Here is another article published earlier this year. We must never forget these things.

First Published February 27 2011

Adeola Aderounmu

The most consistent message from my articles since 2002 is that without a revolution ordinary Nigerians-more than 70% of the population- will never experience the good life and that the situation will get worse as the status quo in Nigeria is maintained or sustained.

This means that unless something drastic happens in Nigeria [something with magnitude and effect greater than the Northern African revolutions] mass poverty and penury will remain the portion of the larger percentage of the people.

In general the decadence in the society and the hopelessness that affects more than 90m Nigerians today will persist. More than any other country in the world Nigeria needs a revolution.

Just the other day Dimeji Bankole consoled himself on his personal fears and anxiety about a Nigerian revolution that will consume him and his likes. He said Nigerians have democracy and that the types of revolutions we see in North Africa cannot happen in Nigeria.

Does this dude even know that the standard of living under a dictatorial Mubarak was fear better than all the stupid forms of government that Nigerians have experienced and endured?

I have written several times that anyone that says that Nigeria is democratic country needs to see a doctor to ascertain the state of his/ her mental health.

I don’t know if Dimeji and all the politicians parading Nigeria and looting at will need a reminder of how they got their political appointments or selections. To make a generalization-almost all the political offices in Nigeria in the forth coming April elections are already determined and known.

I see a collective madness when the generality of Nigerians subscribe to the word “democracy”. Nigeria’s mad politics needs to be defined and explained. This is going to be a long essay.

In Tunisia the people rose against a family that controlled more than half of the country’s economy. In Nigeria the task is bigger. We are not dealing with a family. We are up against a gang of political robbers spread across Nigeria who with the consent and support of a few among us have found ways to suppress the genuine aspirations of the good people in Nigeria. We live as slaves and subjects. The expression “fellow Nigerians” that usually comes from Nigerian rulers is a figment of their imaginations.

In Nigeria we are dealing situations that have been made complicated by the exploitation of our cultural and ethnic diversities. The things that should have been used for the development and progress of Nigeria have been hijacked by these evil manipulators to create disunity and a perpetual means to enrich a few and enslave the rest of us. I refused to be manipulated.

Has anyone suggested to Jonathan, Dimeji and David Mark that they should all try to live on the minimum wage of N18 000/month for at least 3 months? These people are heartless bloodsuckers!

When I wrote My message to Nigerians in 2011 stop saying it’s God, I was emphatic on the need for Nigerians to emerge from their places of worship and confront the order of things. I was calling for a mass revolt that will overthrow the persistent illegitimacy in Nigeria and put a final end to the deep-rooted corruption in the system.

When I wrote is revolution our last option, I already knew it is the only way forward for Nigeria. In the last paragraph I stated that: this country belongs to all of us and it is our right to participate in the matters that shape our lives. The last probable option will be to do it by force. The people must utilize the best option that is open to them so that prosperity can be a bestowment to the generations unborn from this land flowing with milk and honey. That option in other words is the revolution.

When I wrote what happened to a cup of rice at 30kobo, my idea was that we must take back Nigeria now so that it will be ready for our great grandchildren by the turn of the next century. My views remain the same. Nigeria must be taken back from the oppressors, thieves and looters.

When I wrote who planned our lives in Nigeria, the aim was to sensitize Nigerians on the need to choke the greedy people out of Nigeria and for us to start a new plan. Sweden started with great reforms about 100 years ago and Tunisians are writing a new chapter in their history. All great countries made changes and reforms, at some points in their histories.

My code red to NVS was a message that I wrote specifically calling for the overthrow of corrupt regimes in Abuja and across all the states in Nigeria by the ordinary people who love Nigeria. In that essay I mentioned that it was time to move our online activism and demonstrations overseas back to Nigeria where the real action is.

I was called a preacher man. In the Middle East they are called “The Generation changing the world” (Time Magazine Feb 28). No one mocks people calling for changes that are overdue.

I haven’t read anywhere online or elsewhere where Egyptians at home are calling on Egyptians abroad to come home to lead a revolution. Libyans at home are doing the work while those abroad are mounting international pressures. What has also happened as we see even in Bahrain is that exiled politicians are returning home to join the revolts and to contribute to the new reawakening.

As recent as December 2010 a friend spoke to me in Nigeria and said, Adeola why don’t you come back home and write all these stuffs. Nigerians have been poisoned by this sort of layback mentality. I didn’t have enough time to tell him the risk some people are taking for Nigeria even after liberating themselves from the social malady and absolute madness in Nigeria.

I didn’t have the time to tell him about the various types of emails that I have been receiving from across the world and the fact that when I walk down the streets of Lagos I don’t know how anonymous I am really. My pictures are all over the web and my real names go with my opinions. Even the people who love me have warned me not to step into Nigeria or they encourage me to take alternative routes to Nigeria.

Nigerians need a revolution now, not later. It is not even worth waiting for the forthcoming election that has already resulted in the murder of several Nigerians and which, if care is not taken, may rank among the bloodiest elections in Nigeria. Jos and Maiduguri are indicators that cannot be overlooked or underrated.

Nigerians should come out in their millions and take back their country from the people in Abuja and other parts of Nigeria. Six months ago no one thought that Ben Ali dynasty could be wiped away from the surface of the earth. But it happened! Nothing is impossible. Where there is a will, there is a way.

Ben Ali was swept away. Why not Babangida as a Nigerian example? This man should be arrested and all the treasures of Nigeria in Minna, Paris, Switzerland and all other places should be taken back. Tunisians took their stuff from the former first family and burnt the rest. Nigerians must have clear cut goals and pursue them to the last letter.

Obasanjo should be made to return anything in excess of his salary from 1999-2007. Let’s do the calculations, how much do these rogues earn? How much do they have in their bank accounts through self-enrichment and abuse of offices?

Nigeria’s revolution should usher in the longest trial of corrupt people in human history. At that point Dimeji’s razzmatazz would not save him from all the allegations of looting hanging on his neck.

Nigerians can do the work that Ribadu refused to do because he was one of them anyway.

The Nigerian revolution should sweep away all undesirable elements in the Nigerian public service. David Mark, Dimeji Bankole and all the gangs in the Nigerian National Assembly and the House of Representatives should be made to return all the excess monies they have taken since 1999. How on earth can these rogues be allowed to take away 25% of Nigeria’s wealth while the rest of us are suffering?

Imagine how much monies the governors and ministers have stolen in Nigeria! What about commissioners and the rest of them?

In the whole world there is no greater need for revolution than in Nigeria.

Nigeria has reached the turning point. She must not refuse to turn. The momentum and impulse sweeping across Africa and the Mideast must not be allowed to hover around Nigeria just like that. Nigerians must harness and impact the wind of change.

There is a global support for change to usher in a better world; Nigerians cannot afford the luxury of wasting this golden moment in history. Change is now.

Change is now because even as I ponder this article a friend told me: Adeola, look, if you are a Nigerian politician, you must steal! He gave me the alternatives. If you don’t steal, you will be killed! If you don’t steal, the people under you will implicate you in deals. If you don’t steal, you will have problems.

This line of argument-that I must steal-is like a recurring decimal. I don’t win because Nigerians have a malformed mindset of the meaning of governance and public service. I have not been able to convince any Nigerian that rather than steal or loot, I will leave office or even die. They said it doesn’t happen in Nigeria.

I cannot wish more for a revolution than now and today. Many Nigerians have been brainwashed and even brain-damaged that they speak unthinkable things and give their supports to extreme anomalies like corruption, tribalism, nepotism, national character, sabotage, looting and many other vices.

My point?

We cannot continue to live with these anomalies and aberrations. Despite all the corrupt people and all the people who are waiting for their turn to loot or benefit from loot, there are people in Nigeria who can rescue Nigeria.

But the challenges are hard and difficult.

When I walk down the streets of Lagos I see that the people are totally disconnected from the politicians who are looting and deceiving them. The hopelessness and struggles in the Nigerian society has rendered millions of Nigerians powerless and voiceless.

Many are disillusioned by perpetual failure of governance and unmet expectations.

We described Nigerians as resilient people whereas in actual fact it is the government that has systematically zombified the populace. Imagine that Nigerians are going to vote and try to protect their votes in elections that some people already know the outcomes.

If you make a simple prayer like “May Sango strike dead any Nigerian politician that try to cheat in the forthcoming elections”, no Nigerian politician will dare say Amen or Amin.

The revolution coming to Nigeria must help us do away with this type of banana republic where a group of politicians prepare election results, force their way to INEC offices, bribe the soldiers with N50 000 each and announce the results they have made to tally with estimated voters from each constituencies.

This according to Obasanjo, has been the tradition since 1959 and in 1999 Atiku and Obasanjo perfected the same stupid strategy for the PDP. In 2007 Obasanjo, Iwu and Ibori did the dirty jobs for Yar Adua and Jonathan.

Since 1999 I have been careful not to carelessly address any Nigerian ruler as president. I have also been careful not to succumb to using the phrase “elected into office”. I refused to live with the nonsense that Nigerians called politics or elections.

I want to continue to raise my heads high. I also want to be able to say one day “there are no bases to lower the cognitive abilities and intellectuality of the black people using Nigerians living in Nigeria as the yardstick and our electoral process as a parameter”. Today the arguments are not in my favour so I don’t undertake them.

Today I cannot prove that a godfather collecting N25m monthly from a state is not mentally deranged or intellectually fatigued. Those giving away the funds too must be mad or something but then it’s called payback. In today’s Nigeria it is hard to prove that the people in the Nigerian senate and house of assembly are not deficient in their cognitive abilities if they earn the most money in the world doing almost nothing and living among the poorest people on earth.

In the future someday our great grandchildren will be able to use other parameters like GDP, family planning, level education, level of infrastructure, equality, growth index, social awareness, social justice, national insurance policy and several more as the lasting bridges of common human intellectual capacities.

The foundation for such a future must be laid now and revolution is the only way out.

The present government in Nigeria was borne out of illegality in 2007 and should be flushed away. The attempt to legalise it this April 2011 is not coming with a promise of better life. In such a short time, the illegal government of Jonathan has almost drain Nigeria’s foreign reserves. What a prodigal son!

Still Mr. Jonathan owes the people of Bayelsa both apologies and restitutions for the funds that were looted by him and his boss Diepreye Alamieyeseigha. Jonathan’s wife may suffer the same fate as Ben Ali’s second wife if our revolution takes place today.

I am talking about sending not only Jonathan to exile but also members of his family and over 120 personal assistants.

Together they are sucking the people dry in probably the most expensive government in the world.

Those who say revolution is not possible in Nigeria are viewing the extent of the damage that has been done over the past 50 years and counting on the mummification of Nigerians. But why should they also neglect the possibility of changes and the hope of a better future for our grandchildren that are not yet born.

Who says it’s too late?

Everything that is wrong and bad in Nigeria can be corrected through this revolution that will send all corrupt people to either jail or exile. It will serve as a long lasting solution to addressing national issues. The revolution will not end after one night and the changes will not appear in a fortnight. These things are processes. A journey of a thousand miles still needs one bold step to begin.

The greatest crime ordinary Nigerians are committing against themselves is their collective passivity and their continuous hope even in the face of outright hopelessness.

What is imperative now is that we need a revolution in Nigeria and it is something we must undertake.

Nobody has to worry about leading the revolt. Revolution takes its own shape as it unfolds. The prime thing is to have agenda, demands and the right to self-determination.

I have seen different Nigerian groups on Facebook. What we need is a group of selfless individuals who can harness these various groups under one umbrella. Nigerians must find their common grounds. If we succeed we will create the largest online revolt forum. From that point we can start to see and take our destinies in our hands.

I have no doubt in my minds since I wrote my first major article in 2002-why politicians steal-that the only option for Nigeria is a revolution.

While Discussing NLC, Mass Revolt and the Coming Revolution 2 years ago I thought that the nationwide protests by the NLC could usher in the revolution but it didn’t. Such demonstrations must now return with full force because together they still represent a viable option to rescue Nigerians.

The future of Nigeria is in the hands of Nigerians.

The outcome of a Nigerian revolution will help the Nigerian people to negotiate on the way they want to pursue their lives, how to seek happiness within Nigeria or without it. The sum of all our collective decisions will help us to determine the way forward.

Nigeria’s politics today is the single biggest investment for fraudulent minds. It is a disgrace to the intellectuality of the African race. It does not represent the change we seek and it does not signify the hope we can believe in.
Nigeria needs something that will bring all the corrupt rulers and politicians- both in past and present dispensations to justice now. Enough is enough, it’s been 50 years of waste and rot.

I am sure that it is only a revolution that can bring about a new order and glimpse of hope for the future for Nigerians.