"Well, they have won and he (Al-Mustapha) is free and may now have the luxury of taking up “national assignments”. He can now recruit us, the perennial leaders of tomorrow, unquestioningly into his (their) project and perhaps, PDP’s Third Force. Many of us are already in it: no moral scruples, no reflection, no thought, and no questions about what the future holds. We have forgotten too quickly again, and are ever ready to take a mess of pottage for our conscience. For our mind, we don hammer be dat!!! - Julius Ogar ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It is the stench of a carcass that attracts the hyena, the fox and the vulture – all of them mutually antagonistic, to one spot. The stench of politics in Nigeria today is doing just that. In recent times, one has observed the antics of Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, former Chief Security Officer to late General Sani Abacha; Mujaheed Asari Dokubo, leader of the Niger Delta Volunteer Force; and Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, leader of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra. Playing in the background is Mohammed Sani Abacha, who has declared his return to the fold of the Peoples Democratic Party. Al-Mustapha and his newfound friends are working under an otherwise lofty banner: the National Unity Alliance. One has seen many newspaper articles and online comments especially by young people eulogising these fellows (generally) for coming together in such dire times to forge a common front “for unity”. The crowds of young people who throng these events as TV and newspaper pictures have shown are simply amazing. But for the bandwagon effect, it would be quite commendable if such crowds were driven by the positive force of patriotism and nationalism. But no! Al-Mustapha, Dokubo, Uwazurike and Abacha’s crowds are just indicative of how very gullible the average young Nigerian has allowed himself/herself to become. We easily lend ourselves to any manipulative scheme and allow to be taken for a ride, even a bumpy one. Our benefactors do these things in our name and leave us shamed and frustrated to gloat over our uncritical mindedness. In case we have forgotten, here are just two examples: Remember Ojo Madueke and the 2-million Man march? Remember Daniel Kanu’s Youth Earnestly Ask For Abacha in the hey days of Abacha’s transmutation (tazarce) campaign? We have come to that phase again! And we must keenly watch the horizon to see how our history continually repeats itself – even if in another guise. We won’t be fair to ourselves if we fail to remember that those ignominious events were done in the name of, and with the support of youths. They wouldn’t have taken place for one moment if Al-Mustapha had not “approved” of them – but pardon this digression please. Al-Mustapha, Dokubo, Uwazuruike, Abacha and their cronies are working on a project, their own project and it has little to do with the interest of many young Nigerians on whose shoulders they want to ride. Their ploys are not about good governance and the emergence of a truly national leadership to change the dwindling fortunes of Nigeria. Their project has everything to do with Jonathan and 2015, and the crowds (youths) are serving a useful purpose. Of course, everyone including these fellows, is free to express their political choices in whatsoever way they are disposed, for that is what democracy represents. That each time they succeed all too easily riding on the backs of youths whose ideals they do not share, is the fault of youths. How GULLIBLE ARE WE? CAN A NATION WITH ABSENT MINDED, VERY FORGETFUL AND DOCILE YOUNG PEOPLE HAVE A FUTURE? In today’s time and age, many young men and women walk around without minding the hand-writing on the wall. Some of us have our eyes glued to our BBs, iPads, smart phones so much that we don’t have time to read the warning signs everywhere. Others are so caught up in the world of fantasy television that all they remember is the basically useless and shameless shows such as BBA which leaves us only craving for more, and stealing our time which we could devote even if only for quiet reflection. A lot of us are either blinded by our tribal and ethnic cleavages or worse still, we are slaves to some pastoral visionary of our respective creeds who use religion to tint our outlook on virtually everything. We fall for any “liberation theology” some of which are directly antithetical to the very spirit of religion itself. So some religious and political entrepreneurs recruit and use us to achieve even goals that may not be of our own convictions. We, who are supposed to be filled with idealism and positive energy because we are still imbued with the temperament for action, are the ones most afflicted with the love of ease, to the extent that one of our favourite phrases is: “I don’t want stress” – where stress could be anything that diverts our attention from pinging on the BB or watching TV. We want to sit back at home and wait for the Bamanga Tukurs, the Tony Anenihs, the Bode Georges and Obasanjos and their generation to get tired and hand the reins over to us. But history gives our expectation the lie. The Sardauna, Tafawa Balewa, Herbert Macaulay, Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Yakubu Gowon, Emeka Ojukwu, Maitama Sule, Murtala Mohammed, etc, were all young people when they became leaders. Check global and African history and you would see how youthful idealism drove people like Muamar Ghadafi, Gamal Abdel Naser, Thomas Sankara, Kwameh Nkrumah, Jerry Rawlings, Nelson Mandela, Ahmad Sekou Toure and others into positive action. But we have been waiting and are waiting, doing nothing but lamenting. Many of us are waiting not to serve but to “hammer” because for us, that is the vogue. It is therefore little wonder that some very senior citizens see us as a lost generation; or that OBJ thinks we are worse than the Old Breed. Seeing our pronounced love of ease reflected in our gullibility and docility, their conclusions couldn’t have been more correct. Most of our northern compatriots never really cared about the murder charges hung on the neck of Al-Mustapha and never really bothered about the precedents that led to his arrest and detention. All they wanted was his release flamed by sectional passion rather than a judicial outcome as determined by the courts. Many did not mind that his long trial was actually orchestrated by the accused himself whose lawyers often cooked up legal technicalities to prolong his trial. Well, they have won and he is free and may now have the luxury of taking up “national assignments”. He can now recruit us, the perennial leaders of tomorrow, unquestioningly into his (their) project and perhaps, PDP’s Third Force. Many of us are already in it: no moral scruples, no reflection, no thought, and no questions about what the future holds. We have forgotten too quickly again, and are ever ready to take a mess of pottage for our conscience. For our mind, we don hammer be dat!!! newsinquirer.org/index.php/2013-09-10-13-46-15/julius-ogar/292-youths-beware
Posted on: Mon, 07 Oct 2013 18:18:38 +0000
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