Daybreak 2015

November 23, 2014November 23, 2014 / Adeola / Leave a comment

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

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

Threshold

November 9, 2014November 9, 2014 / Adeola / Leave a comment

There are plans to postpone or cancel the 2015 elections due to insecurity in substantial parts of the country. This will create an inflammable volatile tension that may be impossible to quench when it implodes.

Threshold

Adeola Aderounmu

By Adeola Aderounmu

Nigeria in 2014 is one of the most complicated places of earth.

The damage done to Nigeria and the psyche of Nigerians through 54 years of misrule is multifaceted.

The damage also includes the dearth of intellectualism in the public spaces. Where available, it is manipulated to suit evil desires of the rulers and politicians.

One of the most stupid debates one can imagine gathered momentum in Nigeria in recent weeks. Even former dictators and political rulers are discussing about their religions or faiths as the 2015 political season draws closer.

Nigerians are aligning along ethnic, tribal and religious lines for the 2015 national elections.

If the politicians, political godfathers and public office holders are also discussing their religions rather than their political pedigrees, patriotism and the positive thrusts that they could bring into offices, then Nigeria is on the threshold.

The permanent cracks called 36 states of Nigeria may collapse in an unexpected fashion.

The fertility provided by Boko Haram (BH) will not be an unexpected catalyst.

The ripened assimilation of religion into Nigerian politics is not an isolated phenomenon and it did not happen overnight. It was influenced by distrust and lose of political ideology.

Nigerians have been completely brainwashed by foreign religions mainly Christianity and Islam. The people are divided and separated not only by tribes (or ethnicity) but also by religious affiliations.

It is so sad and appalling that the religious denomination one belongs to affects also how one is perceived or received by other people sharing even the same religion.

The ascendance of religion in public and political life in Nigeria is one of the saddest events that befell the country. It brought a shade on all the anomalies that characterized the failed political structures and systemic collapse.

Religion was made one of the safe nests of criminals who have misruled Nigeria since 1960. It was the perfect cover for the promotion of idleness and crimes against humanity.

Nigerians swallowed political lies and religious fallacies hook, line and sinker. They left governance in the hand of crooks and let it rot.

Religion becomes an evil item the moment it is allowed to leave its terrain as a private experience and brought into public spheres. In Nigeria this has been the trend, the country is already suffering from the dividends of religion in public offices.

If Nigeria finally trips over the threshold (probably catalyzed by the BH war) those denying the negative roles of religion in politics and public life will be overwhelmed by both the existing polarity in the polity and the war already consuming substantial parts of the country.

The failures of the Jonathan-led weak unitary government and the Nigerian military to stem the BH war will continue to fuel the speculation that Nigeria is at war with itself. It will continue to promote the theory that the government of Nigeria is at war with her citizens.

Goodluck Jonathan was one of the weakest governors ever produced in Nigeria. Under him Bayelsa and Bayelsans simply went to sleep. His weakness as a ruler will probably explain why he needs so many attack dogs who are getting fat and building pot bellies on tax payers’ money.

Political pedigree remains insignificant in the unitary form of government in Nigeria. Hence rather than performing and being proactive Nigerians are stuck with a government that react and respond to every criticism of the lazy administration with irritating comments.

For instance Mr. Okupe is not worried about BH because the BH war is yet to disrupt his breakfast. I have not found a more senseless reaction from someone to whom much is given albeit from looted treasuries.

The official response from the lazy and corrupt Nigerian government has now shifted to declaring the obvious- that Boko Haram is at war with Nigeria. We are now told that the war is not a religious war but a political one invariably because of the indiscriminate targets of BH.

The unpleasant reality is that the war is taking on both dimensions. One does not exclude the other. BH (regardless of who the sponsors are-the PDP, the APC, some international gangsters or even aliens) is succeeding so far with the war against Nigeria.

Unfortunately for everyone the perpetrators are making use of Islam as their platform for propagating the war. In that sense one cannot rid the terrorists of their faith. It does not matter what other people think, this is what they (BH) professed.

The inability to tame BH and its alleged sponsors (allegations ranging from APC to PDP to international sponsors) has brought potential doom to the doorsteps of Nigerians.

Monsters usually go back to chase their makers and all. Can this explain the indiscriminate targets of BH and the recent invasion of Mubi, the hometown of the Badehs? Whose home town is next? The inactions of a weak government will avail much.

People are still arguing: we have always had these problems; Nigeria is not going to break.

Yes we have always had problems but there was no BH occupying an entire region.

Though there is a war going on, many are still saying we can’t afford another civil war.

Blind faiths promoted by different religions have reached new heights and unprecedented dimensions.

Distrust will never disappear from Nigeria. It was partly distrust and fear of domination that destroyed the first republic in 1966.

There will always be distrust and the fear of marginalization too.

Nigeria is at a threshold, the most fragile since the end of the civil war in 1970.

Mr. Goodluck Jonathan and the PDP are making plans to postpone or cancel the 2015 elections due to insecurity in substantial parts of the country. This will create an inflammable volatile tension that may be impossible to quench when it implodes.

Everything in life has a limit. Luck is not an exemption.

Nigeria is in a dire need of a political solution. It is getting too late. The country and the people are slipping precariously into a season of electoral chaos.

The BH war, incessant tribal and religious conflicts in several places, inter/intra-state political enmity and the supra religion-based 2015 elections are super enrichments for calamities and self-destruction mechanisms.

Even in the face of distrust or mistrust, leadership and development in region-based government across Nigeria was still functional until the senseless coups of 1966.

A political option for Nigeria is to retrace the map of regional government and initiation of a referendum on resource control.

Obviously, there are more problems and divisions in Nigeria today compare to 1965 or 1966.

Therefore a modification of the regional government map to accommodate present day agitations may not be a suggestion that is out of place. It is an option far better and more preferable to what BH war has carved out for everyone involuntarily (as the lazy government looks away).

After 54 years of mostly misrule and deviation from what is normal, I always insist that Nigeria will not get a magic dose and no suggestion will be an overnight maneuver to paradise.

Every day breakfast is interrupted in expected and unexpected places and there are no helicopters to evacuate the Nigerian species that are not connected to the Badehs, the Jonathans, the Okupes and the Abatis.

What if breakfast is interrupted in Otuoke tomorrow?

One day perhaps breakfast may be interrupted at Aso Rock Villa-Nigeria’s citadel of corruption, and mis-governance.

On such a day, the bitcoins supporting pseudo unity, political and religious fallacies would have been overspent, the permanent cracks will collapse and it may be too late to reverse the threshold.

aderounmu@gmail.com

Simple Things

October 26, 2014October 26, 2014 / Adeola / Leave a comment

The simplest things in life have become the most difficult to achieve or recover in Nigeria. In a society where self is the most pursued ambition, the concern for others become secondary or non-existent.

Simple Things

By Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola Aderounmu

The invention of the battery and electricity took place more than 200 years ago. When a country claims independence in 1960, it is natural to expect that a phenomenon already established should be easily sustained or adoptable.

This is an example of a simple thing.

Nigeria was/is not troubled with the task of discovering electricity; she just needs to produce and use it according to laid done principles. How hard is that?

It is too simple.

That the use of constant electricity is impossible in Nigeria 54 years after the so-called independence means that the handlers of Nigeria (both at the presidency and the state levels) are either brainless or heartlessly wicked.

Any other excuse (like pushing blames to institutions or persons after all these years) will be an act of self-delusion or complete senselessness.

There are so many simple things of life that remain elusive to / or were taken away from ordinary Nigerians. When they are available or affordable, they become like gold. Take education for instance.

Just ordinary simple things!

At a time when elementary school children were already going to schools with mobile phones in Europe and other places, it was used as a reference point in Nigeria. For example, people say, that lady with a cell. Some may say, the man whose mobile phone is always ringing during a church service.

In the year 2000 mobile phone was used to raise the statuses of Nigerians. Nonsense!

It was therefore a Nigerian miracle not performed in a church when Obasanjo opened the market for GSM applications in Nigeria. Some people still worship him for that without asking first what the heartless people and criminals heading the Ministry of Communications did with our land telephones.

Nowadays simple things are miracles in Nigeria.

Therefore in 2015 if Nigerians luckily arrived at the polls, they will be choosing among men and women according to the levels of non-performances, regions, tribes and religions.

Election is one of the simplest things I have seen.

In normal situations, people vote for candidates with dependable track records and people of mostly impeccable character (at the time of their entrances to public offices).

This is so simple, and the votes are counted!

Unfortunately for Nigerians, after many years of disorientation by both civilian and military governments, the majority have thrown away both their moral compasses and their sense of reasoning. This is sad because the institutions of governments at all levels have been bastardized. 54 years of social maladies!

Simple things became complicated and Nigerians reached a point of no return.

Hence, the amount of criminalities perpetrated since 1960 or 1999 or even in the last 4 years will not count substantially when people turn to the polls next year. Religions, regions and tribes will be more significant.

Nigerians won’t think about the men who truncated democracy albeit an imperfect, corrupt one. They have since allowed them to rope with ordinary politicians and made sure that both groups rape the country in similar manners.

Revolution is actually a simple act too.

It ranges from using mild but sustained, consistent, and purposeful civil disobedience to extremely violent measures in ensuring for example that public servants and politicians who have stolen from the national and state treasuries are made to face the music by force or they’ll run to exile.

It is a way to change things, mostly for the better. It is a way to seek changes until people understand that government is for service, not for stealing or enrichment.

Referendum is a product of a mild revolt and the subsequent outcomes always bring new awakening no matter what.

When the laws of a country are functional, the need for revolution is actually not necessary. A referendum will do. It is a simple thing.

It is a simple fact that the law system and the methods of justice in Nigeria represent ridicule for the African (black) race. There are so many looters in/out of government offices across Nigeria and they will decide the turn of things to come in 2015 if the people remain as they are-endorsing social maladies and accepting criminals as rulers, brothers, sisters and families.

Nigeria surprises me in how it held together despite all the atrocities of the politicians and the other categories of failed citizens entrusted with the policies that dictate the way of life and the value of it.

Nigerians shock me more than their country does.

How a people so diverse in cultures, languages and ways of life generally remain organized in corruption and sustenance of failed unitary governance must shock the most brilliant philosophical anthropologists.

Some votes will be counted, the rest will be adjusted by the electoral commission/commissioners according to the party that spend or spray the most looted currencies to the electoral commissions.

Nigeria will never be an ordinary country for as long it holds together. Unless a good change occurs, what may even follow Nigeria may be worse.

Many Nigerians lack the knowledge that simple ideas brought into actualizations can bring peace and prosperity to everybody. The wickedness and selfishness that reside in their hearts as a result of several years of absence of both sensible governance and patriotism speak volume.

Politics, pure criminal activities including armed robbery and religious frauds, are among the commonest methods to inexplicable wealth in Nigeria. Yet the popularity of these vices grows.

The simplest things in life have become the most difficult to achieve or recover in Nigeria.

Where do you find a Nigerian politician who has not misappropriated public funds? It is therefore not a surprise that in 2015 every dick, tom and harry is venturing into politics-to become criminals accepted by the society.

Nigerian politics is also wasteful, probably the most expensive to run in the world.

A person who loots public funds and thereby living above his income and claim the grace of a god is a criminal except in Nigeria.

If you want to achieve holiness as a Nigerian even as the people you are supposed to serve are still living in penury, then visit Mecca or Jerusalem. The zombie people will even pray for you!

These things happen in Nigeria. People are praising a god or running after one god after stealing from the common wealth that is supposed to be used for developing the society and infrastructure in general.

The man who steals praises a god, the man who is robbed hopes on the same god. Both of them are stupid but the one who is robbed probably needs to be induced with a dose of cerebrum.

The bands of failed politicians ruling in Nigeria for example since 1999 have not been able to stabilized or improved electricity. They cannot account for the funds invested because the funds were mostly stolen or looted.

In several ways many things that are common sense, easy and simple have been thrown open as wild dramas in Nigeria.

A criminal becomes a state governor. Checked and move on!

A fraudulent person becomes the political godfather of a political party. Checked and no case!

A known convict is elevated in public life. He’s our son, checked!

A man who cannot explain the source of his wealth becomes the kingmaker and the most important socialite. Don’t jealous him, pray to god to give you same wealth!

These things, revealing simple facts but serious anomalies, should earn condemnations and they should spin the law into action. But they don’t in Nigeria. Useless law system!

These simple things that should arouse a revolution of minds, thoughts and actions have become seated as the standard and way of life.

Nigerians are hypocrites. They pretend to be united but they are far from it.

They are mostly divisive on simple matters that common sense can dictate. The dimension has become cancerous.

Simple things have become unhealthy debates on social networks taking on ethnic, religious and tribal dimensions. Reasons are clouded. Silly!

The future is bleak when criminals, sycophants and ass-lickers continue to cross carpet or leave Aso rock for governor’s offices and other appointments and vice versa.

The future is bleak when criminals flow from one section to another because the rest of the people remain silent or accomplices.

It is possible that more than 70% of Nigerians will live and die without experiencing the simple things that make life worth living.

They will not live with constant electricity and they will not live with constant flow of water in their homes. They will not live in standard apartments, flats or houses as these will remain the exclusive rights of the few, mostly rich.

They will not have basic education and their health statuses will be largely unchecked.

These simple things that elude Nigerians, these simple things that are easy to correct but remain ignored put a gigantic question mark on the mindfulness of the Nigerians.

The commonest (and probably also the most unacceptable question) to social critics is “what are the solutions?

How can we not know that the solutions to these problems are very simple?

People in public offices and positions of authorities should do the right thing or get booted by law or force or revolt!

How hard can it be to know that when a criminal or groups of criminals continue to have their ways that the problems (like lack of electricity, lack of clean water, lack of good roads, lack of proper public education) will persist?

How do we think? What are our views of public service?

What are our obligations to humanity and posterity?

But these simple things are complicated because many people are greedy and they will hide the truth just because of the things they hope to gain. They ignore their mindfulness.

In a society where self is the most pursued ambition, the concern for others become secondary or non-existent.

Nigeria will never get a magic dose. I know about the clamor for regional governments which may be a step in the right direction. Even secession is in the air.

How to take care of the simple things will be a concern no matter what type of dispensation that emerge in 2015.

The saddest thing will be a carry-over of the status quo.

aderounmu@gmail.com

The Kings Are Mad (Part 2)

August 17, 2014August 17, 2014 / Adeola / Leave a comment

Bawa cried when he knew it was normal for men to cry too. People need to set their souls free from the sufferings of their bodies. Tears are the medicine of nature and they cure men from suicide

By Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola Aderounmu

All is not well in this place, this land.

The people have diverse and confusing opinions about the true meaning of life, so it was difficult to find the solutions to their problems.

When Bawa was born and raised, no one provided him with the education he needed. He is from the north part of the land. His parents told him it was enough to obey. Everyday he prayed but he didn’t know if his prayers hit the roof or if they went above the clouds. His family did small retailing and didn’t have to depend on food tickets from the local councils like several urchins in the north did.

When the expanding family business brought him to Ebute Metta, his life changed. He became rebellious and started asking questions every time he went back to the north. He found a perfect companionship with some co-travelers and a few men who have been away also, even further north. One day he looked at the extent of ignorance in his village and felt extreme bitterness in his heart. Someone told him that men are not supposed to cry but he knew that until that moment, he had lived the life he didn’t choose.

The colonial thugs who invaded the land several years ago told the foolish kings in the north never to educate their wards. Stupidly, there was an agreement to the insane treaty. How can anyone think they could be kings or rulers for life? Without the royal blood, no one is born to rule. Even royal bloods do fade.

How can anyone even think that knowledge is the reason for the crises in the Mediterranean? Knowledge is power, not war. It’s true; humans always blame objects and abstract concepts for their foolishness. Sometimes they say they are looking for a scapegoat, as if one was lost. They always find the reasons to go to war.

An old man from the east once said to the people, “10 kings own 10 eras”. He said those who forget their history can never be free. He also said “if you fight a war, make sure it is for your freedom”. He added that “peace comes from freedom and absence of injustice”. But the people are reading less and not showing understanding for the wisdom hidden in books.

The stupid king in the north, just like all the dead kings before him, has also not fulfilled his promises to the people. Like many other places in the land, many people don’t have water, electricity and shelters to cover them. It is worse here in the north. The king and his emissaries have acquired what should have been shared equally among the people.

When Bawa and his gang members started having their secret meetings, they got the people’s ears. Walls have ears too. They soon sold their souls to the elites, they lost their plots.

Hopelessness can ruin a man’s conscience. At this point the people have started wondering if cannibalism will be a criminal offence if that becomes an option soon. Evil grew in their hearts due to deprivations.

This king in the north has no plan. He’s quick to blame the woes in the north on the reign of the king in Abuja. If we had one of us as the king in Abuja, our ancestors will be kind to us and our lives will be better he often said.

But the king in Abuja is really upset. He lacks charisma and hardly spoke but one day he said “ask the king in the north what he has been doing with all the tax returns given to the north and all the pure gold that he receives on behalf of the north four times a year”. Sometimes no one knows what to believe because the king in Abuja usually soaks himself in the pleasures of alcohol and women.

One day when the people came from everywhere to plead with him, he chased them away with whips and bullets. Then another time when the people found the courage to return, he repented and told them to go home and pray. Sometimes when he doesn’t know what to think or what to say, he simply said he didn’t care.

When the people refused to pray he commanded one of his brothers to do so on behalf of the people. His brother dressed up like a knight and prayed the prayer of a fool. The people thought he was insane but he didn’t care one bit. He knew his brother-the king- was too drunk to reason. But he got a lot of gold for his worthless prayers.

Now, frustration is growing in the land and the people do not know where to turn or who to speak to. They can never trust the soldiers. They are men of fortunes and when they had tried or pretended to help they did things worse than the kings could ever have done. They abuse drugs and they denied being homosexuals even when it was not yet a crime in the land. Now it is a crime.

But the soldiers laughed because they know that it is easier to practice homosexuality in prisons. They also knew that going to prisons will not affect their sexual disorders even if the lawmakers still think it is an abomination. Their biggest laughter on this matter came last, because they know that they live in a lawless land. They will never go to jail.

In the barracks, they wonder who really is mad. Someone said it’s the trait of the kings. One soldier who all of his life, had neither tasted tobacco nor alcohol shouted “we are all mad”! When they asked him the reason for his thoughts, he said, because when we sleep at night, we all lie in the same direction.

Then they laughed again because they did not understand his reasoning. He is a soldier from Ebute Metta. He went to bed, worried. How did I end up with these fools, these mad men?

In Abuja, the king had slept several times with one eye open and the other closed. He too is convinced that soldiers are treacherous and mad. Sometimes he had unpleasant nightmares. He’s encountering many strange dreams because his heart is not pure.

One day he dreamt that the dissidents had captured him and cut his throat. Then he vowed never to see the eyeballs of the soldiers from the north. He will never meet with the king of the north again as well.

The king of Abuja rebuilt his network and brought foreigners to protect him. He decided that he would have 99 vehicles when he is travelling on the road. Among the people, he gave gold and silver to the greedy councilors. He called them his loyalists; they will always speak for him in such a way as to create false hope while his reign of injustice persists everywhere in the land. It was easy to find religious people as members of his loyal groups.

When the unrest started in the north it was some of the councilors who gave the rebels tools and the courage to unleash violence. They used some of the monies they stole from the land when they were kings in Abuja and started various propaganda aimed at killing the present king.

Bawa and his friends got along with the treachery when the elites approached them. He started to visit Ebute Metta less frequently. At some point he left the holy books and started to listen to his heart. In their group, as dissidents, they got very rich at the expense of the people in the north. His heart told him that he’s now one of the reasons people remain poor in the north. At a recent meeting Bawa and his group members decided to abandon everything that they believed or were taught. They will make their own rules, now that they have wealth and weapons.

There had been a long call by some fools to return the kingship in Abuja to the men from the north. The stupid idea of born to rule has erased the ability of the north to think freely. Some of their kinsmen are happy to dine and wine with the king anyway. Many of them knew that feudalism is a form of injustice but they want to find a bigger fault with the king in Abuja.

The poor people are angry, infuriated and helpless. There is confusion everywhere. There is something the people are not doing. There are things the kings and the elites are doing maliciously. So across the land, all is not well.

One girl from the west brought a message of fire on the mountain to the land. The people lacked the wisdom to discern her message. They doubt that the gods spoke through women. So the girl went to another land. Then she prospered. One man sang for the freedom of all the regions but they put him in prison and poisoned him. He died.

Every time someone stood up genuinely for the people, the people watch from afar, disunited. Then the freedom fighter is killed by an angry person or someone sent by any of the kings. The land is flowing with the blood of innocent people. Even the gods shook their heads because the people did not understand the signs and processes of freedom.

Bawa and his generation grew up in ignorance. At that time they were easy preys for wrong political purposes. Bawa’s exposure led him to some light, but it was half-light. For vision, half-light is more dangerous than total darkness. But those who don’t know that, what is worth doing at all is worth doing well always argue when taught this principle. Bawa doesn’t care anymore about the consequences of disobedience. His views about life are now at conflict with one another.

Now he, along with the others in the rebel groups, is at war with the society. They will bring down the reigns of the king in the north and the king in Abuja. He doesn’t know what his actual plans are in this senseless war. He and his evil gang members have abandoned their foreign teachings. They have now turned to the evil in their hearts. They are now monsters and their unknown ambitions surprised the north, totally.

There is trouble in the north. There is pandemonium in the east and the west is choking even with diseases due to congestion and migration. The south is polluted, full of treacherous men and unsafe for existence.

Mama Esan is trapped, Chinedu is depressed and Bawa is ready to die for the things he does not believe in, the things he does not even understand anymore.

At the town hall meeting, Mama Esan wept, again. No one could console her. She even refused to be consoled because she needs to set her soul free from the suffering of her flesh. She asked why the kings everywhere have so much wealth, women and property when the people are suffering. How can her dreams come true? Why did things go so wrong? The more questions she asked in her heart, the more sorrowful she felt.

Chinedu in his depressed mood fell asleep before the meeting ended. In his dream, he saw what life was supposed to be and he woke up with a thunderous cry. The hall was empty when he opened his eyes.

Bawa was not at this meeting. He will never come back to Ebute Metta. He had decided to remain incognito until vengeance is achieved. He thought the kings are all wicked or mad as people say. But he also hated those who made him cry.

Indeed, he cried when he knew it was normal for men to cry too. People need to set their souls free from the sufferings of their bodies. Tears are the medicine of nature and they cure men from suicide. He thought his life is upside down and not worth living. He doesn’t know where this will lead him or where he wants to go from here.

Sometimes the king in Abuja speaks after the town hall meetings to get feedback and make new reforms. When the king spoke after the latest meeting held in Ebute Metta, he was far from reality. This was worse than what the people had thought. So now everyone across the land knew the gods have made him deaf. They know what will happen next because that is a premonition that is easy to interpret. This gives an unusual hope that change will come soon.

Sometimes people think that time is their enemy. But time is a good concept. It carries out everything at its appointed moment. Because humans have faint memory, they forget their destinies. Therefore their actions can be in contrast to their desires in life. If you want freedom, you must act correctly or appropriately. Time will bring all things to pass at the appointed moments only if the actions that preceded those moments are just and upright.

In this entire clamor for change, the south remains indifferent because the people inhabiting the place have become like the proverbial soap and leaves. They are used to their sufferings and living poorly in the midst of plenty. In fact they are like the thirsty fish because their land and water lie in ruins. The king of Abuja was once one of them.

Bawa the boy from the north does not believe in the gods. He does not know what the people in the east or west have on their minds but what he wished is what the people said the gods have in plan: that when the time for freedom comes, there will be no going back, that all the kings are mad and that their kingdoms, big or small, will pass away.

(Concluded)

aderounmu@gmail.com

Let’s Go And Die, Abroad!

August 3, 2014August 3, 2014 / Adeola / 1 Comment

By Adeola Aderounmu

Riliwan Lukman, Umaru Dikko, Abdulkareen Adisa and Odumegwu Ojukwu

Nigeria in many ways continues to tag herself to the world as a sort of #jungle, #uncivilised, and a massively #underdeveloped geographical region. The shame of Nigeria escalates daily and the legions of Nigerian politicians finishing their journeys on earth in foreign hospitals remain embarrassing.

Under colonisation (which Nigerians love to bash), and shortly after independence, Nigeria had some of the best public facilities in the world. The economy was good, there was dignity in labour and merit was the main reason for getting public positions.

Institutions like the Nigerian Airways were top rated and efficient. Nigeria also had world class medical facilities evenly spread in the Western, Eastern and Northern regions of the country.

However, in the 70s, after enduring some of the most senseless coups ever and a civil war, Nigeria’s fall from glory to grass was ensured. The fall remains unabated even to this day. Many of the invigorations today with respect to public utilities and service delivery in some states in Nigeria are rather too cosmetic. They are classical fire brigade approaches.

They do not follow the trend of continuity, gradual development or advancement as expected in a normal society. By the standards of the 60s Nigeria is supposed to be one of the best places to live in the world today. But on the contrary, she is ranked among some of the worst places on earth mostly along side war torn countries and countries devastated by terrorism and total absence of governance.

The fact that the infrastructure fell flat in the first place revealed the absence of maintenance culture and a lack of leadership. Nigerians have had largely very bad rulers at all levels of governance.

The abolition of federalism, the glorification of corruption, impunity, extreme greed, loss of patriotism, the elevation of tribalism and the promotion of nepotism played very significant roles in destroying the values, cultures and sense of belonging in Nigeria. The foolishness of Nigeria’s greedy politicians and their military counterparts under different dispensations and the unneeded resiliency trait in Nigerians have totally destroyed the essence of life and the value of it. All these anomalies combined and eroded completely the spirits of nationalism and patriotism.

When people or family members of the people who have contributed to the dilemma of Nigerians die, they are praised and eulogised by fellow criminals in government. The rest of the people are cautious or terrified to speak the truth even of the dead. Death is the inevitable end of all living things and speaking the truth or reality of the lives of the people who are dead does not amount to speaking “evil about the dead”.

The politicians who chose to die abroad are desperate to hold on to lives. Staying alive is a normal attribute for biological creatures. The tendency is to survive and procreate. This is why suicide is regarded as an outcome of mental ailment but this essay is not about the psychology or sociology of death, so I’ll move on.

My point is not to recount all the looters of Nigeria who have died abroad. But Riliwanu Lukman is the latest of the Nigerian politicians who went abroad to die. He was the Nigerian Federal Minister of Petroleum Resources and the Secretary General of OPEC for many years. In all of those years it probably did not occur to him to persuade or collaborate with the Federal Ministry of Health in Nigeria to build a world class hospital from a very small percentage of the huge revenue the Petroleum Ministry was swimming in.

Mrs. Jonathan, Mrs Jonathan is an out-patient at a German hospital where she has been operated and regularly checked.This is bad rulership at its peak. Where should ordinary Nigerians go when they are sick or need medical attention?

He did not bring up or follow up on any public argument on the need to improve the health services that could benefit all Nigerians. Someone can argue that it was not his job to do that. Would that be because he was too busy or because he had a choice of living and dying abroad? Would that not amount to selfishness? Did he not think of doing a check up or visiting the doctors here in Nigeria when he is on duty as a member of the executive all of those years?

Umaru Yar Adua, Late Umaru Yar’Adua was governor was 8 years before he ruled Nigeria for a short period. He did not build any specialist hospital in his state and he did not start a public debate on the matter even at Aso Rock. He was flown to several countries and finally returned to Nigeria

Umaru Dikko, another very corrupt man who was alleged to have looted over 300 million pounds when the Naira was still hefty ended it in London recently. The monies that disappeared under Mr. Shagari alone added to this 300 million pounds would build the best hospitals in the world in all the states of the federation in the 1980s when Umaru Dikko and the rest of the criminals in NPN were stealing and waiting for Nigerians to eat from the dustbin to flag-off or signify that they were hungry.

Dora Akunyuli died in India, also recently. She was treated in Nigeria, USA and finally rested in India. It will be difficult to absolve any living or dead Nigerian politician in the complacency that rigmarole daily under their noses.

The packaging and off-loading of Musa Yar’ Adua to Nigeria from German to take his last breathe was an adequate trigger that should have sparked off a public debate about the state of health provision to all categories of Nigeria. No one in Yar Adua’s cabinet started any debate. No one was wise enough to raise the red flag on functional public health care delivery system for Nigerian politicians and all categories of Nigerians in Nigeria.

One would hope that before the end of 2014 that the present administration will purge the shame and build world class hospitals that have the same facilities and professionalism like the ones they run to in Germany, Saudi Arabia, India, USA and London in Abuja and several states in Nigeria. The administration of Jonathan should look beyond the facilities at Aso Rock specialist hospital: not by flying Mrs. Jonathan to Germany for abdominal discomforts.

The National Assembly can probably write their names in gold despite all the monies they have stolen under the rulership of David Mark. They don’t have to think of buying the tallest building in Nigeria like their junior ex-colleague and crook Dimeji Bankole. They should not toe the line of pension scammers like Akpabio and Tinubu.

They can suggest “a law” or pass a healthy bill that the various state governments in Nigeria should work together with the Federal Ministry of Health to copy, construct and equip at least one hospital in their states like the one that Mrs. Jonathan was visiting for treatment and operations.

Babangida, Bad Rulership: Ibrahim Babangida did not build modern or world class hospitals in Nigeria despite ruling Nigeria for many years. His wife was flown abroad for treatment. Even Babangida himself treated a toe injury in France. Where did all the oil revenues go? What did he do with all the missing oil funds?

They can even suggest the type of hospitals that Yar’ Adua visited in Saudia Arabia or Germany before he ended it in Abuja. Nigeria does not have to borrow the money needed; the criminal politicians only have to stop stealing or looting. Then Mrs Jonathan can fly to Bayelsa State for her next appointment. She can even choose River State in time of peace.

It is sad that even former first lady Maryam Babangida finished her race in the USA. After all Ibrahim Babangida stole so much that he is reported to be richer than many small countries in Africa. The 12 billion dollars stolen from the oil money will be indelible. Why was it impossible to pump the stolen or hidden funds into provision of first class medical facilities across Nigeria? Babangida was not even ashamed of treating an ordinary toe injury in France. As a boy of 14, I was ready to have my ear operated at General Hospital, Ikeja in 1986 until my file got missing!

What is wrong with the mentalities of Nigerian rulers? The type of selfishness that makes men not to think of health issues and the transiency of life in Nigeria is unbelievable. They probably think they won’t die and therefore looted monies that could last them a 100 times of their expected life time or more. Is it a crime if their children and unborn generations have to work to earn their own livelihoods?

Let me be the first person to burst their bubbles if they haven’t seen or heard about it in the movies: nobody is going to leave this world alive and nobody is going to take anything beyond this life after transition to glory or disgrace. So what is the essence of the senseless looting and selfish accumulation of unnecessary commonwealth?

One of the tropical gangsters of the Nigerian military who did not understand this logic was Abdulkareem Adisa. He took his exit in London in 2005. He was a former governor, and then a Minister of Transport. Nigeria has paraded different shades of transport ministers and she still has some of the worst roads in the world. These roads are still claiming lives, an average of 400 per day some 7 years ago. Adisa’s transition went from a road accident in Nigeria to lying lifeless in London.

There are too many sad, embarrassing stories of prominent Nigerians dropping dead in foreign hospitals. How do Nigeria wants to appear in the foreign media? Civilised? That is a long thing. A people whose rulers die abroad will be easily classify as uncivilised and barbaric actually.

Chief Odimegwu Ojukwu kicked the dust in London in 2011. As a former war lord and later a presidential candidate, I missed his campaigns and debates. I don’t know what his manifestos said about health for all. Stella Obasanjo ended it in Spain in 2005 due mainly to the negligence of the doctor after going under the knife for liposuction.

Nigerian doctors are among the best in the world. The government of Nigeria should try to retain them at home or bring them from overseas so they can be useful for simple liposuction procedures. Even Olusegun Obasanjo did not build any world class hospital in memory of the sad and embarrassing tragedy that struck him and the country.

Nigerian doctors are superb when the conditions are right. They need the hospitals where they can work and they need the technology, equipment and enabling environment to practise. I can’t forget that operations are sometimes done in LUTH using candle light! Nigeria is so warm yet no sensible Minister of Power had adopted the solar panel as an alternative clean source of Nigeria. Nigeria does not need any partnership with USA or China. Sunlight is free! Where is the intelligence of the black race taking Nigeria as a study case? Even cold countries are trapping solar power during the short summer season.

I cannot over emphasise the pain of writing these few lines, this essay. They are neither new nor news. It is just too sad that it is going to happen again. One politician who could have started a public campaign of building the best hospitals across all the state of the federation in Nigeria is soon going to fly to London to die!

Obasanjo, Former dictator and ruler Mr. Obasanjo did not start a public debate on health care provision for Nigerians. The death of his wife did not even provide the trigger

Even some of Nigeria’s wealthiest people are usually “rushed” abroad for treatments. Some like Dantata did not make it back from Germany. Arisekola did not make it back from London. There are also no records to show that these wealthy people championed or advocated the establishment of public health delivery of international standard for the masses. The exit of these people is therefore not a loss to Nigeria contrary to some nonsense and propaganda of praising the dead. Everybody dies in the end, poor or rich.

Germany and London are sometimes far places to look at. Is anyone counting how many delegates to the Jonathan stage-managed conference that have died during the proceedings? Someone even said they have been brought to Abuja for rituals! It is a sad commentary on the state of health in Nigeria.

It has been more than 50 years since Nigeria got her independence. Then she became more dependent. What will be the cost of building some of the best hospitals in the world across Nigeria? For a group of politicians who love money and are not ready to die because they foolishly don’t understand that life is transient, what would it cost them to organise as they always do on matters on corruption?

For as long as the laws in Nigeria let them enjoy their lives as criminal politicians, they need to organise in another way just to ensure that they build the best hospitals in different states in Nigeria where they can always go to prolong their last days, for death is inevitable. There is no escape route or country for anyone!

In how many ways do writers, critics and public commentators have to put these postulations forward before they understand? Money does not buy eternal life! It is stupidity, if not madness to steal all the monies in the Nigerian treasuries and hide them away abroad, only to go abroad to die in a probably government-funded hospital.

I remember my cousin pointing his finger, showing me the London hospital where Atiku Abubakar went to threat ordinary fracture in 2007. Are we sure Nigerian politicians don’t fly abroad to get pills against headaches? Have they imagined what ordinary Nigerians go through everyday?

Do they know how Nigerians take care of their own sick family members? If they go abroad for treatment of headaches, dislocations and stomach problems, where should Nigerians with kidney and heart problems go to? Have they thought about this seriously? How many of our brethren are we going to contribute to their bank accounts so that can be flown abroad?

Nigerian politicians and their families need to get that fact about life in their heads. All of us cannot have sympathy for the dead, not especially those who looted the Nigerian treasury and diminished the meaning of our lives. They stole our future, our dreams.

Many Nigerians have also lost their parents, family members, friends and neighbours due to preventable illnesses and sometimes callously resulting from the incessant strike actions of medical personnel. The last dilemma is that anyone can be bombed away at any time in the absence of security for the masses.

More than 90 million Nigerians are living in penury, uncertain of the next meal. What should they do about their health conditions when those whom they entrusted public services into their hands are looting the treasuries and flying abroad for treatment, sometimes to die?

In the end the statement that a people get the rulers they deserved always come as a relevant conclusion. How Nigerians allowed the selfish rulers (both military and civilian) to destroy the foundations of the country is unimaginable. Almost all areas of public systems are in shambles. Name it, education, health, housing, security….

Goodluck Jonathan, Mr. Jonathan is the current ruler of Nigeria and time will tell if his wife will be able to attend a national or state hospital before the end of his reign already plagued by the worst cases of insecurity since the end of the civil war. What would it take to ensure that Nigerian politicians are treated in Nigeria?What is the hope of the common people who cannot travel abroad to treat major ailments?. Mr. Jonathan must start the debate and make plans to save Nigerians. Nigerians must be treatable in Nigeria irrespective of their place in the society

My knowledge of Western Nigerian, the memories of my primary school days, my experiences of how public services work around the world continue to assure me that unless the system of government in Nigeria is reverted back to the functional regional system which was punctuated in the 1960s, Nigeria may be going no where.

Regionalism is not the magic dose. Nigeria under the present situation has no magic dose any longer. The destructions are deep and hard to heal. The institutions (and I continue to emphasise that) must work again. The people must become patriotic and there must be dignity in labour and rewards for merit and real excellencies, not ceremonial and idiotic excellencies that pervades the landscape today.

Nigerian politics is rugged, violent, abnormal and dominated by rogues and thugs. Sadly too, it is too cheap when the politicians are neither prosecutable, nor punishable. If this nonsense continues (as in not removing the useless immunity clause), and the highly corrupt, extremely inefficient unitary system of government which is critically disconnected from reality and is in discordant tune with the populace persist, then the people have to stand up one day and take their own destinies in their hands. No guts, no glory!

aderounmu@gmail.com