Is Nigeria Cursed?

By

Wale Akin

luga9mm@yahoo.com

I have looked inward at the country called Nigeria, its constituencies and the powers that be and could only come to a logical conclusion that the country is SICK, very sick and only a timely diagnosis of its latent problems, proffering solutions and  making those remedies stay put for the benefits of all and sundry, then Nigeria will be better. The recent imbroglio rocking the nation vis a vis the Ministry of Education, the Senate and the Presidency is a shame, a shame to us and generations yet unborn, it only suffice to a simple point, who is Obasanjo trying to please? The impoverished masses, who wants a better source of livelihood, the international scene looking at us with mouth agape at the level of open corruption or himself and his cohorts that makes up the PDP?

The former IGP Tafa Balogun siphoned close to 1 Billion Naira, diverted fund meant for the training of police officers into his personal accounts and Obasanjo never deemed it fit to address the nation in a live broadcast instead what we had was the now very popular Nuhu Ribadu, Chair of the EFCC come on board to indict Balogun and his international passports confiscated. Former NNPC GMD expended close to 240 Million Naira on “official” hotel accommodation at the Nicon Noga Hilton Abuja and all Obasanjo could do was to terminate his appointment, was he brought before EFCC? Another million Naira question. Is Obasanjo applying double standards here by bringing to bear on us an act of scape-goatism on a select few?

Governor Ngige and Nonsensical money miss road Chris Ubah made a mess of Anambra state, lives were lost just because these political neophytes left public decorum and humane attitudes in their pockets  and in a bid to fighting for supremacy caused a national disgrace to all and sundry, the president’s silence was even more embarrassing as it kept mute as if nothing happened, just when we were forgetting about the episode, a panel was set up headed by Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola, a state governor and PDP member to find solutions to the feud, now my argument, Oyinlola released a communiqué asking that both Ngige and Ubah be expelled from the party, what a mistake? Now Ngige as a serving governor has pitched his tent with APGA, an opposition party to the PDP and we don’t even know what lies in the future for that state and the lives lost as a blatant result of the feud, do we then assert that the Federal government has a hand in the mess? Another million Naira question

Senator Iyiola Omisore won a senatorial seat right from his Agodi prisons and presently lives a free life after being declared innocent in several botched court cases that claimed the life of the late Chief Justice of the federation Chief Mrs. Atinuke Ige. It begets logical reasons as to why Omisore’s posters littered the streets of Abuja while still being remanded as a suspect in the death of Chief Bola Ige, it also defies all holistic answers as to why Vice president Atiku Abubakar visited the former at the same prisons, to do what? What’s the latter’s business with a murder suspect? Why was Omisore released on bail so as to be able to attend the swearing ceremony at the National assembly and then re-arrested again only to be released finally a month later. Do we then assert that the presidency have a hand in his election victory right from prison and also his subsequent release?

High profile murder cases rocked the country for almost two years and the PDP led government could do nothing about it, are we going to wait just as we all waited till the late Khalifa, General Sanni Abacha died and his evil machinations revealed through his marksmen headed by Sgt. Roger? Most Nigerians never knew that Abacha was his own very enemy bombing the cities of Lagos and Abuja all in the bid to nail the oppositions headed by NADECO and making us all believed that all the bombings were indeed atrocities committed by the oppositions. The death of Abacha brought into limelight that the bombings and even the fatal near miss on Lagos MILAD Buba Marwa’s life were high governmental crimes. Most Nigerians believed that Marwa’s near murder that fateful day was committed by the opposition only to be countered by Sgt. Roger’s testimony that Abacha did ordered the murder because Marwa was getting extremely popular among the Yorubas for no reasons. What a stupid and frivolous excuse.

Are we going to wait till Obasanjo completes his tenure before we have answers to all these high profile murder cases? Are we just going to stay put till PDP leads us all into a dark tunnel of no return? Are we going to fold our arms and watch as these goons who are no less brainy to kill us all in the name of democracy? Are we going to open our eyes and allow all these inconsiderate beings that are second class monkeys siphon all our public funds and then leave us to die in abject poverty and penury? Are we going to just watch in akimbo and allow all these political neophytes to run the country aground? No, now is the time to act.

Coming back to recent happenings, I could not help but laughed as I watched Obasanjo’s live broadcast here in the UK on BEN TV made possible by AIT, I listened with rapt attention as he read his speech laced with latent anger against the indicted individuals namely Prof. Fabian Osuji and Adolphosus Wabara, education Minister and Senate president respectively, Obasanjo terminated the appointment of Osuji and named Wabara a corrupt politician, on a lower cadre, he also named Prof Peter Okebukola, a former Vice Chancellor of Lagos State University and now Executive director of the Universities Commission and various senior members of staff at the ministry of Education, what an irony.

No wonder many students fail JAMB annually, no wonder SSCE/GCE results are nothing to write home about each year as the national offices of WAEC and JAMB rakes in billions of naira from the sales of application forms. No wonder our various campuses are riddled with lots of social vices with tertiary cultism taken its firm roots, now wonder a female student needs to be slept with and molested by male lecturers before she can pass her finals. I find it entirely amusing that a professor charged with the education of the Nigerian children and youths will be involved in an indecent act of bribery, do we then assert that when the head is rotten, the entire body stinks? Why does he need to bribe the senators with 55 Million Naira and why also would our “highly esteemed” senate ask for a bribe in order to pass and approve the education ministry’s budget?

The entire national assembly stinks and an urgent spring cleaning is needed or else an epidemic of sort will erupt. I have never on a particular day read about good initiatives or suggestions that will move the country forward, all we see daily is tirades of abuse and exchange of Ghana must go bags and most recently the gifts of cell Phones and airtime by MTN. It has more or less become a haven for Court room jesters, Coxcombs and stand up comedians who daily throng the National assembly to play and while away time. Early this year, the Speaker of the House of representatives parked his official cars  right at the entrance of the assembly where you have inscriptions boldly written NO PARKING and when accosted by journalists on why he allowed his drivers to park there, he retorted angrily, DO YOU KNOW ME? And if I may ask  WHO IS MASARI? Is he not the masses servant as a result of elective political office?

Senator Victor Oyofo, the former Chief Whip of the Senate wrote a very angry letter to the Senate president and even cursed him for removing him as the chief whip and asked why his official house and car(s) should be returned? Now can we ask this brainless senator the reasons why he should not return all official insignias? Why are our elective political office holders so crude and myopic? Why are they so selfish and prefer to make things work for them alone all at the expense of the impoverished masses? Oyofo is just a microcosm of the entire sick and corrupt senate of which

We have seen the folly and gross stupidity of the senate president spoiling his entire political career with bribery.

Obasanjo out of the blues now expects us all to believe that he is stamping so well on corrupt officers of his administration but why the inglorious acts of double standards? Why keep mute on volatile issues such the Anambra power tussles? Why remain so evasive and silent on Balogun’s indictment? Nuhu Ribadu remains the most popular man today in Nigeria not for anything but the fact that he’s the instrumental SLEDGE HAMMER being used by the presidency to nail the so called corrupt officers, hope we wont be surprised if on the long run Ribadu turns out be corrupt too, anything can happen in that country. Nigerians are watching where it will all lead to and by the time the chips are down, may posterity judge all the enemies of our collective progress.

Wale Akin lives in Kent, UK and a founding member of a group called MEN NOW!