The Impossibility And Dangers Of A Continued 'One Nigeria.'

Source: huhuonline.com

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This analysis on 'Project Nigeria' is not, as many may persuade themselves to believe, an attempt to discredit everything Nigeria, rather it is aimed at pointing out those things which most Nigerians already know, the roles they have played so far and

continue to play in what we call '…one nation bound in freedom, peace and unity;' and why it is outrightly foolish to continue deceiving ourselves that there is going to be any different result from what we have, hitherto, been getting as a country. It is also not, per se, a move to entirely discredit those who have ruled the country in these periods of gross darkness; much time has already been devoted to that from all quarters. This piece, however, focuses on the many components which make up Nigeria, and the roles played by each - either as a consequence or as the cause -so far.

It also intends to emphatically state that, from the military era to this almost 12th year of democracy in Nigeria, the politics and governance applied had remained one and destructive - not to what is deceitfully termed as a nation of 'unity in diversity' but to those who have, since 1914, been unlawfully and unjustly pinned to the ground by a name which spells nothing but pains, corruption, wickedness, injustice, depravity, and uncertainty - to those who are still forced into what is ridiculously called 'the giant of Africa-' denying them of countries where responsibility, accountability, good governance, peace, unity, equality, justice, security and progress are given their rightful places.

It will be recalled that several attempts have been made at democracy in Nigeria before the 29th of May, 1999, when Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo took office as President in a democratic government of Nigeria. The first, which took place in the 60s, through Shagari's days, to the June 12th election of 1993 which finally unmasked the agenda of IBB and those whom he represents, were all attempts by insincere leaders, who clearly do not have the interest of those compelled into 'one Nigeria' at heart, to yet deceive and enslave. Notwithstanding, democracy finally came in the middle of 2009 - howbeit, in falsehood and duplicity which characterize the foundation and spirit of the Nigerian state.

Not looking down beyond the periods of the military, and the several attempts at democracy before the Obasanjo's democratic best (after having ruled as a military head of state) which marked the return to democracy in 1999, I intend to showcase the dividends, so far, in a nation blessed with what several other progressive and peaceful nations of the world do not have, yet grow in leaps and bounds. Someone would say: 'speak of the good things about Nigeria, and not always of her abysmal failures.' Well, I beg to differ. Inasmuch as the much talked-about 'law of attraction' states that what you speak more is what you have more, I stand to refute it when it comes to Nigeria. For one, there cannot be found, in any other country, sycophants on a constant speedy rise as it is in Nigeria. Nigeria's politicians have the bests of praise singers - and that includes those who innocently announce the so-called leaders' achievements, and those who cannot stomach anything which discredits their source of stomachs' comfort…even if their shame stands at the city center. Another reason is that the law of attraction is the law of nature; Nigeria, however, was built and is sustained by methods that are against every law of nature, and therefore continues to work at cross-purposes to everything that is right. True praise cannot come out from a place where sycophancy has blinded both the electorate and the elected. So, everything a leader does in such a nation stands as people-oriented, credible, and magnanimous -even when the deceit, callousness, and repercussions stare everyone in the face. No wonder the country has become an impossible functionality. Giving a few details of what we have as a country today - from the cause (which is the politics of Nigeria) to the consequences (which affect every other Nigerian), these deadly and continued states of decline are no longer tolerable: 

The Presidency: Presidents have taken office and left; one is still there. But from the time of Obasanjo's active position to his partial influence over what daily becomes of Nigeria, corruption has remained the order of the day. In his rule, unthinkable amount of money was stolen from the masses in the name of establishing a steady and functional power supply; nothing was seen. The judiciary and the crime-fighting agencies remained the puppets at the beck and call of the presidency. The only thing OBJ's eight-year democratic rule did for Nigeria was the advent of GSM (which, by the way, was sweeping through the African continent at the time). Crimes in the political seats made nonsense of his rule, and that of the late president, Yar' ardua. No one dares to ask questions. And Now that GEJ has taken over, he is still there - brandishing his authority over a continually oppressed and deprived people of Nigeria- instead of getting out of the way. Even when he ruled Nigeria three times, he willfully refused to address the issues which have impeded the growth of a people bound by the cord of falsehood called Nigeria; nevertheless, his Otta farm is functional, fruitful, and constantly well-managed. GEJ is closely marking a year in office but what is seen remains the same, howbeit, in worse state. One wonders what excuses he would give after his tenure and if he refuses to do the most important thing which is calling for a SNC before he leaves office. Everyone of them thinks they can change Nigeria, only to find out when they get there that, to them, 'it is wiser to scoop whatever one can out of Nigeria before the looming uncertainty becomes certain,' instead of standing as a true leader, and lead the people out of this prevailing European falsehood and fraud against Africa. If OBJ ruled Nigeria three times, yet was not even close to touching Nigeria's problem, then we Nigerians- of all people- should know that it has become a spiritual problem which must be treated from the root. Any president who thinks that, without calling for a Sovereign National Conference (SNC), meaningful strides will be recorded to his name can only be seen as another dreamer, but not as Joseph dreamt because Joseph was honest before God and before man. Any president who sheers away from a SNC is not honest before God, to the people, and above all, to himself. Presidents can come from anywhere, but only the president who calls for an all-inclusive conference which will determine the future of Nigeria can be said to have done anything worth recording in the annals of kings.

The Judiciary: Corruption swells their stomach; they have turned the law (which is to protect the people and the nation) upside down. Every corrupt politician becomes a saint after visiting them at night and after exchanging foreign account numbers. This group sits on the peace, safety, and progress of other Nigerians who are 'unlucky' to find themselves or any of their family members in the circle of politicians. They will extort from you even of your only goat if only they can please the 'high and mighty' in the land with a pot of pepper-soup. They practice what is called witchcraft: evil is good in their sights and the innocent but poor is the guilty one, worthy of a life behind bars or total annihilation. When the foundation (law) is destroyed, what shall the righteous do?

The Senate/House of Reps: This group only agrees when there is an equal share of national loot among them according to their ranks. They eat a teacher's (the teacher who taught them) twenty years salary in one week -as allowance to themselves. They only make laws which further oppress the masses, while leaving them with every freedom to further carry out their loots or to hide their crimes. They answer and call themselves 'Honorable,' yet there is nothing honorable about their wickedness. They oppress their neighbors and their perceived enemies; and they get away, unscathed, with everything that an ordinary citizen would have been killed for. They only disagree with the presidency when there is nothing in it for them, or when the masses or other groups alone stand to gain.

EFCC: This group can only pride themselves against the poor and those with no 'high and mighty' as backbones. No corrupt case against any politician has ever been successfully carried out and finished by this group. They would arrest and prosecute jobless youths, pushed into different fraudulent activities by the very people who lead Nigeria towards the gate of hell, but the real thieves they will declare and set free. They have become, from inception, a tool to hunt the enemies of the high and mighty -and no one dare speaks.

The Military: This group has relatively calmed down a while; however, the fear of a soldier (army and navy) in the streets remains the beginning of wisdom for the youths. Do not get them offended or you may not live to narrate your ordeal. To them, nothing can be closer to the law than their uniforms and identity cards. And, if they have a gun with them, just shut your mouth and pray with your spirit as pleading with them - even for no offence- charges them for war.

The Police: This group is a terror to 'ordinary' Nigerians. Guns in their hands are like a soul in satan's grip; you had better comply or feel a trigger-happy moment. Yet, God is our way out. The good ones among them have been so frustrated that, unless they had entered the force as high officers, they risk the chance of being killed by their colleagues, or being retired as corporals even after decades of service.

Ministries: Ministries only function in their offices; the masses do not know what each truly stands for. Ministers for road and transport have come and gone, yet roads in Nigeria only got from bad to worse and… The Agriculture ministry imports food while Adarice, World Bank Rice Project (two great agric. Companies of the 80s) and several other agricultural sites (apart from Otta farm and other individually-owned farms) lay dead for no other reason but corruption of the system. The Minister for petroleum hops about in joy and satisfaction over nothing. Nigeria is about the 6th largest oil power in the world, but the masses stand on queue to get petrol and kerosene - even at exorbitant rates. I have never seen a farmer who produces crops and sells them at cheaper prices only to go to five-star hotels to buy what he produces at unimaginable rates. No farmer does that because it's said that a laborer should, of justice, partake of the first fruits. But Nigeria is a stranger to justice and truth. It did not start with this regime; the decay is in the root of the amalgamation.

Governors: These ones are the gods of their different states, and they are untouchable. No one questions what they do. And taking them before any court in Nigeria would be like buttering their bread because, to them, you would only be giving them free publicity for their presidential campaign. The competition of political posts and power has robbed them of their duties to their states. And who will seat on their case except those whom they or their godfathers appointed to favor them? That is why you see a governor start a project with the state money in his tenure only to include it among his property just before he hands over power. And nobody can successfully do anything about it. They have become as arrogant as King Herod that they are now questioning if the poor truly have any God who listens to them.

Chairmen of LGAs: These ones do nothing but share local government monthly allocation amongst them, go clubbing, and then, fight the poor in their domain who know their rights and insist on having them. A case taken against them before the judge by anyone living within their jurisdiction will be trashed out before a hearing.

The Ward Councilors: For these groups, I have nothing to comment because they do absolutely nothing.

High Institutions: These ones are mere outlets to compel contributions from every family struggling to become relevant. Institutions which demand more than they can give are cultic in reality. Not even the continually inflated school fees and the compulsory 'copy-and paste' handouts could satisfy these academics. Why would they be satisfied when the children they taught all they know are now in politics, squeezing life out of everybody?  Why do we have all the children of these very people who are the true enemies of a progressive Nigeria in all other developed and developing countries of the world, paying in a term for each of their children what is enough for a complete degree in Nigerian schools (or even in those countries for their citizens)?

NNPC: This is the secret cult and another CBN; if you are not connected here, then you are not a Nigerian. They mar the citizenry by every step they take. This is the bloodline of Nigeria's constant decay.

PHCN: Corruption has eaten even the very wires through which they distribute electricity. They are protected by the law to supply electricity to you just for a day, but demand from you a month's exorbitant bill. They simply bully the masses and you can't take a case against them.

Graduates: These, having been caught up in the web of Nigeria's constant decay, now live as though maintaining citizenship in Nigeria has become a do or die affair; and indeed it has. They can be found among sycophants, drug traffickers, high-class prostitutes, fraudsters (which is the trademark of the Nigerian government's relationship with her citizenry), kidnappers, terrorists, human-blood ritualists, and every other thing away from life. The youths must survive, at least.

Hapless Youths: For the majority whose families were caught deeply in the dangers of the Nigerian state, any way is a way. It doesn't matter if they are hired by somebody to betray or kill a friend, as long as there is a financial reward to keep them going, they will jump at it. You may readily want to stand as a judge against these people, but your judgment of them, when Nigeria and those who have led her into the ditch are not yet rightly judged, stands nullified before God.

Religious intolerance: Many countries are made up of many tribes, ethnic, and religious groups; yet, there is hope for that country which has religious tolerance. While other religions have effects like opium, others are decorated with war songs. Nigeria's foundation was dug in falsehood- slanting to accommodate those whose tolerance for other religions is zero. Since then, one injustice has frantically tried to replace the other - to no avail. This same religious intolerance killed education in Nigeria.

Kidnappings: What on earth would you expect the hungry and impatient youth who has taken to kidnappings to do, in the absence of real work or monthly compensation, especially when he is sure that there is too many to go round…hidden by just a few? One thing about social vices is that, if money starts coming in through those methods, it becomes increasingly difficult- even near-impossible -to eradicate, even after good jobs have been provided.

Terrorism: This is the present height and response against the causes of restiveness among youths, for who will allow himself to be used against the innocents in the land except that one who has become totally fed up with the politics of the nation and is within reach to those whose influence is their stolen money? 

Nigeria's Embassies/High Commissions: To Nigerians at home, this group represents and defends Nigeria and her citizens abroad; but to those living abroad, especially to those outside of the political cliques, they only represent the presence of the corruption of Nigeria…trailing them wherever they go. The consuls appointed over the affairs of the nation and the citizens in foreign lands help to worsen the situation of Nigerians abroad. They will quickly judge and condemn you before you could open your mouth to table a case, and standing on the opposite side of Nigerians abroad has become their major role in their host countries. Simply put: Nigeria's embassies/high commission are the international extension of the corrupt government in Nigeria. A Nigerian would rather run to hell than to run to his embassy when he is oppressed in some other country.

Those Who Shout: 'One Nigeria!' This group, in those days, would be stoned without delay. They are the 'less than 1%' that insists on keeping the 99% of the rest of Nigerians enslaved forever. They are either those who share the country's wealth amongst themselves, (as children would share bread and then go out to play), or amongst those who reap more in a confused Nigeria where no money enters your hand and none of your rights is recognized unless and until you take up arms, you bribe your way, or you sell your body. They use words like: 'Nigeria will never break, Nigeria is indivisible, and we are operating a society of unity in diversity.' But, watch them when any of their personal interests are threatened; they go: 'Nigeria will break if…, I see Nigeria breaking, Arab spring imminent in Nigeria if, or I will personally mobilize the youths against the government.' In all their statements, it is never the care and concern for the masses that drive them; rather, it's their selfish and insatiable drives to subjugate and dominate everyone and everything else.

It should be noted that the above descriptions are not personal, per se, but are the consequences of a false foundation upon which Nigeria was built and constantly sustained. It has become a curse which, until the foundation be revisited, can only get worse for those continually used, without their knowledge of what has come over them or any other way out except a total overhauling of the system. And it has become clear that the excuse that Nigeria's democracy is young, excuse often given by those who have nothing to offer Nigeria, yet refute the truth, is no longer meaningful. Oil in Nigeria is not young and the looting of public fund by those who are in authority is not new either.  I was chief in the faith for a Nigeria where freedom, security, progress, peace, and unity will reign, because I believe that 'true majority' creates greater impact; and I have lived my life, serving 'with heart and might,' in a supposed 'nation bound in freedom, peace and unity,' in my own chariot. And just as 'the heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night,' I have invested my time - both to support and defend the big 'Nigerian dream.' But time has proven that majority does not always mean the most powerful or successful, or even right; Britain is there for analysis. While many gladly and, even unwillingly, jumped on board the band wagon of Nigeria's age-long celebration of decay, there were many who stuck to the belief that Nigeria is a great nation of great people. That phrase, to them, implied that greatness can only come and be sustained, not merely through majority, but through freedom, peace, unity, equity, justice, responsibility, and accountability. However, having emphatically found and studied the mad and ever-increasing rush of the Nigerian society towards a continued downward slope into depravity, and the impossibility of fighting this demon of insatiability in the Nigerian politics any other way, I arrived at this conclusion:

  1.              That Nigerians need a fresh start - an overhauling of the system.

2.              That it doesn't matter what adjustments are made, Nigeria will get worse as long as the foundation which carries all is not revisited.

3.              That a people-integrated Sovereign National Conference stands as the simplest measure to address the hopeless issue of the present Nigeria.

4.              That, for true freedom, peace, and unity to reign in what is today still called Nigeria, there must, of all importance, be a dissolution of the 'Nigeria Project' and a subsequent creation of states from the dismantled and false structure.

5.              That those who still stand in the light of truth in Nigeria should and must, of all urgency, stand up from this day, to declare the truth about Nigeria, the inevitable end of a continued Nigeria, and the way forward - aimed at saving what is left so as to save posterity.

I leave every 'true Nigerian' to decide what the truth is about Nigeria, and to stand up - wherever you are, whoever you are, and whatever you are -  and demand, this last time, for a change which is, after all, best for everyone. As long as Nigeria remains one while it is being adjusted without addressing the roots of the decays in various sections of the society, the assurance of falling deeper into a worse Nigeria is unmistakable. Many have likened Nigeria with other countries that have fought and still remained as one; they, however, have refused to look critically at the glaring dissimilarities between Nigeria and those countries.  Countries with predominant adherence to a particular religion have scarcely survived where corruption constantly raid the polity, how much less would a country, like Nigeria (where religious intolerance has become a political tool, and tribalism merged with religious bigotry to constantly oppose every meaningful progress) be hopeful? The issue of a Biafran state and any other state which should come out from what is still referred today as Nigeria should not be read in the Africa's definition of secession and unity; and calling for a dissolved Nigeria should not, in any wise, be seen in the eyes of the Africa's definition of treason. If anything, this generation must understand that freedom is nature's no. 1 gift to man, and freedom is what democracy fights to protect. If, in my honesty and quest for a better society for my people, my neighbors, and posterity in what is still called Nigeria, I'm associated with anything secession or treason…without mentioning unity, then, those who think thus have lost every right to lead and to represent any portion of the human race - no matter how small, insignificant, uneducated, uniformed, frightened, cowardly, poor, helpless and/or hopeless those oppressed may seem.

 
By Ikechukwu Enyiagu,   http://us.mc57.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=