In Nigeria; A Failed Leadership and A Grieving Populace

By; Abdul-Rahman Baban Saibo

Prologue (Misfortune);

In a country with vile history especially that ensuing power transitions wherein nothing plays’ more important role than tribalism, we would find that Nigeria, (with all due regards to Chinua Achebe’s authority “There was a country”) has never been a country. Given the residues left upon this nation by the past, and considering the shadows thrown upon it by the future, Nigerians can as much submit to God with faith, as for whether our country ‘might’ come to being a country someday.

To argue a little further, Nigeria would only come to being a country if its existence was fundamentally on certain principles which could be looked upon far beyond the priorities of both religious and socio-ethnic values. Taking project America as a case scenario, we’d see its foundation from 1775-1789 was on the roots of ‘rights’, whilst the re-foundation that started around 1861-1865 which referred to the first foundation with not only reasons but also traditions evoking to the first foundation. Now that’s how a country is made.

Nigeria on the ‘left hand’ would be evidenced that its neo-democratic status came to being a subliminal failure for the reasons that measures like that of project America were not taken, as such no principles were based upon.

A failed leadership:

John Campbell in his book, ‘Nigeria, Dances on the brinks’, argued that, “Nigeria’s experience of regime change has not been happy. From 1966-1999, Nigerian presidential regimes are usually from coups.” He said “The threats of coups or the extralegal arrangements, orchestrated by the military and not from elections.” Now, what history teaches us is, wounds heal, but scars remain, but these scars often triggers somewhat ailing memories when looked upon with unacceptable percept by their bearer.

The Nigerian ideology of power swap is globally recognized as the most catastrophic, this is due to the extreme sentiments that has indelibly settled as a value and objective in (s)electing a leader by the diverse socio-ethnic and religious subjects which converged to making up what is known to be ‘a fallen nation’ (or a fallen house, as Karl Maier suggested).

Looking back through to the pre-tribalism times, we’d see a time whence a northern fulani man, one Mallam Umar Altine, was elected the 1^st mayor of Enugu in the south eastern region of the country. He was again re-elected for a 2^nd term. Quiet regrettable, today no tribe sees any individual from another tribe as ‘its own’.

Captured severally on the media, warlord Dokubo Asari, the Ijaw Militant (or Ex-militant as they may say), declaring war on the nation, if his brethren (president Goodluck) is not re-elected in the year 2015. It’s Pretty unfortunate for a country with so great potentials but weakly imposed laws (if at all they are laws) to continue the rest on threats of war by its citizens.

Assumed office on the 6^th of May 2010, thus preceded to being Nigeria’s 14^th head of state, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan swore to serve Nigeria with his popularly known ‘Transformation Agenda’ (or deformation agenda, pending on the readers grasp). President Jonathan’s assumption of office was indeed in a time Nigeria was in dire need of salvation, not one capable by man, but that which could be offered by God Himself.

The long trending ordeal of the dilating Boko Haram sect which transcended from an issue of clerics to one of terrorism was said to be (still remains) the presidents’ number one challenge. To follow the regrettable and rather unbreakable cause of the seemingly endless deaths of plenty Nigerians is ‘corruption,’ but in the presidents’ opinion of course is third or fourth.

The Transparency International (T.I) rated Nigeria the 33^rd most corrupt nation in the world in the year 2013. The menace which could be traced right from a time whence the country attained independence, is known to have aided in enthroning most head of states as well as governors to power (President Goodluck’s 2011 victory as well). Now the Goodluck’s administration which automatically attained failure due to the excess corruptions taking place such as Stella Odua former minister of Aviation’s scam for the bullet proof cars that cost N 2,550,000 million of the public funds, and Diezani Alison the Petroleum minister whom was allegedly found to spend N10billion also of the public funds on her private jets. Looking also into the case of Sanusi Lamido the former Governor of the central Bank, now the Emir of Kano state (Alhaji Muhammad Sanusi II) whom charged in his line of duty the absence of a staggering $20billion U.S. dollars which was supposedly to register with the Central Bank from the NNPC, a rather sad news, the man got an indefinite suspension from office instead of the case to be looked in to. One couldn’t do but stop to wonder as to why none of those whom were caught in corruption scams during the Jonathan’s administration never faced trial or even a parliamentary panel? Or a rather more puzzling question would be, why were those corrupt imprisoned criminals pardoned by the president whom swore to fight corruption? 

The 2015 general election has already flashed twilights of its aura. The President and his cabinets already exercising what they might consider a political schema wherein threats of impeachments are faced by Governors of the opposition parties, and the oppositions are restricted to not exercising their constitutional rights (see Ekiti and Osun states elections).

The Presidents’ raging power tussles against the newly merged opposition party, the All Progressives Congress APC, (which succeeded in claiming 5 governors of the ruling party, a handful of congress men and about twice that of the legislators) defines, in its outstanding glamour, the true meaning of ‘do or die’ struggle. These habitual actions by the President, leaves but the nations’ economy in utter dilapidation and further jeopardizes the state of the nation’s security to unimaginable detriments.

The question now left to be asked upon the masses, is one which surpasses that which the leaders may dwell upon, “whither 2015 elections?”  But rather, “whither lies our country’s future?”

A grieving populace:

It’s been a hundred and fifty days (still counting) since 276 school girls were abducted from Chibok, a locality in Borno state which is known to be under state of emergency. After a global despise of the incidence which took place the night of 14^th April 2014, featuring the famous hash tag campaigns on the social media “#BringBackOurGirls”. The aftermath which led to the President constituting a “Facts finding committee” to investigate the missing girls’ abduction which of course was denied by the first family, unfortunate to the victims (and Nigerians) these fact finders were not able to report their found facts until after the terrorists had released a video footage showing the girls, wherein their leader Shekau, threatened to trade the girls into slavery. I couldn’t do but wonder, how much more time the fact finders needed to assure the presidency about the abduction? Or were they waiting for the terrorists to make the claims of the captivity?

Little to be told, that it was aired when the American, Israeli and united nations sent individual groups of experts to locate the missing girls, albeit no reports were made by these teams of experts about the situation of the missing girls, neither was their departure with the country made public. Perhaps the girls couldn’t be located by these experts, perhaps they were not missing as the Nigerian President and his wife claim, or perhaps the situation was utterly dumbfounding for the experts to make known their discovery? Quiet ironic!

Devastating, as 276 daughters, future wives and mothers, future doctors, nurses, accountants, teachers... remain in the custody of one of the worlds’ deadliest terror groups, and yet nothing but their families grievances prosecuting their heart felt agonies, and not a single of this evil doers is anywhere near justice.

As the Madiba said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Unfortunately, Nigeria on this page has been blind for quite a long distance now. Just yesteryear, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) together with the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) embarked on a six straight months and ten straight months strike, respectively, leaving the country’s educational sector under a total lock down. A country with so great potentials and capacity of becoming a world power but ruled by greed and rudeness, can only be rated out of 177 countries the 158^th least educated nation by the UNICEF. Yours sincerely one couldn’t get rid of their bewilderment, but how can a country dream of achieving a project “vision 2020” when it is but amongst the worlds’ most educationally crippled nations?

The Ebola epidemic has unfortunately arrived at Nigeria. One must wonder as to how a deadly disease with no cure would be contained in a country whose health sector is yet unable to eradicate the common ‘malaria’ disease? Or a rather denser question, when will the resident doctors call off their strike? With remorse one dwells on the wonders of where should the poor take their ill ones when the reach are busy flying theirs’ abroad?

Epilogue (Hopelessness);

For a country with a “green white green” flag, with green representing Agriculture and white representing peace, and a motto entailing “unity, peace and progress”, in my opinion, the Nigeria of today should bear a flag “black red black” as “Black” should represent hunger and treachery whilst “Red” representing death and conflict. For since the beginning of President Goodluck Jonathan’s rule, this nation has seen neither unity nor peace and progress is nowhere near visible.

“There is no one who governed Nigeria, who actually believed in project Nigeria, who actually believed that there is a future for a country called Nigeria”.- Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi. For countrymen to proclaim such and for Gods’ forbiddance it be true, then that country is lost in utter doom and only HE (God) can rescue it.