Fellow Nigerians,what you are about to read is a short narrative and feature story on a palm tree.If you have any thing against a palm wine,broom sticks or even a shield please don't read any further!
Fellow Nigerians,what you are about to read is a short narrative and feature story on a palm tree.If you have any thing against a palm wine,broom sticks or even a shield please don't read any further!
For the rest of us,like we all know a palm tree is a perennial plant endowed with rich fruits and parts-as a matter of fact, every part of a palm tree is resourceful and valuable. Is it the 'milky ways'(I love freshly tapped palm wine), palm kernel, processed animal feeds, building planks, broom sticks or the shield it provides? In short,there are many derivable benefits from a palm tree.
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Ladies and gentlemen,in the past few decades the palm tree has served the above mentioned purposes, uses and more, though we have demanded way too many from this blessed tree and sapped it of its vitality without any provision to replenish its loss nutrients and energy. History is replete of its many beneficiaries both far and near. Some of the people who have benefited from this multi-breasted tree in the past have since lifted up their sharp axes against it in an attempt to cut it down at its old age. Wickedness is biting off the fingers that fed you. This is the sad situation our palm tree has found itself. The blessed tree has since been abused, assaulted and rejected by its tenders who have enriched themselves by its vast blessings. It has suffered the same fate as its orange tree counterpart whose fruits are sucked dry and thrown away at will.
From one generation to another the story is the same. We have entrusted our palm tree with different tenders: some too blind to see its peculiarity and uniqueness, others too wicked to protect it from scavengers, while others are just interested in its many blessings and give 'no damn' about its life. Yet some unqualified tenders took up the responsibilities of caring for it because of the monthly wage and allowances paid by its owner.
Fellow Nigerians, this old palm tree is Nigeria and its tenders are past and present leaders, nay, rulers. The owners are the Nigerian people. Nigerians have suffered for too long in the hand of different leaders. Each time we sighed for relief as a result of inglorious exit of a bad government, we are soon shocked to be led by a worse government than the previous. It is tragic and traumatic to think that the supposedly tenders are from the lots of the people.
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The past and present rulers in different spheres of government in Nigeria are not spirits but men and women who knew poverty by first mention and one would naturally think they should show some empathy for the poor masses-this is the sanest line of thought-however,'reasonable' doesn't work in Nigeria. As it stands today, there is little or no responsible leadership in the Nigerian government. Rather what we have is demonic transfer of one sinister rulership to another which has since become a vicious cycle. We are running an unsustainable system of government. As a matter of fact, it is a fictional miracle that Nigeria as a geographical entity is still in existence.
Fellow citizens, no country can survive an unabated, record-breaking culture of corruption, phenomenal disregard and impunity for the rule of law,financial recklessness, insensitivity to incessant loss of human lives as occasioned by alien acts of terrorism, paucity of adequate infrastructures, lack of concrete economic development plan and national developmental agenda. Again, that Nigeria hasn't parted physically is still an enigma. It is a puzzle because other countries of the world that were bombarded with mere iceberg-like of challenges like we face everyday in Nigeria have since started re-building from the ruins and ashes left behind by wars.
It is quiet unfortunate that the supposedly tenders of the Nigerian palm tree have since taken up ownership rights as well. What belongs to the mass of the people is now an exclusive preserve of select few. Injustice is now the acceptable norm while justice has since become an orphan. The Nigerian system has now assumed a crisis, crisis and crisis default.
Fellow Nigerians, it is high time we stopped deluding ourselves that any messiah will emerge from the current crop of political parties and flag bearers-that thought in itself is self-destruct. There is no better time to collectively contend and rescue our aging palm tree from the hands of its wicked and heartless tenders usurping our collective ownership rights and privileges than now. We have waited for too long and we can't afford to speculate any longer.
Remember your vote isn't just your voice and right but also your verdict. Exercise your political rights: vote or be voted for. Yes,your vote might not count but then you would have counted for something even if it doesn't count!
Long live Nigeria!
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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