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Nigeria is in the
Wilderness. The Way Out
By
Engr.
Obadiah Oghoerore Alegbe
oghoerore@oviri.com.ar
Our beloved nation
Nigeria
today is in the wilderness and in absolute need of men of vision to lead
us to the Promised Land.
Africa
was robbed of its own history by other people who wrote the history to
their benefit. When men of vision were present in
Africa,
Africa
was great. African born men of vision shaped history and made
Africa
great thousands of years ago. There were times when human rights were
violated on African soil and men of vision with strong spiritual powers
challenged the rulers of the day to shape history. The men of vision were
remembered in history and named prophets and judges. A first recorded
human rights activist was Prophet Moses. He was African born. He lived and
died on African soil. The Pharaohs were in majority men of visions that
made
Africa
great. Jeremiah among many that lived on African soil left mark on
history, and Africans must claim back their historical rights. If Moses,
Jeremiah, Isaiah etc had been to the Nordic countries, or the today’s
Europe, then these thieves called historians could be rights to paint all
of them white and blonde, there is nothing that prevent Africans from
saying that these people coincidentally were only in Africa and they were
part of us and they were our ancestors and they were black.
When Africans claim their rightful place
in history,
Africa
will begin to see the road out of wilderness.
Only men of vision can claim our place in
history. Some great men of vision had wanted us to first reflect by
understanding our roots deeply; they left the world and only few of us
have their lessons printed in our minds. Among these great ones were D.O.
Fagunwa, S.D. Odunjo the author of Taiwo ati Kehinde. We had a great woman
who gave us a message that we refused to understand Flora Nwanpa.
We had opportunities to read from others
like Wole Soyinka who translated the works of Fagunwa into incomparable
English Language for example Igbo Olodumare, Ogboju Ode ninun igbo
irunmale and Ireke onibudo. We have great Chinua Achebe who also dropped
for us a tip of our culture in his writings.
There was a time when these planet was
governed by wild animals, and of all of them the African refused the
status quo and began a journey of no return, he took his wife down the pit
and struggle up to the other side of the great divide at Olduwai in Todays
Tanzania, and as they climbed up, (using the word of Martin Luther King
Junior) mankind trembled evolved from pre-human to human. Upon climbing,
he scored the first victory for mankind which means to be human, thus we
Africans are bound to be human to each other by eradicating all civil wars
in our continent as a homage and tribute to our remote ancestors. Today,
The African Man trembles again; we need leaders that will lead us from
this moral degradation to progress.
Nigeria
is a sample of the trembling
Africa
in need of evolution. The trembling
Nigeria
makes C. Achebe who could have been enjoying retirement surrounded by
wives and descendants in the village to opt for self imposed exile and
periodically make his voice known. It is a curse for our nation that
someone of the calibre of Chinua Achebe to be on exile. Achebe´s
contemporary Wole Soyinka could not support a condemnation of being exile
and decided to go to the battle ground
Nigeria
to fight to make his vision known. Philosophers were thinkers and they
first write, it is very coherent that these two great writers are taking
to the road of our prophets, like Moses who was a natural born African, by
speaking out.
There is a Nigerian who I think may still be
alive, he is blind, he lives at Sapele, his name is Omokomoko (Omokobluf),
he only of all Nigerian musicians to condemned the military rule. After
the first coup in Nigeria, Omokobluff sang the politicians brought quarrel
among brothren and divided the house and also said that the way the
soldiers were killing politicians was wrong, noting that those who died do
not pay tax. His interpretation of the right to life as a primitive man is
heroic. When the civil war started, Omokobluf was present at Sapele when
the Biafran troops wrongly invaded the MidWest and when the Federal troops
liberated Sapele, he condemned the civil war calling for its end and told
Nigerians that war is not food that we need, war is no a sexual
intercourse that we enjoy. For singing that protest, the gallant Federal
Troops of The Federal Republic of Nigeria stormed the house of Omokomoko
in Sapele and beat hell out of the blind man. I think that Nigerian have
committed many self-imposed atrocities that we need atonement for our
country to see the road.
Where do we begin
Africa
and
Nigeria
especially need the rise of men whose duty will be to think and speak out
just like the prophets of those days to lead us away from this wilderness.
I am very sure that they are alive. These Africans that will kindle the
burner of change are spread all over the world, there is a need for a
channel of communication to make the flame visible to all Africans. Few
days ago, I spoke to a Nigerian official by phone in Yoruba saying “Dide,
ja fun mi” – Stand up, fight for me. We need these Africans to stand up
and speak out. They must tell us their revelations for us to see the road
out of the wilderness. These Africans must put into use the gift of God
through nature to show us the road because the present day rulers of
Africa
have sold our birthrights. Not so long ago after the eradication of
apartheid, the criminals that enslaved our people in East African are
imported into
Nigeria
in the name of progress.
Israel
is feeding by justice fat from compensation for the killing of Jews by
racist
Germany
and the black man is forced to forgive the evil of apartheid by those who
paint God as white and the devil as black. Does the devil forgive?
Political parties in existence in
Nigeria
today are outdated and biased with anachronism. These parties are the
replica of Azikwe’s NCNC, Sardauna’s NPC and Awolowo’s AG. Justifying PDP
based on NCNC is ruling but with a non Igbo as leader. These parties are
not what we need in
Nigeria.
These parties will increase all the negative part of tribalism and
religious divide. They will never take us out of the wilderness.
Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida’s constitution
was the nearest to the best kind of constitution that Nigeria needs but
the very same IBB spoilt the show, in fact IBB should go for atonement by
never running for a political office in Nigeria. He spoilt the possibility
of going into history not because of the June 12 annulment but many other
factors before and after.
Nigeria
can still learn form the errors in its history; we need political parties
that are ideologically based and not tribally biased and religiously
biased. During the campaign against apartheid in the eighties, the youth
wing of the Argentine political partied groomed me and opened my eyes. It
was the Argentine communist party propaganda that thought me to admire
Martin Luther King Jr. It was the Argentine extreme right party that
instructed me about the right to private property with is entrenched in
African tradition. It was the Argentine Radical Party founded by an Arab
100 years ago that instructed me on my social democratic principle, it was
the Argentine Peronist Party that built up my mind on social justice.
Today in
Nigeria,
we need party with only one of the following ideologies:-
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A Nationalist party that will make the
right of the citizen the greatest of all rights meaning that the whole
country can go to war to defend the right of a Nigerian anywhere in the
world.
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A Social Democratic Party that will
stand of the fundamental principles of democracy for all citizens and
inhabitant of
Nigeria.
This party will be very strong on human rights.
-
A conservative party that will protect
all our traditional values and origins making sure that no
Nigeria
loses his roots even if he be the King of England. The sacred values of
our roots if preserved could encourage many in the Diaspora return their
harvest to their roots as safe haven. Today a fundamental right of many
Nigerians abroad are being violated which calls for the presence of a
conservative party in
Nigeria.
I am the chairman of The Nigerian
Association in Argentina, I have seen the situation of many Nigerians in
sadness and I condemn the requirement that a Natural born Nigerian who
took up a foreign citizenship need an invitation letter from Nigeria to
obtain visa. What passport does an Igbo man carries that changes him from
being an Igbo? A country like Nigeria that is said to be desperate for
foreign investment can not afford to make life harder for Nigerians abroad
to come back to invest at home. It is ridiculous.
I call on the Immigration Director in
Nigeria
to waive visa for all Nigerians that took up foreign citizenship. It is a
fundamental human right. The presence of a Nigerian anywhere in the world
is a mark of influence for
Nigeria.
In 1974, I fought with a Liberian at
Harper
City
and was arrested and taken to court. The Magistrate was a Yoruba man from
Abeokuta
by name Seton but he told Liberians that he was a Liberian who grew up in
Abeokuta,
so in
Liberia
nobody remembered he ever lived in
Nigeria.
Magistrate Seton married with various children in
Liberia,
his daughter was a student at the school where I was a teacher. It was the
first time I met Mr. Seton.
As I stood in front of him, he watched
how my Liberian accusers bombard me with various accusations with
intention of sending me to jail. The School principal and elder fellow
African also a Liberian had instructed me what to say in court. The
African old man is wise. When the Judge asked me to defend myself, I
repeated what my elder a
Liberia
said I should say in court – I apologised for my aggressive expression to
the Liberian friend. The Liberians pressed that I be sent to jail. At the
end, magistrate Seton looked at my face and said “He is penitent. He has
repented”, my accusers said no! The Magistrate continued “Son I will help
you. I will not send you to jail, but you must sign a peace bond that for
one and a half year, you will not breach the peace with anyone”. My
brother sent me free. The Director of Immigration should hold the African
values sacred because he does not know where his children will go
tomorrow, I call on him to make history, waive visa requirement for any
Nigerian Citizen no matter what passport he holds, let him feel that
Nigeria
is his real home. I told my son this morning that though he is Argentine
because he was born here, he is a Nigerian because I am a Nigerian, I told
him that he can become the President of Nigeria. He was happy that I
confirmed to him his Nigerianism and he tells his school mate his natural
right. His mother was silent while I confirm to my son that he is a
Nigeria
from the Urhobo nation ‘ O we omo Urhobo’ I told him in Urhobo. My son
understands a bit of Urhobo.
Restoring the natural rights of
Nigerians who naturalized abroad is a part of the beginning of change in
Nigeria.
The three ideologically based
politically parties that I mentioned are the only ones that can boost
nationalism beyond tribe and religion and social status. These ideologies
are the ones that can integrate everybody into the national systems with
equality. These three ideologies that will help us build a nation where no
man is oppressed. These are the ideologies that can make sure that truth
and justice reign. These are the ideologies that will make Nigerians proud
to server our sovereign motherland. These are the ideologies that will
make
Nigeria
our own dear native land. These are the ideologies that will make us hand
unto our children a banner without stain.
These are the ideologies that will grant that with peace and plenty
Nigeria
may be blessed.
Ego suum.
Obadiah Oghoerore Alegbe
oghoerore@oviri.com.ar
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