FROM IFES DESK NIGERIA, MY NIGERIA Let me repeat for the umpteenth time: NIGERIANS HAVE SHORT MEMORIES. Four years ago or a little over that, many youths who were innocently enrolled in the National Youth Service Corps and posted to the northern parts of Nigeria were murdered in cold blood by CPC political party supporters. These supporters were motivated, instigated and cajoled by the CPC chieftains into riotous acts that left many innocent citizens murdered and seriously wounded with permanent disabilities. These corps members were the tangible evidence of the hope of their parents, friends, and communities. They had laudable aspirations and believed that they were indeed, the leaders of tomorrow. Who knows what problems some of them would have solved were they not annihilated. Who knows what innovations these would have championed were they not unfortunate. They died for our country. They died because they refused to be cowered into shameless feats of corruption. They were killed because they could not bear to upturn the truth. They died for Nigeria. They died for us. And they were peoples sons and daughters, friends and school mates. They would have been peoples husbands and fathers. But No. That dream was nipped in the bud when they were slaughtered like goats for sacrifice. Nigerians have short memories, indeed. Now, another electoral process approaches. Four years down the line, these CPC/APC cargoes/chieftains have devised another means of mesmerizing the electorate of this nation. They came up with words like clueless, corruption and change - the three famous APC Cs I choose to call it. And Nigerians are expected to be carried away once they hear change. What are we changing to? From sanitary pad to toilet roll? From indian hemp to heroine? From amala to akpu? What do we really want? Is it difficult to understand that being clueless is a temporary issue but heartlessness is innate? Who is not clueless in this country? An academician recently told me how hardworking and beautiful his wife is and how she provides everything that their four kids require. To crown that beautiful accolade, he added that for that reason, he could afford to keep as many girlfriends as he desired because he does next to nothing with his salary if not to spend on women and beer. And I wondered, is this man not clueless like Jonathan or even worse? Corruption, corruption, corruption. I wont bother talking about this. Because when someone who has held countless public offices in the past can openly threaten a sitting government of making the nation ungovernable, I cant figure out what can be worse. This or corruption if they must be separated from each other. I cringe at the characters that parade our polity with their long tongues full of lies. We had Obasanjo who was uncouth and vindictive, we cried and clamored for a humble person. Our prayers were answered. Now, Jonathan is unquestionably humble but has a complex that emanates from his poor parental background that makes it possible for his advisers to bear the weight of their silly dispositions on him without any resistance from the no-shoes president; and we are crying and longing for a dictator. They said he was a military Head of State, so he needed to be harsh in 1983. And I ask, was that how Jerry Rawlings ruled Ghana as a military Head of State? Was he jailing people recklessly for as much as singing a song? Was he hating a specific region and diverting funds and public offices only to people who professed his religion or came from the Volta region where he hails from? Were soldiers permitted to beat up men who had quarrels with their wives in the streets and strip them naked, and additionally saddling them with the frog-jump (nwa-awo) punishment? Do we imagine how many marriages were wrecked for those crude soldiers jungle justice and crude reactions? As we deliberate and debate on who should or shouldnt be voted for, let us remember that it is worse to fall from frying pan to fire. Someone was responsible for the deaths of these innocent corps members because he encouraged his supporters to engage in utter violence; that someone accused the current presidency of annihilating the northern youths when the presidency installed Azubuike Ihejirika to lash on Boko Haram and chain it hands and legs and necks to the Sambisa forest famished after which BH embarked on stealing foodstuff as its first assignment as soon as the army chief was removed unceremoniously; that same someone masterminded the international attention drawn to Ihejirikas onslaught against BH which led to the formers removal and consequently, BH have jumped out of the forest and have swooped on helpless northerners uncontrollably from then on; this someone frustrated every effort to give BH a tough fight when it would have been easier to stop them with sentimental propaganda; the someone still unjustifiably incarcerated many people as a military Head of State; and as a public office holder, could not account for the disappearance of huge funds in the course of his duties in two capacities and was not prosecuted simply because he is a General which meant that he was untouchable. Nigerians, are we not tired of these Generals? These cabals that have nothing to offer but that violence with which they have dined all their lives. Lets move on without them. It is safer that way.
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 16:27:55 +0000
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