TRADING PLACES

The colourlessness of ideologies in the Nigerian political space has been a magnet for opportunists, felons, uneducated thugs, semi-educated and educated common thieves, unconscionable characters and shameless turncoats. I, not humbly in the slightest, challenge any of these modern-day 'politicians' to come forward and explain to Nigerians what their political belief set is. What is the driving force behind their conviction? What exactly are they in politics for? Would they still be prepared to fight and, if necessary, die for office were the pecuniary rewards of political office not so outrageously appetizing? Would they be willing to stand up to scrutiny had the demands of the Nigerian people been that just a wee bit more exacting? These questions, and a lot more besides, cannot be addressed truthfully by them. We know, and we know they know that we know, they're there, not for us, but for themselves. 

It is precisely due to a combination of our apathy and renowned high tolerance level that we have allowed these rogues to get away with murder for far too long. Is it fair to surmise that we have deserved what we have got? My submission would be 'to a certain extent we have'. Far too many Nigerians have refused to put their heads above the parapet and we continue to protest in the confines of our houses and in the comfort of our watering holes. Far too many of us are closet complainers and our inertness have further emboldened those who proclaim they are fighting our corner but continue to feather their nests and feed us crumbs in the name of charity. 

Many a Nigerian who have indeed been the most vociferous in the open in condemning the shenanigans in government, and exposing the rot in the art of governance, have been seduced and traded their conscience for a few shekels. Instances of this abound, and they try to rationalize their insidiousness by saying they wanted to fight from within the system; a system that is rotten to the core, and one that could never justify its own very existence. Shame. Now, what about those already in the political merry-go-round? They traverse from one political party to another with no consideration for their integrity, or the force of their conviction. They find excuses, no matter how lame or fatuous, to dump one political party for another at the drop of a hat; they sell their conscience to the highest bidder while they profess the indestructibility of their character and purpose. We all know who they are and what their purpose is. Money. Hard currency. Fast cash. Nothing less. Rogues. Heartless destroyers of life and hope. We know who they are. 

These so-called politicians merely engage in trading places, at the expense of Nigerians who can only hope to have a meal a day while the dickheads in power live and cavort in obscene opulence. Thousands are dying at the hands of terrorists, many more thousands have been kidnapped and tens of millions of us are living precariously, constantly fearful of armed robbers, terrorists and kidnappers. Why do things have to be like this? Why do we put up with this situation and carry on regardless? 170 million of us being herded by less than 100,000 nonpersons! When do we wake up from our collective slumber?

Even now, the rules are being rewritten! Corruption is being redefined. Oh, the affrontedness of it all! They say stealing is not corruption. Dopey Jonathan said it and Ekpo Nta (the insufferable ICPC Chairman) spit out the same trash. Now you see, those who were expected to fight corruption tooth and nail are now engaging in a word game. Those who were supposed to be the arrowhead of attack against all forms of corruption in government and public office are now coming up with such semantic fatuousness. If we didn't know where we stood before, don't we now? If there ever was a doubt that our government is being run by vandals, now the truth is out. How many panels of inquiry have made their findings public? How many billions of missing and stolen dollars have been recovered? How many indicted politicians and public officials have been brought to book? Instead of being punished, they get rewarded with even higher political offices and State pardons. Jonathan may not be blessed with speed of thought, but the slowness of his actions is inexcusable and unforgivable; he makes the tortoise look like Usain Bolt. We deserve better.

Leadership without responsibility is what we are saddled with, and how we pluck ourselves out of this hole is entirely dependent on our resolve and voice. We have a voice, all we have to do is take our collective finger off the MUTE button. Nigeria will rise again. That is an incontestable fact.