Tensile. Adjective. 1. Of or under tension. 2. Capable of being stretched.
The state of the nation is truly depressing, on several fronts. For one, it was a terrible disappointment to find that the promise of the imminent release of the Chibok girls turned out to be a mere mirage, and there are even suspicions now that our government may have been swindled over this whole “ceasefire” business. As if to underscore the point that it never was part of any ceasefire agreement with the federal government and that it lacks even the tiniest interest in any such arrangement, Boko Haram has increased its assault on the citizens of Nigeria living in the north-eastern part of the country, abducting many more people, sacking towns and villages and, according to the latest reports, launching an attack on a prison in Kogi State and freeing over a hundred inmates.
On the economic front, we are constantly fed with the assurance that no local or international negative turn of events would affect us adversely – not the dwindling revenue from the sale of crude oil due to the fall in prices on the international market and the horrendous level of theft going on in the country. Our economy is rock-solid, unshakeable. It can even withstand the mind-boggling level of pillaging of our resources which is currently being witnessed as we head towards 2015. Is there anyone who is able to keep track of the different scandals involving those who were entrusted with our money? In any case, our President has told us that what we are all referring to as corruption is merely stealing! So, what’s the big deal?
Looking now at the ongoing political horse-trading around the nation, can anyone identify what (positive) values are driving all this flurry of activities – apart from greed and self-interest? Is there any governance going on anywhere in the country at this time, with all our lawmakers, governors and even the Presidency taken up with endless daytime and nocturnal meetings, and scurrying back and forth between courts filing affidavits and counter-affidavits. Where are we, the people, in all of this?
One has to wonder, will the Nigerian people just keep on keeping quiet, watching the charade and absorbing all the assault upon our lives and dignity? Will we continue to fall for all the lies we are being fed, that our nation is actually being transformed? Or will we rise up and do something?
The high point of the past week, no doubt, was the Burkinabe uprising. There comes a time when a people ought to stand up and say: “Enough!” One cannot but feel proud of the citizens of Burkina Faso for doing precisely that, even though one is bound to wonder why it took them this long to rise up against a President whose ambition was to stay in power for life. Imagine him still attempting to tweak the constitution so that he could continue in power after 27 years! Are people crazy or what? By the way, Blaise Campaore ought not to be allowed to go scot free; he should be held accountable for leading the country into unnecessary violence and the destruction of public property.
The question which has been on many minds and on several lips is: When will Nigerians realise that they too, like others around the world, have the right and the power to resist any government which does not fulfil its constitutional duties towards them? Certainly we Nigerians, like many other Africans, have an incredible ability to absorb whatever is thrown at us; but does it not have a limit? Is there no breaking point to our tensile capacity? Are we approaching that breaking point or not? Indeed, should we not have reached that breaking point a long time ago?
If nothing happens, with all that we are currently witnessing, people around the world may truly have to begin to wonder what is fundamentally wrong with Nigerians. We are sitting there, for example, listening to a minister tell us that our nation has no alternative than to continue to import refined petroleum for the next 20 years, and we are not up in arms against her and the government she represents. An individual who is supposed to work to defend our interest and improve the quality of our lives announces to us that we should not hope for any improvement in our lot in the next 20 years, and we go on as if nothing has happened! If any foreigner should ask me whether we Nigerians are actually normal, I just may not take any offence. Seriously, is this normal behaviour? Or is it that we are so harassed and impoverished, that we spend all our energies simply trying to survive?
We just must look deep within ourselves and find whatever that thing is that is embedded in every human being which causes people at a particular point to say: “No more!” And it is not all about 2015; it is about NOW. It is now that abducted Nigerian young girls are being raped and married off by force. It is now that thieves are going unpunished or even receiving presidential pardon. It is now that we are wasting hours travelling on our terrible roads. It is now that we need electricity for productivity and employment. The time to act is now.
