Mourning awaits us all, It is election time again in Nigeria, a time to choose the country’s next executive president. In Nigeria there’s no difference between election and war. In war, the end justifies the means, so it is in election here. And looking at the combative posturing of the two frontrunners in the coming election, namely, Goodluck Jonathan, the incumbent president, and General Muhammadu Buhari, a former military head of state, the battle looks every portentous, like the epic battle of the mythological titans. This is making one quite uncomfortable. And I begin to wonder if we are not unwittingly preparing the ground for the fulfillment of the apocalypse year that the Americans have predicted 2015 to be for us. Yes, the Americans, remember, have told us that 2015 is going to be a watershed in the history of this country. And when they gave that damning prediction, I think about ten years ago, we all laughed them to scorn. We called them names. And instead of looking inward to find out what the Americans saw in us to warrant such a terminal prognosis, we dismissed them as one would a physician of no value. But today if you can just spare a moment to put your ears close to the ground, what you’ll hear will scare the daylight out of you. You’ll hear unspeakable words, which are not lawful to utter. But then, despite all this, I still believe something can be done to stem any tides of evil set to tear us apart as fallout from the forthcoming election. What to do? For the love of our country, let every voter throw sentiments and all primordial considerations aside and vote for the candidate they think can perform. Let me tell you, the problem of this country has been one of leadership. A leader’s sin, they say, is a leading sin. Once we have the right leadership in place to show the light, all of us will fall in line and match behind him. But unfortunately most of the leaders we have been having in this country, I’m sorry to say, are like the Scribes and the Pharisees that “sit in Moses’ seat,” that Christ condemned in His sermon on the mount as hypocrites. Of them Christ said: “For they say, and do not. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers”. The Lord therefore pronounced woes on them. Please, I have not forgotten the title of this discourse: Buhari, Jonathan... and...Revolution! The fate of this country hangs dangerously on what we do with Buhari and Jonathan...and...and... Revolution, between now and February. Now this: Jonathan has been in power now for more than six years, both as president by default and as one elected into office on his own card. Late American President Ronald Reagan, 68, when contesting as candidate against the incumbent President, Jimmy Carter, 56, in the 1980 U.S.’ presidential election, asked the American people to deep their hands into their pockets and tell him if they were “better off now than you were four years ago” when Jimmy Carter mounted the seat of power. The answer was a resounding no; they had been worse off. That singular answer spelt doom for Jimmy Carter’s presidency. He lost woefully to Ronald Reagan, who at 68, became the oldest man to be voted in as American president. Now, President Goodluck Jonathan has ruled the nation for over six years. He’s again asking for a fresh mandate to continue in that seat for another four years! I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that since the law permits him to do so. But then, before you give anybody your precious vote, dip your hand in your pocket and ask yourself if you’re better off now than you were six years ago when Jonathan became president. If you cast aside this litmus test and go ahead to vote based on primordial considerations or join those preparing to bring down the roof if their candidate is not made the next president, you might be courting something you never bargained for: Revolution! No doubt, revolution at times could be an attractive option to a change of government through the ballot. Professor Ben Nwabueze, a former member of the Presidential Advisory Council (PAC), about four years ago in a gathering in Lagos, declared: “I want a wholesome transformation... I want a bloody revolution. We need a revolutionary change, a bloody one and those who survive will pick up the pieces.” The cause of Nwabueze’s outburst was Nigeria’s festering corruption. He lashed out at the National Assembly for being a breeding ground for high-scale corruption. According to the erudite professor, Nigerians would be shocked to the marrow if they have details of what’s going on there. “What’s going on there,” said he, “is terribly incredible. People who were voted to serve the country go there to loot.” He described the legislative assembly as a “House of Thieves”, where law-makers vote billions of Naira to themselves while those who voted them into the house live in abject poverty. His word again: “I don’t believe in small changes...Nigeria need a revolutionary change, and it has to be bloody... I can’t see Nigeria surviving in any other way other than through bloody revolution.” You hear that: “bloody revolution”! Yes, revolution thrives on blood. In other words, blood is the oil that drives its wheels. And because the rules of law are not always observed during any revolutionary change, several injustices are done; innocent blood are spilled and the wrong people more often than not smuggle themselves into positions of power. Though in the beginning, a revolutionary change may look very attractive and popular, what happens in the end when the dusts are settled could be another keg of palm wine! In the words of retired Lt-General Theophilus Danjuma, a former Defence Minister and Commander of the dreaded Third Marine Commando during the Nigerian civil war, “Revolution is exceedingly dangerous; it devours its scions; revolution knows no friends or enemies... it’s a very costly means of transformation.” His solution: “I am an optimist; I believe that one right man in position of authority can transform the entire country. We have not been lucky to have such a man.” That brings us to Buhari, the second name in my caption. General Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential flag bearer of the APC, Nigeria’s main opposition party, has said it loud and clear that his number one priority, if voted into power, will be to combat corruption. Like a canker worm, corruption, we all know, has eaten deep into the very fabric of our nation, leaving us completely emasculated. For example, that the country has continued to live without light despite the huge yearly budget allocation to the power sector, can only be traceable to this hydra-headed monster called corruption. And if not that this same monster has crippled the hands of the military from performing their statutory function of defending the nation’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, the menace of the Boko Haram would have long be consigned to the dustbin of history. And what do I more say? Time would fail me to talk of how the police have continued unabashedly and shamefacedly to aid and abet several criminal activities across the country, such as armed robbery, kidnapping, and ritual killing. Interestingly, there’s a unanimous agreement across the board that the root cause of virtually every problem in this country is corruption. And among those competing to become our next president, Buhari, hate him or love him, remains in my view (I may be wrong) the only one who has the moral right and strength of character to wage an effective war against corruption. Fighting corruption is like coming to equity. Anyone that would come to equity must come with clean hands. That rules out the charlatans, the “scribes” and the “Pharisees”, who “sit in Moses’ seat,” and “say, and do not.” Ask them, for instance, to declare their assets in line with the law they have sworn to uphold, they would decline. Also, they are the first to act in breach of the electoral rules; and they do so flagrantly with impunity. Such lawless people cannot wage an effective war against corruption. The only thing they can do is to pay mere lip service to it. Please, please, if you feel the way I’m feeling, let’s do it right this time around. Don’t allow anyone to poison your mind with tribal or religious sentiments or bogus claim of one candidate or the other being a religious bigot or freak! That would not help the weighty matter that’s presently at stake nor would it take us out of the woods. What would is casting your vote for the one you believe in your heart of hearts is ready to stake his life and deal with our collective enemy number one. And what’s that enemy? Your guess is as good as mine! Well, I’ll see you hopefully after the election..
Posted on: Sun, 04 Jan 2015 18:13:01 +0000
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