Shameful North!
By
Zayyad I. Muhammad
zaymohd@yahoo.com
More than thirty-two years of firm grabbed
on the affairs of Nigeria, in all her political sphere, sitting on the
vast and most fertile agricultural land of Nigeria, having enormous
population; economically-wide-spread water resources and patient
commoners; today, our cherished North is nothing but a jumble, a shadow of
the dream of her founding fathers and a pseudo of the promised
destination. The political leadership, the traditional class, the business
moguls and the religious groups in the North, are so much lethargically
minded, that the ordinary man perceives them as a ‘hand bag’ of those in
authority, they can be hang on any shoulder, any muck can be put into
them, they can be used as one wishes and dumped at any point as one
desired, though it is unjust to make a global labeling on all
fragmentation of headship in the North; nevertheless, one is compel to do
so, in order to ring the sound of a warning bell to the ears of all; that
the credibility of the head ship in the North is fast diminishing; the
North and indeed greater majority of Northerners cannot today compete with
others in a plain playing field in Nigeria, not even talking of the fast
changing world which Nigerians are mere spectators; although this is
largely the upshot of lingering awful leadership in all echelon of
Nigerian society.
The leadership in the North, today walks with
multiplicity of faces: prior to the advent of the
present democratic dispensation, from the end of first republic, the
political leadership in the North, are perceived to be greedy; in the
sense that what ever they do, act or say is design in the long run to
accomplish some personal desire; preferential treatment, deception, adhoc
approach to issues and projects concerning community growth, and so much
concern with the weight of their purses and greatly
incline to creating a separate class in the
society, these have so much stuck to the thinking of
the selected few to the extend that nepotism supplant
merit, the welfare of their broods and protégé
overrides that of their communities, although in
certain quarters, the believe is, these are the
consequence of prolong bad habit of beseeching within
the Northern society.
The coming of president Obasanjo have exposed another disappointing
character of the Northern political elites, bald FEAR; this comes in two
forms, the fear of their past record and the fear of exclusion by those in
authority, this character of the political
leadership is so evident with the emergence of
Obasanjo third term project, and it has also pictured
the Northern political leaders into: the siddon
lookers; these are the category that want to be in the
left, at the same time enjoy the fruits of the right,
the second category are those that can be rightly
named as lickers of Nigeria , to them every thing is
perfect, so far something is accruing to their
pockets, while the next set are the courageous ones,
those, whose despite the obvious risk, they stand on
issues that are decently right, regrettably the
ex-soldiers turn politicians constitutes the bulk of
the first two category, while only people like Atiku,
Buhari, Awoniyi, Rimi, Na’abba are courageous enough
to stand against Obasanjo sit tight agenda.
The traditional class is today characterized with
emulous desire; this has led to the class, losing it
tradition grass root obedience and respect by those in authority, the
traditional class have so much lost credence within it locals, to the
extend that the hitherto believed; it is a taboo to cast a little
aspersions on them, even in one’s heart, has become an open fashion, their
words are not bank on, and their clout rarely make an impact. The
tradition class is deeply immersed in the unashamed attitude of
collection, of the so-called welfare from those in power; their hearts is
full of the desire to have something they never need, which have crashed
upon them; for the last 25 years the tradition class in the North are
cheaply deposed and easily throne, from the highest class to the lowest.
The business magnates in their attempt to protect their business had been
made to abandon their traditional keeping aloof nature, and forced to wore
the face of oblique politicians, though in modern democracy these are
expected, but the business class in the North have performed abysmally in
helping their communities to developed, while their counterparts in the
south have done a lot in the area of provision of scholarships, community
schools and health care, those in the North are mainly concern in sitting
closer to the umbrella of power, forgetting their little responsibility
for their communities, which even the Almighty God has bestowed upon them.
The religious class preaches temperance but they
practice gluttony, they are today used by the afore
mentioned trio, as a link to the larger society, these
have corrupted them and disadvantaged helpless
citizens to the level that many communities in the
North appear to have stunning mosques and churches but
lack basic portable water, health care and educational infrastructures;
this is largely due to the attempt by the ruling elites to used the
religious class in keeping the masses mute, it has reach a level that when
the religious class talk, people know they are lying, and they also know
the people know they are lying, and the people have realized that, they
are well aware that, they the people know they are lying, they are too
much corrupted to the extend that, the out of the ordinary position, they
occupy in their communities is at its lowest ranking.
To some large extend, the over staying in power by the
North, have so much affected the entity call North, in
terms of: attitude to community enhancement; which
have proven to be an index used by other part of
Nigeria in accelerating their development, both in
human and on infrastructures, it has helped in
corrupting those opportune to be in the corridors of
power; and created a lazy populace, diminished the
hitherto credibility of the traditional class; we have
today produced the largest colony of beggars roaming
the streets of Nigeria, high number of illiterates,
sir Ahmadu Bello’s ‘Worship and Work’ motto, has been
turn into War and Waste; communities are set against
each other and agriculture has lost its precedence
The North is today gearing towards re-assuming the
mantle of power in 2007, this writer perceive another
character for the Northern political elites; Envy,
which has already started manifesting within the
class, the traditional class will suffer further
integrity problem, as politician can boot them like
balls as they wish, the business moguls will be in the
most difficult situation of who to identify with as
2007 approaches, because it is apparent that their
survival is tight to politician and the religious
class will witness further slipping of disciples. What
would the mode of the commoners be? Not only in the
North but Nigeria as a whole, the political,
tradition, business and the religious class, are best
to give the answer, may the ALMIGHTY help us.
Zayyad I. Muhammad writes from Jimeta, Nigeria
zaymohd@yahoo.com
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