Yar’Adua Is Sick, So Also Nigeria...I Said So

By

Prince Charles Dickson

Jos, Plateau Nigeria

 

"The public does not like you to mislead or represent yourself to be something you're not. And the other thing that the public really does like is the self-examination to say, you know, I'm not perfect. I'm just like you. They don't ask their public officials to be perfect. They just ask them to be smart, truthful, honest, and show a modicum of good sense." ~ Ann Richards (recent death)

 

The entire nation has been in a frenzy...Its funny how one event can change a lot of permutations...Nigeria and her leaders indeed beats sane imagination. Yaradua, a gentleman and a nice fellow by all compliments is suffering the sins of an adopted father...Obj. Ordinarily from the events of the last few days one can deduce that the man's crime is simply that of PDP. The mere fact that his is the PDP flag bearer has brought more curse than blessing.

 

A cross section of Nigerians I spoke with really had no problem with the man other than the fact that he was handpicked by Baba, no one could really say that this man was a thief or stole like his contemporaries, but trust Nigerians we always have reasons to pick holes...For a man that always had left-overs in state coffers it means that he did not perform. Just shaking my head.

 

Well I am least perturbed because for all we say, and all we care the men in black robes and umbrellas have already perfected the act of fooling us. If Yaradua or indeed any of the Presidential candidates dies, softly put the law says that INEC has the right to push the Elections indefinitely and no one saw this until recently. Whatever that means the truth sometimes in Nigeria is not the fact, however either way we calculate, Obj wittingly or otherwise could continue whether he has packed his belongings out of Aso Rock or not.

 

All the noise of the National Assembly is the usual bark without bite; we just pray that the Almighty and fate has the last say and the last move in this game of chess called Nigeria.

 

Nigeria is sick, very sick, if Yaradua dies before the elections, there is likely to be a push in date for the elections into the unknown, then the PDP will play chess with his replacement, will it remain a Northerner or what will the equation be, certainly not Goodluck despite all his luck and if we factor in the known, it is speculative but in the long run we may be again toying with an annulled election only that this time we may not be able to just sweep it under the carpet as free and fair because indeed it will not be free and fair.

 

I am not a Yaradua supporter, nor do I root for PDP...to me the AC, is an air-conditioner without compressor. For and to all intent all the parties are sick, Buhari has not told us how he hopes to contain the corrupt elements that make up the ANPP, some of which suffered his wrath during his first reign. Who amongst the very top notchers in our politics is healthy, we forget so soon that Obj almost died mid way into his tenure, but he did not die...whether it is his liver, kidney, or stomach with all the money they can buy replacements at short notice. Nigeria itself is sick and the truth is that we really can get replacements and good ones at that, and at short notice too but we lack the will to go for it.

 

Once again it is Germany, it is a coincidence that a man soon to be President, all things working PDP's way will seek to do a routine check in Germany while the nation's Doctors were on strike, and we talk of continuing the good works of Obasanjo...sad story of our existence. What happens to the millions of Nigeria that cannot afford routine Panadol, millions that rely on self-medication and more millions that have become herbal medicine freaks?

 

Watched on television the rented crowd that awaited the PDP flag bearer and all I saw was a nation of sick citizenry In the temporary sickness, some even started floating IBB's name, and if this is not sickening, only Nigerians know what more can be sickening. What is the price of truth in Nigeria, our media engage in yellow journalism or better still outright lies are told in the name of breaking news or our sources in Kampala. Despite Western propaganda, they were careful not to report speculations, but we...with our "trusted sources" we flew to bed, with all sorts of "those close" unconfirmed and uncomfirmable nonsense.

 

We tend to even give out ourselves cheaply to leadership manipulation by our reactions, which are often misplaced emotional ranting. This maybe rather harsh but it helps leadership to know how best to fly their kite, where, when and how to adjust to our whims and caprices, we loose at the end either ways.

 

Are we not sick...? We have to face it that whatever side of the coin, we are in trouble, whether Yaradua is sick, or his organ has or will fail, Nigeria is the story of Yaradua's health, good in places, bad in vital places, may pack up, may end up not packing up...but there are warning signs, they may be wrong and we hope they are not right. Of the 36 Governors only 6 has not traveled out for medical, some have even gone for the frivolous, while the rest have from acute asthma, intense migraine, stomach adjustment, pocket realignment, pimples, facials to irresistible stealing hands syndrome.

 

Tell me a Nigerian that is not sick, sick from lack of electricity, water, good roads, quality education and improved healthcare facility. These are the ones we can lay hands on, we forget the school fees, bills for unavailable utility, frustration of inadequacies which all result in abnormal blood pressure. With the wave of apologies that has trailed the President's visit to most States during the Yaradua campaign train, it is obvious that we were given a soured meal that has made us all sick, the President is apologizing for Boni Haruna, for Dariye, calling Orji a bastard, Atiku a thief, while the Bode Georges, Ubas, Adedibus are waiting to be knighted as Saints of immaculate morals.

 

Sick politicians, sick followership, sick nation, but we keep moving one day at a time, we wont die, we have a strong resolve, we believe that it cannot end just like that, while some of us patronize Mazi Kalu's chemist, others leave their fate to Baba Tinubu's Herbal concoction, many are sick with no choice than death. While another group just refuse to fall ill, which is scary or put simply...SICK! The rest are up there...they are sick, very, very sick, they have lost their conscience, they lie truthfully, they have turned red into blue, that is they cannot tell us in any Nigerian Language what the problem is with Yaradua yet the Naira new notes has that feature.

 

Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.. ~ John Adams. The issue is not that of a sick Presidential candidate, but a sick society, a sick system, and a people that is sick, many great leaders have been physically sick, from Abraham Lincoln, to Margaret Thatcher, Clinton was and is still sick, Ronald was, Obasanjo is diabetic and by my diagnosis suffers maniac depression from fear of Atiku and prison yet his love for women and hate for rational advice has not decreased. The fact remains that our leaders are mentally sick and they are driving us all into a state of...only Almighty Allah can save us.

 

NB…Sadly Atiku too has gone to London to repair a minor dislocation…and the President finally agrees to give his Vice an aircraft, these guys are all toying with us and are all a disgrace to leadership, to imagine that we do not have orthopedic surgeons is a big lie…a sick nation indeed



Yours In The Service Of Nation...For the Good Of All
And In High Regards...I Remain
Prince Charles Dickson
234-0803 331 1301, 234-0805 715 2301