Ladies and gentlemen, there is a very thin line between foolishness and ignorance yet both are not interchangeable. However, ignorance is the biological mother of all appearances of foolishness. It is almost a given that ignorance isn't excusable even if it was painted in auto-base paint! There is no country in the world where ignorance is magnified and worshipped as a national day more than Nigeria. This plague is almost incurable when benchmarked against the high poverty index in the country. The damage poverty alone has done to the reasoning of the masses is unquantifiable. For the purpose of this article, I will identify two types of ignorance: passive and active. When a people suffer for too long in the hands of irresponsible government they become disillusioned and lose interest in matters of national development and importance, thus, becoming passive in their awareness and knowledge of government dynamics. They are disappointed and flat!
Ladies and gentlemen, there is a very thin line between foolishness and ignorance yet both are not interchangeable. However, ignorance is the biological mother of all appearances of foolishness. It is almost a given that ignorance isn't excusable even if it was painted in auto-base paint! There is no country in the world where ignorance is magnified and worshipped as a national day more than Nigeria. This plague is almost incurable when benchmarked against the high poverty index in the country. The damage poverty alone has done to the reasoning of the masses is unquantifiable. For the purpose of this article, I will identify two types of ignorance: passive and active. When a people suffer for too long in the hands of irresponsible government they become disillusioned and lose interest in matters of national development and importance, thus, becoming passive in their awareness and knowledge of government dynamics. They are disappointed and flat!
The second category is comprised of active citizens who advocated and fought tooth and nail to defend the helpless in the society but have since metamorphosed to cheap praise-singers after few notes of the Nigerian Naira changed hands. They have now consciously suppressed their quality reasoning and good judgment to keep their connection with the source of their freebies.
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Fellow Nigerians, we are yet to be purged from the evils of colonization and the idols of FESTAC 77 are still here with us. Nothing has since changed just the form and manner of invasion with which they interface our intellect and bring us on our knees for will-worship. Ours is a religious country where ignorance is condoned with utmost reverential adoration. In the current day Nigeria, politics and religion are miscible and almost inseparable as religious gatherings have since become political conventions while political rallies have turned to revival grounds. Take it or leave it, religion is the worse lie ever sold to mankind. What God desire from us is our unflinching love for Him and fellow human beings. The image of God that Africans especially Nigerians carry is sadistic. Religious leaders in the country are cashing in on this naked ignorance thus enthroning themselves as messiahs whose actions can't be questioned by mere mortals as it were.
We now have deities in human flesh sharing the same immunity clause of our political office holders in religious regalia while the Almighty Himself expressed His openness to decent discussion when He said 'let us reason together' in the Holy Book. It is humbling to know that the true Alpha and Omega is open to intellectual brainstorming session while our religious leaders have since shut off available communication channels for sincere and constructive criticisms. They now bask in the 'touch not my prophet and do my prophet no harm', thereby, quoting it out of context to massage their ego. And yet if some of us who are still alive and un-hypnotized speak up we are tagged rebels and stand the risk of excommunication.
Fellow compatriots, the time has come in our political and religious history to separate the chaff from the wheat and stop chewing the stick of ignorance and resist this widespread 'human worship' in the name of religion! It beats my understanding how we have managed to blend politics with religion smoothly in this country. While millions of people can't afford a decent lunch at festive seasons just like every other day, we delude ourselves with sacrificial gifts offerings of fat cows for a prophet offering. Is this what religion has dragged us into? We would rather starve the masses of the people while we bless our allies who have already more than enough. Until we expunge our current idol worship and embrace responsibility for less fortunate ones among us, it will be useless to profess our love for God while men, women and children wallow in abject poverty.
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I have read my Bible meditatively for more than twice from the beginning to the end and I never came across where God adjoined us to worship the works of His hands. As a matter of fact, God distastes idol worship! Until we stop playing religion and demand for accountability from both our religious and secular leaders, a better Nigeria will remain a fruitless expectation just as wasteful and empty as our centenary nationhood celebration.
Here is a poser: Would you still keep your candor and reverential adoration of 'touch not my anointed and do my prophet no harm' if a wicked man or woman acid-bathe a baby you waited for more than 10years? I can guess your answer! Unfortunately, our ignorance has blinded us to see this evil connection.
I wish Nigerians a commonsensical 2014!
Olanrewaju Daodu
Regional Representative(Nigeria)
www.allternativecommunication.net
Email:[email protected]
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of SaharaReporters
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