REVOLUTION’S CALL: AN OPEN LETTER TO NIGERIANS

There is a country with so many problems ever since it existed as a nation, the most conspicuous of which is the overwhelming importance of the northern region of Nigeria, which is densely populated. Lord Lugard, the founder of British Nigeria who favoured the submissive mainstream of that area, designed this “imbalance.” Lord Lugard brought to us “a nation in itself.” He united multiple entities into one form that many have called “AMALGAMATION.” He succeeded in amalgamating Southern and Northern Nigeria in January 1914.

Since then, Nigerians have been killing Nigerians. Our woes have logically increased as a nation. Nigeria has been in “sixes and sevens” economically, politically and academically et al, we are in a tepid fuss and many intellectuals have attributed Nigeria's problem to the “amalgamation of 1914.” Others call it “bogus” and a “gaffe” but this already lingered problem didn't just started yesterday neither did it just show up today, it has been an accumulated years of ignorance, lack-lustre and inept leadership.

Funny enough, our amalgamation will cease to exist in 2014 and this development is not a good one at all because it has some grave implications.

First, by 2014, Nigeria will no longer “legally” exist.

Second, Nigeria will be back to pre-1914 status of two states of southern Nigeria and Northern Nigeria both “legally” and “technically.” Although, the ruling elites may ignore this reality except there is a “revolution” from the people.

Third, people of southern and northern Nigeria must come together to enter a new agreement under their own terms. However, the amalgamation of southern and northern Nigeria by the British was to be experimented for 100 years to know if it is going to work or not, according to the secret government document the British left behind after independence. Now that we have experimented “amalgamation” and it didn't work, what next do we do to save the destiny of Nigeria from ship-wreck? Hence, reason for writing this column. This column will not constitute panegyrics because as I hold my pen to write, I am in pangs of anger and fury because of the panic and pandemonium Nigeria has connoted.

A nation popularly called the “giant of Africa” is now liken to a pangolin, a nation with huge resources and panorama is still suffering from egocentricity by our government, we keep looking for ego-surfing everywhere around the world but our situation in Nigeria has been egregious. our lord's prayer, the stanzas of our national anthem and our national pledge keeps reiterating aphorism, mysticism, forgiveness, love, unity, hope and commitment but yet as each day passes, everything seems to be beyond our hope, the lyrics of this songs and prayers are not plausible in the content of what our nation stands for today. We seem to lack foresight as a nation.

Lord Lugard used the imperialism form of government; totalitarianism is a modern form of autocracy; despotism, absolutism, tyranny are all forms of non-participatory government but yet a whole lot of our leaders still have this elements of putrid form of governance in them and they still want to rule a fashionable set of people. Isn't that absurdity? A party problem now becomes a national delinquent, the emergence of another party filled with expired and insipid politicians calling themselves progressives or conservatives, who are the conservatives? Is it those wooing another party's rogue? We keep creating individual and collective problems for ourselves but we don't have the stable scheme to solve this numerous self-inflicted problems, may be the “unaltered outcome” of the national conference will do the renaissance, who knows? However, the chances are too slim.

Corruption here and there, strike has become our new name because a lot knows us to be a striking nation. Poverty is killing the young and the old almost on daily-basis, there is a cut in flow between the leaders and followers, we keep making futile promises but the national cake has not reach many Nigerians. A lot of Nigerians live in penury inside an affluence nation, the rich keeps getting richer and the poor keeps getting poorer and that is what a scientist will call the “markownikoff's system of Nigeria”. There is a huge gap between the rich and the poor. How do we bridge this gap?

In fact, the relationship between the governed and the government is wavering. Our future seems blink even as the days are gloomy, no hope for the hopeless anymore. Unemployment here and there, sectarian crises have confidently truncated the peace and economy of the north, ghost town everywhere in the country, ghost-workers looming like a river.

Boko-haram is another form of ghosting troubling the peace of the living in a nation that boast of high security vote annually, the government no longer has plan for me and you and yet we keep comparing ourselves with the best of the world. What is positing for our comparison? The myopia of our leaders to the yearnings of the masses is becoming worrisome and that is why I am in support of Obasanjo's letter to Jonathan. Let us stop attacking the messenger rather let us attack the message. Our leaders are just pursuing power while the rest of us are dying of hunger daily. People like Ken Saro Wiwa, Chinua Achebe and even Gani Fawehinmi popularly called “senior advocate of the masses” fought for the existence of the poor and less privileged.

Ken Saro Wiwa was a Nigerian writer and an activist who wrote, “Remembering the past and shaping the future.” In 1992, Saro Wiwa was imprisoned for several months without trial by the Nigerian military government. In 1993, he was arrested again but released after a month. He suffered all because he stood for right of humans but at the end of the day; he was murdered after the entire struggle. He died at the point of preaching revolution.

Chinua Achebe is another trailblazer who was also a writer, “There was a country” and “Things fall apart” are two of his many books he wrote while he was still alive, even the title of these books are too petrifying to ignore. The contents of these books suggests that Achebe was a legend who died at the stage of preaching revolution, he stood for, “There is a moral obligation, I think, not to ally oneself with power against the powerless.”

Gani Fawehinmi was another activist who through sickness fought for the liberation of the masses. the last statement of Gani before he died was “ I had no regret in doing what I did and if I come back to this world again and there is still corruption or injustice, I will continue to fight and he vowed to continue the struggle for the emancipation of the masses in his grave”.

Nelson Mandela revolutionized South Africa and today history has written the name of Madiba in gold.

I think Femi Falana is already following the footsteps of Gani, which is a good thing for our democracy that is going crazy. Be it as it may, they stood for a better Nigeria. They gave opinions for a better Nigeria. They preached a better Nigeria.

But when the message is loud enough and nothing was changing, then we have to re-strategize and this element is not far-fetched from “Revolution.” The Revolution of 1848 never left the “poles”, ”Danes”, ”Germans”, “Italians”, “Czechs”, “Slovaks” and “Croats” the way he met them, even in the electronic world, revolution did the invincible. In fact, Thomas Jefferson was called “a man of revolution” because he employed this very important tool to achieve great accomplishments in the United States of America.

A nation bed-wetting on a waterbed needs revolution. A nation that cannot give its electorate the dividends of democracy needs revolution, no place for true-federalism. A nation that is rated the 144th most corrupt country and yet still come out to criticize and ignore this statistics needs revolution. A nation that can no longer provide security, good roads, social amenities, jobs for its myriad citizens needs revolution. A nation that keeps celebrating mediocrity, criminals, thieves, political hawkers, shenanigans, tomfoolery needs revolution.

Nigerians, we need revolution, we cannot keep doing the same thing the same way and we expect different result. That is outright insanity. Revolution is the only sure solution to Nigeria's problem. It is the only hope of the masses in this complex country, it is the idea of justice that divides power qualitatively not quantitatively as our constitutionalists do, it is “atheist” in religion and “anarchist” in politics. Anarchist in the sense that it considers power as a passing necessity and atheist in that, it recognizes no religion because it recognizes them all.

Enough by now should be enough. It's time to experiment with revolution. It's time to start “stealing from the rich” because it is a sacred and religious act in a revolution environment. It's time to rewrite our history because revolution is the ecstasy of history. Honestly, it is time; it's time we ask for a revolutionary change before our children yet unborn calls us fools who lived but has nothing to show for a living but let me also at this juncture highlight the effect a revolutionary change will have on our corrupt nation.

First, there will be wiping away of aristocratic titles and a host of other hangovers that has truncated the nation.

Second, there will no longer be slavery from any quarter no matter how powerful you are and terrorism will be outdated.

Third, social vices will be drastically reduced if not totally reduced because our virtues will now be operating on the principle of “the greatest good to the greatest number” which is the greatest humanitarian service to humanity and the story of eating “the national cake” alone will be of zero tolerance. So we stand a huge chance of having a bright future as a nation if only we will embrace a revolutionary change and curse the enemy of our future which is definitely “our today” which can be in human, material or non-materialistic format. Let us spread this message of revolution now; else, we will be prolonging our misery and storing trouble for generations to come.