|
Attack Your Own Ethnic Looters Not Ebele By Farouk Martins Aresa
There is one lesson we must learn from Nigerian Civil War: one ethnic group must not attack another ethnic group, let each ethnic group deal severely with their killers of our Country. Leave Ebele to his own ethnic group. If Hausa had killed Sardauna, Yoruba had killed Akintola and Igbo had killed Okpara, our history would be different today. Even when we have had enough, we must be reasonable.
There is no corruption going on under Ebele that is new in Nigeria. The same people that instituted and glorify corruption are still at play. Indeed, they are so entrenched in our system, they have to be appeased not to unleash their venom. They did not just corner the oil industry when Ebele got there, they live and breathed by it before him and they are determined to remain after him.
Take-Back-Nigeria as now presented us a golden opportunity to let vulture capitalists in politics, commerce and trade know that Nigeria is not going to return to status quo, no matter what. Nigerians have been called cowards that do not want to die, docile that accepted everything dished out to oppress them but there comes a time when enough is enough. When we are backed up to the wall, we are not going to disappear into it.
This is why Nigerians are been killed for protesting injustices by oppressors. It is not the fuel price increase alone, it is culmination of prices, taxes and tolls by police and states on the road we bought and paid for with our taxes and God given natural resources. Policemen are paid salary only to demand more at gun point from us inside private and public transportations on the road. Politicians take out loans in our names and load up debts for our children.
The argument about fuel price increase has gone circular trying to confuse the poor man. All we are saying is that whether we pay the increase or not, the money will disappear into politicians’ pocket. We are just sick and tired of promises while we die waiting for results. It has not gotten better, it goes from bad to worse. Every head of state makes more promises upon promises. Where is the beef?
Those wishing for the take-over of the government either by military means or through impeachment have not learned their lesson. They are playing into the hands of the same mafia that got Nigeria on its knees. They think that by making the Country ungovernable, Ebele will be seen as weak. This is not to excuse Ebele because he has his own weakness as someone, with all his intellect that could not appoint Nigerians that have African bias.
In all sincerity, Ebele got more votes than any other candidate. As soon as he won, each ethnic champion positioned themselves in the name of their people for political payback for delivering their part of the Country. Even political arrangement or national character in the Party was disrupted in favor of one group over another. Ebele had to go along to get along. It is vicious to try to wrestle power from him by intimidation.
The politicians know the weakness of Nigerians along ethnic lines and they know how to manipulate it to their advantages. We must accept reality that Nigerians cannot live along ethnic lines. Africa is not demarcated north, south, east or west. We all have kin and relatives across the Continent. Differentiation is the reason we kept asking for more states and local governments. At the rate we are going, each family will become a country.
If we want Nigeria back, we must fight corruption from our backyards. Those politicians in Abuja and state capitals claim they represent us. If they do not, make it known to them in your towns and villages. We must not touch people from other ethnic groups because they happen to be our neighbors or go to other ethnic towns and villages to kill those we disagree with because we have guns like armed robbers.
If we want to be sincere with ourselves, our Northern brothers have been consistently demeaning and disgracing the killers of Nigeria in their midst. None of their politicians dare display the same level of ostentation and conspicuous spending Nigerians tolerate in the South. They throw more sands and stones than their Southern brothers. So their politicians keep them busy and tied their hands with religion.
Instead of providing for modern grazing for cows or cattle, Northern politicians turn nomads loose on other people’s land within Hausa and others in the North towards the South. We know that is why the problem of these intra and inter-ethnic killings has not stopped. So as much as the Northerners have their problems, so do Southerners’ greed. We do have a common problem we need to solve. Corruption!
Every region must rise up together if we want to displace the oppressors in Nigeria. If we miss a region and let the vultures there corrupt and devour others, we have failed to clean up our Country. We are infested by roaches and rats that can sneak and multiply through porous land. Put your own house in order so that the roaches do not infest the houses of others. |