independence

How Nigeria Fell Apart

/ Adeola / 3 Comments

By Now if Nigeria was ever a country, Buhari would have suffered one of these: 1. Arrested and prosecuted for crimes against humanity. 2. Arrested and prosecuted for corruption of the highest magnitude 3. Sacked, impeached, and disgraced out of office for gross incompetence, lack of will, lack of capacity and extreme negligence of duties!

How Nigeria Fell Apart

By Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola Aderounmu

Sometimes I don’t even know where to start and where to end when l set to write about Nigeria. How do I ensure that you are not reading repetitions and tautology?

Some people don’t bother to follow Nigeria news and if they follow a blog like mine, what they get to read is all I pour out here.

Blogging here is a hobby that I have kept for more than a decade. Impressive you would say! Many of my fellow bloggers/writers are now in government houses making your life miserable. I will not join them. How does one keep writing about the same thing or similar stuffs for more than a decade and then nothing actually changes. I mean NOTHING!

Let me tell you where we are now.

Nigeria’s ruler, one General Buhari (if we believe he is still alive) is in London. He is resting! Nigeria is literarily (not figuratively) on fire. When you try to wrap your head around what is going on in Nigeria and that there is actually a place where such things could happen, you will almost lose your sanity.

By now, if Nigeria was ever a country, Buhari would have suffered one of these: 1. Arrested and prosecuted for crimes against humanity. 2. Sacked, impeached and disgraced out of office for gross incompetence, lack of will, lack of capacity and extreme negligence of duties.

But the idiot is in London, resting. Really?

This is not just an indictment of the political class, that they are all criminals. This is also an indictment of the citizenry; they are foolish enough not to raise 10 to 50 million people on the streets across Nigeria that will ultimately revolt and sack all the ruling and political class.

This ability to sack the government is something that should have happened not long after the return to democracy in Nigeria in 1999. If this had happened say in the early 2000s, then perhaps we would have found a system of government that held political office holders accountable. We would have probably gone back to the system that worked before the 2 useless coups of 1966. We would have found our way back to the years preceding the civil war. Those years were golden!

We refused to take bold steps. The reasons are many and some of them have come back to haunt us, to destroy the very fraudulent foundations upon which we falsely restarted a pseudo-democratic government in 1999.

Today in Nigeria, the crimes, the violence, the genocide, murders, assassinations, kidnapping and inhuman conditions of living have dwarfed the runoff to the civil war. Let me not bore you further with just how backward and how bad Nigeria has become.

A few years ago, I wrote a piece where I declared that my Nigerian-ness has gone. That comment is truer today than it was before. There is nothing I want to embrace more today than my passport to state that I am from Oduduwa Nation. I strongly look forward to coming back to Oduduwa land. There is nothing I want more than the removal of terrorists from Yorubaland. All those who have come to Yorubaland with the mind of ruling over us must be uprooted. I am sick and tired of one Nigeria. I am sick and tired of fools and idiots that have promoted terrorism over civility.

In nearly 2 decades I have written about the same thing: Nigerian politicians irrespective of ethnicity are criminals. Under the fools in APC-Buhari mandate, everything is based on ethnicity and religion. Things fell apart, terrorism that they promised to quench, they promoted. They called terrorists bandits, they hug terrorists and call them herdsmen. They pay terrorists huge sums of money and they rehabilitate them. I cannot find enough space to upload my anger in this post. To say that I am pissed is an understatement. Buhari’s government is full of mad men and mad women, totally crazy people who deserve nothing but lifetime in prisons!

I know that Oduduwa republic or the Yoruba Nation is not Eureka, but it will give us the platform to start again. It will give us the platform to re-create the Yorubaland of the 1940s and 1950s when our civilization was ahead of European civilization. We will go back to the point we were before we were blended with the uncivilized people from Northern Nigerian especially. Blood-thirsty terrorists!

Oduduwa Republic is not going to be a magic solution to our problems, but we are Yoruba. We speak the same language, have the same culture and way of life. We will give ourselves the opportunity to refashion our lives and prepare a foundation for our children and children’s children.

I am angry and definitely I do not want to be called a Nigerian. I am Yoruba, Yoruba Omo Oduduwa. I am the light of the world.

My name is Adeola.

Nigeria @ 60. A Totally Failed Country

/ Adeola / 1 Comment

Nigeria @ 60. A Totally Failed Country

By Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola

10 years ago, l wrote a piece that went viral/global. It was titled: Nigeria @ 50, what is there to celebrate? One would have thought that the provocations in the essay would lead to positive response and a desire to prove me (the author) wrong.

A decade later, Nigeria is worse off that she was 10 years ago. In fact, l had no desire to write this article you are reading now. Writing about Nigeria has more or less become uninspiring because the more we write, the more Nigeria heads for destruction. It´s like a freefall into a permanent jeopardy.

I am so pained about Nigeria l never wanted to associate with the name in public places. I wish that my name gives me the recognition that l am foremost a Yoruba man. I think it is time to let people wonder where the Yorubaman comes from and that, for better or worse, l would love to be called an Oduduwan.

Nigeria today, and more precisely since the year 1999 was returned to criminals in 2 major political parties, APC and PDP. For the purpose of this article, l would not be distinguishing between APC and PDP because any attempt to do so by anyone is gross stupidity.

You will have to read somewhere in my blog to find out why you should NEVER do that. But as a quick line of reasoning. You may want to answer these. In which political party was Obaseki in October 2019? In which political party is Obaseki in October 2020?

Nigerian politicians are hardcore criminals. They have only one mission, to enrich themselves and their families as well as their accomplices now and forever. The consequences are well documented. Nigeria is arguably a rich country on paper but a very impoverished country in terms of the more than 100 million people living in poverty, from hand to mouth, unsure of the next meal and contemplating vices that would sustain them.

The consequences of mal-governance and totallly stupid unitary system of governance is the near collapse of public education, the total decay of infrastructure, lack of housing policy and totally dilipitated, unmotorable roads across the entire country. Nigerians have no access to good health and they have to source for water using drilling machines or water vendors. I cannot write all the vices and the advancement of evil in Nigeria here. It is what l have done in the last 2 decades, or so.

Again, l am also quick to tell those asking me for solutions to shut up! We have given more than 1 million suggestions in the last 60 years. How many of them have been heeded! What type of solution is more important than the politicians doing the right thing! What?

What knd of solution is more important that the independent judiciary arresting criminals like Buhari, Babangida, Jonathan, Tinubu, Atiku and Obasanjo to start with? These criminals should be arrested by the police, and they should face charges ranging for crimes to humanity to outright corrruption.

If these actions are not possible and if the people cannot revolt but would rather watch and vote on BBN, then stop asking me for the solution. Let me do my part by writing on my blog.

A while ago, l wrote that my essays are no longer for this wasted generation (we have seen 3 wasted generations now) but for the unborn generations, if they choose to be free.

As the degeneration of Nigeria persists, the country is today the worst country to be born and live. A few years ago, l was the first person to define mass poverty in Nigeria but it took the plagiarism of the WHO to bring the issue to limelight. Still, we the people fold our hands and continued to ”thrive” in mass poverty.

Hopefully, it won´t take forever to know that, for countries that have not declared war officially, Nigeria is the greatest tragedy the world has seen since the end of the 2nd World War.

Often, l need to remind anyone living in Nigeria, especially those who think that they are doing fine, about the reality of their lives. As far as you are in Nigeria, you are living in poverty and you are living under poverty. It does not mater where you live or how ”stupidly” comfortable you think you are.

Nigeria as a geographical country is a country under the bondage of poverty, misery, terror, genocide and invariably war. Nigeria is the darkest country from sky. Fly at night and you will be shocked! The country has no electricity but the government charge the people monthly for services not provided. The government of Nigeria, whether APC or PDP is a criminal organisation. Who else charges or even increase the price of things that are not available?

I have no idea how many things l have lumped into this essay and how uncordinated it is. I am at work and trying to put this together. Today, there are agitations that Nigeria should be dismantled. I am 100% behind such agitations whilst l admit that it is not EUREKA.

Nigeria is a fraud. That is a fact. The major factor that would stand against the nations that may emerge from Nigeria is the people´s mentality. This mentality and way of thinking have been destroyed by more than 100 years of amalgamation and more than 60 years of stupidity by both military and civilians. So, any independence given to the regions might result to different wars. However, it seems that in the absence of the certainties that may unfold, the re-emergence of the regions is far more preferable than the slave camp that Nigeria has been since 1967 when the civil war broke out.

It is the same stupid Nigerian politicians that would dominate in the different nations that may emerge. It is the same people who prefered to fix BBN than Nigeria that would be in the regions. My point is that Nigeria faces a dilemma and there are no clear-cut solutions no matter what we do.

What must not be allowed to continue is the impunity in high places. Nigerian politicians are foolish, greedy, corrupt, senseless, merciless and possessed by demons that are insatiable in material and monetary comfort.

That free run on our commonwealth must not be allowed to continue. For me, putting a stop to that, by whatever means possible, is the most important thing that could be associated with the sorry state of Nigeria, a totally hopeless and failed country at 60.

aderounmu@gmail.com

Nigeria’s Independence, The Military Coups And the Origin of Corruption Nigeria

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Since becoming millionaires in Nigeria do not correlate to owning factories but nearness to the centre of federal, state or local government where national patrimonies are looted, it means that Nigerian millionaires are manufacturers of massive poverty and miseries for Nigerians.

Nigeria’s Independence, The Civil War And The Origin Of Corruption In Nigeria

By Salimonu Kadiri (Guest Writer On Thy Glory O’ Nigeria..!)

Mr Salimonu Kadiri

Mr Salimonu Kadiri

Fifty-five years ago, Nigeria obtained sovereignty from Britain. Consequently, Chinua Achebe recorded thus, literally all government ministries, public and privately held firms, corporations, organizations, and schools saw the majority of their expatriate staff (mostly British) leave.

While this quiet transition was happening a number of internal jobs, especially the senior management positions, began to open up for Nigerians, particularly for those with a university education.

It was into these positions vacated by the British that a number of people like myself were placed …. This ‘bequest’ was much greater than just stepping into jobs left behind by the British. Members of my generation also moved into homes in the former British quarters previously occupied by members of the European senior civil service.

These homes often came with servants – chauffeurs, maids, cooks, gardeners, stewards – whom the British had organized meticulously to ‘ease their colonial sojourn.’

Now following the departure of the Europeans, many domestic staff (Nigerians or black Africans) stayed in the same positions and were only too grateful to continue their designated salaried roles in post-independence Nigeria. Their masters were no longer Europeans but their own brothers and sisters.

This bequest continued in the form of new club memberships and access to previously all-white areas of town, restaurants, and theatres (see p. 48 – 49, There Was a Country by Chinua Achebe).”

It is very important to note that Nigerians who stepped in to fill the jobs left by Europeans and inherited their rates of pay and privileges also played the role of the colonialists. The offices occupied by Nigerians after Independence were designed and meant to serve the interest of Great Britain and they remain so till date.

However, within six years of independence Chinua Achebe asserted that, Nigeria was a cesspool of corruption and misrule” where public servants helped themselves freely to the nation’s wealth (p.51, There Was a Country).”

As Nigerian public servants and politicians preened themselves in the perfection of the white man’s life, they became extravagant and flamboyant while being conspicuous and spectacular in consumption of imported materials. At that stage, the inherited rates of pay and privileges were no longer enough for Nigerian public servants, employed or politically appointed. That was the origin of corruption in Nigeria.

Exactly five years, three months and fourteen days after Nigeria had obtained sovereignty from Britain and at 12:30 P.M., on January 15, 1966, Major Patrick Chukwuma Nzeogwu, announced in a broadcast from Radio Kaduna that the Supreme Council of the Revolution of the Nigerian Armed Forces had taken over power in the North.

Our enemies, Nzeogwu said, are the political profiteers, the swindlers, men in high and low places that seek bribes and demand ten per cent. Declaring a martial law, he listed embezzlement, bribery and corruption among offences that carried death sentences.

Unfortunately for Nigeria and Major Nzeogwu, his comrades in the South had been infiltrated by tribal chauvinists. One of the coup plotters explained that Major Don Okafor and Captain Ogbo Oji had taken a stand against any step that might embody the killing of Ironsi.

Therefore, while the would-be assassins were pointedly making for his (Ironsi) residence he was at the same time heading towards Ikeja (2nd Infantry Battalion) to enlist support to quell the rebellion of the Majors. Major John Obienu who was to come to Lagos from Abeokuta with armoured cars in support of the Majors’ rebellion renegged and linked up instead with Major General Ironsi at Ikeja (see p. 125 – 126, NIGERIA’S FIVE MAJORS; COUP D’ÉTAT OF 15TH JANUARY 1966, FIRST INSIDE ACCOUNT BY BEN GBULIE).

It is noteworthy that Captain Ben Gbulie fought on the side of Biafra during the Civil War. In Enugu Major Chude Sokei and Lieutenant Jerome Oguchi of the 1st Infantry Battallion were assigned the role of killing the Premier of the Eastern and Mid-western Regions, Dr. Michael Ihenokura Okpara and Denis Osadebey respectively, but the would-be assassins had turned pacificists that did not like to see bloodshed (see p.136 of Gbulie’s book).

Two hours after Nzeogwu broadcast in Kaduna, Major General Johnson Thompson Umunakwe Aguiyi Ironsi caused Radio Lagos to broadcast at 14:30 P.M., that in the early hours of this morning, 15th January 1966, a dissident section of the Nigerian Army kidnapped the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance and took them to an unknown destination.

The General Officer Commanding (Ironsi) and the vast majority of the army remained loyal to the Federal Government and are already taking appropriate measures to bring the ill-advised mutiny to an end. On Sunday, 16th January 1966, when General Ironsi announced his taking over of power in Nigeria at 23:50 P.M., fifteen casualities of the Majors’ coup included the Prime Minister of the Federation, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa; Finance Minister, Chief Festus Okotie Eboh; the Premier of Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello; the Premier of Western Region, Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola; Brigadier Zakariya Maimalari; Brigadier Samuel Adesujo Ademulegun; Colonel Kuru Mohammed; Colonel R. A. Shodeinde; Lieutenant Colonel Abogo Largema; Lietenant-Colonel Yakubu Pam and Lietenant-Colonel Arthur Chinyelu Unegbe. Just as Ironsi did not take over power to fight corruption in Nigeria, so were those who overthrew him towards the end of July 1966.

Since 1985, and especially in the last 16 years, corruption as observed by Major Nzeogwu in January 1966 had grown from 10% to 200%. Political elites in government and civil servants, including the judiciary are accustomed to using their offices to share power and the resources of Nigeria among themselves.

Money budgeted for road constructions, hospitals, education, power supply, potable water, housing, turn around maintenance of oil refineries and even pensions have been looted by political elites, civil servants in the ministries, departments, parastatals and judiciary.

The main core of the Nigerian economy, oil which in the constitution of Nigeria is the property of all Nigerians have been appropriated by the elites to themselves through the issuance of oil blocks to one another.

Since becoming millionaires in Nigeria do not correlate to owning factories but nearness to the centre of federal, state or local government where national patrimonies are looted, it means that Nigerian millionaires are manufacturers of massive poverty and miseries for Nigerians.

The treasury looters in Nigeria give birth to unemployment, armed robbers, kidnappers, drug traffickers (even to countries where the penalty is death sentence), ethnic insurgents and Boko Haram while they force others to look for means of livelihood in exile.

(to be continued)

At 55, Nigeria Still Crawls

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Without complete and due accountability, without a system of government that removes power from one man in one place now called Abuja, Nigeria will crawl even when she celebrates 100 years of independence.

At 55, Nigeria Still Crawls

By Adeola ADEROUNMU

Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola Aderounmu

The present status of Nigeria is still fragile, more like in the heartbreaking mode.

Week 40 of 2015, 4 days to Nigeria at 55 and Mr. Buhari is not in Nigeria. There are no ministers to run the various ministries and federal departments. There are no blueprints or references or working documents to measure the performance of government.

This is lack of respect for more than 160 m people! It is disregard to the principles of democracy and good governance. It is a way of creating confusion in the land.

Candidly l don’t think Mr. Buhari knows the difference between civilian rule and military rule yet. It is disgraceful that the APC and Mr. Buhari cannot produce ministers more than 100 days after their mandate came into effect. They are not ready to lead the country and if care it not taken Nigeria’s economy will suffer greatly. The people will become poorer.

Surely the saintly, angelic ministers must appear someday. But how the APC-mandate under Mr. Buhari will unfold will be of historic significance.

No one has spoken openly about how public education will be revived and made affordable. No one has spoken about housing, standard of living and the welfare of the citizens. No one has spoken about how to move Nigerian hospitals away from religious or revival centers to structures where lives can be saved and cherished.

The pictures emerging from New York showing how Mr. Buhari and Mr. Obasanjo are mingling with Mr. Gordon are extremely insignifcant to the welfare of Mama Taju and Baba Chukwudi who are waiting in Ilasamaja and Onitsha respectively for the blueprints on the education of their children and how their future can be ensured.

Buhari OBJ Gordon

Buhari OBJ Gordon

This has been the pattern, that Nigerian rulers and the conquerors of Abuja continue to maintain a distance from the people. The reliance on the ineffective unitary system of government and the insincerity of the state and local governments are perfect scenarios for misgovernance and maladministration-the hallmarks of public service across Nigeria.

I remember the assault on us when Nigeria became 25 years as an independent country. There were all sorts of sponsored jingles on the national TV channels and radio stations.

Arise, salute the nation, come join the celebrations, Nigeria is 25, Nigeria is 25. Every day, every time, this jingle was imposed on our minds and melted into our subconsciousness.

Nigerian rulers are ruthless and they lack respect for the citizens. The jingles in 1960 and the jingles in 1985 orchestrated by the civilians looters and the military gangsters respectively were part of the greater plot to enslave Nigerians.

Sadly in the days approaching 2016 the majority of the Nigerian population are living as slaves. It is even sadder that the people who are living as slaves do not realise this. They have become so pre-ocuppied with different survival strategies that they do not even have the awareness that they  are living the lifestyles they didn’t choose, one which the power to change will always be in their hands.

The immediate post-independence generation is gradually fading away without winning back the Nigeria of their dreams. They allowed the criminal politicians and the military gangsters among them to get away just like that because of tribal or ethnic sentiments among other unacceptable reasons that promote evil over good.

Similarly the entire post-independent generations are entangled in a struggle between hope, promises and fading dreams. They grew up seeing their fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, their friends and families carting away the treasuries from the local, state and federal governments.

Some of them are direct or indirect beneficiaries of this social malady. The majority are on-lookers shouting every weekend in mosques, shrines and churches. Some are disconnected totally from reality and thereby choose to kill, maim or kidnap others. They turn their anger and frustrations on fellow citizens using religion as a platform. Religion will remain among the most dangerous inventions of man.

As a result of the network of political gangsterism in Nigeria, the fight for a common country with fairness for all was lost a long time ago. It does not appear that the struggle for the emancipation of the masses will be fought again unless the civil society become organised and united.

When I am doing fine and when my family is doing better than our neighbours, l don’t care. This slogan is the hidden Nigerian anthem.

The selfishness and the evil in the hearts of men in any country are stumbling blocks working against the spirit of patriotism and the achievement of the common good of all.

There are radical ways to bring Nigeria back on track.

The government must work for the people and the people must work for the government. The political system must be right and the institutions of government must be functional.

All the things that have crumbled must be revived at the same time. Education, Health, Housing and Roads among a growing list of the things that have made life less worth living in Nigeria. Family planning and citizen orientation will avail much.

At some point the people must find the trigger to orchestrate the fight for what they want and how they wish to live a better life. The government full of corrupt people and treasury looters will not offer it to them on a platter of gold.

It must be emphasized that only an insignificant proportion of the Nigerian population have had it well. Even then they have co-existed with the wretched population in the same environment that is full of abnormalities.

All the sad situations in Nigeria are well known. Some people want critics to proffer solutions and we reply by saying the answer lies in good governance and accountability. It is as easy as doing what is right, condemning what is wrong and making sure you leave every situation better than you met it. How hard is that?

We have added that the political system and the political structures are not working. They give room to the emergence of criminals in public services under a unitary system that makes dictators out of democrats and tyrants out of soldiers.

Nigeria is always at a crossroads, the choices that the people and the government make each time are always on the wrong side of history. For example, Saraki is on trial and the man has not even resigned! Nigerian politicians are special breeds of criminals, hard-heartened and die-hard looters.

What decision can Nigeria make at this time? Another easy question!

After Saraki’s trial and wherever the law leaves him (free or in prison), Nigerians have a collective responsibility to continue this process of cleaning the political and public arenas.

There are Halliburton criminals in Nigeria and they are friends of Buhari, even travelling the world with him! Buhari is not even ashamed of what ordinary citizens are ashamed of. He is not yet a good ruler! It still looks like the birds of the same feather.

Nigerians have the power to occupy the entire country until the judiciary orders the police to produce all the Halliburton criminals in court. Let’s see where the judiciary will leave them when their trials are over.

Why should Nigerians even stop there? There are several hundrerds or thousands of politicians and military gangsters living in Nigeria and abroad who have looted the treasuries. Do they have 2 heads while Saraki has one?

Again, Nigerians have the right to occupy their country or the judiciary until justice served to one is served to all.

There are many ways to move Nigeria forward and two signals that need to be clear are that stealing is corruption and that no one is above the law.

One way not to move Nigeria forward is the ruling government playing the role of the opposition. The APC leadership has perfected the art of responding to PDP’s disruptive PRO machinery. The government that should lead is stupidly playing the opposition because of its lack of creativity and initiative.

As all these play out, if some people remain above the law, more than 90% of Nigerians will continue to live forever as slaves no matter the style of governance.

The way to make Nigeria great is to make every single citizen account for their time and service to country and humanity. Without complete and due accountability, without a system of government that removes power from one man in one place now called Abuja, Nigeria will crawl even when she celebrates 100 years of independence.

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