, Nigerian Masses: Their Roles in Halting the Tenacious Holding of Political Offices- AbdulBasit Obisesan -

Nigerian Masses: Their Roles in Halting the Tenacious Holding of Political Offices- AbdulBasit Obisesan

Once upon a time, a hunter was going to kill an antelope, so the antelope ran for its life, it ran until it got to the house of the lion begging the lion to save it from the hunter, antelope had forgotten that wherever the lion lays in wait, whatever animal passes become dead meat. To my mind, this lion even kills faster than the hunter.

The tale is not about the antelope and lion and the hunter. This is Nigeria’s plight at the moment. In the past few years, the 1st of October 1960 precisely was a day when Nigeria became an independent nation thinking that we were eventually free from the hands of that colonial master–the British. But unfortunately, all we had since then was political inhumanity. This writer wonders how humanity is fading away in our political leaders like oxygen fading away in the atmosphere, because so far undoubtedly what Nigerians had on record is bad leadership.

In his book entitled “Hope of living dead” Ola Rotimi says to this leadership: “The collapse of a nation begins with indiscipline in the ranks of those who rule and govern.”

Also, Achebe’s diagnosis when he succinctly notes that:

“The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership. There is nothing wrong with the Nigerian character, land, climate, water, air, or anything else.”

In the light of the foregoing, it would be however entirely accurate to say that in Nigeria at the moment, POWER and JUST are often the same thing; the person who owns one owns the other.

Fine, if what all are saying is that Nigeria has yet to grow because Nigerians have been ruled by those in political offices who turned every blessed resource on this nation into their national cake— then the questions that come to mind are:

Is that office their permanent seat or probably their father’s house where somebody can be chanting ”emilokan” in English parlance ”it’s my turn”? If the answer is NO. Then why do Nigerians keep voting in the same fingers that bite them when they truly know that they are the same people who put on different garments under the camouflage of PDP, APC and that you wanted to mention? What pleasure do Nigerians take from voting for an incompetent candidate over the competent one? Seeing the right and going for the wrong has always been our tradition.

Hence I would rather be a trustworthy ruffian than a classy sellout by calling a spade a spade. The Nigerian masses lack a quality that I think would be of great help to overcome the tenacious holding of political offices. Put simply, COWARDLY should be jettisoned. Remember, “Cowards die many times before their death”_ (Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar).

Instead, Nigerians should stop the display of cowardice and pettiness of leaders rather they keep waiting and praying for God to punish their leaders for them. Praying for solutions shows the religiousness of Nigeria and this religion is what Karl Marx describes as “ the opium of the masses.”

The equation can be found in Nigeria now. Nigerians have forgotten that God is not an employee in Nigerian Limited nor is He an attack dog owned by Nigerians.

In effect, committed and patriotic citizens should stand for justice and the truth at all times damning the consequence(s). Nigeria is our fatherland. This is in tandem with the Yoruba adage, which says, _“he who fears death cannot claim his father title.”

By doing this, maybe we can deliver the next coming generations from this bondage of bad leadership as the Lord delivered the Israelites from the Egyptian’s bondage as described in Exodus 1:7.

Having stated the problem bedeviling Nigeria which is “cowardice”, a solution or way forward would be good for another topic.

God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria,
God bless Nigerians!

AbdulRauf AbdulBasit OBISESAN is a Columnist for Newscrescent.com | Writer| avid Researcher| Comparative Religious Analyst | Law Writer| Public Speaker| Political Aficionado| & Full Stack-Web Developer|

Contact via:
Obisesan666@gmail.com
08090617514

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