The Lie That We Live
We have all agreed that what distinguishes us from other mammals is our ability to reason rationally. Our ability to open ourselves to words of reason; to be amenable to it. Without this, we are no different from the four-hinged.
Political situations call for political attention, but political tension calls for apt political decision-The dire need for pro-activeness. As political animals thrown in the political zoo of a nation, we must define our homo sapien nature channeling our reasoning with such pragmatic manner and analyzing same with a realistic mindedness. For how long, do we continue to discuss so intelligently and passionately about the failures and lack of discretion of government. For how long, will the government continue to ridicule the sense of judgment and belittle the intellectual prowess of the people. I’m left to wonder; Are there still good men in this country?
Before I derail into an elegic epistolary or what the bigotry will call an hallucination of an embittered man, let me bring to the fore some highlighted issues which can probably be solved by a revolution or cessation
Save me the sweet smelling fact, that this country reeks of milk and honey, that we have lushful vegetation, that our mineral resource will enure in perpetuity, that the atmospheric condition and weather situation favours all and sundry, that natural disaster is left abate. Let us dispense with that for one second and let us face issues like right thinking members of a sane society.
- The Search for Identity: a given society is expected to thrive in a functional system, an identifiable system of government that is practicable to the essence of existence of its people. Democracy and Federalism are system and concept that we have been ignorantly coerced to embrace. This is the crux of the problem, this is the genesis of the issues leading to revelational acknowledgment that these concept truly do not reflect what we stand for, do not reflect our history as a people, do not reflect our deep seated culture. Flipping through the dusty history books, we were made to understand that, our sacred cultures reflected communal living, communal development, communal partnership thereby bringing growth and progress through love, bond and understanding. A further reading into voluminous history books enlightens us as to the significance and operation of this- every member of that society recognizes and accepts the leadership of authority, they gleefully pay homage to it, in another society in history, one member of each family is ably represented in decision making of the society.
One lesson from the sage which we should learn from this, it featured legitimacy and that they had an unwritten law yet there was smooth running of government- this differed from Democracy and Federalism which birth the constitution thereby forcing us into the pages of laws. Laws which the makers have blatantly and publicly defecated upon.
Looking at the preambic wordings of that constitution, it ordinarily commenced with “WE THE PEOPLE OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA”. The constitution should be made to understand that there is no “WE” it connotes an agreement and consensus ad idem. It is a ruse!
And that is why Ethnicity, Tribalism, Cultural Differences will keep been a plague, a clog and a cloud over our heads. It will be a recurring and militating factor in reaching that desired promised land.
- Erosion of Core Values: Today we clearly observe that material gains have taken priority over virtue. Man has equipped himself with the tools of industry and experimental sciences and has abandoned the good merits which are expected and needed to guard his soul from being destroyed under the feet of the evilness of lust and uncontrolled wants. The worst of men are those entrusted with the rule of the common people and yet they are driven daily by selfish whims to exploit the common man. The common man, an average Nigerian is that person whose aim on every rise of the day is to live and survive. His quest is to find contentment and upliftment from the poverty line.
- Nigerian politicians are such men who are overwhelmed by the distasteful desire to enrich their accounts, govern in such reckless abandon of the people and live flamboyant lifestyle which does not tally with the harsh economy realities of this times. This is not leadership but rulership, taking us back from federalism to feudalism. It is quite unfortunate that in this age and time of enlightenment and exposure we can still be subjected to such effrontery from those we supposedly elected.
Flowing from our lost of identity, is the consequence of the bane in the society today. The impact of the wreck and havoc which social ills and vices have had on us will consciously remain a topic of the day. Making us wonder, how the next generation would look like?
The shatters of our justice system over the years is also worthy of note. The sour smell of the political hand discolored our much cherished legal system. The much revered values of our esteemed legal system was thrown to the devourer and sadly we were unable to rebuke the cankerworm.
Before I draw you into my self-reflection which my critics might call pessimism, let me go back to the nature of the average Nigerian- Resilience and Complacency! Thank you!
Taiwo Ademola
Public Analyst and Social Commentator
[email protected]