By Dan Amor
It is the biggest question of the day! Does Nigeria really matter? Like an inscrutable nightmare, the ponderous mystery of the Nigerian national question, which is ultimately the nation’s enduring essence, is still at issue. Jolted by the scandalous and shocking display of the obvious limitations of the human evolution, the unacceptable index of human misery in their country, and willed by a recent memory of oppression inflicted upon them by discredited soldiers and their quislings, Nigerians have been singing discordant tunes about the state of their forced Union.
This has further been exacerbated by disarming pockets of inter and intra-communal clashes, wanton killings by herdsmen, senseless Boko Haram bombings, frequent kidnappings by armed bandits, violent robbery and mindless ritual killings across the country. Therefore, the matter for regret and agitation is that a supposedly giant of Africa has suddenly become the world’s most viable junkyard due to the evil machinations of a fraudulent ruling class and the feudal forces still determined to keep the country in a permanent state of medieval servitude.
The stagnant situation in which the country finds itself and the
helpless ambivalence of the Nigerian people, more than justify critical
considerations. President Muhammadu Buhari’s June 12, 2021 Democracy Day
message to the Nigerian people had added salt to injury. In a fit of arrogant
military praxis and condescension, Mr. Buhari rejected the clamour by a
majority of Nigerians for restructuring which is simply the devolution of
powers from the centre to the federating units so as to engender competition
amongst the states or geopolitical zones and trigger development across the
country.
Buhari who had been begging the issue by shifting the
responsibility for the restructuring debacle to the National Assembly now
assumed the dictatorial powers from nowhere to assert that Nigeria’s problem
was more of process than structure. This is typical of a barracks code than of
a democratic dispensation. As president of Nigeria on the platform of the
Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo also exhibited such absolute
powers. Like Obasanjo like Buhari. Like PDP like APC. The vicious cycle of
human stupidity continues unabated in this God-forsaken land.
To say that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was once the
dominant party in Nigeria and other parties were like the women and youth wings
of that party, is to underscore the obvious. What PDP was under the watch of
former President Olusegun Obasanjo is what the All Progressives Congress (APC)
is currently under the watch of President Muhammadu Buhari. But there is
something augural about the ceaseless predilection for retired military
officers or Generals to join the babeldom which their indulgence in the
nation’s partisan politics has become. By their training and temperament, they
are, arguably, strangers to politics. And this is why our constitutions since
independence in 1960, mark them out as praetorian guards of the nation’s
territorial inviolability.
As warlords who are not experts in the intricate calculus of
social engineering, they are bound to be absolutely insular from the daily
nuances or jabs of partisan politics. Unfortunately, this is not the case. We
are in almost the same situation we found ourselves when General Sani Abacha
was on the throne. The only difference is that in the Abacha era, Nigerians saw
food to feed their children and were able to pay their children’s school fees.
Also, things were a lot better during the Obasanjo administration as the Naira
exchanged between 120 and 160 to the dollar. Now, the nation’s currency has
collapsed completely in Buhari’s hands. It is the reign of hunger and fear as a
dollar currently exchanges for almost N600.
During the traumatic administration of General Abacha, between
November 1993 and August 1998, several kilometers of thick forests shut our land
from the sight of the civilised world. And the voice of the hungry and
powerless masses of the people was overpowered by the intimidating din of the
forces of tyranny while the echoes of machine guns and bombs overshadowed the
voice of reason. Dissent was decreed out of existence in this soulless land.
Now, the unimaginable deprivation, the loathsome and strange
diseases, wounds, captivity, pestilence and despair, were the lot of the
popular masses. Alas, the rule was that silence should be adored as the goddess
of survival. Hence, they had rolled out armoured tanks and other deadly weapons
bought with proceeds of oil from the Niger Delta to enforce their decree that
all was well provided no voice was raised against their nefarious rule. Those
were, indeed, times when history mocked the efforts of ordinary mortals to
subvert its supreme will. Today, we demand freedom for this democracy to
matter.
As we watch religious leaders being invited for questioning by
agents of the State, we must remind them that it is decreed by the Supreme
Being, that His anointed should not be touched nor His prophets harmed. We must
remind them of the goals of our founding fathers. All Nigerians must be
emboldened by the knowledge that the goals we seek in our beleaguered country
are of the first rank. These goals include, first and foremost, true equality
and justice for all Nigerians. We seek this goal because we are determined to
build a truly great nation in which all citizens must feel at home, one in
which a selfish cabal will not have a veto power over who rules, what happens
and who gets what in the country’s vicious spoils-and-booty system.
We demand egalitarian democracy for Nigeria to matter. We seek
an end to authoritarian rule. We are no longer anamoured of the presumed wisdom
of soldiers. We do not want to be ridden any more by ambitious, intemperate and
seedy generals. We have created more than enough retired generals who are
merely idle, indolent billionaires and who cannot even sign their signatures.
We are fed up with being barked at , being told when we can assemble or
associate with one another. We have had enough of the arrogance of
unaccountable power. We are sick and tired of mindless decrees rolling out like
a torrent. We demand liberty for this democracy to matter.
In this land of mutilated cultures and religious intolerance,
development is often seen in the dividing line between savagery and barbarism.
It is a place where delicate pedantries and dilettantism are preferred to
indigenous cultures. What exists is rather a culture of violence in which
defenseless citizens are daily intimidated with engaging impulsiveness as in
the case of Southern Kaduna, Jos, Agatu, Odi, Zaki Biam, Odioma, etcetera. And
there is nowhere to run to as Nigerians appear surrounded by a misty ocean
infested with a multitude of crocodiles. It is a turbulent moment with a red
face when the whole society is turned into an unusual lairage or slaughterhouse
where the haggling goes on unabated in high pitch amidst the din and the
babble.
In this concentration camp
where noxious gas has reduced the people’s lifespan to barely 45 years, the
poor masses are defenseless victims of the vagaries of the weather and the
reign of darkness. We demand enlightenment and constant light for this democracy
to be meaningful. For, in this God-forsaken land essential amenities and public
infrastructure are never enjoyed. There is no potable water to drink, no
motorable roads, no hospitals with drugs, no employment for our teeming
graduates, etcetera. Indeed, there is simply no nothing here. The only things
in abundance are brute force, disobedience of court orders, religious bigotry,
nepotism, tribalism, political repression and economic recession. We demand
accountability and fairness for this democracy to matter.
*Dan Amor is a commentator on public issues
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