War On Corruption, Biafra And The Untrue Claim Of Igbo Marginalisation (Part 1 of 3)

December 24, 2015December 24, 2015 / Adeola / Leave a comment

For historically conscious Nigerians, Biafra connotes war, mass starvation and death. However, many Nigerians are afflicted with Alzheimer, a disease that robs its victims of their memories to learn from the past and present

War On Corruption, Biafra And The Untrue Claim Of Igbo Marginalisation

By Salimonu Kadiri (Guest Writer on Thy Glory O’ Nigeria and The Nigeria Village Square)

Mr Salimonu Kadiri

For Nigerians, every day is first of April in which they are either fooling someone or someone is fooling them. For Nigerians, December is a month of hypocrites and as usual Nigerians join the rest of the world in wishing one another happy Christmas and prosperous New Year even when in reality every celebrated Christmas and New Year is less happy and less prosperous in ascending order.

Nigerian hypocrites carry their religions on foreheads but their behaviours are inversely proportional to Godliness. They shout the name of God every now and then but act satanically.

In Nigeria, roads are simply non-existing, hospitals have become morgues, schools have crumbled, electricity is epileptic, pipe borne water is away on permanent leave, the streets are filled with filth, dead animals and sometimes human corpses because politicians and civil servants, apart from collecting their salaries and fringe benefits, have stolen monies appropriated for providing essential commodities for Nigerians.

The sixteen years rule of PDP led to so much head ache for Nigerians that they decided to take APC as a remedy at the March 28, 2015, Federal elections in Nigeria. That was the first time a government was voted out of power in Nigeria and the world exclaimed in surprise.

The All Progressive Congress (APC) and its Presidential candidate, ex-General Muhammadu Buhari, had gone into the elections with the campaign to deal with kleptomania which is on the verge to suffocate Nigeria.

As it turned out, the Presidential election was not only won by the APC, but they had majority in the National Assembly encompassing the Senate and the House of Representatives. This implies that majority of Nigerian electorates have empowered the Executive and the legislators to expunge kleptomaniacs from Nigeria.

After election victory the APC decided that the speaker of the House of Reps and his deputy should be Femi Gbajabiamila and Mohammed Monguno respectively while the President of the Senate and his Deputy should be Ahmed Lawan and George Akume respectively.

The Senate contains 109 members but it was reduced to 108 before June 9, 2015, when the 8^th Assembly was to be inaugurated as a result of the death of one APC Senator after the election. Thus, APC have 59 members while PDP and allies have 49 members. Democratically and politically, the APC party had decided who among its elected Senators would be the President and Deputy President of the Senate respectively.

The decision of APC did not please Senator Bukola Saraki, therefore he openly connived with PDP, the political antagonist of APC, to become the Senate President against the wish of his party. On June 9, 2015, a compromised Clerk of the Assembly arranged the election of Senate President in the presence of 57 out of 108 Senators.

The 57 Senators consisted of 49 PDP and 8 APC. By the time the Deputy Senate President was about to be elected, the number of APC present had increased to 25, and the PDP Senator, Ike Ekweremandu, was elected with 54 votes against Ali Ndume, APC, who scored 20 votes.

Thus, a Senate President and his Deputy were elected through a process similar to those described under Article 419 of the Nigerian Criminal Code – Obtainment by false pretence! In democracy and party politics, it is an abomination. In explaining their behaviours, Senator Bukola Saraki and his ilk have said that after elections the legislators are free to conduct the affairs of the National Assembly without the interferance of the political parties on whose platform they contested elections and won.

Yet, and in accordance with the constitution, no one can contest election in Nigeria without belonging to and sponsored by a political party. By taking some members of the APC, to which he belongs, and merging them with PDP to form a new majority in the Senate, Saraki subverted the will of the electorates that voted PDP out of power and he has created a real impediment against change and war on kleptomania, the campaign slogan on which the APC went into election. Outwardly Bukola Saraki is an APC but internally he is a PDP.

On September 11, 2015, the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) filed a 13 count charge of financial crime, money laundering, false declaration of assets, owning and operating foreign bank accounts while being a public officer, against Senator Bukola Saraki at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Abuja. Saraki was to be arraigned before Justice Danladi Umar of CCT Abuja on Friday, 18 September 2015.

Instead of defending himself at the CCT Senator Saraki hired dozens of advocates to file ex-parte motion at an Abuja High Court, presided over by Justice Ahmed Mohammed, on Thursday, 17 September 2015 seeking injunctions to prevent the CCT from trying him.

Justice Mohammed then summoned the Ministry of Justice to appear before him on Monday, 21 September to show cause why the trial should be allowed to proceed. The judge also summoned the Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Danladi Umar and that of the CCB, Mr. Sam Saba as well as Mr Hassan who signed the charge against Saraki to appear before him on 21 September 2015 to show cause why Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki should be prosecuted.

However, the CCT commenced the trial of Saraki on the 18^th of September 2015 and his lawyer asked the Tribunal for a stay of proceeding on the ground of Justice Mohammed’s summon. Justice Umar replied that the High Court had parallel juridiction with the Tribunal and as such, had no powers to halt a trial in the Tribunal.

Therefore, he issued order of warrant of arrest by the police against Saraki, so that he could be present at the next hearing to take a plea of guilty or not guilty in the court. Although Saraki had pleaded not guilty to the charges he has gone to the Supreme Court to challenge the jurisdiction of the CCT to try him and pending the decision of the Supreme Court, the CCT has laid the case to rest.

Bukola Saraki’s attempt to seek judicial embargo against the investigating authority is rather a norm than exception in Nigeria. The former Governor of Rivers State, Peter Odili, was the first to obtain a perpetual injunction against investigation, interrogation and prosecution over treasury looting of the State he governed from 1999 to 2007.

Others who were sluggish in obtaining perpetual injunction got their cases put into permanent coma by the trial judges. In recent time, Stella Adaeze Oduah, on August 26, 2015, obtained an interim injunction, from Justice Mohammed Yunusa presiding over a Federal High Court in Lagos, barring the EFCC and its agents from inviting or arresting her for questioning over the purchase of $1.6 million armoured cars when she was Minister of Aviation under Jonathan.

In the same spirit, on Thursday, 17 September 2015, an Abuja High Court presided over by Justice Valentine Ashi, in a ruling barred the EFCC, Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Department of State Security Services (DSS), the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) and National Security Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), from arresting, detaining and investigating Mr. Kingsley Kuku over his activities as former Coordinator of Presidential Amnesty Programme for Niger Delta under President Goodluck Jonathan. Billions of naira were said to have disappeared over Niger Deltan ghost students purported to have been on scholarships under amnesty programme.

In the 16 years of PDP governing Nigeria (May 29, 1999 to 29 May 2015), the three arms of government – the Executive (Presidency), the Legistilative (National Assembly) and the Adjudicative (Judiciary) – were deeply corrupt. Chinua Achebe once said that Nigeria is not a country but he would have been stating the truth if he had said that Nigerians are not human beings because if one-hundredth of government’s kleptomania in Nigeria were to occur in any country of the world there would be public uproar and outrage.

Since Nigerians have been narcotized with fake religion and false ethnic love, national rogues always attribute their rogueries to the will (blessing) of God and whenever their stealings were exposed they claim that their ethnic group were under attack.

As obnoxious and odious leaders cut across all ethnic groups, the APC government under President Mohammed Buhari has decided to kill corruption before it kills Nigeria. The PDP has accused the APC regime of witch-hunting members and supporters of the immediate past government adding that any true war against corruption should start from 1985.

In a storm where multiple of trees fall on one another would it not be wise to start clearing log of woods from the top? If Jonathan’s PDP regime is at the top of the heap of accumulated corruption in Nigeria, common sense demands that enquiries should start on his regime.

Just as the debate on what happened to the wealth of Nigeria entrusted in the care of Jonathan in the past five years was on-going, a diversionary agitation for the secession of Biafra beclouded the political terrain of Nigeria.

For historically conscious Nigerians, Biafra connotes war, mass starvation and death. However, many Nigerians are afflicted with Alzheimer, a disease that robs its victims of their memories to learn from the past and present. Moreover those who are 45 years of age now may not have heard the true history of the civil war that ended on 15^th January 1970.

Ogunlakaiye@hotmail.com

So, Where Are The Loots? Let’s TAG them.

December 20, 2015December 20, 2015 / Adeola / 1 Comment

Since lies are too hard to maintain Mrs. Iweala has sang a new song and the whole world is laughing at Nigeria. She delivered the recovered loots to Dasuki.

By Adeola Aderounmu

The hysteria that normally trail announcement of loots stolen and recovered have been with Nigeria since after independence in 1960. They come and go…

Nigerians are still dancing to the music of late Fela Anikulapo Kuti. He sang often of bad governments and how they looted the treasuries.

Nigerians are not asking, what happened to all the loots that have been stolen, recovered and relooted.

I am going to repeat something that has happened twice in the last decade under two different dispensations.

When Mrs. Iweala stopped dragging her foot and decided to give accounts for the Abacha loot under Obasanjo’s reign, she gave an account that was very ridiculous. She pointed out to a few things that were already provided for in the budget as what Abacha’s loot were used for.

Recently l saw that she had done exactly the same thing for the reign of Jonathan. She gave a report that the funds (it appears Abacha looted the whole world or what) were used to construct roads.

Since lies are too hard to maintain Mrs. Iweala has sang a new song and the whole world is laughing at Nigeria. She delivered the money to Dasuki.

A few weeks back l wrote an article: Why Are Our Politicians Criminals? On behalf of over 100 million people suffering and living under the poverty line, I am asking again: Why Are Nigerian Politicians All Criminals?

Since Nigeria always have a budget then it means that loots and recovered loots especially should be bonus or boost for the Nigerian economy. Also since the lies of the Nigerian government has become visible, thanks to Mrs. Iweala’s inability to be consistent with her lies, then it was high time to make new demands especially from a government that promised us change.

Nigerian government must start to tag what the recovered funds are used for…to prevent relooting

Let me be clear.

Can we have a proper account of the monies that have now been recovered from the Dasuki-Jonathan-Iweala loot? And please let no moron toll the line of Mrs. Iweala, don’t try to tell Nigerians that the money has been used for this or that. We know already that you are lying. So, don’t go there..!

From now on, Nigerians will like to see a TAG on recovered loots.

The images connected to this article are suggestions on how to be transparent on what happened to recovered loots.

Nigerians must see how looted funds can be effective life changers for them. APC must show if the change slogan is real or a fuss. Time will tell

Let’s TAG the projects executed with looted funds that have been recovered and let’s not use what the budget has provided for as covers for relooting recovered funds aka Iweala looting method 101.

One day the Nigerian government will be bold enough to actually retrieve the funds looted by other big political criminals in Nigeria

We are watching the APC mandate 2015-? to see what they will tell us that they have done with the recovered loots. There is no where in the budget that shows that anything will be done with recovered loots, so that should be a bonus boost to the economy that is today lying in ruins and desolation.

Watch out and read a follow up to this article. It will be titled, 2015 It Was Not A Great Year.

aderounmu@gmail.com

Life, Still A Passage

November 23, 2015November 23, 2015 / Adeola / Leave a comment

Just 2 weeks ago, (actually 3 weeks) l wrote: death either abroad or at home appears to be the only leveler between the corrupt and the saints, the rich and the poor. Life will remain a passage and only fools don’t see the vanity of primitive accumulations.

Life, Still A Passage

Adeola Aderounmu

By Adeola Aderounmu

I have made references to my essay ”A Passage Called Life” on several occasions. The essay was first published in the Nigerian Village Square on November 7, 2007.

At that time Ms. Bunmi Etteh was already brushed aside as the speaker in the Nigerian House of Representatives. One Aminu Safana had also suddenly kicked the bucket.

In that 2007 episode l wrote about the recommendations of the Japanese.

I don’t remember where l got it from but the Japanese gave only 3 recommendations for a fulfilling life. These recommendations are 1. Have children 2. Write a book and 3 . Plant a tree.

I wish l knew where l got this from but it does not matter now. I can make my own inferences.

I remember also an ex-colleague of mine who told me that he was no longer afraid to die. When I asked him what he meant, he said now he has a child and all his fears are gone.

The meaning of the expression is deep and l leave it to my readers,the fathers and mothers out there to interprete.

For my ex-colleague, his thoughts may be in line with what the Japanese inferred.

Can everybody write a book? It depends on how you look at it. I think what will be relevant here it to tell our stories. Ideology and traditions have been sustained even in the absence of books. We can tell our stories and the custodians of history can write them for us.

Since we want our stories to be beneficial to mankind or humanity, we want it to contain good deeds.

It will be hard to read the minds of the Japanese but l do hope they realise the imperfection of mankind.

Not all of us will have children especially now that biological rules have been rewritten. We will not all plant trees because we depend on some institutions in the society to do so on our behalf.

Our stories will be our books if we write them. If we don’t, still we should not fail to share them with those we love and trust.

Then, just 2 weeks ago, l wrote an essay (108 Modern Hospitals Now) and in the conclusion l stated that death either abroad or at home appears to be the only leveler between the corrupt and the saints, the rich and the poor.

Life will remain a passage and only fools don’t see the vanity of primitive accumulations.

In the recent essay l threw a challenge to the government of Nigeria and the politicians as the custodians of our commonwealth. It was my response to the death of Diepreye Alamieyeseigha and all the Nigerian politicians who want to go abroad to die.

Why not build hospitals for yourselves and the citizens of Nigeria?

Nigerian criminal politicians and in fact all greedy and selfish people need to be told (because they do not appear to know) that life is transient and nothing last forever.

Was it Akon who sang and mentioned that tomorrow is not guaranteed?

Whilst the poor people and the masses are still clamouring for the dividends of democracy 16 years on, some fools are already scheming for the 2019 elections.

This means that they are already looting and stealing monies in small and big amounts from different corners of the country and piling them up to execute the 2019 elections.

At the same time, they-the politicians continue to earn undeserved wages, award themselves contracts and buy houses from Dubai to the US, from Britain to the Carribean.

The tradition of the Nigerian politicians since the exit of the colonial thugs remain to suppress the people and continue to impoverish them. To an extremely large and unbelievable extent they have succeeded.

Hence no matter how we have preached about the need and importance of good governance, the priority remains their selfish gains and how to make their families and friends wealthy.

It was not a good omen when people jubilated in the streets in those days when dictators or crook politicians died.

Nowadays the jubilation is on the social media. Invariably the majority of Nigerians wish that many of the politicians could drop dead one after the other.

So far, many have dropped dead actually. There is no pity here because like l mentioned in 108 Hospitals Now, we have all lost some of our loved ones due to the recklessness of governance and disorderliness in the society.

Nigeria is on rampage daily.

But our political problems are not solved by death at home and abroad because the spread of wickedness and insensitivity are still irredeemable in the souls of the conquerors of Nigeria.

Today the conquerors are the men and women parading themselves in APC and PDP folds.

I have come to the conclusion that the APC and the PDP are birds of the same feather in different nests.

Fot them there are no lessons to be learnt about the transiency of life. No lessons are learnt from history.

Nigerian politicians do not give a damn. As long as there is yam, they are glad to remain the goats until they drop dead, whichever way.

So once again, as Nigerians continue with their daily struggles looking for food and water to put on the table, one hopes that sense will prevail and that gradually Nigeria will move towards finding a lasting solution to the problems plaguing country.

Not least is the political solution that is even now more urgent.

If a man participated in an election in the morning and dropped dead in the afternoon, then it is not just tomorrow that is not guaranteed but also the rest of today

Life will remain a passage. We are all here, only for a while.

Nobody leaves this planet alive. Live and lets live..!

aderounmu@gmail.com

The JETS Club, We Were Members!

November 15, 2015November 15, 2015 / Adeola / Leave a comment

In this jet age and in the JETS CLUB, they don’t sell jets, they fly them! Moreover when the king’s house is burnt, the new one becomes even more beautiful.

The Jets Club, We Were Members!

By Adeola Aderounmu

I remember many things from my days as a child and as a young boy growing up in the city of Lagos. I remember many things from my school days as well. At school we had a group called the Science Club. I was a member of that group from my early days in secondary school. So l had the opportunity (a few times) to interact with my seniors and l look up to them.

Attending the Science Club meetings every Wednesday after school was also a way to introduce myself early to my future science teachers. Some of them stayed long enough in the profession to see me off my school days. Many of them left somewhere along the time. The global movement of teachers remains a syndrome to this day and is a point of discussion for another day.

Later on the science club did not exist anymore. The nomenclature became JUNIOR ENGINEERS TECHNICIANS AND SCIENTISTS CLUB-JETS for short.

Suddenly the hall became full every Wednesday when we had extra-curricula activities. I was now one of the senior students and the turn outs were massive from both the junior and senior classes. The new name-JETS was so captivating that everybody wanted to belong there-to the club.

So this week l read about president Buhari and the APC government still hanging on to the JETS bought by Jonathan and the PDP. Who no like jets? Why should Buhari sell the jets?

The other day vice-president Osinbajo went to Kogi state to support one of the most corrupt Nigerians alive-Abubakar Audu-in his bid to become the governor of Kogi state. Did we expect him to trek to Kogi ni? He has to fly in the corruption ballon called presidential jet in order to get to Kogi now. Abi?

How else can you support corruption if you are not dwelling or flying in corruption? Abeg o, naija people, join the JETS CLUB.

How many times have Mr. Obasanjo and Mr. Jonathan visited their friend President Buhari in Aso rock? Do you want them to trek back and forth? Nigeria needs even more presidential jets to fly all the corrupt ex-presidents and all the former and serving corrupt ministers and government official. Why is this hard to understand? Please stop complaining.

Leave the science club and join the jets club o jare, please!

Let APC fly!

Can’t you see that the presidential air fleet is the Nigerian national carrier? Book your tickets online or get connected to the Aso rock villa. Abi?

So you want Buhari to sell the jets? Really? How else can the Buhari government and the APC family fraternise with one another and the corrupt elites in Nigeria? Do you want them on our dangerous roads? We don’t even have a reliable railway line yet.

Did you think that all the overnight trains and railways commissioned by Mr. Jonathan were real? Ask Dr. Okupe for more information. You actually think your rulers are ok?

How did you think the Abacha family got to Aso rock in 2015? Did you think they trek like the refugees? They are not internally displaced people now?

Get it now, Buhari and the APC need the several jets to fly the likes of Abacha’s family in-and-out of Aso rock for dinner, prayer and merry making. Who no like jets?

Ask you minister of transport Rotimi Amaechi what he went through when his cousin from the Niger Delta Goodluck Jonathan grounded his (or maybe it was Rivers State) governor’s jets. It was like his world was turned upside down!

So now as the transport minister, Nigerians wants Mr. Amaechi and his boss Mr. Buhari to sell the jets? In this jet age and in the JETS CLUB, they don’t sell jets, they fly them!

Amaechi will now mock Jonathan in a thousand ways. He will fly around in jets as the minister of transport. He needs many of them just to show Jonathan that when the king’s house is burnt, the new one becomes more beautiful.Ha ha ! The JETS CLUB.

How many times has president Buhari attended events outside of Nigeria? Many, many times of course. If the tempo is maintained he will break Obasanjo’s record and make Jonathan’s flying habit a child’s play. Then you want him to sell the jets. Seriously?

President Buhari needs one jet per day for his trips. He will change them like l change my underwears. Each time has to the different from the previous one. Sell Jets? Sell fire. Abeg carry go, bad market!

Nigerians should praise this APC and Buhari government abeg. Before Emperor Jonathan was deposed, there were plans to buy more presidential jets. It was already in the budget. So if Buhari has not bought any new jets, he has saved money for Nigeria.

Under Jonathan, and probably now sef, the number of Nigerians belonging to the JETS CLUB was used to measure our national wealth and economic growth. As l remember now, l’m wondering, how did all these coconut heads become rulers of Nigeria?

Am l supposed to cry or laugh remembering that Jonathan said Nigerians are not poor because more Nigerians own private jets. To even remember the paperwork that Mrs Iweala did in order to deceive Nigerians and the world on the status of Nigeria’s economy is more disheartening. These people are not normal.

Who can forget the acknowledgements that the various African countries accorded to Nigerian diplomats and government entourage. In Nigeria there is no electricity to boost the standard of living or employment situation but the low thinking politicians continue to fly around Africa and the world in jets. No greater shame!

But for the APC and the Buhari intervention, it appears that Jonathan’s white elephant goal was that every household in Nigeria will own a jet. They already started with the ministers, their wives and husbands and their children.

The social media connected to Nigeria celebrates the looting of the Nigerian treasuries by the politicians by ways of writing and publishing images of ministers and their families flying in jets while the rest of us can trek or go to hell.

The cost of service under Mr. Buhari and the APC mandate? Was it 6 billion naira already? So how much will this corrupt government spend on jets before the end of the year? Before the end of the APC mandate?

If this wasteful government does not know how many homeless or poor people that could have be housed or taken off the streets by 6 billion naira, they should please employ Lateef Jakande immediately.

Since this government does not believe in the youth, they will need an old reliable hand like Lateef Jakande. They need him for the UPN blueprint on housing for all in western Nigeria. How many Jakande type of low cost hosuing estate can be erected with 6 billion naira?

How many junior civil servants who have no access to looting or organised crimes could have been made happier and healthier with 6 billion naira housing estate? Don’t ask google. Ask Jakande!

Anyway, in Nigeria that attitude of putting political party before sense, political party before reasoning remains constant. Therefore the government of APC with president Buhari and Mr. Osinbajo as the flag-bearers are not seeing the nonsense that they have been involved with lately.

Vice-president Osinbajo was in in Kogi to support corruption. What the APC should have done in this era of their stillbirth change is to at least struggle to present a new candidate in Kogi. They did not. They went ahead to fly corruption. It is amazing and very shocking. It is so disgusting one could throw up on the faces on all pro-APC ranters!

President Buhari is still living behind time, mostly showing insensitivity to current issues. He needs to be schooled and updated by his media team and advisers how the majority of Nigerians feel and their expectactions from him.

He must be able to leave the years of tyranny behind as the citizens try to forget the wounds of the military years which he contributed in inflicting.

lt was also an insult and a spite to the families of those murdered by Abacha and to the rest of us who (almost) gave our lives so that democracy can survive in Nigeria. Some people paid the ultimate price in the fight to wrestle tyranny under the watch of Abacha.

As for the JETS CLUB at Festac Grammar School, l wonder what happened to it especially when the 6-3-3-4 system that came behind us crashed with the same speed as it arrived.

What did not crash in Nigeria? Health care? Housing? Basic infrastructure?

I know what didn’t crash.

The sustenance of the Nigerian president air fleet did not crash. Not under Jonathan, not yet under Buhari.

Who cares about the revival of the Nigerian Airways? In Nigeria, there is a flying JETS CLUB.

In Africa we have the giant, the Ethiopia Airline, in whom we trust!

aderounmu@gmail.com

Dark November Blues

November 8, 2015November 10, 2015 / Adeola / Leave a comment

The story of Nigeria is a sad story of cyclic idiocy.

Dark November Blues

By Adeola Aderounmu

This weekend l looked at the headlines as l have always done. In fact l usually look at the headlines during the week as well. This way l am in touch with happenings and events not only in Nigeria but also around the world.

If you are a columnist or a blogger there is never a deficiency in what can trigger your opinion for your weekly essay or regular write-ups.

For sometime now l have also been thinking about the possibility of travelling to Nigeria for the first time since 2010. This has affected my mood, my disposition and my thoughts in no small way.

When l’d travel to Nigeria as l have done from time to time since 2002 when l first left Nigeria straight to Sweden, it had always been with mixed feelings. Partly, l am happy to see my families and friends again. On the other hand l am sad because l am reminded of the life of poverty that l always return to.

As far as Nigeria is concern, l am still a man living in poverty. I have written many times that becoming a member of the Nigerian family in diapora is not an escape from the poverty that stare at you in the face in Nigeria.

If one lives well abroad or even in Nigeria and pretends to be immune to the intensity and spread of social, infrastructure and material poverty in Nigeria, then one is heartless.

Personally I have never seen living in Sweden as an escape from the life of poverty that l know in Nigeria. It will not matter how long l live in Sweden. l have come to realise that l cannot dissociate myself easily from the several millions of Nigerians still struggling to live on less than 25 dollars a month or nothing at all.

Today l just need to purge my random thoughts, my november blues out of my mind. That way, l become free and my soul is set free.

This happens because there are so many things running through my mind at the same time to the extent that l doubt if l could say l slept well this outgoing week.

When l’d thought about my future trip to Nigeria l am so sad that the people that l know have become fewer in number. One of the laws of nature catches up with us as we grow older-the old and sick dying and newborns emerging.

My mother will not be there amongst those who l want to fondly remember. There are so many others that will be missing and l will not indulge myself in writing about those who went too soon. In almost all the situations where death has cheated me, l realized that the causes are either related to poverty or direct failure of governance.

But l refuse to elaborate further on those who have been taken away from me because of the rat race existence in Nigeria. I will let the tears l’ve shed wash my sorrows away.

There are so many reasons l write regularly, mostly about Nigeria.

One day someone who had been close to me during my adolescence commented on one of my essays: Adeola may you live to see the Nigeria of your dreams.

I think she aptly captured the essence of my essays. She is probably one of those who realised that l could have gone on to live a quiet life like millions of Nigeria living abroad. Those who write genuinely about the socio-political problems in Nigeria have no obligations to do so. It must be the love in their hearts.

My friend’s comment meant that she has been reading a substantial part of my essays where l refused to give up on living a good life in Nigeria. True, that Nigeria where things are normal and work as they should remains in my dreams.

To some people writing about Nigeria and your frustrations about the criminals ruling Nigeria means that you have an agenda, most likely that you have a political ambition that will make you become one of the criminals in government.

Must everyone steal/loot in government? Most people answered: YES.

That aspect saddens me.

In any case, for a country with more than 150 m people having unlimited natural resources and extreme diversity of languages, culture and heritage, there is a need for more voices and opinions from reasonable and selfless people.

This is urgent because a critical analysis of the Nigerian mindset based on the evolution of the social media and in fact conversations with ordinary people one meets leave a lot to be desired. Usually l am easily devastated by the urge of many more Nigerians to participate in politics because they want to become criminals like their fathers, mothers, uncles, friends and neighbours.

Who is going to bring about the Nigeria of my dreams?

Who is happy that several millions of Nigerians remain in absolute poverty living from hand to mouth? Who is happy that their brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers are placed on minimum poverty wage of N18k per month? Who is happy that unemployed people may receive N5k per month as poverty unemployment allowance?

Is it not in the same country where some people stole several billions of dollars and remain free men and women? Is it not in the same country where a few men and women called politicians and their counterparts in the military have access to unlimited funds that they can loot, steal and divert for personal uses?

What is security vote? Nobody is even looking at that anymore. I heard it is several billions of naira given to a governor to provide security for the state he/she governs. I heard the governor does not have to give an account of the state’s security votes. Really?

So a governor can divert security vote to his personal account for 8 years and get away with it just like that. Is this why insecurity is one of the biggest problems in Nigeria?

This country Nigeria is a country built on destructive tendencies in all ramifications!

So the story of a failed country goes on.

The senators are still earning as much as possible doing almost nothing. Sometimes they shout YA or NAY and millions of naira get wired to their accounts. Just like that! Then, they will decide one day to give 5 thousand naira to unemployed graduates. What a fantastic mess? Absolute rubbish and senselessness!

Ministers will finally emerge in the mid-November blues and they are mainly the same old suspects of corruption from the APC or the old PDP converts.

Then the judiciary and the presidency will play the probe game back and forth. They will decide who can be probed or not. Listen! Probe Jonathan! We can’t probe Obasanjo..! We can’t probe Babangida..! Abacha was not corrupt..!

Each government continues to blame the previous administration instead of hitting the ground appropriately to work. The story of Nigeria is a sad story of cyclic idiocy.

I am just wondering.

What can be the worst outcome if Nigerians storm the streets across the country and ask for the sack of all the federal and state senators and legislators and then place them on N5 000 a month until they find new jobs?

On the proposed N5k for unemployed people, my take is that rather embarking on such a disgraceful and dehumaninzing gesture, the government of Nigeria (at all levels) should double their efforts and committments to alleviating the suffering in the land.

There are what we call short-term plans and long-term plans.

Some short-term plans are achievable within 12 calender months when sense is applied. But when you spent more than 6 months to form a common cabinet or executive at state and federal levels, then it doesn’t make sense anymore. It means you are happy with your election or emergence and the people can go to hell!

I think 100% of the unemployed people will be happy to donate their proposed poverty stipends of N5 000 to the motherless babies home if for example electricity is constant in Nigeria say from January 2016 and for ever more.

With a common infrastrucure as electricity many of the unemployed people will become gainfully employed by either engaging in private businesses or becoming absorbed by organisations and enterprises whose monthy profits are mainly used to provide power and other avoidable costs of running businesses.

Even the olden days agricultural development and settlement schemes of western Nigeria availed much. The blueprints must still be somewhere!

There are endless suggestions on either side of the take.

Long-term plan means tacking the fundamental issues that not only affect the political instability in Nigeria but also addressing the economic and development implications at the same time.

The Boko Haram war, the new face of Biafran uprising and the endless agitations in the South-West and in the Niger-Delta will not go away simply because President Buhari has a military background. You can’t purge away these uprisings and wars by a wave of the hand. Agidi o ran!

Boko Haram was underestimated, see where it is heading. Now people are wishing Biafra a sudden death..! what a pity!

That is why referendum exists.

Nigeria needs one now before the country explodes fully.

At this moment, the most reasonable way will be for Nigerian politicians to eschew their selfishness and adopt regional government as quickly as possible. It will not solve all the problems but it will a bold step in the right direction.

aderounmu@gmail.com