As Nigerian leaders cruise, the country crashes
By Emeka Alex Duru
Memories of a short clip by the Nigeran Television Authority (NTA) in the early 1980s, mirror the attitude of present Nigerian leaders on issues affecting the country. In the clip, a certain Papa Memu, was addicted to Draught board to the point of losing everything he had without being bothered. Even when Papa Memu was alerted that his house was on fire, he was carried away by the game and did not care about the misfortune that had befallen him. All that mattered to him was the fleeting excitement he derived while the encounters lasted.
Nigerian leaders are manifesting similar traits. From the President to the Local Government chairman, the legislators at local and national levels, everyone sees the country as a national cake only good for his slice. When the leaders preach patriotism and service to fatherland, it is to the people and not members of their class. You can therefore not entirely fault those who snigger that Nigeria is a scam.
A Facebook social thread, the other day, captured the disposition of the citizens, including the obviously enlightened ones towards the country. A friend who had served variously as newspaper editor, image maker of a bank, spokesman of a state governor and a columnist, had joked that if there was anything like reincarnation, he would not want to return to Nigeria. Curiously, what ordinarily would pass for mere banter, provoked tomes of reactions from mutual friends, most of them wishing that nothing brings them back to this country again. A respondent from Canada changed the tone of the conversation when he declared that he had even directed members of his family that in death, his remains should not be brought back to Nigeria. That, to me, was the most touching of the entire interventions. It sounded extreme and bizarre but beneath that expression was a deep feeling of disappointment and betrayal from a system he had expected much from. Many Nigerians are in similar shoes.
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Elsewhere, it is taken that security and welfare of the people shall be the principal or chief purpose of government. But this is largely observed in the breach, here. Ours is a country of everyone for himself, God for all. By last Tuesday, smoke from destructions that trailed Rivers State local government election of Saturday, October 5, still billowed in Ikwerre, Eleme, Obio/Akpor and Emohua councils. Footages of the mayhem, showed hoodlums opposed to the council poll breaking chairs, tables and setting buildings ablaze, on one hand. In another video were armed gangs purportedly providing security to the chairman of Ikwerre council, shooting into the air.
Now, these are non-state actors that should not have access to instruments of violence. But they are the ones in charge, not only in Rivers but in most parts of the federation. While they run riot, the leaders look the other way. In fact, the leaders are even handicapped. These are faceless goons they procure at elections against their opponents. But when the polls are over, they abandon them but do not disarm them. Like the ordinary citizens who the politicians cowed with the blood hounds, they also become vulnerable to the antics of the roughnecks. This largely accounts for the worrisome democratization of violence and insecurity in the country. When you therefore see our elected officials or political appointees relocating their families abroad, it may not solely be out of fashion or because of the system failure in terms of infrastructure and social amenities. They are running away from the monsters they created. But there is an extent one can run; certainly not from his shadow!
As we write, President Bola Tinubu is away from the country on what his image handlers say is on vacation. He took off a day after the October 1 Independence Day, in which he urged the citizens to keep faith with the country. As on previous occasions, he had in his address claimed that his administration understood the challenges the citizens were going through and was doing much to tackle them. But even his ardent supporters knew that they were not being told the truth. What they rather know are stories of N150bn new presidential jet, alleged N5bn for a presidential yacht, N1.5bn for official cars for the office of the First Lady, N995 million ‘Black Beast’ Armoured Escalade car exclusively for the President, and billions of naira alleged to have been approved for food and entertainment for the presidential villa this financial year. Yet, these are the people regularly asked to gird their loins ad tighten their belts for better days ahead. No system progresses on that trajectory.
There is thus, the need for a fresh and functional template for reengineering the Nigerian state. The present approach by the leaders can hardly scratch the surface let alone addressing the real issues. With near collapse in political leadership, social welfare, infrastructure, law and order, the argument on Nigeria being a failed state is starring us at the face. But the greater fear, is the speed at which we are going the way of Somalia and other collapsed states. In such instance, the remarks by Russian-born American author and philosopher Alice O’Connor (born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum 1905 –1982), better known by her pen name Ayn Rand, in her 1957 publication, “Atlas Shrugged”, holds a lot for the country. Rand wrote; “When you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing; When you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors; When you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you; When you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice; You may know that your society is doomed.” This is the way we are, right now.
Every sector in the Nigerian system is afflicted with the malaise of corruption and failure. When the judiciary, particularly the Supreme Court exposed itself to ridicule by upholding the declaration of Tinubu as duly elected at the charade of the February 25 presidential poll conducted by the Independent national Electoral Commission (INEC), it did not occur to the Justices that they had opened the gate for unmitigated assault on democracy in the country. It was the same philosophy of grab-it-and-run that the President and his foot soldiers in INEC and All Progressives Congress (APC), replicated in the sham of September 21 Edo governorship election.
The pattern resonates in the states where the governors capture the entire positions for their political parties at council elections. And the country crashes with each incidence.
