WHISPERS FROM NIGERIA! For many Nigerians, 2015 is just one skip away. That is the projected year when batons are expected to change hands among political office holders. Some are still predicting turmoil and an avalanche. Some think there will be an infernal kind of upheaval that will engulf some and spare others. Some see an advantage, and some see adversaries standing their grounds to thwart the advantage. The polity in Nigeria continues to be rattled and bombarded with voices, noises, and expressions of choices. Where one stands in the discourse depends primarily on what tribal or ethnic waters one drinks from? Yes and No. It depends on who you are talking to. But the near rancorous cacophony is making the ear tingle. From Ilorin to Imesi-Ile, Bauchi to Benin City, and Abeokuta to Abakaliki, I picked up these whispers from a handful of tribal, ethnic and interest blocks that make up the nation. Below is part of what I am hearing. SOUTH- SOUTH “I am south- south and I am in a shout-and-shout for relevance, integration and inclusion. If God has naturally endowed me with the pie and the remedies, why then can’t I inclusively control the table prepared before me with my own chef, my own cooks, my own servers, my own utensils, in my own kitchen? Why not? They never knew I was a force until I showed them some Delta Force. My villages are desolate, my streets are impoverished, and my oil wells are pillaged and controlled by those who don’t care what happens to me or my children’s future. My destiny is in my hands, and now they know I know that. At the end of this struggle, whatever will be, will be”. THE YORUBA- “I am smart, articulate, and can make things happen. Some of you may think I am cunning, I love magic, and I love just my own people. You are wrong! All I want in this arrangement is fairness and justice for all. When I say “for all”, I mean for all the elements in the arrangement. You can stay at the head of the table, but don’t try to kick me to the curbs picking your crumbs. If you do, I will fight back. Fight, however, is not my preference. I know you think I make more noise than slug it out in a real fight. But understand that when my back is against the wall and the need to fight arises, there will be no looking back. So don’t mess with me, I can fight when I have to. But before the fight, there is always a room for negotiation for fairness and justice for all”. THE IGBO “When I protested unfairness many years ago, they ganged up against me and strove to strip me of my destiny and dignity. But, Chineke, they couldn’t, and still can’t. I have been taken to the altar of slaughter too many times, and even up till now, my blood seems to be the only quencher of their deep thirst for control and domination. The blood of my fathers, mothers, children they have spilled continues crying for equity, fairness, justice and balance. How much of my blood do they need to knead these incompatible elements? Do they need a Niagara of my people’s blood to have the Nigeria of their dream? In all arms of this arrangement, they always try to stop my glide. Give me the reins of power at the center, and then I know you are serious about oneness”. THE HAUSA “I am like God without whom you can do nothing. If am not always number one, then your days are numbered because I was born to rule and not to be ruled. I may not truly bring much to the table, but destiny has bestowed upon me an eternal control of the same table. If I am not always number one, the pestilence I will send among your people will be too much for you to handle. Your sons will be sleepless, your daughters will be restless, and your old ones will have nightmares”. Conclusion If our leaders can only be sensitive to the aspirations of all Nigerians, a stronger fusion among the elements that make up this nation will emerge. Nigerians are not asking for too much from their leaders. They are not making over-the-top demands. Among many things they desire, they just want to live and have no fear of terrorism and insecurity. They just want to work and get paid. They just want a conducive business environment where private enterprise will thrive. They want those who lead them to stop lying to them and stealing from them. They want their children to get the best of education comparable to any other nation in the world. Nigerians are not asking for a hand-out, they just want a leg-up. The leg-up is an achievable phenomenon called opportunity. And this has fizzled in the present arrangement. That is why the arrangement is besieged and bedeviled by toiling, fighting, kidnapping, killing and robbing. And by every means necessary, people are just striving to get by. That is why truth in government has become an apparition, and honesty in the civil service a mirage. That is why the Igbo man seems not to trust the Yoruba man, and the Hausa man seems to hate the Ibibio. That is why the Yoruba person seems to believe that the Hausa is a square peg in a round hole in the arrangement, and the Itsekiri man seems to think everybody else in the arrangement belongs in Kirikiri. That is why we are united, but no visible unity. And that is why there is untold hardship in the land. Our leaders operate in a world of crass insensitivity. If this continues beyond this season, the whispers will graduate into a whiff of a meltdown from which the arrangement called Nigeria may not recover. By Fola Ojo, USA.
Posted on: Sun, 30 Jun 2013 06:46:43 +0000
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