The Nigerian state is peculiar. From her creation to her declaration as a peculiar mess by Late Adelabu, to her current state. All nations in the world are peculiar in their own ways, in some places deception is veiled, cryptic, scripted, institutionalized, and legalized, while in some places even ‘scoobydoos’ can smell deception as it is done with reckless abandon.
Dear fellow Nigerians:
The Nigerian state is peculiar. From her creation to her declaration as a peculiar mess by Late Adelabu, to her current state. All nations in the world are peculiar in their own ways, in some places deception is veiled, cryptic, scripted, institutionalized, and legalized, while in some places even ‘scoobydoos’ can smell deception as it is done with reckless abandon.
However, in Nigeria the smell of deception is pungent and the stench so pervasive, but so often than not we have devised a way of spraying expensive air fresheners to temporarily hide the stench of our mess while spinning, creating, and weaving multiple layers of webs (deception and misdirection) to divert us from our scarily grim but hopeful reality as a nation.
Another wonderful exception in the Nigerian context is that being among the most educated, most intelligent, brightest, and most traveled group of people, we have all collectively decided to make our nation a mess. The compounds and interiors of many homes in Ikoyi, Lekki, Port Harcourt, Abuja, Zaria, Kaduna and all over Nigeria subdues & swallows what even the wealthy have as homes in the USA, United Kingdom, and other functional nations.
We have smart sense but we are also stupidly silly once the "selfish" button in us all is pressed. Yes, we all have the "selfish" button, some have theirs openly accessible while some have theirs masqueraded (they act as freedom fighters like they are fighting for the masses while they are just junky jobbers). Cars sold for $50,000 abroad by the makers are sold here for 80 Million Naira or above and we all keep quiet with our aim being how to steal or loot enough money to acquire our own.
Since this prosperous nation was founded, no tribe has had a reason not to complain. We have all wronged, irritated, exploited, and deceived ourselves at one point or another. Let us reduce the cost of governance (earning and privileges of political appointees and elected officials at all levels and we will be en route prosperity again with a solid future).
Please let history be mandatory in our schools and force our youths to read books that tell our story, this will help us.
As sad as it may be, now a ruthless Python is dancing and strangulating helplessly weak people with some people dead, some asphyxiate, and some drunken with muddy water which is the python's home zone.
No matter how bad the situation is, we must all uphold sanity or else this whole thing will blow in our faces and we will all lose (God forbid). When push came to shove in 1960s civil war, the heat came on fully after the feeding bottle of food and medical aid was removed.
The effect: millions died, destinies were thwarted, marriages destroyed, problems created, hunger was raging, rape, arson, and madness were rife. People were used and disposed at will or acquired and shipped out as property due to selfish reasons and in the midst of all this, the "Messiah" ran away. Yes, he took off, ran away and left his helpless devotees, he could not die for what he was preaching.
Can Kanu die for what he is preaching? This is a London boy that is just an air ticket away or either via any of our numerous porous borders or with connivance via a private jet owner and he is fooling the brightest people - the Igbos.
Can you live in Nigeria today without you having a direct or indirect interaction with an Igbo person daily? They (Igbos) import most of what we consume daily as we are an importing economy and our local production recovery army is led by these our industrious siblings (Innoson, Aba Market, numerous pharmaceutical firms et al). So why allow this Kanu guy to fool us?
For me, I see this Kanu show as a show by the wealthy and powerful for the wealthy and powerful at the detriment of the poor, helpless, and those without knowledge.
Oduduwa Republic is also another thing that some people are selling now as a solution to the Nigerian mess, the sellers are wealthy ex-powerful political goons who want to be in the inner caucus of government at the peak level at all times by all means while their marketers are political prostitutes who have been at the helm of affairs, held key positions, and dined with the high and mighty while the society, their society, and posterity has nothing to show for their sojourn in those high places until they fell.
Some fell out with their former bosses while karma felled some.
Some folks are also beating their fat fleshy chests screaming militancy in the South-South while turning a blind eye to making their leaders accountable for every penny they received, are receiving, and will receive. As a people, we are so twisted that our "person" being in government makes more sense than our person doing his/her duty and making our lives better.
At the golf club, everybody is friends with everybody, they put their political robes and masks away and you see them all bonding when you travel abroad, you even see them visiting each other and eating together while some poor folks are fighting and bitter because of fickle party loyalty.
Since we all cannot be in Abuja, our state capitals or council offices we elected some of our folks, it's sad that we end up worshipping them instead of questioning them and holding them accountable for every kobo and Naira they receive on our behalf in our name.
Instead, we are happy when our names are on Hajj or Jerusalem pilgrimage lists, they give us board appointments, employ our children and feel fulfilled, they allow us to smell the food while they eat, store, eat, store, and store more. Ask your local government councilor, chairman, State House of Representatives member, or senator representing you, key questions and you will see how we all failed.
The judiciary that should save us has been swallowed by itself, the veil covering the eyes of the adjudicator is a net mesh that allows him to see and judge partially based on alliances, connections, bonds, promises, and gifts.
Fixing Nigeria is not mission impossible. However the current state of our mess has many beneficiaries and the list of the beneficiaries, and would-be beneficiaries increase almost per minute. Picture those who will lose if we get the Nigerian economy straight, picture those who will lose when Lagos has 8 refineries, Port Harcourt has 8, the North has 10, and other parts of this nation have functional refineries.
They (the goons) cannot import almost daily again and the wealth revolves around all of us. Picture those who will lose when there is a functional high-speed rail system in the Niger Delta linking all those beautiful states and fostering a prosperous economy.
Picture those who will lose when anybody's car can be searched and picture whose who will lose when we have functional industries without having to import toothpick, tuna fish, and concentrate to make our numerous sugar drinks. Picture those who will lose when you can get elected without worshipping them.
Never forget that a functional society creates wealth for everyone with equal opportunities while a dysfunctional society creates wealth for the few at the detriment of the majority who have almost zero opportunity. Those are the folks sponsoring, aiding, and fostering these problems we have in Nigeria, I am Yoruba by birth, my best friends are from the North, while my wife is from the South-South with a bit of South-East blood, and I do not plan on getting a visa to visit my in-laws.
Regards,
Ọ̀gbẹ́ni Akowe, a legal practitioner wrote from Lagos, Nigeria.
