Nigerians are perplexed by their
political and economic misfortunes. This is an understatement of our condition.
It is the reality of our existence that
despite the bright minds and enviable natural resources that this country is
endowed with, nothing seems to be working for the people. All tested political
and economic theories that have worked elsewhere and have produced results do
not work in our country. Somehow, they just do not work and no one seems to
understand why. Some blame the leadership while others have put the
responsibility on the followership.
Our leaders travel to all parts of
the world to learn how other countries operate their legislative, judiciary,
economic, scientific and existential systems, but they either forget what they
have seen and learnt immediately they return back home or they put all their
efforts to figure out the unworkability of their new knowledge in Nigeria. We
do not see any signs of their acquired knowledge either in their conduct or in
their political or economic decisions. They simply travel for travelling sake.
Sometimes, these same leaders bereft
of any ideas despite their extensive travels and seeking to silence the challenging
vocal diaspora employ some bright and high-flying experts from among the
diaspora to bring new ideas and try them out in Nigeria. They make them team
leads and rely on them for guidance. But as soon as these experts arrive, they
metamorphose into worse versions of their employers. They bring nothing; they
take everything and leave the people worse than they found them. When
challenged by the people, they flaunt their CV’s in their faces, and when the
heat becomes too much, the experts from the diaspora pack their bags, now
loaded with our money and travel back to what they call their “bases” in
foreign lands.
The battered followership is fed up
with the disconnect between the highs of electoral campaigns and the subsequent
lows of post-election governance and leadership. They have realized that their
investments in goodwill and hope every four years do not bring any yields. The
leaders waste the capital and impoverish the mind and intellect of their
followers. Largely inarticulate and when
not, incoherent due to the enormity of their predicament in their demands for a
better life, the followership resorts to religion for solace or to arms for
redress. Neither works for them. God will not do what he has given intellect to
man to do. Neither will a small cache of arms in the hands of some overpower
the arsenal of a state.
It appears that the Nigerian state
has reached a dead end. We know the problems, we know the “why” (leadership and
disoriented followership), but we do not know from where the problems arise.
What changes a good and God-fearing man during the campaign into a monster
after winning the election? What transformed Abacha? What changed Obasanjo of a
socialist orientation in his first coming into a disciple of Graham Sumner of
the infamous “it is not the function of the State to make men happy” in his
second coming? What blinded and deafened
a honourable man like Yar’Adua? What changed a shy, decent and God-fearing
Jonathan into a political fiend and corrupt wastrel? What do these men of
diverse backgrounds share in common that could be at the origin of their
misrule? It is Aso Rock !
A person can be jinxed. A process
can be jinxed. A house can be jinxed. A town can be jinxed. A people, either in
small groups or as a whole can be jinxed. Jinxing transcends science. It is a
reality of life. It cuts across all cultures.
The chances may be one in a million, but it happens. And it just happens
and no one knows why it happens. It is an unexplainable phenomenon where two
and two can make five or make zero; a mathematical conundrum where all
equations end in the negative sense. Nothing simply works even in the best
combinations known to the human mind. Logic becomes illogic. Forward is
backward; backward is backward at double pace.
Ratio transforms into confoundment.
The jinxed may not know that he is
jinxed. An observant person that moves into a jinxed house or into a process
may notice a reversal in his fortunes and realize that something has gone
wrong. If the house is status-linked or the process is a potentially profitable
one, then the person looks for help either from his pastor or his imam in order
to keep himself in his position even when the odds are stacked against him.
In the case of a jinxed state
institution, no good decisions that affect millions of people can be made in such
a building as the occupant with his family and his team are confounded. Their
intended good becomes evil and causes pains. Good intentions that enter the
building become bad or become twisted. Their utterances become weird and
incoherent. Promises made are not kept. The occupants can neither see nor hear
the cries of the people that they have sworn to protect.
In Aso Rock, Olusegun Obasanjo who
was the first beneficiary of the current democratic dispensation sought to
undermine the constitution with an alleged third term agenda; Umaru Yar’adua
allegedly handed over power to Turai and her cabal; and Goodluck Jonathan, a decent man turned the
Central Bank of Nigeria into a private property. That something happened to
these people while they were resident in Aso Rock is attested to by the fact
that soon after vacating the building, the scales appear to fall from their
eyes. Olusegun Obasanjo sees and writes on deficits in governance; he
challenges corruption and advocates for a sensible and sensitive government. Jonathan, who sought to buy votes while resident
in Aso Rock, now sees virtue in transparent electoral process. Yar’Adua and
Jonathan probably suspected something was amiss during their tenancy in Aso
Rock. Yar’adua had a retinue of
marabouts; Jonathan surrounded himself with pastors of all shades and colours,
but these prayer warriors were all saying the wrong prayers. The smart ones
among the marabouts and the pastors allowed themselves to be jinxed too. They
saw wealth and influence in the jinx.
Dear Mr. Mohammadu Buhari, it
appears that “Change” of election campaign period has undergone
“transformation” since you took up tenancy in Aso Rock. It is not your fault,
Aso Rock is simply jinxed. Many Nigerians want you to succeed. They want to
see, feel and live the change that you promised them.
Mr. President, you are a decent man
living at a wrong address. You can’t overcome Aso Rock jinx. Find yourself a
new address and lead the people with your decency and integrity.
No comments:
Post a Comment