Ever thought about the humdrum that living in Nigeria has become? We only get animated when crises erupt, and they are not in short supply but has encircled the entire nation. There appears to be nothing else Nigerians are good at apart from hating one another; killing one another; stealing the nation blind or holing up in prisms of little chiefdoms.
One begins to wonder where we missed it. We have recreated God’s creativity in us, banishing conscience, His natural police dog that nudges us towards the good. And because we have treated God’s restraining agent shabbily, we have fallen short, far too short of God’s standard. How else can one explain the murderous nonchalance about the feelings of others as long us I and mine are winning. Will we ever be done with I and mine?
It is because of our innate selfishness that cronyism is the pattern of our governance. That is why we let loose marauding cows to feed and make waste people’s sweat and wealth, and kill the owners for daring to protest. That is why we would unfeelingly appropriate other people’s ancestral lands and give them out to invading killer foreigners with whom we share dubious fillial affinity. That is why we would use public funds to selectively sponsor private businesses. That is why whereas other countries are reining in illegal immigrants and deporting them, Nigeria seems to be the only country that would document and legalise them at its expense despite the menace they constitute to others. That is why we cannot be tolerant of our neighbours. Even then, that is also why neighbourliness is screwed up in transmission or translation. That is why elders stoke crisis and look on, as little kids use vulture for barbecue. Why then would one be surprised that we give premium to cows than man? We no longer cringe at the sight of blood because that is what we use for toast or desert after meal. If you have not yet drunk blood, you are a non initiate and scavenging nincompoop.
Away with flying ethnic card and promises that are not ours to grant. It us annoying when people talk about Igbo presidency, Hausa presidency, Yoruba presidency or whatever presidency. This arises because of our inherent self-inclinatiion that makes the office holder trample on other sections while dwelling on his tribesmen. I prefer a statutorily restructured country where every tongue or faith is given rightful dues as equal stakeholder, not as impudently arrogant gratis from violent usurper of destinies.
Over the years, Nigeria has been deconstructed such that majority has now become minority and vice versa. However, merit should count as in the Nigerian football team where talent and skill are pushed forward to win laurels for the country.
When you promote mediocrity in governance, how do you hope to excel? The result is obvious and for decades, this monolith of a country, a nation without nationhood, refuses to fly and can never fly unless we tell and apply truth to heal our gaping wound.
It bothers me too when, instead of dealing with our problem, we trumpet the international community for help. Those who look up to the West for help hope in vain. Were they not the people that created the mess we are in and are not done yet? All that concerns them is how to feed their economies with the blood of others. Are they blind or deaf? Do they not see or hear what’s going on in the land? They cite sovereignty of nations but only when it suits them. Yet they have lined up their evil merchandise of death, hoping our crisis would escalate and make their industries to boom.
We are the way we are because we have leaders without conscience. They lie to us and see nothing wrong with it. Ironically, I don’t know how they manage but they always get us to kill one another on their behalf while they guffaw at our back. They easily instigate us to fight because we have been brainwashed to believe they are for us and our tribe when in real fact they are for nobody but themselves. They manipulate us against one another. So, while we fight and squabble, they vandalise our commonwealth without restraint. Tell me who gets are killed at campaign rallies. Tell me who snatches ballot boxes. Tell me who goes suffering and dancing at rallies for a few coins or fading ankara. Who dies in stampedes over cups of rice that are rightly ours? Shame! For how long will we be fooled and not know it? Wake up, brother and refuse to be used anymore.
Look at the political space, they never leave; they die in office. Those I read about in my history books in secondary school are still there, muscling out the younger generation. Could this be a reason they expunged history from our school curricula so that our eyes would not be enlightened? Nigeria is the only country where the father schemes to succeed the son. What an irony!
Now, they have made enemies for the true, suffering Fulani and also instigate him into believing that the rest of the nation hates him, and they are fighting his cause. It is all a fat lie! The Fulani have become pawns on the chessboard of invidious politicians. So also have the conquered Hausa lost their voice and identity and are now consumed in a battle they would rather not partake. But, beware, dear brother, things are not really the way they are.
Now, who really loves you? The person that says it is good for you to stay in a ranch and rear your cattle or the one that wants you to tramp through the wilderness, under rain or shine, not minding the risks? By the way, who owns the cows? Who armed you with the murderous weapons? When did you degenerate to this depth? Would you really not love to go to school to acquire knowledge and get to know that your welfare does not concern your masters? What matters is the welfare of their cows. Don’t you see that you too are being used? They would rather you remain inside the forests or feed the cows on people’s farms, thus saving them the cost of building the ranch or buying feed. Sadly, they have also cast their manipulative spell upon the government to their favour.
It is all about money. The Miyetti Allah is about money. Their vituperations are about money. The common herder does not matter to them at all. They threaten everybody, commit all manner of crimes and get away with it today. How about tomorrow? Nothing lasts forever. But, surely, one day we will leave money and the power behind and return to our maker to render account.
Just a couple of years after a governor died in sorry but avoidable circumstances, the widow has moved on and recently married a younger lover whom some rightly or wrongly say was the late governor’s former aide. Of course, the lady should not be expected to mourn forever. The story, however, is that we should take it easy, how we chase after power, fame and money. We are here today and tomorrow we are hereafter and the thing we treasure most is inherited by the most likely or unlikely person and there is nothing we can do about it.
We are in this contraption together by the design of the British. Let us make the most of the ugly circumstance and live in peace. Let us stir our conscience to truth and do what is fair and right. If anyone tells you that it is your right to take over other people’s ancestral homes for your cows, that person hates you because it can never work. You need a better life like those using you but masquerading as your lovers. Talk to yourself; talk to your conscience.
When you leave your cows behind, as your masters would also leave their money and power and we all stand before our maker, what account would we render? This is ‘thought for food’. So, use your ‘teeth to count your tongue’.