Category Archives: Common Sense

A Country Called Nigeria (Part 1)

A Country Called Nigeria (Part 1)

Written By Adeola Aderounmu

20190117_204111.jpg

The rest of the world is making giant strides and the rate of global development is amazing. It is like a race to perfection, a sort of paradise on earth. Nigeria is not having the same goals as other developed countries of the world. This can be expressed and proved in more than a million words.

It is this same sad story that we have been writing about since time immemorial. But it appears that for some of us, we have to keep writing about it. For so many other people, the happenstance called Nigeria is the only life they know. What if they knew better? What will become of Nigeria if the people who write about the ills in that relegated country stop writing? How low can Nigeria descend?

Politics and Elections.

Politically, Nigeria is backward. The so-called president of Nigeria in the person of Mr. Buhari is an epitome of the decay and outright foolishness that is displayed as politics in Nigeria. Buhari has almost no education, forged a certificate to contest, and in the last 4 years (2015- 2019) have shown that he is more interested in power than in performances.

The 2019 presidential election conducted under his watch is nothing but a disgrace to the human race.

The elections in Nigeria are disgraceful for so many reasons. The ruling party, the APC cheated. The main opposition, the PDP, also had been involved in electoral frauds since 1999. The policemen and soldiers were active and played decisive roles in the outcome of the elections. The greatest disappointments in electoral matters in Nigeria lie with the electoral body called INEC and the electorates-the people who have also become zombified by a largely fraudulent system.

INEC executed a manual system that is ridiculous and laughable. In the 21st century approaching the 22nd, Nigerians cannot count themselves in a successful census and Nigerians cannot line up and be counted on elections days. They have not even dreamt of an automated system based on the social security number system. Nigeria is far from civilization where it mattered most.

 

Infrastructure: Roads, Water and Electricity

I have been running this blog since 2006. One of the biggest issues on this blog is the dearth of infrastructure in Nigeria. How can anyone believe that there is no electricity in Nigeria? How can you reckon with the absence of water that should be provided by state and federal governments? Do you know that some of the worst roads in the world are in Nigeria? Go and check out Badagry-Oshodi expressroad or Agbara road linking to Ogun state.  These are not even roads anymore, they are the longest stretch of deathtraps l have seen in my entire life.

One day l was reading through an old post where l reflected on the speech of Mrs. Clinton during her short visit to Nigeria. In her words, she said “when you hear Nigeria, you think wao! everywhere is electrified!”. But sadly, many years after her visit, Nigeria is still not electrified by electricity. The country is electrified instead by evil, kidnapping and terrorism. Then you start to think, “what kinds of morons are running the country”? Where is their shame? Where are their senses? Do they even have brains?

 

 (To be continued. Part 2 coming up soon).

 

Follow me on twitter, @aderinola

Follow me on instagram, @thygloryonigeria

 

 

 

Advertisements

The Useless Representation Of The International Community During Elections In Nigeria

By Adeola Aderounmu

The elections that held in Nigeria on 23rd February was probably the worst or ranked among the worst in the history of Nigeria.

in this age of internet and social media generally, it was easy to see live coverage of disturbing images during the election. There were some coverages that were not transmitted live and some of them could be part of the fake news.

Watch this video here and see how one very stupid and extremely useless foreign observer tried to downplay the lives and property that were lost in this election.

The man making this presentation should be arrested and try by a court of law for lies and probable distortion in terms of the lives lost in Nigeria before and during the election of 23rd February 2019.

One can now begin to question the presence of international observers in Nigerian elections. There was another video making rounds of a foreign observer engaging in the distortion of election results in the southern part of Nigeria.

In any case, l think the bulk lies with Nigeria. Senegal held election in the country and in almost 50 countries in diaspora and it was hitch-free.

Our politics is a matter of life and death because Nigerian politicians are criminals and until they begin to go to jail or even executed, it does not seem that killings would stop at our elections.

The other critical aspect is the question of Nigeria as one country. What took place in Borno and Yobe on the 23rd of February were ballot papers were thumb-printed by a few guys in mosques and schools and the results showed record high figures dictated by INEC officials.

Again, l drift from the main essay because Nigeria is a major problem. One problem leads to another and your essay get longer and longer.

These international observers seen in this video should be sent packing from Nigeria and they should never NEVER return. These are not observers, they are MURDERERS!

The Most Tragic Untold Story Of Our Time After The Civil War

A totally failed political system and the criminal-politicians in APC and PDP are currently responsible for the poverty and hopelessness in the country and they must be stopped in 2019 by allowing for fresh ideas and fresh minds in our political spaces. Otherwise we, or some other people, will be back in 2023 writing a similar sad story.

The Most Tragic (Untold) Story Of Our Time After The Civil War

By Adeola Aderounmu

20181217_0913041825311321.jpg

”Today, in my personal opinion, the dilemma that face Nigeria and the consequences of absolute misrule (before and) after the civil war are together probably the most tragic untold story of our time.

Over the years, closer to 2 decades, l have written about Nigeria and the ills in the society. More pertinently, as each year wraps up, in the last decade, l continue to emphasise how Nigerians unabatedly waste the opportunities that each year provides or presents.

The biggest opportunity in 2019 is the february presidential election. Historically, since 1966, Nigeria suffered a major setback in the world order. There were 2 senseless coups in 1966 that truncated an emerging democracy. The functional regional system of government that promoted developments across the different geo-political zones in Nigeria was discarded in favour of a useless and senseless unitary system.

The hopes that came with the re-emergence of civilian rule in 1999 has faded into thin air as criminal-politicians in the major political parties especially APC and PDP have hijacked the country and continue to loot her resources, depleting wealth rather than creating and multiplying it.

From 1999 to 2015, the period that l had earlier described as the ”worst years of our lives” as Nigerians, it was the PDP that held sway. A former military dictator, one Olusegun Obasanjo converted the 1999 to 2007 years to his personal rags to riches fable.

He left the position of the president after he was forced out by a combined efforts of politicians and concerned citizens who were against his bid for a life-presidency. He had since denied the allegations despite the several billions of naira that evidently flew around in the National Assembly, where the lawmakers continue to milk the country dry to this day.

It is an integral part of this tragedy that the people of Nigeria, both the enlightened and the unelightened, the educated and the uneducated at this moment cannot see beyond APC and PDP. It is one of the deepest cuts in the soul of humanity today.

When Obasanjo left in 2007, he forced the way of his candidate to electoral victory. In what appeared like goodwill to a friend he had in the military, Obasanjo imposed Umaru Yar’Adua, the younger brother of Musa Yar Adua-his late friend in the army, on Nigerians. Umaru Yar Adua died due to a potracted illness allowing his deputy, Goodluck Jonathan to take over the mandate of power.

Goodluck Jonathan later won the presidential election in 2011 and reigned over Nigeria until 2015. He served 6 years at the helm of affairs. Jonathan is a known drunkard and a very corrupt man from Bayelsa State. On several occasions, his wife had been found wanting on charges of corruption and money laundering. She never went to prison!

Nigerians suffered under a deplorable economic situation even with Mrs. Iweala as the minister of finance. Mrs. Iweala later wrote a book condemning the powers that be in Nigeria who strangulated her efforts and so on. As a social critic l see the presence of Mrs. Iweala in Obasanjo and Jonathan’s cabinet as an endorsement of corruption and ineptitude.

Mrs.Iweala did not blow any whistle and she did not resign to highlight the problems in the Nigerian government. During Obasanjo’s reign, she and her boss could not account for the returned Abacha’s loots. Mrs. Iweala in my humble opinion is one of the problems with Nigeria. If you cannot tell us the problems with Nigeria and the solutions while you serve and you cannot even call the police and the law on criminals serving with you, why bother when you are out of power and out of favour?

Between 2014 and 2015 there was a mass cross-carpeting amongst Nigerian politicians. The senseless phenomenon was repeated in 2018. In 2014/15, many of the criminal-politicians in PDP joined and teamed up with other criminals in other political parties and established the APC.  It was at this point that it became more obvious that Nigerian politicians have no ideologies and they are swift in repositioning themselves for the next, and every chapter of looting of the Nigerian treasury.

Buhari is probably the first person in history (or just among the very few that may exist) that spoke evil of his country and downcast her citizens while claiming to be the ruler of the country. It was highly moronic!

A notorious political godfather, one Bola Tinubu, championed the projection of a tyrant who had tried and unsuccessfully attemped the Nigerian presidency on 4 earlier occasions. Tinubu and another notorious politician called Rotimi Ameachi opened up the loots thay had accumulated from Lagos and Rivers state and ensured that the social media was well manipulated. It was the same way an ex-convict named Ibori was used by Olusegun Obasanjo to sponsor the election of Umaru Yar’Adua. The money meant for the development of the Niger Delta always wasted in many ways.

True, Jonathan is a crook. True, Nigerians were suffering and Jonathan had no clue over the affairs of Nigeria. One woman, a very silly and corrupt person called Diezani Alison-Madueke,  literarily took away Nigeria’s crude oil earnings and kept them as personal belongings. She was flying in jets with her children and family members and they were buying houses and merchandise around the world. Jonathan was either very weak or just a woman wrapper. It was a tragic regime.

Sadly, the change slogan that APC sold to Nigerians in 2014 and which brought Muhammadu Buhari to power in 2015 had turn out to be the biggest fraud of the decade in Nigeria. The Buhari government is at par with the regime of Jonathan, if not worse. One of the most obvious corruption charges under the nose of Muhammadu Buhari-the grasscutter scandal-was never visited or sent for prosecution. Till today, the police have not made any arrest and the judiciary is working like zombies.

So invariably, we got ourselves (what we thought was) a new government with old attitudes. When l wrote about the status quo after the emergence of the APC in 2015, many thought l was in a hurry. But l knew that the morning shows the day. Buhari is a puppet too in so many ways, serving the interests of Nigeria’s slave masters (popularly called cabal) and self.

The old orders continue to reign. Almost all the criminals who have looted Nigeria since 1999 are free men and women. Murders and assassinations, latest of Alex Badeh, still have the approval of the presidency as they pretended nothing big happened. Mr. Buhari, contrary to the belief of gullible Nigerians, has no integrity. He should be arrested and tried for crimes dating back to the years before the Nigerian civil war.

In Nigeria, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Those who reigned with Obasanjo and Obasanjo himself are enjoying their loots. Those who reigned with Yar adua are enjoying their loots. Jonathan and those who reigned with him are mostly enjoying their loots. One criminal called Dasuki who mismanaged funds with the approval of Goodluck Jonathan is not so lucky. He has been in prison since Buhari emerged and he had not been left out on bail even with court injunctions in his favour on the matter.

In many cases and on many fronts, Buhari (whose identity is under probe by the IPOB) remains defiant and military-styled. In comparison to the other governments since 1999, this Buhari government is the most clueless. It is out of touch and the man (Buhari?) does not have the mental capacity to rule Nigeria. He is dull, lifeless (in the words of Trump) and lacks the intellectual abilities to lead a tribe, how much more a country.

He remains a stooge, a clog in the wheel of progress of Nigeria since 1977 when he started looting oil revenues. Buhari cannot be absolve of the Abacha loots either as they were the crude oil revenues whilst he was the chairman of the PTF. Buhari is probably the first person in history (or just among the very few that may exist) that spoke evil of his country and downcast her citizens while claiming to be the ruler of the country. It was highly moronic!

As the 2019 presdiential election approaches, both the APC and PDP are doing minimally in campaigns and reaching the people. They know that elections don’t matter as long as they can manipulate the electoral commission. That is where the real fight would take place as usual.

The summary of the situation in Nigeria that l presented above is in my very own personal opinion probably one of the most tragic stories of the 21st century. After almost 60 years of bad governments, spread of poverty, spread of illiteracy (with 13 million children out of school) and a political arrangement that pitch one religion against another and one ethnic tribe against the rest, Nigerians have arguably lost their senses of political identity and several millions have no idea about the state of global affairs and where Nigeria is on the scale. A country without a stable electricity for example is probably 400 years behind the others.

Nigerians are supposed to be living as royals. They deserve to be alright in all aspects of life. But sadly, and regrettably, only a handful of Nigerians are alright economically. But it is hard to even state that there is a Nigerian who is not living in poverty regardless of their wealth. Nigeria as a country is a depiction of poverty and penury. It oozes of hopelessness.

To be sure, Nigerians are amongst the poorest people in the world despite the fact that the country is spread upon the richest combinations of mineral resources in the world. This is because a few greedy people are mismanaging the wealth of the country and they have refused to allow the wealth to grow. We are practising a senseless and useless unitary system of government since the 2 useless coups of 1966. We are allowing one person to steal 12 billion dollars and still be in public light contesting for political office or sponsoring candidates.

One stupid question that l always have to try to address everytime l write an essay is: what then is the solution? I am tired of the question but still try to mention one or two hints. The shortest cut to recovery will be something very close to a (bloody) revolution where all the criminals holding the country to ransom can be arrested, surrounded and brought to very quick judicial judgements. This will change the course of history in Nigeria forever.

However in the absence of the courage to unite because Nigerians have been divided in so many ways and along so many lines, choosing another path (other than the criminally-inclined APC and PDP) is presently the best option for Nigeria and Nigerians. It is an integral part of this tragedy that the people of Nigeria, both the enlightened and the unelightened, the educated and the uneducated at this moment cannot see beyond APC and PDP. It is one of the deepest cut in the soul of humanity today.

The tragedy is far-fetched. In the face of the evidence provided, mostly by switching of political parties, that both APC and PDP politicians are part of a common criminal organisation, our people-Nigerians are still members of APC and PDP. I am in shock that people still attend APC/PDP rallies. It reminds me of why and how slavery in the hands of the Europeans and Arabs lasted more than 500 years.

How can we be free if we (all) belong to criminal organisations like APC and PDP? How can slavery ever end in Nigeria if the majority are still inclined to the old ways or the ways of the APC and PDP?

It is also a great shock to me as a writer that the memberships in APC and PDP are still massive. With the ways and manners that these parties have failed Nigeria, one would think that they should have faced dwindning membership and that the judiciary should be lining up criminal charges against all the key members and actors of these criminal organisations called APC and PDP. By now Nigerians ought to have pulled out and down the National Assembly which is also notorious for sharing the wealth of the country amongst its members.

APC came with the change slogan and amongst the changes we expected were the implementation of the restucturing agenda on her manifesto and the drastic reduction in the salaries and allowances of politicians from the local to the state and national levels. None of that was done.  We will never know what APC meant by restructuring which was the first point on its agenda. Buhari does not even want to hear the word restructure. He is that dull and insolent.

In 4 years of the APC, we did not see the re-emergence of the public schools, we did not see committments to public health as the politicians continue to travel overseas for treatment. We can go on to analyse what could have been done in 4 years but the APC keep blaming the PDP for its non-performance whilst still allowing criminals to parade the national landscape.

Nigerians should not make the mistake of committing the next 4 years (2019-2023) of the country’s fate into the hands of either the APC or the PDP. There are options. There are newer political parties that will perform better than APC and PDP. But the truth is that the problems facing Nigeria have gone beyond mere political parties. Still a new phase must emerge.

The political system is wrong and senseless. Before the 2 useless coups of 1966, there was a structure that promoted healthy competitions among the major regions in Nigeria. It is something very similar to that structure that would be fundamental to the resuscitation of the economic survival of Nigeria. The current unitary system of government is baseless, useless and should only be promoted by people of low mentalities and nonetities-and that is where the APC and PDP politicians are. They are criminals and so they adopt and promote this useless system of government.

Under the political structure similar to the what Nigeria had before the 2 useless coups of 1966, there would be no federal character and there will be no Abuja politics. We will all be busy promoting our regions educationally, healthwise, technologically and infrastruturally. This is what we must preach. We cannot go on with a failed system and expect development, unless we have no brains!

Apparently, the essay is inexhaustible because there is no way l will be able to address the solutions in a single essay. The essay grew by the day since the summer of 2018 just the same way my anger grew as you can see from the tone/language of the essay. It is very intentional and meant to provoke. This is why l run this blog and for over a decade l have been shouting and still on it.  I also run an instagram blog that updates daily. Check out @thygloryonigeria on instagram for my daily reactions to our problems.

The most significant change that must happen soon is the taking over of government from APC and PDP politicians and making sure that they are prosecuted for all their crimes since 1999. Some politicians and military men have been around since the 60s or 70s. They should be taken care of by the laws of the land. They must face the music.

Our problems are many. However, we must take the bulls by the horns. We will not develop even in the regions if we don’t elevate the rule of law above the rule of men.

Apart from the Boko Haram war in the north east of Nigeria, there is yet no official declaration of war in Nigeria. This is why l consider the life we live in Nigeria as probably the worst hidden tragedy in the world today. Against the backdrop of the potentials in the regions and to see more than 100 million people living from hand to mouth, unsure of the next meal: l see no greater tragedy today in the world outside a war zone.

A totally failed political system and the criminal-politicians in APC and PDP are currently responsible for the poverty and hopelessness in the country and they must be stopped in 2019 by allowing for fresh ideas and fresh minds in our political spaces. Otherwise we, or some other people, will be back in 2023 writing a similar sad story.

aderounmu@gmail.com

instagram: @thygloryonigeria

twitter: @aderounmu


African Women Are Ashame Of Their Africanness

By Adeola Aderounmu

Sometimes when l make certain posts, some people think it is a one-time thing.

I have one of the longest running individual blogs in Africa. I am sure. When we started this journey l know how many people have left blogging and writing altogether.

I am sure those l targeted in my previous post about African women would think that was it.

Since 2006 l have written some blogs over a dozen times.

This thing about African women is very disgusting and tasteless.

It irritates me more everyday. We need to reverse the trend to save our culture and values.

African women don’t have red hairs. The hairs are black and beautiful. Why do you hate what you look like African woman? WHY?

I know it is a long shot as several millions of African women have lost confidence in themselves and they hate their natural looks.

But whatever brought the African woman to this level of self-hate can bring her back to self-love.

So those who think it was a one time post can always come back and they will find themselves in another post.

It may take long but l never get tired and l don’t give up.

That was DJ Cuppy Otedola. It must be self-hate if our women do not think that we can appreciate them for their natural looks.

This is a tune not to be copied DJ Cuppy.

This Is Your Lagos? Shame On You APC, PDP, Buhari, Fasola And Ambode!(PhotoNews)

Many roads in Lagos states ought to be shut down as disaster zones. There are accidents, deaths and several untold hardships on these roads daily. Those who are responsible for these roads ought to be arrested and prosecuted for crimes against humanity.

 

By Adeola Aderounmu

I took all the pictures you see in this essay between June 26 and July 10 2018.

Civilian rule returned to Nigeria in 1999. This means that Nigerian politicians in both the ruling APC and the opposition PDP have spent together 19 years in governance and still cannot put right what the military gangsters destroyed.

So the systemic failure in Nigeria today is due largely to the lack of performances since 1999. We can argue that the stretch is longer but that is another discussion for another day.

20180628_1209381532015443.jpg

Lagos is heavily littered. The government needs to step up waste management system. Somebody should care about health care in relation to waste management and disposal.

The state of the federal roads in Lagos state which is the economic capital of Nigeria is very appalling and disgraceful.

The state of the roads in Lagos state is heart breaking, depressing and sorrowful. (I will treat some parts of Ogun state in another essay).

I do not share the notion that a certain government is trying or that a certain governor is working. That’s all bullshit!

In the last 19 years at least, there are no more tenable excuses why the roads in Lagos should be so terrible.

Sincerely if l could make the decision, l will block all the roads you see in this essay. Human beings should not be allowed to travel on these roads. They are permanent death traps and l wish someone in the the world somewhere has the power to shut down all these dangerous roads in Lagos and elsewhere in Nigeria.

 

20180628_1212261920394344.jpg

Roads in Nigeria are usually of low quality. They get bad before rainy season and worse during the rain. There are rivers on many roads in Lagos. This is Badagry expressway near the okokomaiko axis

20180628_121231532912869.jpg

Federal roads in Nigeria are amongst the worst roads in the world. Shame on Buhari and Fasola. Shame on previous PDP government

20180628_1212421161218073.jpg

Nigerian roads easily destroy cars and reduce their life span.

20180628_1213011532088574.jpg

Very bad roads in Lagos. Is this actually a road?

20180628_121355935632839.jpg

Bad road. What a useless government!

 

Whoever is responsible for these roads since 1999 ought to be arrested and prosecuted without delay. Since 2015, Mr. Buhari and Mr. Fasola are solely responsible for the federal roads in Lagos and they should be tried for crimes against humanity for all the deaths that continue to occur on the federal roads.

Without delay, the Badagry Express Way should be shut down!!! That is not an expressway. It is not even a road!

Mr. Ambode is culpable too because he is the number one citizen of Lagos state for the past 3 years! What has he been doing? Don’t tell me he is trying! He is not the governor of Lagos Island, is he?

If there are reasons why Mr. Fasola and Mr. Buhari have not constructed and maintained the federal roads in Lagos, why is Mr. Ambode not talking about it to the media and to the world just like l am doing now.

20180628_121418568378369.jpg

Badagry expressway has no defined lanes. You drive where you find a space and this means facing opposite traffic ofen times.

20180628_1214211767195283.jpg

Badagry expressway

20180628_121441804112633.jpg

Badagry expressway. How express is this road?

20180628_121444733803930.jpg

Trying to navigate a way.

20180703_1532451938739250.jpg

Smoky and gangerous plus l was faced by an oncoming traffic driving along Oshodi-Mile 2. Trailers and heavy traffic means driving on one way is a common trend.

20180703_17311145352083.jpg

Lagos roads are commonly dirty

20180703_1731341427958837.jpg

Badagry expressway. Very very bad road!

20180703_17560419926348.jpg

A trailer fell on the road due to the bad state of the road and big pot holes. Lagos roads are the most dangerous roads l have seen all my life!

20180703_175606929068844.jpg

The trailer could have fallen on people or other cars. But this was a single incident causing obstruction to the already bad situation

20180703_1758301639494251.jpg

Drving in rivers or on roads? Can we ask Buhari or Fasola? Vehicles face one another and there could be up to 8 lanes in multiple directions!!!

20180703_1758321858648325.jpg

These roads are the consequences of every N1 or N5 stolen by government officials! May you never find peace if you support a government or the governments causing these type of hardship. May your generations suffer!

20180708_1532261519690381.jpg

This commercial bus is going no where. In the middle of the road, tyres are off. A potential cause of accident!

20180708_153743297925627.jpg

A commercial bus broke down along Badagry expressway and the passengers wait for refund. Look at the road. LOOK AT THE FILTH! Is Nigeria really a country?

20180708_1542291007448391.jpg

Confusion and commotion

20180708_154431661392216.jpg

Dirty Lagos. Don’t tell me Ambode is working or trying. One dirty street means nobody is working! Somebody should be facing prosecution for allowing the people dump waste on major roads.

20180708_160408514521747.jpg

Bad road. Badagry express road.

20180708_160423690216811.jpg

Can we call this a road? Who will answer , Buhari or Fasola?

20180708_160426524358968.jpg

Is this a road Mr Buhari, Mr Fasola Mr Ambode?

20180708_1613441043691596.jpg

Crazy traffic in Lagos due to bad road

For one month at least, l’m going to pay for this essay on instagram and facebook. Then l will see what reactions we get. If possible, l will continue to sponsor the advertisement for this essay just as long as the problem remains and l will keep a tab on Lagos to see current situations.

How on earth can this be the situation and there are no outrages? What is wrong with Nigerians? What is wrong with Lagosians?

All the roads for transportation, state, local and federal must be in perfect shape and good maintenance. No road must be left untouched because the people of Nigeria deserve the best that life has to offer. You can’t do 50% of the roads. You can’t of 99% of the roads. The 1% left undone can cause death and other unwanted scenarios. You must be perfect. All roads must be fixed and that is the work/function of government.

The government is not doing the people any favour by doing what it is supposed to do.

 

20180708_1613531509431990.jpg

Mr. Buhari, Mr. Fasola and Mr. Ambode must put their heads together now and put politics and election aside for once. Lagos roads and all roads in Nigeria must be fixed. It is your job. It is your work. No one is begging you. You are servants to the people and serve you must or get the hell out of the offices you occupy.

What l saw of Lagos roads revealed to me that on the long run, Nigeria must do away with the useless and senseless unitary system of government as soon as possible.

 

20180709_1316501145671450.jpg

This part of festac town has been erased from the map of Nigeria. 4th avenue with faeces and sewage taking over the community for several years now.

20180709_131654379165868.jpg

Forgotten part of Lagos in Festac. The smell on this road is more or less a biological weapon against the people.

20180709_131658724697060.jpg

Festac Town. From glory to grass! Smelly stinking 4th avenue!

20180710_17263348773444.jpg

Somewhere about Ajao estate in Lagos as we drove to the airport. Lagos is giving wealth to Nigeria and the suffering is massive in Lagos. I cannot comprehend the shame and scandal in Lagos

I do not expect Mr. Buhari to know the roads l travel in Lagos. Even a federal minister knows little about the roads in Nigeria. But a governor and a local government chairman will know better. Therefore it is best to review how power can be taken away from that useless office in Abuja and taken back to the grassroots where people can see and solve their problems regionally and locally. It is just pure common sense!

20180710_173949564639398.jpg

Someplace in Lagos…bad roads everywhere. Did you say your governor is working? I say you have a governor for Lagos lsland, not a governor for Lagos! Certainly not a governor for Lagos mainland, not a governor for Iyana Iba, Okokomaiko towards Agbara Industrial Area. Dirty, messy Lagos!

 

I have been writing about the ills in Nigeria for almost 2 decades and l could go on here again in this essay but let’s save the tautology and hope that my message is clear: FIX ALL THE ROADS IN LAGOS AND END THIS SHAME!!

aderounmu@gmail.com

@aderinola

The Tragic Legacies Of The Tyrants

I know we still have a few great stories to tell.

However, in my personal opinion, after the devastating effects of slave trade and colonisation comes the fall of Nigeria from grace as the most traumatising story out of Africa.

We are the eighth wonder of the world.

Young people must help to bring young people to power and they must discard this  USELESS unitary (military) system of government ASAP!

Nigeria: The Tragic Legacies Of The Tyrants

screenshot_20180510-14295817546326.png

By Adeola Aderounmu

Nigeria is not suffering from some kind of undiagnosed kwashiorkor. Not at all. Our major problem is that we are running a useless form of government called the unitary system. The major symptoms are massive and uncontrollable corruption everywhere in the country, stunted growth and impaired development  since 1966 or thereabout.

Yet, in 2019 several millions of Nigeria will head to the polls in what has turned out to be a quadrennial ritual characterised by total waste of time, energy and resources for the once prosperous country and former giant of Africa. In 1999 the country boasted of a return to democracy but as it had turned out to be an outright scam. It was an army arrangement, a continuum for the tragic legacies of the tyrants that percolade the country till today.

Nigerian politics and the shame that the military juntas and the politicians have brought to Nigeria is one of the most tragic events of modern era. In my personal opinion, after the devastating effects of slave trade and colonisation comes the fall of Nigeria from grace as the most traumatising story out of Africa.

If you want to have a 5 minute course to understanding how bad the fall of Nigeria is, go and listen to the adress made by Akufo-Addo the president of Ghana at Oxford. Don’t look yet for the strides that Ethiopian airlines just made or how beautiful Kigali is becoming.

It is not all of Nigeria that fell, the citizens of Nigeria are still amongst the best scholars in the world. We are frontliners in any field of endeavour or profession. Nigerians remain creative and are among the greatest problem-solvers on the global scene.

What is the not adding up at home in the country itself is how the control of the economic resources and the political space ended up in the hands of political criminals and people with amazingly zero understanding of the meaning of public service and zero percent willingness to replace a non-functional system with a vibrant and functional one.

The problems in Nigeria are now complicated and most certainly hydra-headed as substantial parts of the country are now controlled by terrorists, herdsmen, bandits and militants. We invent new geographically suited terms everyday to suit our ineptitudes.

To make these anomalies worse we now have dominancy of mixed generations of old and young people who don’t know that the world has moved on and whose orientations about the meaning and value of life are extremely worrisome.

The roles of the tyrants who presided over Nigeria at different times in creating some or all of these troubles with Nigeria cannot be overemphasized. It is heartbreaking that those who contributed immensely to the problems of Nigeria are still taking up the spaces in real life and on the web especially the social media.

For example, the constitution of Nigeria is based on military rule and does not support regional growth and development. The tyrants who supervised the introduction of the unitary governments did so for their personal gains and invariably when Nigerians thought that they left in 1999, they found a way back through the emergence of one of their own Olusegun Obasanjo.

General Obasanjo, a former tyrant and dictator, had earlier opposed the entronement of a democratically elected president-in-waiting,  MKO Abiola. The military juntas supervised the murder of Abiola and his wife Kudirat. If Nigerians had a collective sense of responsibility, they should have revolted to ensure that the June 12 1993 mandate was not wasted. But Nigerians are divided.

The fact is that Nigeria is existing since 1966 as a creation of the military. They brought the idea of immunity clause in the constitution because they do not want to be probed as they steal and loot the Nigerian treasury. They also knew beforehand that they would be in power whichever way. It was a soft landing of sort. Head or tail, they won/are still winning.  The immunity clause was a perfect umbrella for criminals. It works even till today.

Above all, the military had no plan to leave power and despite that fact that Obasanjo transferred power to a civilian in 1979, at least three spatial events showed the greed in his camp. One was the shambolic elections he oversaw. It was a disgrace to call that a democratic process. Two was the manner in which one of his men Mohammadu Buhari easily came to power in december 1983 and thirdly was his support for military government in the aftermath of the 1993 elections.

The tyrants imposed very unpleasant and bad legacies on Nigeria. Sadly too, under the pseudo-democratic arrangement in Nigeria since 1999, Nigeria remains directly or indirectly under the spell of the military.

For instance General Abdulsalami facilitated the emergence of Obasanjo in 1999. It was supposed to appease the SW but at that time the people were just fed up with the juntas and any Dick or Jane could have suffix. Then Obasanjo facilitated the victory of Umaru Yar Adua in 2007. He was part of the facilitating group for Jonathan in 2011. In 2015 Tinubu worked closely with Obasanjo to facilitate the return of a former tyrant Mohammadu Buhari.

Today Nigeria remains in ruins partly because of all these nonsense which the late Afro king Fela popularly called army arrangements. Stunted growth, unemployment, lack of electricity, a shameful parade of public education, lack of health care amplified by the regular,  disgraceful trip of Mohammadu Buhari to London for treatment, insecurity and a complete lack of sense of common belonging are all elements of the failed unitary system.

The military created states for the useless unitary system of government that they formulated even with the knowledge that the states are going to become parasites for the oil-producing states and the economy capital Lagos.

In the 1980s, it was Babangida who blew up the mechanism of corruption in Nigeria even if it had been promoted since the 1970s when Gowon mismanaged the oil boom and refused to plan for the future. He can boast of Festac but Nigeria  could afford 10 000 times more of Festac. Former Lagos governor, Mr. Jakande showed the world what Nigeria could have been with the little time he had and all the housing estates and schools he built in 4 years!

For all the monies that disappeared under the tyrants and their civilian accomplices, no prosecutions were made. In the past when the population of Nigeria was far less than 100 million, these bad rulers made zero plan for the future. There were no infrastructure development and no maintenance for the existing ones.

The saddest part was that the military had no will to return to the regional government that promoted healthy competition that led to growth and development in various parts of Nigeria prior to the 1966 coups. Today the Nigerian politicians are acting foolish. Since 1979, no one of them had been sensible enough to speak out or even lay down his/her life for a good cause.  There are young people today willing to pay such prices and only time will tell.

The reason the quadrinneal elections are useless is because Nigerian politicians have lost their senses. They have turned electoral posts to money making mechanisms. They are happy dancing to the tunes of the military through the nonsense constitution they are following. It puts money in their pockets and it sends their children to school abroad. It makes me a wailer and it builds and buy them houses around the world. The only problem is that it does not give them everlasting life, yet they don’t get it.

Listen to them, hear them and you will see that their mentalities are poor and deformed! The only way to bring back their senses is to close down Abuja and keep only the prime minister/president there. The other possibility is for the judiciary to set itself free and send all of them to prisons to reduce crimes connected to politics especially assasinations because the winner still takes it all.

It is imperative for ordinary Nigerians to get this message so they can understand why Nigeria is not working and why it will never work. It is only working for the handful that seize power and control the resources including monetary earnings of politicians arguably the highest in the world for doing nothing!

Then some politicians spread some of the monies to their hangers-on. Then some new people get the contracts and connections here and there. But that is not the definition of a country and these pockets of opportunists do not define success but criminalities. We must create a system that promotes equal rights for all. We must find a constitution that gives us a level playing field no matter who you are.

The civilian politicians since 1999 have become comfortable with the army arrangements. You will never find a higher level of selfishness anywhere else in the world.

Those who understand this cycle of idiocy are few and almost voiceless making our tasks of educating Nigerians huge. After more than 50 years of misrule, several millions of Nigerians have become disorientated, lacking the ability of independent thinking.

Some Intelligent people have become part of this social irresponsibility and are participating in this politics of chop and quence. Some good people have been kept quiet and many have been killed. We don’t know who amongst us will be next. The level of insecurity in Nigeria today is the worst since the end of the civil war. Many are afraid of death and are passive.

Nigeria has fallen from grace and the world is laughing at us. Common electricity we cannot produce and distribute. Many of us have lost our dignities because of the abnormalities that have become norms.

Young people and even the old have been set up against one another in real life and on the social media. This is where the army arrangement has taken us. We are not thiking straight. In Nigeria, we cannot even count the votes we cast. They never tally! We are the lowest we could ever imagine and we are not ashamed!

We have become the eighth wonder of the world.

The tyrants of Nigeria that include a long list including but not limited to Gowon, Babangida, Abdulsalami, Obasanjo and Buhari together with civilian accomplices that include our fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters have left devastating legacies in Nigeria.

That is why even in their old ages, at 80-something, they do not realise that they needed to take a bow and let the young people take care of their (own) future. They have mis-spent the time that passed and don’t know how to call it a day.

Both Buhari and Obasanjo truncated Nigeria’s democratic processes at different times thereby not allowing our democracy (albeit imperfect) to develop or correct itself. They totally destroyed the judiciary and it never recovered! Both men don’t deserve our attentions.

They think Nigeria cannot do without them. This is exactly what they wanted and they got us where they want us. They succeeded big time because even under a so called democratic dispensation, they are still the ones calling the shots. Think again! They never left!

This is what we must break away from in the future if a true election (ever) comes. It is left for the young people of Nigeria to wake one another up from their deep slumber and smell the coffee. The world left Nigeria behind a long time ago.

Young people, brace yourself up and talk about the type of country you want to live and die in/for. Talk about how you want your children and children’s children to have it. It is time to bring young people to power and your second struggle is to discard the useless unitary system of government.

 

My name is Adeola and l’ve been running this blog since 2006.

aderounmu@gmail.com

 

 

 

The Dangers Of Hypocrisy

I am still looking for those who resigned and blew the whsitle when Jonathan and his crew (both in PDP and APC) were looting the treasuries. I am now looking for those who are going to leave the Buhari government and blow the whistle (both in the APC and PDP) as a result of the budget padding and scandalous national/state security situation. Mr. Buhari himself should have resigned along with Lai Mohammed for misleading the world when they stated at the end of december 2015 that they had defeated Boko Haram.

The Dangers Of Hypocrisy By Adeola Aderounmu

20180505_0938061486851600.jpg

Adeola Aderounmu

There are no limits to the repercussions of hypocrisy. It is worse when the hypocrisy runs parallel with lies and propaganda. Two other dimensions that can worsen the situation is the spread and the acceptance of hypocrisy as a trait or norm within a political structure or among the people of a country.

As you read this essay the banks in Switzerland are still sending more and more of the monies stolen by one famous Nigerian criminal called Sani Abacha. He was unfortunately a former dictator in Nigeria whose death remains a subject of controversy.

Despite the fact that his loots are finding their ways back to Nigeria (since the regime of Obasanjo), Nigeria’s current president Mr. Buhari is yet to acknowledge that Abacha was in fact a criminal. This hypocrisy is dangerous and heart wrenching. This singular denial also shocks me when people say Buhari is not corrupt. I don’t understand how people don’t see the links.

Invariably the act of being a hypocrite extends to hangers-on of political associations. It cut across and destroys the consciences of both the enlightened and the disenfranchised as well as the educated and the ignorant. If Nigeria finally implodes, hypocrisy will not be left out as one of the diseases that sunk her.

If you listen keenly to Femi Adeshina you will find an example of a person who lost his mind and threw away his conscience to the lagoon all in the name of having a job and earning a mega pay. There were (before him) people like Reuben Abati, Reno Omokri and Segun Adeniyi. With him is a guy called Ogunlesi who thinks the rest of us are ordinary lower animals.

In my exposure to other countries where several of these spokesmen have also lived or visited before relocating to Aso rock, there is always a limit or threshold to how long an aide can defend a boss or get enveloped in the same cycle of ignobility.

What happens to the ability to resign or walk away to save one’s good image? Invariably my conclusion is simple: it takes a rogue to defend a rogue in matters of public accountability. It also takes selfishness and wickedness to turn blind eyes to the realities on ground in the daily existences of Nigerians.

Like l mentioned above, the realm of hypocrisy in Nigeria is massive. Therefore it is unforgiving that even professor Osinbajo lately said APC is not a corrupt government. But he is fully aware that APC integrated into its fold former PDP looters and existing APC looters. Their common saving grace is the unforgiving failure of the justice system in Nigeria. I always maintain that Nigerian laws remain useless as far as criminal politicians continue to rule Nigeria.

Osinbajo also said that APC is more honest than PDP. Since when did accountability to the people become a relative term? APC is confused. When the spree of murders and genocide escalated under this regime, APC stated that more people died during Jonathan’s PDP regime. My understanding of that conclusion is that the Nigerian life is worthless. Why else would number of deaths be comparative?

Late afromusic king Fela warned us many years ago about all those that do bad things in the names of their religious lords. We did not listen. We are still not paying attention.

Today l am neither for the APC nor for the PDP. I will go for a new orientation. It is about time people understood my stance nearly 12 years into this act of blogging. I stand for good government only. My inherent hatred for corruption and lack of independent reasoning have no bounds and it has no connection to religious or non-religious morality.

By a manner of another perspective and changing lanes, when next you read a criticism of the Buhari government from Reno Omokri, help me ask him where he was when Mrs. Jonathan and Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke where emptying the Nigerian treasury under the watchful eyes of Jonathan. Of course he would call it propaganda.

It is the same way everything was propaganda in the eyes of Segun Adeniyi of the Yar Adua regime. Now all you read here is propaganda for Mr. Adeshina. Wait for him to be out of the corridor of power. We saw Reuben Abati out, in and out again.

My take on some hypocrites is that they actually have their criminal minds before participating in all these serial governments of looters. How many more hypocrites and pretenders are going to emerge in 2019 if we don’t break this cycle of national madness?

I don’t even appreciate the headlines from people like Ngozi Iweala. Anyone that has been part of the governments in Nigeria and under whose watch or in whose presence massive looting had taken place is a bloody hypocrite.

I am still looking for those who resigned and blew the whistle when Jonathan and his crew (both in PDP and APC) were looting the treasuries. I am now looking for those who are going to leave the Buhari government and blow the whistle (both in the APC and PDP) as a result of the budget padding and scandalous national/state security situation. Mr. Buhari himself should have resigned along with Lai Mohammed for misleading the world when they stated at the end of december 2015 that they had defeated Boko Haram.

Mr. Donald Trump it appeared had no balls afterall. A straight talk would be to inform Mr. Buhari of his primary duty as the president of Nigeria. Buhari has failed and he is still failing to protect Nigerians. He, as well as the looters in the Nigerian senate, is failing to see the need for the immediate restructuring of Nigeria and the introduction of state police.

The hogwash in the White House led to increase in attacks in Nigeria. The long term consequences of the dangers poised by national and international hypocrisy and the passiveness of the drained Nigerian people are yet to be evaluated. But the signs are already very, very bad.

I can understand to some extent the feeling of party affiliation. What l cannot understand is the lack of will to stand with the truth. But l know many people are predictable in their love for money, power and position. Many people always discard the essence of public service because they want to remain relevant in the (dis)order of things in Nigeria.

These people look forward to recognition, gains and consolidations when the ocassion arises. So they cannot give up their hypocritic garments for honourary ones.

And since this is the way things work in Nigeria, the country dips deeper in national crises. We argue unnecesssrily on issues of common sense and we are a country left behind. We are sick. We need healing.

If a few good men and women are given the task of redirecting Nigeria back to the place where we were in december 1965, and if these men and women are honest and have no spirit of hypocrisy, if they are not concerned about getting rich or owning mansions in Dubai, America or London, or sending their children to schools in Ghana or USA, in less than 8 years (2 terms) Nigeria will be back again as one of the best places to live in the world. The people must be orientated about the dangers of hypocrisy and they must be ready to stand with these few good people. That is the hope of Nigeria and Nigerians.
Follow me on twitter @aderinola

aderounmu@gmail.com