Mr. Abati’s call to stone corrupt rulers was re-echoed recently by Mr. Amaechi. When the people start, both callers will receive massive doses of stones and that makes it very interesting

Daybreak 2015

By Adeola Aderounmu

As week 47 of 2014 went by, we saw traces of what can escalate across the country in 2015.

The redemption of these aggregates clumped into one country can still be negotiated before it is too late. It is late when negotiations are no longer possible because of the total breakdown of law and order.

Things are happening, and very fast too.

Nigeria still holds together because of that attraction at the center where the milk is thick. It is holding together because across all the state houses in Nigeria there are still billions of nairas that can be be looted or carted away.

In 2011 it was easy to predict that 1999-2015 will be among the worst years of the Nigerian life. In that essay I wrote about the 4 wasteful years ahead of Nigeria. It is not as if all the years since 1960 have not been wasteful enough.

As 2014 draws to a classical closure Nigerians are faced with what appears like the greatest suspense of their lives since 1999 when the country was returned to pseudo-democracy.

It is so bad that one group is already chanting the songs of a parallel national government. But they will first show the people the evidence of a man who eats the coconut that has been broken on his head.

Those who hope to win from the catastrophe in Nigeria and those who hope to fight the power that be don’t even know yet what daybreak 2015 holds.

It appears that the things that Nigeria has been running away from for too long may catch up with her in 2015. May be…

Nigeria and Nigerians need a political solution.

The need to restructure the geography of Nigeria in a way that is devoid of political selfishness and greed has been neglected for too long.

Rather than solve the problems relating to autonomy, resource control or even regional government, the selfish central governments (military and civilians) always ended up dividing or approving the creation of states after states using parameters that are devoid of common sense and logic.

Along with all the problems of corruption, improbity, impunity and general executive recklessness, the creation and existence of non-viable states in Nigeria has also contributed to the problems of Nigeria.

Apart from tribal and even religious conflicts, the creations of non-viable states have contributed to the slow economic growth of Nigeria. The over-reliance on the sustenance of the country on petroleum products has always been a recipe for disaster.

Rather than solve the problems, the foolishness of political rulers in Nigeria also led to the so-called federal character. Merit, common sense and integrity were thrown out of the windows.

All kinds of foolish people, nonentities and incredibly bad characters have contributed to the destruction of public institutions in Nigeria in what they called federal character. These characters came from everywhere in Nigeria and from all kinds of tribes and political parties.

The need for a political solution cannot wait any longer. The government also neglected her duties of protecting human lives. It is better to use the available institutions of governance, while the opportunity lasts to settle political problems.

When the members of the House of Representatives finish jumping all the fences and walls in Abuja, it may be too late to find a political situation.

Another problem that Nigeria has neglected for so long is the issue of conducting credible elections.

Elections in Nigeria have always been a charade that reduces the collective intelligence of Nigerians. The way elections are conducted in Nigeria invariably implies that nobody in Nigeria can add 3+4 and get 7.  It’s like Nigerians need a double dose of common sense.

We have seen Nigerian governors proving that 17 people can be majority and 19 people minority. We now see in Ekiti where 7 people can be more than 19 people. Is this political dyslexia or an outright demonstration of political necrosis? Is Fayose trying to make a new statement: that everybody in Ekiti is daft? This is a reflection of a national disgrace since 1959 when Nigerians lost their ability to count and add peacefully.

Nigeria is imitating foreign democracies and that is what makes it very unreal. When the legislators are meeting in the governors’ offices or when the legislators receive cars or expensive mobile gadgets as gifts from the governors, what kind of nonsense democracy is that? It doesn’t make sense at all and it is sustainable because everybody is a thief, or waiting to be one.

This is so regular in Nigeria that political office holders spend the people’s monies like criminals without any repercussions.

These anomalies are possible because over the years almost all political office holders have rigged their ways into power. Criminals have used force and ill-gotten money to facilitate their emergence to political stardom.

When these atrocities are added to impunity, lack of justice and sadly a followership that is willing along the evil trends, it’s not hard to see why elections remain a charade. I must have told the story of how cutlasses and weapons are used to guard “thumbing” centers in the Niger Delta. It is the same in many states in Nigeria. The most violent party usually wins overall. They tell us INEC counted….nonsense!

It is against these backgrounds that Mr. Amaechi and his gang warned that the APC will form a parallel government in 2015. He is aware of the situation and how governments have changed hands over the years in the Niger Delta and elsewhere in Nigeria. He is a beneficiary of this madness, as his former friend too Mr. Jonathan. Do I need to elaborate?

The fear of Daybreak 2015 is turning out to be a nightmare for both APC and PDP. To form a convincing national government by the PDD or a dreamland parallel government by the APC will rest on the people of Nigeria.

It will depend on whether impunity is still allowed at that time. It will depend on whether the politicians can look back at their collective foolishness and selfishness at the same time that the people will look back at their resilience threshold and say, there was a country.

For the things that hold Nigeria together can as well end the fake union. We are talking about one of the most corrupt countries in the world where the present lazy ruler had the audacity to state that stealing is not corruption.

The sustenance of Nigeria despite all her ills is partly due to the corruption that envelope all participants in politics and even public (civil) services. Corruption may tear Nigeria apart as the race to the treasuries continues to heat the polity.

This corruption is used to massage the egos of the elites who think they have Nigerians in the palm of their hands. To a large extent, they do.

For example, the global price of oil dropped in recent weeks. The prices did not fall in Nigeria, one of the several pointers to the crimes committed against the people daily. Nobody is even complaining and the government keeps ranting about subsidy.

By stating that subsidies will be removed, Nigerian economic magicians are saying be ready for harder times ahead. What will happen if the subsidy is removed in 2015? Will the people stay quiet? Can life in Nigeria be bitchier?

Many states in Nigeria are parasitic. They cannot exist without the so-called monthly allocation. The resources locked up in some of them remain largely untapped. When tapped, one criminal minister and some local stakeholders connive with international criminals mainly from China and cart away the resources, almost free of charge!

Now the states that are productive and enterprising will suffer austerity measures like the parasitic states because of the revenue formula system. In general the common people will groan more everywhere.

The political rivalry between APC and PDP is extremely unhealthy. It may add some hot spice to a country already on a free fall. What happened this week alone is a dress rehearsal for what the weeks ahead may look like. Daybreak 2015 will not be an ordinary one.

Insecurity is rife, record high. The BH war is ongoing. Lawmakers are jumping fences and running helter-skelter. The police are coming. The senate is confused. The executive is desperate. The governors are yelling at each other for crimes they have in common. The deputies have been estranged for long. Austerity measures of the Shagari regime have re-entered officially.

Many things are wrong. Nigeria enters an unpleasant national phase of both political and economic necroses.

It is neither safe nor advisable for any nation or country to head to an election year with so many problems unresolved or swept under a rug that is already stinking. The uncertainties with Nigeria are uncountable.

I think Nigerian rulers are taking a huge risk that may finally consume them. It was about time.

If the prices of petroleum products continue to fall in the global market, austerity measures will add to the sufferings of Nigerians. Resilience is overspent. Threshold record is broken.

There is always a constant alternative to political madness.

Examples Abound from Africa and worldwide.

On two separate occasions Nigerians have been urged to stone their rulers. Some called it a revolution.

Mr. Abati’s call was re-echoed recently by Mr. Amaechi. When the people start, both callers will receive massive doses of stones and that makes it very interesting.

If Nigerians can spare a season and pretend to love one another, they will unite; heed these calls and stone all the criminals in Aso-rock and all the government houses in Nigeria.

If the change turns out genuine, if patriotism takes over greed and selfishness, that season of pretense might orchestrate the freedom that has eluded the people in this geographical clump for more than 100 years.

aderounmu@gmail.com