Let's Reclaim Our Imagination: The Half-A-Billion Naira Story
By
Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo
The miasma of confusion overtaking the recent impeachment saga is occasioned
by the ideological bankruptcy of the Obasanjo presidency, its henchmen, some
clergymen and the gullible media. When clergymen begin to insinuate that
their assumptions were not only fact but sacrosanct, then we must begin to
re-examine our collective moral. As the most religious part of the world,
West Africans believe clergymen with all their heart. This has bloated the
psyche of our would-be rulers that they wait for God or Allah to direct them
on whether or not to pursue their aspiration to office. And through whom
does God or Allah reach them?
Their spin doctors, mallams, babalawos, bokas, aladuras and all sorts of
charlatans roaming our streets. But what happens when these so-called agents
of divinity lie? What happens when Imams desecrate the Qur'an or Bishops
desecrate the scripture? What happens when a man of God tows the way of
mammon?
This was my consideration at the sudden emergence of a scoop from a
clergyman, no less important than the president of CAN, accusing IBB of
financing the House impeachment motion. Published on the Nigeriaworld
website, the story was as ridiculous as it was incoherent, unintelligible
and bizarre. It not only violated all principles of reporting, it also
attempted to play on the intelligence of the reader, which also undermined
its own credibility. First the reporter tells us that the members of the
lower house collected half-a-million dollars each. How it was paid, or in
what currency, he could not say and probably could not ask, but later the
same story reveals that "a cheque for the amount was in the hands of
operatives awaiting instructions to proceed!"
Were the reporter's sources illiterate?
Mbang's threat that they are in possession of documents and would publish
was as empty a threat as an ash-tray on a motorcycle. But while this report
may not represent the official position of the Obasanjo administration, it
is its moral bankruptcy that is leading charlatans to think that they can
come to its aid with unscrupulous allegations. Frankly, it is an unnecessary
diversion that the nation can do without as Obasanjo and the House continue
to find ways of making our democracy workable and solving our economic woes
instead of entertaining bogeymen. At the same time, while journalists are
not supposed to be in the news, such stories push us to the discussion table
and expose the clay on our feet.
This type of recklessness defines the mentality of a nation that is yet to
recover from the military hangover that took away our imagination. Then
history simply slipped into irrelevance as people in forlorn hope sat in
their bedrooms and guessed what might have led to a certain government
action or move. We were like the turtle that can only make progress if he
sticks out his neck. We didn't. We retired to our cocoon and became
self-indulgent, self-serving and complacent. When things went wrong we
quickly invented a scapegoat; when we failed we blamed the system forgetting
that we are part of it. That way we conveniently insulated ourselves from
responsibility and relieved ourselves of the consequences of our failure. In
short we became insensitive people.
We are hit by the "diminution bug." The settlement culture imposed on
us by
the military has eaten so deep that we no longer take duty or accountability
seriously. Imagine that states and federation accounts have not been audited
for twenty years. This allows anyone who presides over an establishment to
make it his private estate until the person who appointed him says enough.
In fact, appointments are an invitation to dinner. The role of our middle
class as the bulwark for national development is totally eroded. Duty has
become a laughable offence in our society. The integrity of men in both
public and private life is absent and respect for elders is overtaken by
respect for the wallet. Everybody wants to be rich. Nobody thinks of paying
any dues. The rich don't pay taxes, the poor pay no levies. It is everyone
for himself and God for us all. What does that make us?
We have all become tribal or religious bigots. We adhere to the
anachronistic tenets of chauvinistic living that puts tribe and creed before
merit. When we insist on merit it is because perhaps our favoured candidate
is the best of the bunch. We forget that two wrongs do not make a right. We
justify Obasanjo's tribal bigotry with the argument that Abacha ran a
vindictive government against the Yorubas forgetting that Obasanjo became
president through the grace of the north.
We cook up controversy at every given occasion for introspection. To me,
that is the root of our national misery. Sensationalism and speculation has
killed our people without any justification for such. In the last three
years over ten thousand people have died from our insensitivity. Forgetting
that we are a people who run when a passer-by starts running we start to run
and shout without a good reason for doing so. This is why our tribal clashes
are nothing but the innate personal crisis of demented members of our
society: in most cases, those who have cheated us and denied us of our fair
share of the national cake; those who before trouble called placed their
family over all else; those who fed a select group of cronies but have
suddenly found themselves at the receiving end, tasting their own medicine.
Isn't that what Obasanjo is to the Yorubas? Isn't that what Mohammed Abacha
is to northern youths?
It is time we reclaim our imagination and do away with the demons still
haunting us. It is time to drop the dimwits that feed us with cock and bull
stories. It is time to think before we write and think after we have written
so that posterity will give us the judgement of people who worked for the
betterment of our society and not the perpetuation of bigotry. It is time to
admire people for their courage in ensuring that change takes place in our
society as the ingredient for national advancement and dynamism. Only a
decent imagination can ensure that desire. But first, we have to reclaim our
imagination.