Good morning all, just got hold of this interesting article and thought I should avail all on this medium. Happy reading. Osun: Demons in our democracy BY FOLA OJO Fola Ojo Each time I get into discussing Nigeria with my non-Nigerian friends who have studied up on the country as a country, the ones who know the history, tenacity and intellectual strength that Nigerians carry in their DNA, those who see sprawling natural resources littering almost every nook and cranny of the nation but wasted and frittered away in ignominy and dire depravity, those who believe that even their successes are contingent upon the success of Nigeria as a nation, they are all curious to know why a nation so blessed is yet so bizarre in actions. Non-Nigerians are not the only ones frustrated and asking questions, Nigerians are also. The same stories of neglect, depreciation in human value, blatant human rights violations, and in-your-face hijack of what is a man’s precious possession continue with no end in sight. I have not been part of an electoral process in Nigeria since 1983, a few years before I relocated to the United States. The last Osun State governorship election was my most recent experience, and it was bizarre.What I saw and heard during the election doubled up my disgust and disdain for our system still struggling to work pro bono publico. Nigeria has not grown, and may never if the manure that will enhance growth becomes incrementally menacing and venomous. It was both shocking and appalling that political party men and women in a pathetic prowl around polling stations doled out money to voters to vote certain ways. Bowls and bags of rice were distributed to voters so they could elect brigands to be captain over the people. Unfortunately, many I engaged in discussions over this discussed the issue as a comedy package. What is abnormal in sane societies is normal in my country. I deliberately rode on commercial vehicles for a whole day eavesdropping as the people recalled their experiences on Election Day. Some rejected the baits thrown at them by party foot-soldiers while many others who had no choice responded to the lure because there is too much pain in the land. Some families had probably not eaten in days and they just wanted to eat their last supper and die. Before, during, and after the election, the attack dog of violence was let off its leach to torment and bruise many people in an unfathomably reckless fashion. Errand boys of lawlessness in masks and with ammunition from unverifiable destinations put the citizens in a choke-hold and a hostage situation. They were the lieges, and the people became the helpless vavasour. The littering of major cities and villages by masked men and marksmen brandishing guns and gleefully shooting into the air was perceived by many as a carefully designed bugaboo to cow down voters and skew the election in a particular direction. Those guys who became night marauders couldn’t have been the same ones Nigerians pay monthly to protect them. Some powerful people in government hid under that cover to perpetrate those acts in this democracy filled with demons. Men in black on the eve of the election besieged many homes. About 800 members of the opposition political party were reportedly arrested and detained with no explanations. Up till the time of this report, hundreds of them are still reportedly kept behind bars still awaiting freedom from the hands of our “security operatives”. And this is a democracy? The Osun election has loudly and limpidly shown us all that Nigeria is not only on a slippery slope into an era of brutish bullishness and reprehensible impudence, an audacious spate of fascism has obviously crept into the crevices of our fabrics as mobocracy and thugocracy are contending with democracy as we approach 2015. Where is the freedom guaranteed under a democracy? Where is commonsense, and where is decency in government? That Osun militarization charade is an inficio, infeci, infectum on a budding democratic lifestyle that Nigerians are striving to cherish. What happened before, during and after the election in Osun is apparently an imprimatur from political marksmen and snipers that are using the power and might of the Federal government as cover to oppress and suppress. Let the truth be told that evil men and women in masks and black uniforms have an enlightened and determined Nigerians to contend with, and the people are waiting and prepared to defend their votes and voices. The pertinacity of the people cannot be submerged or subsumed in a veiled attempt to render them mute. Our behaviors have caused us to lose respect in the eyes of the rest of the world. When some white man somewhere in the western world calls us animals-in-human-clothing because of our actions, we get angry and furious and demand to be respected. Have we proved them wrong? Big Agbada and flowing Babariga don’t provoke respect. Big talk, haughty swagger, big jeep, big castles, and big oil don’t provoke respect. Respect is a jewel and a precious stone more precious than silver and costlier than gold. At one time in Nigeria’s history, we earned respect and many nations bowed before us. At another time, we auctioned it so cheap on the back of greed, graft,gluttony, dehumanization, and deliberate pauperization of the people are leaders were elected to serve. Ours is a nation where leaders have no respect for the people they lead, where human lives are not deemed precious, and where blatant banditry has become the order of the day. A nation where government resources become personal assets, and cronyism is an open cankerworm, cannot be respected. A nation where opposing voices are silenced in cold-blooded massacres, where community leaders are kidnapped for ransoms and young girls are handed out in marriage to Alzheimer-stricken oldies-with-no-goodies cannot be respected. Ballot-box snatching, ballot-papers-switching-abracadabra country makes a good line in Saturday Night comedy in the US. A nation with astounding mind-boggling wealth and yet with an undeserved astounding, mind-boggling heap of ravaging poverty cannot be respected. Some of these fellas who have become “area boys” at all levels of government studied in the US; and many of those who lead us today studied abroad. They apparently got the education but remain uneducated; they went through schools, but the schools didn’t go through them. They have helped ordain demons in our democracy. If you live in Anambra, Sokoto, Rivers, Kwara, Oyo, and anywhere in Nigeria and do not rise up to condemn these acts of arbitrary arrest and dehumanisation of powerless Nigerians by powerful ones that we saw in Osun, it will soon come to a city near you. When it does, there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. In a democracy, a man has the liberty and freedom to elect whosoever he desires even if the candidate is deaf-and-dumb and a nincompoop. That’s his choice, that’s democracy. In a democracy, goons with guns don’t just take over my house and life and tell me how to jump and how high. In a democracy, you just don’t take over power because you are connected to a military depot and police precincts or you have access to money and men who can do your bidding for a paltry. In a democracy, you lay your case before the people, why you want to be who you want to be, and the people make the final call based on the conviction in their soul. Will Nigeria’s many troubles ever end? That is our hope. But we’ve got some mess in our hands; and it’s a huge mess! abiodun KOMOLAFE, AMNIM,
Posted on: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 07:37:50 +0000
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