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Obasanjo: Respect Yourself And Let’s Uphold Our Honour And Glory By Menre Ugiagbe Ayes
In the name of the constitution of the federal republic of our country, like every other Nigerian by birth, I solemnly recognize you/obasanjo as the commander-in-chief, chief executive and the honourable president of Nigeria. I did not make you who you are but the electorate, the Nigerian masses did. History reminded me that the Nigerian people overwhelmingly voted you into power in anticipation of finding lasting solutions to their self-inflicted plights, caused by incessant military regimes and corruption (a polite name for stealing) that put Nigeria and indeed continental Africa in retrogression. All is neither well nor lost yet, but there is hope for the continent and the solutions to African problems are in our hands – we the real Africans.
Looking back, on the last legs of your campaign in 1999 you admitted to the Nigerian electorate that you are a man of your words, you claimed that, you said it before and you delivered, this time nothing stops you from deliverance – any good thing delivered to Nigerians so far? They can trust you and you will make them proud again – a promise that our lost old gory will be regained. On the inauguration day of the first phase of your administration, you openly raised the issue of repatriation of our looted money stashed away into various bank accounts across the world by unscrupulous Nigerians and their foreign counterparts – comrades-in-crime.
Nigeria’s wealth and indeed Africa’s resources have for centuries been the strength of other continents, especially Europe. How long can this go on? It has got to stop now. Of course, Africans cannot continue to live in abject poverty, while the resources of their continent are used to grease alien economies – we desire our continent and its wealth for our own good. Africa my Africa is like a beautiful woman attacked by a gang of rapists. In the process of her ordeal, she became unconscious, while her attackers carry on with their villainous act. She eventually regains her consciousness, and in pain, she asked for help from the faces around her, who indeed are the attackers, now smiling after using her to satisfy their greedy and sexual urge. What kind of help does one get from one’s attacker? Until this woman regains complete senses, and runs away from these attackers to get help from her own people, she will not be healed, but remains traumatized by this experience. I have not chosen to judge you. Hence, I cannot tell if you have delivered or failed, but the right people to deliver Africa are the Africans.
Aliens are the true cause of Africa’s problems. They impoverished Africa portray Africans as people indefinitely in need of help – which is wrong. Sadly, you have been travelling around the globe to confirm this false impression and downgrade us. The slave trade, colonisation, the Europeans atrocities in Africa in the name of the scramble and partition of Africa, ill-intentioned policies of the United Nations, International Court of Justice, World Bank and IMF are true attestations to this fact. I am personally perplexed and perturbed with your attitudes of running to these European vandals, who have shamelessly refused to agree that they are responsible for the woes of Africa. How long are you going to degrade us before them, when indeed we should be proud of our blessed and resourceful continent? Why have you chosen to let foreigners steal our resources in the name of foreign investment?
You have now submitted yourself to orders from the World Bank. When did the World Bank become our national or continental bank? Does the World Bank tell these countries how to spend their money/budgets or control their resources? Did the World Bank speak out when Nigeria’s and indeed Africa’s wealth was enriching these vandal nations?
What ails me most is the fact that despite all the disillusional expectations of debt forgiveness and relief, you are still not convinced that your debts will not be forgiven (they have got to be paid), instead you have chosen to travel from one presidential palace to another – may the Lord cure you of your ‘travel-around-the-world bug’. In your quest for debt forgiveness, I wonder how much you have spent to travel, pay hotel bills, and dine outside Nigeria. It could be almost the amount owed. Is any domestic or international problem solvable this way? Many of the various presidents and heads of states that you have visited in the past six years have not paid you a return visit. Oh, they do not want to come and pay any hotel bills in your country, as that will benefit the local people and your economy. This money would impact on Nigerians if you used it on project that will benefit them. Dear God, can my president positively think?
Nigeria indeed is a rich nation and Africa is indeed richer than Nigeria and many other continents. Use Nigeria’s resources judiciously for the benefit of indigenous Nigerians. We need to create a database for all these aliens living in Nigeria and tell them to uphold their alien status. We need to promote pride for our Nigerian citizens, for there is a different between them and the aliens in our midst.
The debt owed by some African countries dancing to the tune of these alien nations have been cancelled. The arithmetic is simple. The debt that has been written off for these countries is smaller than the amount of money Nigeria is expected to pay. In other words, the money that is expected from Nigeria will cover the amount that these countries are asked not to pay back.
We have justifiable reasons now to introduce ‘ALIENS TAX’ in Nigeria. This tax has to be paid by every individual from another continent but living in Nigeria irrespective of the duration of his or her stay in the country. We will have to use this money to cover the cost of paying this debts, any foreigner that refuses to pay should be made to pay the price of tax defaulter/evader. Oh, let’s refurbish our prisons, for that is the right place for such people. A similar method of tax is in Germany. It is the so-called ‘solidarity tax’ (paid by citizens and foreign nationals). It was introduced after the reunification of Germany, and is meant for the development of the Eastern part of the country. Foreign nationals (Overseas students) studying in the United Kingdom pay heavily for the government to fund the costs of educating their citizens (home and EU students). Hence, doing something similar in Nigeria will help us as debt relief or pay off our debts in the very near future, while our citizens will be made to feel the pride of their Nigerian citizenship. Why should an innocent Oshogbo, Biu, Ore, Onitsha, Epkon, Ogoja, Ikot-Epkene, Wuse, Okene, Gwadamuse and other Nigerian children be made to pay the debt they and their parents have no knowledge how it was incurred? Why should their nation be paying and servicing foreign debts, while these foreigners are working in Nigeria? We do need to use these foreigners to pay these foreign debts. After all, they are the source, ignorant Abacha and Babaginda did not work alone.
So Mr president, respect yourself and walk or run away from your so-called creditors (who are indeed the creators of your problems) take the bull by the horn and tackle the problem of corruption in Nigeria decisively. Corruption has become a pandemic problem in Nigeria and its environs. Corruption is in practice but not peculiar to Nigeria and Africa. Europeans are most corrupt, but they practise their corruption differently. They indulge themselves in corruption for the benefits of their own people, while Africans do it for the detriment of their own people. How many Europeans have ever stolen their countries’ money to bank or invest it in Africa? Can the Nigerian leaders actually think?
Shameless European countries like Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, France and Britain, who are den of robbers that graciously encourage corruption among brainless African leaders, and serve as sanctuary to money looted by Nigerian embezzlers are now giving conditions on ways to return stolen money, which they purposely keep in their banks. Obasanjo wise up, stop hoping against hope and face the realities of the 21st century. The money that those thoughtless Nigerians brought to Europe is here to stay, especially at this time that the European Union (EU) economies have taken a nosedive. The money is not coming back to you. Learn to get your money back from the Europeans and their companies in your country, otherwise you will end up with nothing as they have gotten the best and are out to take the rest of you.
Most Nigerians are hardworking and independent of help. We will have our dignity intact and be more prosperous than you ever imagine, only if you stop berating us. Your so-called rich nations are more heavily in debt than you know. The words exploitation, poverty and suffering are not synonymous to Africa. Africans have suffered and been exploited for too long. There is poverty everywhere and it is only being tackled differently at different places. Africa and Africans, I implore you, cry to yourselves! Protect yourselves from the invasion by aliens from a different continent. They are there to destroy and not to save you, and history is a living witness to these facts. May our president and leaders allow us the chance to uphold our honour and glory. Help us God!
My African brotherhood and root, which I am mostly proud of, are my sources of inspiration for this write-up.
Menre Ugiagbe Ayes Oxford Brookes University Paul Kent Hall of Residence James Wolfe Road, Hollow Way Oxford, United Kingdom
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