’ GENERAL, as he is sometimes fondly called by his supporters) also joined the foray, and not long ago was quoted as admonishing NORTHERNERS not to vote for a SOUTHERNER, while at the same time, he admonished that a MUSLIM SHOULD NOT VOTE FOR A NON-MUSLIM. How ‘Pastor’ BAKARE, his Veepee candidate, was able to stomach such statements still surprises me to this day, even though I am not entirely surprised about his persona and character.
‘Pastor’ BAKARE has shown and proved himself as a man of questionable character or a person not to be taken seriously. BAKARE, it was, who was once quoted, as describing the same GENERAL BUHARI in 2006, as “...and that tall one, BUHARI, they are part of the old that is decaying...and are passing away” (culled from the PUNCH NEWSPAPER of Monday, 2 October 2006). Between 2006 and 2011, when ‘Pastor’ BAKARE uttered those words and decided to contest the Elections as the ‘tall one’s’ Veepee candidate, what changed about the man, BUHARI, that made him no longer ‘part of the decay that we must do away with’? That he, BAKARE, changed like a Chameleon and turned around and ate or sucked up his vomit discredits him hugely and it is one reason that Nigerians rejected him in the S/West.
To further buttress his lack of character, it is the same ‘Pastor’ BAKARE that rode on the back of the SAVE NIGERIA GROUP (SNG) to further his own political ambition, while pretending to Nigerians that he was a gadfly and a social critic or advocate, who truly and genuinely loved the country and the people. In fact, I saw through the character of ‘Pastor’ BAKARE, and my respect for him jumped out of the window, even before he ventured into active politics. I lost all respect for him the day he allegedly collected ‘BRIBE’ or the ‘Greek gift’ or ‘transport money’, whichever nomenclature that anyone chooses to describe the money allegedly given to the SNG by the President during their visit to the Presidency last year. My beef with the ‘Pastor’ was that, as he chose to describe the gift as ‘BRIBE’, he stood accused and guilty of collecting (receiving) the ‘BRIBE’ and TAKING it home, before deciding the NEXT DAY to return it after counting the money (perhaps, because he expected to receive more than he was given).
Enough of the dishonourable ‘Pastor’ and back to those that have remotely caused and unleashed this TERROR and MAYHEM on all of us, and most especially the innocent people, including the innocent YOUTH CORPERS, who are unfortunate to be performing their compulsory National Service in the NORTH. By their incitable and unguarded comments or statements, these people have fanned the embers of the carnage and slaughter of innocent persons in the NORTH. And they have ready and willing tools in those jobless or unemployed and No future ambition (NFA) miscreants and street urchins, popularly known as the Almajiris. A lot of them are too young and sometimes do not even understand what cause they are fighting. Most of them, if not all, lack any type of formal or proper education, and they are usually seen loitering about the place, when their counterparts in the South are developing as normal children and attending schools to become better people in future. But the Almajiris are accepted by the NORTHERN SYSTEM and OLIGACHY as living the fate that befell and befits them.
What I cannot understand is what their CAUSE is? And WHY have they never paused to ASK why CIROMA’s, IBB’s, ATIKU’s, ABACHA’s and BUHARI’s children are not always amongst them and fighting the same CAUSE and leading the REVOLT or RIOTS? Why do they always have to allow themselves to be used to destroy in this manner? And why do they hate their fellow man, and act like CARNIBALS, and butcher people and take lives, as if they are slaughtering chickens? Why do they seem to behave like the BEASTS OF THE WILD?
Even if GENERAL BUHARI admonished them, before the elections, to PROTECT THEIR VOTES WITH THEIR LIVES AND WITH THE LAST DROP OF THEIR BLOOD, why do they think that by destroying the NORTH, that this is the only way that they can protect their votes? WHY DESTROY THE NORTH at all? It is even ironical that the states, where we are experiencing these TERROR and CARNAGE, are the same states that GENERAL BUHARI won convincingly. Or, are they protesting against GENERAL BUHARI? Or they simply do not understand why they are protesting and what CAUSE they are fighting or killing people for. And if the violence is against or directed at the PDP, for winning the elections convincingly and overwhelmingly in the rest of the country, why torch or kill INNOCENT Youth Corpers? Or why even torch the Palaces of the Emirs or burn down Government Infrastructures and establishments meant for the people? Also why is the carnage and destructions taking place in non-PDP States or the STATES controlled by non-PDP Governors?
The Palaces and the Government’s infrastructures can be rebuilt at huge costs to the people of the NORTH, but can the lives of those INNOCENT people, including the YOUTH CORPERS, be replaced? And shouldn’t the protest be concentrated in those states, in the South-South or South-East, where the ‘rigged votes’ were alleged to have taken place, and by the people who feel aggrieved that they were prevented from voting? WHY ARE THESE NORTHERN MISCREANTS BURNING DOWN AND DESTROYING THEIR OWN INFRASTRUCTURES?
These times call for sober and sombre reflections. It calls for a reflection and a review of the roles that everybody has played in creating this malfeasance and ugly situation, which is a bad reflection on the image of our country and the NORTHERNER, in particular. One can now see why a populist revolt or protest can never work in Nigeria, as it would end up uncoordinated and mean different or many things to different people. To the Northerner, it could mean a call to SLAUGHTER and BUTCHER the SOUTHERNER and the CHRISTIANS. While to the SOUTHERNER, it would mean ending CORRUPTION, ILLITERACY, RESOURCE CONTROL and FIGHTING FOR A STAKE IN THE AFFAIRS OF THEIR COUNTRY and KIDNAPPING.
It is at times like this, that the nation should be looking to its leaders and Statesmen. It is at times like this that true and real heroes are sought and found. These are the times that the nation expects GENERAL BUHARI, his Veepee, ‘Pastor’ BAKARE, and other notable Northern ‘Leaders’ to call this army of brainwashed hoodlums and misguided miscreants to order (and not through their spokesmen). The NCF, the NLF, the NGF, the AREWA, the CIROMAs, the IBBs, the ATIKUs should all seize this opportunity to call these MONSTERS that they have created, through their years of misrule, mis-governance or bad governance and neglect, to order.
They should call these MONSTERS they have created through their years of selfish rule and catering only for themselves, and living in HILLTOPS, PALACES and MANSIONS, and owning EXPENSIVE PRIVATE JETS and UNIVERSITIES, without providing INFRASTRUCTURES, EDUCATION and EMPLOYMENT for these people. The MONSTERS that they bred through their years of neglect and not building lasting INSTITUTIONS and LEGACIES for their people, despite governing the country for over 38 years, of Nigeria’s existence or independence. And despite years of regular monthly LOCAL GOVERNMENT and STATE GOVERNMENT ALLOCATIONS and BUDGETS, yet the people in the NORTH still live in penury, abject poverty, servitude and hopelessness, as typified by these MONSTERS.
The Northern ‘Leaders’ should all hold their heads or cover their faces in shame for the NEGLECT of their people and creating these MONSTERS, and thus unleashing the scourge of the Almajiris on the people and on NIGERIANS. THE LEADERS MUST CALL THESE MONSTERS THEY HAVE UNLEASHED ON THE HAPLESS PEOPLE TO ORDER FORTHWITH!
Osi Okponobi
(Is a regular blogger on SR).
[email protected] April 2011 Elections Aftermath And The Scourge Of The Almajiris
The Elections to choose our Federal Legislators and the President of Nigeria, for the next 4 years, have come and gone, leaving behind a trail of aftermaths. One aftermath is that there are WINNERS and BIG LOSERS. Besides this, it has also brought about untold, but predictable mayhem, perhaps, not to the level as we are presently witnessing. Predictable because the Politics of the last one year, especially as played in the NORTHERN part of the country, has been one of REGIONALISM and the tenacious fervour to perpetuate or enthrone the NORTHERN HEGEMONY. I shall leave aside and dedicate my next piece or write up on the WINNERS AND BIG LOSERS, and attempt to dissect why they won and lost. This present piece is aimed at examining, and highlight, the remote and direct causes of the aftermath violence and destruction that we are presently witnessing that have greeted the announcement of the winner of the 2011 Presidential elections. My next write up would deal with the BIG LOSERS of the elections, and explore why they failed.
Not long ago, some decrepit ELEMENTS and scumbags, who rightfully, if this were other more saner climes or civilised country, and where the rule of law prevailed, should be cooling off their hills in Jail, for their INCITEFUL and SEDITIOUS statements, bordering on TREASON, but are allowed to still roam about the land, freely, and continue fanning the embers of violence and carnage across the NORTHERN region, including, dare I say this, the INTERNET. Not long ago, the likes of CIROMA, called for violence and called out to NORTHERNERS to make the country UNGOVERNABLE, if a NORTHERNER, or one of theirs does not become the President of the country. We also heard similar vituperations from the likes of IBB and ATIKU, who at that time were also fanning the embers of ZONING and REGIONAL Politics. It is even rumoured that they were engaged in anti-party activities, and refused to endorse or support the election of their party’s Presidential candidate, President JONATHAN, regarded by them as a SOUTHERNER. I will leave their conduct and anti-party activities to the PDP to deal with them as deemed appropriate!
GENERAL BUHARI (or the ‘meek’ or the ‘people’s’ GENERAL, as he is sometimes fondly called by his supporters) also joined the foray, and not long ago was quoted as admonishing NORTHERNERS not to vote for a SOUTHERNER, while at the same time, he admonished that a MUSLIM SHOULD NOT VOTE FOR A NON-MUSLIM. How ‘Pastor’ BAKARE, his Veepee candidate, was able to stomach such statements still surprises me to this day, even though I am not entirely surprised about his persona and character.
‘Pastor’ BAKARE has shown and proved himself as a man of questionable character or a person not to be taken seriously. BAKARE, it was, who was once quoted, as describing the same GENERAL BUHARI in 2006, as “...and that tall one, BUHARI, they are part of the old that is decaying...and are passing away” (culled from the PUNCH NEWSPAPER of Monday, 2 October 2006). Between 2006 and 2011, when ‘Pastor’ BAKARE uttered those words and decided to contest the Elections as the ‘tall one’s’ Veepee candidate, what changed about the man, BUHARI, that made him no longer ‘part of the decay that we must do away with’? That he, BAKARE, changed like a Chameleon and turned around and ate or sucked up his vomit discredits him hugely and it is one reason that Nigerians rejected him in the S/West.
To further buttress his lack of character, it is the same ‘Pastor’ BAKARE that rode on the back of the SAVE NIGERIA GROUP (SNG) to further his own political ambition, while pretending to Nigerians that he was a gadfly and a social critic or advocate, who truly and genuinely loved the country and the people. In fact, I saw through the character of ‘Pastor’ BAKARE, and my respect for him jumped out of the window, even before he ventured into active politics. I lost all respect for him the day he allegedly collected ‘BRIBE’ or the ‘Greek gift’ or ‘transport money’, whichever nomenclature that anyone chooses to describe the money allegedly given to the SNG by the President during their visit to the Presidency last year. My beef with the ‘Pastor’ was that, as he chose to describe the gift as ‘BRIBE’, he stood accused and guilty of collecting (receiving) the ‘BRIBE’ and TAKING it home, before deciding the NEXT DAY to return it after counting the money (perhaps, because he expected to receive more than he was given).
Enough of the dishonourable ‘Pastor’ and back to those that have remotely caused and unleashed this TERROR and MAYHEM on all of us, and most especially the innocent people, including the innocent YOUTH CORPERS, who are unfortunate to be performing their compulsory National Service in the NORTH. By their incitable and unguarded comments or statements, these people have fanned the embers of the carnage and slaughter of innocent persons in the NORTH. And they have ready and willing tools in those jobless or unemployed and No future ambition (NFA) miscreants and street urchins, popularly known as the Almajiris. A lot of them are too young and sometimes do not even understand what cause they are fighting. Most of them, if not all, lack any type of formal or proper education, and they are usually seen loitering about the place, when their counterparts in the South are developing as normal children and attending schools to become better people in future. But the Almajiris are accepted by the NORTHERN SYSTEM and OLIGACHY as living the fate that befell and befits them.
What I cannot understand is what their CAUSE is? And WHY have they never paused to ASK why CIROMA’s, IBB’s, ATIKU’s, ABACHA’s and BUHARI’s children are not always amongst them and fighting the same CAUSE and leading the REVOLT or RIOTS? Why do they always have to allow themselves to be used to destroy in this manner? And why do they hate their fellow man, and act like CARNIBALS, and butcher people and take lives, as if they are slaughtering chickens? Why do they seem to behave like the BEASTS OF THE WILD?
Even if GENERAL BUHARI admonished them, before the elections, to PROTECT THEIR VOTES WITH THEIR LIVES AND WITH THE LAST DROP OF THEIR BLOOD, why do they think that by destroying the NORTH, that this is the only way that they can protect their votes? WHY DESTROY THE NORTH at all? It is even ironical that the states, where we are experiencing these TERROR and CARNAGE, are the same states that GENERAL BUHARI won convincingly. Or, are they protesting against GENERAL BUHARI? Or they simply do not understand why they are protesting and what CAUSE they are fighting or killing people for. And if the violence is against or directed at the PDP, for winning the elections convincingly and overwhelmingly in the rest of the country, why torch or kill INNOCENT Youth Corpers? Or why even torch the Palaces of the Emirs or burn down Government Infrastructures and establishments meant for the people? Also why is the carnage and destructions taking place in non-PDP States or the STATES controlled by non-PDP Governors?
The Palaces and the Government’s infrastructures can be rebuilt at huge costs to the people of the NORTH, but can the lives of those INNOCENT people, including the YOUTH CORPERS, be replaced? And shouldn’t the protest be concentrated in those states, in the South-South or South-East, where the ‘rigged votes’ were alleged to have taken place, and by the people who feel aggrieved that they were prevented from voting? WHY ARE THESE NORTHERN MISCREANTS BURNING DOWN AND DESTROYING THEIR OWN INFRASTRUCTURES?
These times call for sober and sombre reflections. It calls for a reflection and a review of the roles that everybody has played in creating this malfeasance and ugly situation, which is a bad reflection on the image of our country and the NORTHERNER, in particular. One can now see why a populist revolt or protest can never work in Nigeria, as it would end up uncoordinated and mean different or many things to different people. To the Northerner, it could mean a call to SLAUGHTER and BUTCHER the SOUTHERNER and the CHRISTIANS. While to the SOUTHERNER, it would mean ending CORRUPTION, ILLITERACY, RESOURCE CONTROL and FIGHTING FOR A STAKE IN THE AFFAIRS OF THEIR COUNTRY and KIDNAPPING.
It is at times like this, that the nation should be looking to its leaders and Statesmen. It is at times like this that true and real heroes are sought and found. These are the times that the nation expects GENERAL BUHARI, his Veepee, ‘Pastor’ BAKARE, and other notable Northern ‘Leaders’ to call this army of brainwashed hoodlums and misguided miscreants to order (and not through their spokesmen). The NCF, the NLF, the NGF, the AREWA, the CIROMAs, the IBBs, the ATIKUs should all seize this opportunity to call these MONSTERS that they have created, through their years of misrule, mis-governance or bad governance and neglect, to order.
They should call these MONSTERS they have created through their years of selfish rule and catering only for themselves, and living in HILLTOPS, PALACES and MANSIONS, and owning EXPENSIVE PRIVATE JETS and UNIVERSITIES, without providing INFRASTRUCTURES, EDUCATION and EMPLOYMENT for these people. The MONSTERS that they bred through their years of neglect and not building lasting INSTITUTIONS and LEGACIES for their people, despite governing the country for over 38 years, of Nigeria’s existence or independence. And despite years of regular monthly LOCAL GOVERNMENT and STATE GOVERNMENT ALLOCATIONS and BUDGETS, yet the people in the NORTH still live in penury, abject poverty, servitude and hopelessness, as typified by these MONSTERS.
The Northern ‘Leaders’ should all hold their heads or cover their faces in shame for the NEGLECT of their people and creating these MONSTERS, and thus unleashing the scourge of the Almajiris on the people and on NIGERIANS. THE LEADERS MUST CALL THESE MONSTERS THEY HAVE UNLEASHED ON THE HAPLESS PEOPLE TO ORDER FORTHWITH!
Osi Okponobi
(Is a regular blogger on SR).
[email protected]
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