Posted by By Clinton Jaja on
Seriously objecting to Calpunia's attempt to give him fore knowledge of his death, Julius Caesar affirmed that: "Cowards die many times before their death, but the valiant never tastes of death but once.
Seriously objecting to Calpunia's attempt to give him fore knowledge of his death, Julius Caesar affirmed that: "Cowards die many times before their death, but the valiant never tastes of death but once. Of all the wonders I yet have seen, it seems to me most strange that men should fear knowing that death an inevitable end will come when it will come" Julius Caesar
That Nigeria would die, we all know. What we never knew was, who would first die? Nigeria or Nigerians. America says Nigeria would die in the year 2020. Is America talking about Nigeria's funeral or death in 2020? I think burial funeral. Nigeria died years back.
Nigeria had died several times and resuscitated. Year 2020 mark is the journey to purgatory or hell. And now that America has predicted, same America shall do all within its powers to justify its prediction of doom. Remember Afganistan and Iraq.
Gripped by fear that it is during his leadership of Nigeria and that of his looting governors of the States that America could do such damaging projection of Nigeria, Obasanjo, Nigerian's president, in a panic sent America's report to the National Assembly. Hear him: "I am sending this to you not because I am alarmed by the report but because if we know what others think of us and about us, we can prevent what they project for us. As a person who has participated in similar so called "expert group" on issues, situation and regions, I know that the predictions, can be wide off the mark because both politics and economics cannot be absolutely predicted and their dynamics can fool the greatest and best experts. But it is important for us to know that we are being rated low, not because of what is happening to us from outside but because of what we do to, for and by ourselves internally".
Ordinarily we would have been alarmed by Obasanjo's declaration that he is not alarmed by America's prediction of doom to Nigeria. But we prefer to reason that Obasanjo's statement is a bold face. Psychologists agree that what ever a man boasts he hates most, there lies his weak point.
For instance, Caesar in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar in asserting he was not afraid of death says:" ..... We are two lions littered in one day, and I the eldest". Meaning he feared no death. But when Caesar came face to face with death he cried his heart out as he felt disappointed that Brutus could not save him. He cries: Et tu Brute? Even you Brutus?
Certainly, Obasanjo is worried that it is during his tenure as president that Nigeria is set to die. If otherwise he is not worried about Nigeria's death, then that would be the hallmark of unpatriotism by a leader of a nation.
Certainly, America is right. The foundation was laid in 1914, when, against the existing realities, Lord Lugard forced North and South together.
How can Nigeria survive when the judiciary decides to be "the lost hope of the common man"/ how can?
How can Nigeria live when against the position of International Observers that our 2003 general election was completely rigged, Obasanjo and his governors were still sworn into offices? How can Nigeria continue when International Watch had declared Nigeria as the best corrupt nation in the world, present, past and even the future?
Tell me, how can Nigeria ......
A nation with a long degree of insincerity cannot long survive. Fate must always cheat a cheat. Fate is catching up with Nigeria. Else, how can Nigeria explain that at independence in 1960 it had 3 regions. Later raised to 4 in 1964, one in the North and 3 in the South. By 1967 when states were created one expected that states would have been created on the same ratio. Instead of so doing, the North ended up having more states than the South. Today the North enjoys 19 states against 17 in the South. All for the reason of drawing more revenue from oil than the south. Another reason being political domination. How can Nigeria survive on such a premise?
How can a nation whose president disobeys court orders survive? Can anyone justify the refusal by Mr. president to release funds meant for Local Government Areas of Lagos State after the apex court has ordered? Tell me, how we can survive?
Until Obasanjo understands the real dynamics of state pardon and returns Salisu Buhari, the Toronto 'graduate", to prison, Nigeria shall stand dead.
While America intelligence may often be accused of alarmist tendencies, especially given their claims of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, we must not fail to grasp the issue raised by the report. The amusing side of the story is that we scarcely need a foreign intelligence body to convince us that this nation is potentially headed for ruin. Every social index points to just such a failure.
Otherwise, from where did the Nigerian judiciary gather the muscle to confirm that all the governors of the 36 states were properly re-elected by the electorate in 2003 general election. If we are not heading towards destruction, how can a state as Rivers State with only 23 Local Government Area harbour as great a number of cult grouping as 103, meaning that each Local Government is enjoying the benefit of almost ten identifiable cult groups, including the faceless ones. How can we survive in such atmosphere? If Nigeria is not heading towards self annihilation why has the National Assembly failed to pass a bill to probe our past leaders, particularly, Babanginda, for their activities in ruining Nigeria? Nigeria shall remain doomed so long as we pretend Babanginda has no case to answer.
Imagine Mr. president advancing the argument that anyone knowing of Babangida's self-enrichment record should furnish same to the government. Who furnished the Federal government with records of Abacha's loot? Nobody. It should use the same means to investigate Babangida. After all, the government alone has the military, police, SSS, EFCC, including overseas governmental connections to conduct any investigation it wants to, - including financial means.
Nigerians already live in the midst of a general infrastructure collapse and grinding poverty. We are told that 70% of the country's population lives on below $1 (one dollar) a day. Less than half the population (none at all in Rivers and Bayelsa states) has access to safe drinking water. But the situation is made worse by the daily cover-up pronouncements by our governments. With these pronouncements international communities, which would have come to our rescue, are stopped from doing so.
Life expectancy in Nigeria is now 49 years and there is no attempt by our governments to improve the situation. The unmitigated failure of NEPA means that production costs are outrageously high. This and other factors have brought the manufacturing sector into a virtually comatose state. The educational sector is in crisis, despoiled by some members of National Assembly who steal money meant for education ministry. Other factors include frequent strikes, student uprising and violent campus cult clashes.
The Central Bank of Nigeria recently disclosed that there is at least 6 million unemployed graduates currently floating the labour market, in the core Niger Delta region is worse hit.
HIV/AIDS is decimating a significant segment of the population with latest estimates placing the number of those living with plague at one in five. The country is ranked among the bottom ten in the global human development index.
Our economy has been decimated by official theft, at the center, states, and worse at Local government levels. And the Swiss government's refusal to return to Nigeria Abacha's loot places us in a more pitiable condition.
Religious and ethnic violence still tend to break out sporadically claiming thousands of lives. Why do we need American intelligence to tell us what we already know? Perhaps we should thank them for calling our attention to the glaringly obvious and then because of issues of national pride we can look them in the face and out rightly condemn the report.
But the foolhardy of our leaders would always in danger our unity. When we fail to discuss issues bothering us on the fatuous protest that all is well so much do we near extinction. Imagine the president constituting a National Diologue to discuss our so called national issues but foreclosing and discussing certain national issues on which the unity of Nigeria depends. For instance, whether Nigeria should remain one or not. We are sure that a plebiscite on this issue would show that 95% of the people of South East zone are willing to break away from Nigeria. We are certain that the West would also elect to break away from Nigeria.
And most of all we swear that South South geo political zone would have 99% of its people endorsing a separate country. Or ...... Even if the aforementioned political units want to remain in Nigeria they ought to have been given the chance to discuss the basics for continuing with the Nigerian project in the ongoing National Political Conference. But the president shut all such doors.Even the insincerity in convening the National Dialogue is killing Nigeria. From the onset, the president was opposed to National dialogue but the likes of Clinton E. Jaja, this writer, Prof. Wole Soyinka, Gani Fawehinmi SAN, and others pressed persistently for a Sovereign National Conference.
When, at last, the president thought there should be a conference he saw the futility of avoiding those who know what a national conference is all about and embarked upon a meaningless exercise he is presently engaged in, - even the National Assembly, which spoke against it, the president still ignored. Yet Mr. president still dreams of one Nigeria.
There are two ways of looking at the situation we have found ourselves in. By far the easier would be to digest the information with its gory details and conclude that the end is near, that the wholesale disintegration of the Nigerian state predicted by the American intelligence analysis is inevitable and simply resign ourselves to fate. But in doing so we must begin to get prepared by sharing Nigeria's assert amongst the different units clamoring for secession.
Or we can look at the insurmountable decay that surrounds us and heed within the prophetic tone of statistics and foreign intelligence reports a call to action. This call to action is to the institution of our civil governments to disband their corruptive attitudes and actions. In hearing this prophetic tone and foreign intelligence reports, the demand by the Niger Delta people to be allowed to have 100% control of their resources must be adhered to if Nigeria must remain one.
But having said all that, what a beautiful conglomeration called Nigeria in which we would love our children and grand-children live in, moving freely from Bonny through Orlu to Sokoto without any traveling papers; what a beautiful place it would be to have the present diverse tongues in the National Assembly, where the Rivers people, Hausas, Igbos, Yorubas struggle to show who dresses better; what a beautiful dream that my children would exchange their wedding rings with their spouses either in the North or West what a dream.
Nigeria we hail thee. Though tribe and tongue may differ in brotherhood we stand. Our leaders must henceforward rule us with utmost sincerity if we earnestly hope to make America a false prophet.