Making A Date With April 2007

Making A Date With April 2007

A. Mohammed Bashir Shuwa

Leeds Uk

That Nigeria as a nation is gearing up for a new lease of life is a matter of time however will the nation be allowed to get out from the shackles of domination and servitude enforced on it by a minority clique who have been holding forte since independence? Will Nigerians afford to waste their votes by selling their conscience and future to a select few? It is time for a serious thinking and making wise decision if the country is to gain anything good out of the April 2007 general elections. Time has come when the people will decide on who they want to be their leader. This is a very serious issue since successive administrations pass the buck of their failures to their predecessors who they always accuse of laying the foundation of their failures. This is a mere mockery as when you take a cursory look at those at the helm of affairs one can be surprised to find out that the country have been recycling its political leaders since independence till date.

It is sad for Nigeria to have leaders who take their citizens for granted and continue to deceive them. Often times these leaders ascend to political office with only their salary as their legitimate earning but leave office as very wealthy people. Though some leaders with good intentions have come up to clean the mess created by these class of filthy leaders they don't often last long because they are overthrown by those greedy and selfish class of looters. It is on record that only General Murtala Muhammad and Muhammadu Buhari are known to have run a government that aims at sanitizing the nation from corruption. But both leaders were being overthrown. Though Murtala was killed in the process however Buhari survived and has resurfaced to take another shot at continuing his good work.

After the death of General Murtala of blessed memory those who took over laid the foundation of corruption in Nigeria. Obasanjo, Yar Adu'a , Danjuma, and most high ranking members of the off shoot of Murtala's administration became very rich and acquired big investments with Obasanjo having his Ota Farms and other sundry investments, Yar Adu'a acquiring shipping lines and Danjuma becoming a business mogul all of whose wealth were traceable to the Nigerian treasury which they looted with impunity before they handed over to Shagari in 1979.

It may interest the reader to know that before he was murdered Murtala seized the properties and illegaly acquired wealth of those who served under General Gowon but sadly those who succeeded him left office richer in negation with his dream of enthroning accountability and good governance. While these leaders and their cronies live in affluence the people on whose behalf they rule are dying of hunger, disease and total neglect.

Nigeria was presented with another opportunity to eliminating corruption in December 1983 when General Buhari waged a war on corruption and indiscipline and laid the foundation for Nigeria's greatness by setting out objectives aimed at improving citizens habits and attitudes. It was on record that even the police started to shun taking bribes and the law has become no respecter of a persons position or stature. So people began to cue no matter their importance to acquire services and there was significant improvement on citizens attitude to work with lateness,loitering and absenteeism eliminated from our work culture. However as was with the Murtala regime Buhari's too was short lived as he was overthrown and the nation reverted to its status quo.

Even though some Nigerians accuse the IBB regime as one that institutionalized corruption I totally disagree because if Obasanjo , Yar Adu'a and T.Y Danjuma cannot be seen as the forebearers of corruption in Nigeria then IBB 'S was not the one that made corruption to thrive. It has been the legacy set by OBJ that IBB inherited and continued until he stepped aside and with the second coming of OBJ corruption has been taken to higher level as government assets and resources were shared out among the ruling cabal of OBJ incorporated. That is why as in 1979 OBJ wants to hand over to his poodle so that he can continue to enjoy his loot while those he hands over continue milking the nation dry.

It is a difficult task taking power from those who hold it so dear to themselves like our current rotten PDP government but there is no easy way for freedom as political thinkers have said that the price for liberty is perpetual vigilance. This is the time we should have a clean break with corrupt leaders who have only succeeded in spreading poverty amid the myriad of resources the country has.

This is the opportunity that all Nigerians are expected to make a date with history by becoming a part of a peaceful revolution that is about to take place in April when the people are presented with a choice between those who represent evil and those that are good. Every Nigerian know that corruption and those who thrive in it are evil and it is no longer a secret that the leadership and candidates of the PDP are the adherents of corruption while on the other hand General Buhari has been in deed, word and action a person of high integrity and abhors and fights corruption in all its ramifications.

The April peaceful revolution is the best opportunity that provides all Nigerians the chance to kick out the corrupt politicians and their hangers on out of power by voting for a trusted and tested Nigerian who has sacrificed his life for the sake of the common man whose cause he has been fighting for all his life. That person is the one and only Muhammadu Buhari the Presidential flag bearer of the ANPP who introduced War Against Indiscipline and Corruption as far back as 1983.

Making a date with April Revolution is a task on all Nigerians who like to have a change in improvement on the quality of their lives, want to say good bye to poverty and eradicate all societal ills that retard the nations quest for meaningful development. Becoming a part of this arduous task is our collective responsibility for since making Nigeria great is everyone's concern and in this struggle Nigerians must shun all manners of incitement and inducement by the detractors of the common man who will present themselves in different shades and forms to deceive the people at this crucial time.

Buhari's success is the people's success because he stands for what Nigerians want and will lead the country into a better prosperous nation by ensuring equitable distribution of the nations resources and maintaining law and order. Let us give him our mandate so he can use the instrument of power to uplift the standard of people's living condition, provide and improve infrastructural developments all over Nigeria and eliminate the existing master slave relationship between the citizens and elected public office holders.