A scuffle broke out few days ago in front of a kiosk near my house in Lagos. Three men were involved. Passers-by watched in disbelief, wondering what could be the cause of the disorderly fight. It turned out the men were fighting over a loaf of bread. As they wrestled themselves to the ground, the bread was broken into pieces. None of them had a better share of it. It was like the classic case of a broken family whose members would rather destroy their father’s inheritance than share. On enquiry, these men were labourers working at a nearby building undergoing renovation.  

On reflection of this spectacle, I wish Chief Tony Anenih was still alive to witness this. You know why?  At the pinnacle of his political career, Anenih, fondly “Mr. fix- it” of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) thought he knew how to mend a broken heart. He was asked by reporters in 2005 if he was not aware that the economic condition of most Nigerians had started to deteriorate under Obasanjo presidency. Anenih was angry at the question and reacted just as much. Looking at the reporters, he said, “you can write whatever you like about our great party, but we should do whatever we want with the party and how it governs Nigeria”. When reminded that he had not answered the question, Anenih, responded in cold anger, “Have Nigerians started fighting themselves on the streets?” That may be where we are now. Things are getting out of joints. The inequality in the country is widening. The fautlines that divide us are widening every day.

Today is Christmas Eve, and tomorrow is Christmas – the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. However, many do not know it’s Christmas because the socioeconomic conditions in the country have squeezed them into a corner. They don’t know where their meal will come from. They no longer believe government is working for their interest. Indeed, the general belief is that those in government are working for their own interests and that of their families. That’s why the legislature will budget an astonishing N37billion naira for renovation when some Nigerians are fighting over a loaf of bread.  Do they fully understand the spiritual significance of the birth of Jesus Christ, whether he was born on December 25, or not?. Do we truly understand that the message of Jesus Christ is encapsulated in His liquid love? His love flows, his words and actions are laden with love. Everything about Him is an expression of divine love. Are we celebrating this season with this consciousness, this joy and warmth? Please, do answer : Is Christmas Christ in you?

This is what makes Christmas worth celebrating, that the totality of His personality is love. For Christians this is the message: If Christ does not live in you, then you don’t understand Christmas, even though you will join others to celebrate it tomorrow. You have only heard a story, but you have got to believe, and come into the vital experience of the story by believing what his birth means in your life, that Christ in you is the reason for Christmas. That’s what I have been taught, and I believe in my heart and have confidence in His love. How much do we care for, and love one another? How much does the government care for the people and do what will uplift their well-being? The truth is that when government and leaders lack vision, they lack the stuff of political life to move the nation forward. They settle for second best. This is why our country is getting progressively worse rather than making better things to happen for the citizens.  There’s always a good place in history for any leader who wants to succeed. The starting point is to define his goals and vision in a way that gives coherence. He cannot achieve these goals, this vision and purposes if they are packaged in a mishmash manner.

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Perhaps, it is appropriate to use this season of Christmas to once again look at how we have been governed, why the love that the birth of Christ means is lacking, why our leaders are not measuring up on the leadership scale, and why the followership is not connecting with the leaders. Few months ago, we hailed President Muhammadu Buhari lamenting the level of excruciating poverty in the country. He was reported to have said that the situation makes him uncomfortable. He spoke during the breaking of fast at Aso Villa in May this year. He noted that too many Nigerians were unable to find something to eat. His exact words as reported by the media: “When I drive round the country, what upsets me very much is the status of our poor people in this country – you see the so-called Almajiris with torn clothes, with plastic bowls. They are looking basically for what to eat”.  According to the President, the question of education to them is a luxury. He blamed the elite for failing to address the welfare of, and educational needs, of the less privileged in the society. He, therefore, urged the privileged Nigerians to support his administration to ameliorate the situation by providing succour to the people. Well spoken. But what has this administration done to ameliorate this and avoid further slide into extreme poverty? It may be trying, some say, but far short of public expectations. One can side with the president’s concern, but his programmes and their implementation have not shown much love to the suffering majority.

If you ask me how Buhari Presidency has faired in over four years, I will say the President’s knowledge of the way government works is superficial at best. There’s a big difference between campaign promises and governing. Campaigning involves cheap shots, but governing is facing realities of immediate sort. Let’s get this fact straightaway: Nobody is saying that President Buhari’s has the magic wand to make Nigeria great overnight or eradicate poverty with the speed of light. However, it will be unfair to blame the President for all the problems. His policymakers are not doing well enough in critical sectors that will produce optimal benefits to the people. It’s even worse at the state levels. Those in authority should bear this in mind: that they are in power as a matter of luck and courtesy rather than by any rights.

Again, one is not saying that the Buhari presidency is responsible for the poverty in the land , but he has not been able to initiate concrete programmes of action to stop it from getting to the present, frightening level, to the extent that about 91.6 million Nigerians are reported to be living in poverty, making the World Poverty Clock to place Nigeria as the “poverty capital of the world”.  Also, during her visit to Nigeria last year, the British Prime Minister, Theresa May, painted a grim picture of economic inequality in Nigeria, where people are living below $1.90 a day, making our country, ‘home to the highest number of world’s very poor people’.  Last year, the American-based Brookings Institution published a chilling report about poverty in Nigeria entitled: “The start of a New Narrative”. The only response of government to that report was to shift the goalpost, blamed it on the previous government. Let the blame game stop now. Merry Christmas.