It's been more than a week of multitude display of emotions in words and actions by friends and fellow countrymen at home and in the diaspora over the recent fuel price hike. We all sound so passionate and eloquent in baring our thoughts. If words and emotions have brought regimes to a halt/demise in the recent history of the world ('Arab Spring' in mind, which happened just about a year ago); the present Nigerian government would have been history within the last couple of days. Well, with the on-going nationwide protests over the fuel subsidy removal, the outcome of the industrial strike action is labouring in the womb of time. Nevertheless, from ensuing arguments and counter-arguments across the numerous social media sites, I cease to pass the bulk of the blame on President G. Jonathan alone for the present situation in the country. Simply put; do I blame President G. Jonathan? No!
While the current president appears weak and clueless in the face of the anomie beguiling the nation, I blame Nigerians; you and me for our present predicament. It is the misplacement of our priorities over the years that has enabled the rise of the quality of people at the helm. My country has had, for a long time, this 'insensitive' hike amongst other things coming her way. This is the dividend for voting with so much bias, sentiments of all sorts that eventually lead to political 'selection' rather than viable 'election'. Times without number our reasons for going to the polls are not based on sound judgement and clear articulation of the needs of the nation. We think with our 'stomachs' in contrast to the warning signs in our heads. History they say repeats itself but with Nigerians it means nothing because we are too fickle-minded to remember, not to talk of learning. Hence charlatans and intellectually barren politicians hold sway over millions of us year in, year out.
An average Nigerian is so conditioned by decades of austere economic measures that he/she has developed a thick skin towards the problems or wellbeing of his/her neighbour, and the nation as a whole. We are solely concerned with our household alone. This reminds me of a Yoruba chant by supporters of one of the political parties during the Second Republic: 'I'm well fed (x2), I don't know/care if my neighbour/anyone is hungry'; i.e. once my family is well fed, I don't care about others. Is this social behavioural malaise the fault of President Jonathan and his cabal at the FEC? The absence of genuine love and humane predisposition to one another is part of the cancer that has eaten into the fabric of our nation. It is our way of life that enables the powerful and those in government manipulate, at will, the lot of us at the lower rung of the national ladder.
Nigeria is a blessed country and her people are so religious and full of piety. However, these religious sentiments that equally clouds our reasoning and obscures our vision of followership does more harm than good to the nation. In the spate of recent protests and outbursts by all and sundry, a large percentage of our spiritual leaders have been mute; save a few whom we heard joined the protests. Where are the shepherds when the flock needs their protection and guidance from the wolf? This is just true of what has befallen our society today. We flock around one another in times of plenty and quickly take to our heels when adversity sets in. Sadly, it is everyman for himself in Nigeria. Religion is ridiculed; our genuine faith in God is questioned. This is the jungle we have made our country become. We have become Babel of voices, disunity reigns supreme. And like J.P Clark's The Raft, the nation has been teetering in turbulent waters for decades.
We are responsible for this great disservice to Nigeria. Our unhealthy habits: of nonchalance towards our state of affairs as a people, our self-centred attitude over the years, disenfranchising ourselves at the poll for "handouts" from politicians and communal heads at city/town hall meetings, our continued celebration and veneration of mediocrity because the candidate is my brother, sister or friend; baseless expressions of tribal or religious sentiments on state and national issues. We are too busy in our own world to ask viable questions about how we are being governed. The differences among us are being manipulated to exploit us. The diversity of the multi-ethnic peoples of the nation should be a great bonus to Nigeria; instead disunity, distrust and insincerity are the orders of the day in our diversity. We have made it become so easy for the government to set cats among the pigeons to achieve ends that continue to subjugate the populace.
So why should I blame President Jonathan and Co. for taking advantage of our incessant myopia? Obviously, this is a character who has been riding on the back of his superior officers' agenda ( Alamasiegha and Yar'Adua), until fate gave him his day/tenure to chart a positive developmental course for his fatherland in a rapidly revolutionizing world. But like a true mediocre, which piggybacked his way to the top, he has been found out as a stooge, an opportunist (with sermonizing stories of a shoeless childhood); and his display of gross ineptitude and incapability. Yet we cast our votes for the same lame duck, who failed in his first term of about 2-years after the demise of President Umar Musa Yar'Adua in May, 2010. He made promises of constant power supply and improved standard of living in the latter part of the Yar'Adua regime which he inherited but he never made good his promises. In contrast, when he raised the motion for fuel subsidy removal, it was swiftly implemented within a short space of time. More so, without adequate consultation and temporary palliative measures in place for the good of all. These are the kind of characters and degenerating situations that selfishness and 'I-don't-care' attitudes often displayed by citizens of a nation towards personal, communal, national affairs and citizens' wellbeing breeds.
Our collective responsibility for one another has to be re-ignited. We need to cultivate the feeling of brotherhood, shun tribal sentiments and above all religious manipulations and blind followership. The time is now, to wrestle the reins of leadership from President *'Esu and his vagabond FEC minstrels'. God save Nigeria!!!
*The Raft is a play written by J.P. Clark; it is a metaphorical play about the state of a nation on the brink of disintegration.
*Esu and the Vagabond Minstrels is a play written by Femi Osofisan; where Esu is characterised as 'the trickster' deity in the Yoruba pantheon of gods. In the play, Esu deploys his manipulative powers over the minstrels in their tribulations and wanderings.
Muheez
(Twitter: @m_careca5)
While the current president appears weak and clueless in the face of the anomie beguiling the nation, I blame Nigerians; you and me for our present predicament. It is the misplacement of our priorities over the years that has enabled the rise of the quality of people at the helm. My country has had, for a long time, this 'insensitive' hike amongst other things coming her way. This is the dividend for voting with so much bias, sentiments of all sorts that eventually lead to political 'selection' rather than viable 'election'. Times without number our reasons for going to the polls are not based on sound judgement and clear articulation of the needs of the nation. We think with our 'stomachs' in contrast to the warning signs in our heads. History they say repeats itself but with Nigerians it means nothing because we are too fickle-minded to remember, not to talk of learning. Hence charlatans and intellectually barren politicians hold sway over millions of us year in, year out.
An average Nigerian is so conditioned by decades of austere economic measures that he/she has developed a thick skin towards the problems or wellbeing of his/her neighbour, and the nation as a whole. We are solely concerned with our household alone. This reminds me of a Yoruba chant by supporters of one of the political parties during the Second Republic: 'I'm well fed (x2), I don't know/care if my neighbour/anyone is hungry'; i.e. once my family is well fed, I don't care about others. Is this social behavioural malaise the fault of President Jonathan and his cabal at the FEC? The absence of genuine love and humane predisposition to one another is part of the cancer that has eaten into the fabric of our nation. It is our way of life that enables the powerful and those in government manipulate, at will, the lot of us at the lower rung of the national ladder.
Nigeria is a blessed country and her people are so religious and full of piety. However, these religious sentiments that equally clouds our reasoning and obscures our vision of followership does more harm than good to the nation. In the spate of recent protests and outbursts by all and sundry, a large percentage of our spiritual leaders have been mute; save a few whom we heard joined the protests. Where are the shepherds when the flock needs their protection and guidance from the wolf? This is just true of what has befallen our society today. We flock around one another in times of plenty and quickly take to our heels when adversity sets in. Sadly, it is everyman for himself in Nigeria. Religion is ridiculed; our genuine faith in God is questioned. This is the jungle we have made our country become. We have become Babel of voices, disunity reigns supreme. And like J.P Clark's The Raft, the nation has been teetering in turbulent waters for decades.
We are responsible for this great disservice to Nigeria. Our unhealthy habits: of nonchalance towards our state of affairs as a people, our self-centred attitude over the years, disenfranchising ourselves at the poll for "handouts" from politicians and communal heads at city/town hall meetings, our continued celebration and veneration of mediocrity because the candidate is my brother, sister or friend; baseless expressions of tribal or religious sentiments on state and national issues. We are too busy in our own world to ask viable questions about how we are being governed. The differences among us are being manipulated to exploit us. The diversity of the multi-ethnic peoples of the nation should be a great bonus to Nigeria; instead disunity, distrust and insincerity are the orders of the day in our diversity. We have made it become so easy for the government to set cats among the pigeons to achieve ends that continue to subjugate the populace.
So why should I blame President Jonathan and Co. for taking advantage of our incessant myopia? Obviously, this is a character who has been riding on the back of his superior officers' agenda ( Alamasiegha and Yar'Adua), until fate gave him his day/tenure to chart a positive developmental course for his fatherland in a rapidly revolutionizing world. But like a true mediocre, which piggybacked his way to the top, he has been found out as a stooge, an opportunist (with sermonizing stories of a shoeless childhood); and his display of gross ineptitude and incapability. Yet we cast our votes for the same lame duck, who failed in his first term of about 2-years after the demise of President Umar Musa Yar'Adua in May, 2010. He made promises of constant power supply and improved standard of living in the latter part of the Yar'Adua regime which he inherited but he never made good his promises. In contrast, when he raised the motion for fuel subsidy removal, it was swiftly implemented within a short space of time. More so, without adequate consultation and temporary palliative measures in place for the good of all. These are the kind of characters and degenerating situations that selfishness and 'I-don't-care' attitudes often displayed by citizens of a nation towards personal, communal, national affairs and citizens' wellbeing breeds.
Our collective responsibility for one another has to be re-ignited. We need to cultivate the feeling of brotherhood, shun tribal sentiments and above all religious manipulations and blind followership. The time is now, to wrestle the reins of leadership from President *'Esu and his vagabond FEC minstrels'. God save Nigeria!!!
*The Raft is a play written by J.P. Clark; it is a metaphorical play about the state of a nation on the brink of disintegration.
*Esu and the Vagabond Minstrels is a play written by Femi Osofisan; where Esu is characterised as 'the trickster' deity in the Yoruba pantheon of gods. In the play, Esu deploys his manipulative powers over the minstrels in their tribulations and wanderings.
Muheez
(Twitter: @m_careca5)
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