corrupt rulers

Foolish Expectations

/ Adeola / Leave a comment

Mr. Robert Marley must be flabbergasted in his grave. There is a place where you can fool all the people all the time by repeating the same jingles every four years and make them have the same expectations of a better life. It must be foolish expectations waiting for good to emerge from evil.

Foolish Expectations

By Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola Aderounmu

I have a friend who strongly believes that ordinary Nigerians who are waiting for Nigeria to improve politically and economically will grow old (or not) and die while waiting.

This friend of mine is one of the several millions of Nigerians who discuss about Nigeria almost every day. Some of us go the extra mile to put our thoughts and arguments into words. That is why we are able to blog regularly or opine our thoughts weekly.

Nigeria is approaching an election year and that makes the discussion about election the hottest for now.

The reasons why Nigeria will not improve politically have not been tackled because Nigeria remains a “geographical prize” presently chased by several crooks and political scavengers grouped mainly into two factions-APC and PDP.

In the past the prize has been chased and won under different dispensations. In politics it is the politicians and their army of sycophants who win the prize, steal the monies in the treasuries and disappear into thin air.

Under military rule, it is the soldiers who steal the monies in the treasuries and carried out counter coups to take turns in looting the treasuries.

Irrespective of the dispensations, the criminals have mostly gotten away with the proceeds of the treasuries, and to this day they continue to live large. Some died leaving billions of dollars of Nigerian money in foreign accounts/countries. There is no limit to stupidity in that sense.

An interesting dimension is the persistent of some people in the Nigerian political scene. It’s not all the crooks who disappear. It is amazing how long some of them have continued to carry out their nefarious activities while the people and the short arm of the law look away.

One of the most shocking aspects of the Nigerian life is the way the people condemn the rulers and the politicians despite the fact that they know that they were criminals before they were selected or bundled into important national and political positions.

In Nigeria the knowledge that a fellow has criminal cases or is incompetent are not deterrent factors to eventual elevation in public life or politics.

For the ones who became criminals while in office Nigerians have not find the way to boot them away or send them to prisons. Instead Nigerians develop a weird follow-follow Nigerian syndrome that is built on nepotism, blind faith and waiting for my turn to chop.

There are several examples that cut across the two major political parties, and beyond.

There are too many examples from the past and the present. The future seemed already awash with dubious characters waiting in line. The Nigerian society continues to thrive on systemic falsehood, alignment with bogus promises and foolish expectations.

This is a repetition. One criminal called James was sentenced in a Nigerian court. He later became a governor and what happened next is history. He raped the state and looted it blind. It took a London court to confirm to the foolish people of his state that they had a criminal ruling them!

This type of obvious stupidity-allowing criminals and extremely bad people to rule and dictate the policies- is spread across the length and breadth of Nigeria.

Nigerians know that occupiers of government houses across the land are not true to their promises and they rank them in order of their corruption tendencies instead of forcing the law to take its course.

There are millions of Nigeria who knew that a former governor in Bayelsa and his wife have been stealing directly and through couriers while ruling the state. They even know the criminal before that called Alams.

Yet when Obasanjo brought Jonathan to the national front to become one of the rulers of Nigeria, Nigerians accepted him. It is not as if Obasanjo is a saint but majority of Nigerians canonized him. It’s part of the foolishness, to raise one evil above the other instead of total condemnation of such in public offices.

Jonathan who never did anything tangible in Bayelsa continued to fool Nigerians 6 years on. His romance with all kinds of criminals-or their offspring attests to the nature of his true personality.

Mr. Robert Marley must be flabbergasted in his grave. There is a place where you can fool all the people all the time by repeating the same jingles every four years and make them have the same expectations of a better life. It must be foolish expectations expecting good to emerge from evil.

I remember watching the campaign trails of Jonathan versus Atiku during my visit to Lagos, Western Nigeria in 2010. I remember the walk down the streets in Iyana Ipaja, Festac Town and some parts of Amuwo Odofin. I can’t forget the disconnection between the people ruling and the people being ruled. It was two worlds apart.

The people who should be in prisons for crimes against Nigeria and Nigerians are always the ones on the campaign trails every 4 years. They are here again. Amazing!

The system is not right.

In 2014 Nigerians expected Jonathan to have solved their problems despite knowing his background as lazy, corrupt, feeble, and lacking courage. They know there is no way his wife would have been stealing so much money if he was not providing them from the Bayelsa state coffers. How much money has been stolen from the Nigerian treasury under Mr. Jonathan?

Since the return of civil rule and the virtual exit of the gangsters in uniform, several politicians and soldiers have been smiling to the bank and building businesses and empires by stealing public funds. Many of them have been receiving contract sums for work they never did. Nigeria’s most notorious ghost worker lives in Aso Rock.

In Lagos State it appears that everything is in the hands of Mr. Tinubu. Many have argued that this is necessary to provide a formidable opposition for the ruling party. Really?

So, Nigerians will get rid of crooks in Aso Rock by supporting crooks in the opposition parties. The people who treat symptoms rather than cure the disease won’t stop praying for miracles. This cycle is programmed to exist for as long as Nigeria exists.

I ponder. So Nigerians will for as long as they exist continue to choose between different forms of evil. So there will be no fresh start someday in Rivers, in Ekiti, in Adamawa, in Kogi, in Bayelsa, in Anambra and everywhere.

My friend does not claim to be a prophet but on this one, he is on point. If this is the mindset of a typical or an average Nigerian then the ordinary people will grow and die waiting for miracles in Nigeria. Their life time will be defined by complete hopelessness.

It is sad. Despite all the knowledge about what is wrong with Nigerian politics, Nigerians will follow-follow and repeat the same process in 2015.

Afterwards they will start to oppose and counter oppose and ask for a new fake change especially on the social networks.

Why can’t Nigerians soft pedal on elections and clean the system inside-out?

What are Nigerians going to do to stop politicians from stealing? What are they doing to stop the wastages at the federal execu-thieves level? What are they doing to stop the representa-thieves and legis-looters?

What are they doing to put a final stop to crimes in all the governors’ offices across the land? What are they going to do to ensure that elections become meaningful and that their votes really count?

How long do Nigerians intend to go before arriving at a point where Ghana-must go bags will not dictate the outcomes of (s)elections?

How do they intend to arrive at a point where the temporary condition of their stomachs is not a reference for thugs turned politicians?

How do they want to rebuild electoral principles/manifestos around education, health, jobs, social welfare, social justice and the protection of life and property? How?

I remember writing an article arguing that the 2011 elections should now hold until a political solution is adopted. I knew fully well that Nigerians were heading to the polls to select fraudsters. In 2015, the same process of selecting fraudsters will take place. The cycle of idiocy will be nourished.

The urgency of seeking political solutions has never been more critical than now when many things have already fallen apart in different regions. The worst hit is the N-Eastern axis under the control of local and foreign terrorists.

Nigerians should be tired of their rulers.

They need to elect leaders amongst them who will lead them in organizing and creating regional societies that will suit their goals and pursuits. This has been a mission impossible, and it is even sadder.

In 2018 slash 2019, people will be shouting, we told you not to vote for Jonathan-he is a liar. We warned you about Buhari-he is a dictator. We told you Atiku stole from the custom department.

We told you we want to control our resources. We told you the government was Boko Haram. We told you the oppositions were behind Boko Haram. We don’t have electricity. My children can’t go to school. Schools are for the rich. I have no job and no social security. There is serious problem of insecurity. The roads are bad. And so on.

My friend will still be right then because the system is just not working for the ordinary people. It was established out of oppression and oppression of the ordinary people will sustain it.

Nations or countries that prosper were mostly built on honesty, trust, patriotism, solidarity, probity, accountability, sincere promises, wise expectations and the pursuits of the common-good of all.

All the above virtues are missing in Nigeria. There will never be progress where there is no trust.

Majority of the citizens of any nation must cultivate these virtues. It must be forced down their throats through proper education or enlightenment campaigns.

In addition to integrity, functional institutions and a return to a system of government that works, these virtues are the hope of a brighter day for all the nations/regions entangled in non-functional unitary Nigeria.

aderounmu@gmail.com

Daybreak 2015

/ 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

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

Simple Things

/ 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

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 Cost Of Freedom

/ Adeola / 1 Comment

Unless a country or a group of people are willingly to genuinely give their today in the name of true freedom, their children will never be free tomorrow.

The Cost Of Freedom

Which Way Nigeria?

Which Way Nigeria?

By Adeola Aderounmu

Nigeria’s 54th year as a so-called independent country was marked in several ways. One headline that caught my attention was the one that stated that poverty in Nigeria has been reduced by 50%.

The headline is first class fraud.

Statistics was one of my favourite subjects during my first and second degrees at the University of Lagos. It is one of those subjects that I really felt comfortable doing. At Idiaraba it was Medical Statistics and oh, how I enjoyed every bit of it and the lecturer was awesome.

Poverty may have been reduced by 50%, it depends on the sample size or the part of the population where you draw your samples from.

So I can conclude that if we take the population of the follow-follow people flocking Aso Rock since the inception of Jonathan’s administration, he has successfully tackled the poverty among 50% of the ass-lickers including the expanding society of Aso Rock Bull Dogs.

If I cast my dragnets at the places that I know like Oshodi, Ojuelegba or Okokomaiko, my data will produce a result that will make nonsense of the results produced by some drunkards in Aso Rock. More than 90% of the people will be below poverty level and living on less than N500 a day.

For more than ever before majority of Nigerians groan under an increasingly senseless and insensitive government. Increasing the death rate and lowering the life expectancy of a population does not mean that poverty has been reduced.

In several essays I have depicted the nature, spread and characteristics of poverty in Nigeria as one of the worst hidden tragedies in the world. I have also been very quick to dismiss the claims of the few people who escaped the threshold of poverty sometimes through luck or unmerited opportunities that their situations cannot be used as the yardstick.

The title of this essay came as a result of my feelings in recent months. I’ll approach it.

I do know, and convincingly too that there are a few people in Sweden who have cultivated the habits of reading my articles, not because they want to be “my readers” but because they “enjoy” this culture of gossiping about “what did he write this week”?

I am happy for them, that they found a weekly delight.

I’ll keep them in the dark by not defining their range but amongst them are people who need to understand though that I have the right to my views about Nigeria no matter what they think or feel.

I cannot help those who found out too late that they had been talking to someone who has been writing about Nigeria since 2001.

One of my pictures on Facebook must have tilted the table over. I had a T-shirt with the inscription Oduduwa republic on my mind. It is one of my ideas of freedom. The image must have gone viral among some folks. I am still happy for them and I hope they get a pat on the back when they make their reports.

I wonder how much shock my Swedish-Nigerian readers suffered in the last 4 weeks when I had written stories about love. I will choose love any day over a failed country under the bondage of crazy and deaf rulers.

The love stories came to me after a recent trip to Finland. I think my ancestors love nature and they prefer the solitude of a calm sea to bring me teachings and guidance.

Today I wanted to write a story about “The Dreamer Boy” but I thought some people will like to know if I am still in tune with Nigeria and how the drunkards have reduced poverty by 50%.

What is more interesting than this blatant lie is the growth and spread of individuals, groups and associations that are intensifying their doubts about their continuous recognitions as Nigerians.

They are weighing the options of bailing out of a jaga-jaga Nigeria. There are many t-shirts nowadays with a lot of messages and one boy even tore his green passport and posted it on YouTube.

I have a lot of reflections on this emerging trend especially among “Nigerians” who are far away from their regions in Nigeria, based mostly in Europe, Asia and America.

For the Nigeria we have today became a total mess as a result of our collective failures as citizens and participants or onlookers in the successive corrupt and useless governments in Nigeria over the years and even to this day in October 2014.

The Nigeria of today was not the dream of the men and women who fought collectively to wrestle the country from the colonialists.

The reason we write or recite or even highlights repeatedly our failures as a country is because some people need the education at some point on what has happened and what we expected. Where Nigeria is today on the scale of human development and quality of life is a complete disgrace to the intellectual abilities of the African race.

One failed government blames the other and the cycle of idiocy rotates as nobody tackles the menaces of corruption, federal character (yes, it is a menace), nepotism and tribalism.

It was the greed in Nigerians and the corruption in their veins that exposed the madness of the colonialists who married different nations into one entity. “Irreconcilable differences” is an expression made in Nigeria. The crazy rulers destroyed the institutions of governance and many crazy people in government stole for themselves, their friends and their unborn generations-even to this day.

Since the mid-1960s, no government has made efforts to return power and freedom to the regions just the way it was when education, health and technological developments were functional until greed and outright stupidity reared their ugly heads.

The process of divide and rule, looting and total disregard for the rules of law continued and reached a new dimension since the inception of pseudo-democracy in 1999.

For Nigeria I have oscillated between hope and hopelessness and my understanding of statistics says it is time to try something else.

I am all for the freedom and the emancipation of the people who are currently enslaved in Nigeria.

It is imperative to define the modalities and the cost of freedom so that the sycophants and the major players of today do not ruin the future of our children and grandchildren the same way they ruined our parents lives and displaced us to different places around the globe.

I wish that all the groups and associations around the world will emerge from their clandestine positions and start to talk openly. The Scottish people just had a vote. The outcome was not as important as the action they took but it will define the things to come in the future. Their children will grow up feeling more secured.

It is old fashioned to seek freedom in the dark rooms. It is very primitive to seek independence through confidential emails or social media closed groups.

If you want something, make it open, make it plain. Go for it and carry the people who need the change along.

Healthy debates, open groups, open discussions and other form of transparent dealings may help to check some of my personal fears regarding the stakeholders in all these clandestine groups scattered around the world.

What is the cost of freedom?

The cost of freedom lies in service to humanity. It is not looting the treasury and telling stupid lies about security and poverty.

The cost of freedom in public service lies in willingness to die at the altar of truth. It is not in building houses of gold on the polluted land across Nigeria.

The cost of freedom is the deprivation that comes with the belief that humanity comes before self.

The cost of freedom will be correlated to conventional free thinking and explorative mindedness.

It will not be locked to dying for the sake of acquiring virgins in an imaginary place. It will not have anything to do with deadly assembly at the feet of gangster mortals called prophets. The cost of freedom will rid a nation of the defenders of evil.

Unless a country or a group of people are willingly to genuinely give their today in the name of true freedom, their children will never be free tomorrow.

For the nations entangled in Nigeria these sacrifices are non-negotiable.  Along with the irrepressible truth, they will be the ultimate cost of freedom.

aderounmu@gmail.com