The political landscape in Nigeria is currently undergoing a most welcome process of, not facelifting, but a complete reconstruction. Not cosmetic, but structural. Hope is real at last, not merely illusory. The brick-by-brick demolition of the edifice of national disgrace and despair has commenced in earnest. For so long I have been resolute in my belief that our national fortune would turn around for the better, and unshakable in my confidence that the Nigerian people would finally awake from their hunger-induced slumber and sweep out these scoundrels who have been insatiably helping themselves to our commonwealth for so long. Order is in place to replace disorder; sanity ready to dislodge insanity, and impunity to be obliterated by the rule of law in due course. We have travelled long and far on this road of soul-searching and we have trudged on wearily for far too long, but we have finally turned the corner and seen the long-awaited light at the end of the dark, long and cruel tunnel.
Why a sudden positive upturn in my disposition? Well, if the events in our land over the course of the last week is anything to go by, all well-meaning Nigerians should be rubbing their hands in glee at the very real prospects of the cycle of callous governance being terminated and the veil of despondency finally lifted. The era of the devilish misuse of power is on its last legs. The reign of terror and impunity, of unimaginable level of corruption and graft, is almost over. We will soon heave a collective sigh of relief, as God wills. The shame that has been visited on our dear country WILL soon turn to glory that our country was always destined to be. These are my convictions.
For the avoidance of doubt, I am proud, first of all, to be a Nigerian. I am even prouder that, contrary to worldwide perception that we are a country of thieves and 419ers, we have set out to rubbish those unfortunate misconceptions about the true nature of the Nigerian people and its culture. No matter what tribe or region we come from or religion we practise, Nigeria throughout history, has always been a haven of calm and togetherness with a strong sense of shared and common destiny, with the unique exception of the sad episode of the Civil war. Nigeria rose from the ashes of that Civil war with a renewed sense of solidarity and common purpose.
I grew up in a country that was prosperous and moving confidently and surely in the right direction until the sad advent of the NPN that brought the Army out of their barracks. The recklessness of the PDP government today is reminiscent of the then NPN's. The parallels couldn't be more stark with the distinct exception that the Army and all the security agencies are now more politicized than ever before. I lived in a country so affluent that Nigerians used to travel abroad for holidaying purposes, not for asylum ones. Nigerians used to go abroad to study, not to toil. Nigerians used to spend the Naira at Heathrow Airport and our currency was the strongest in the world. I was proud to be a Nigerian then, and I still am and always will be. The joy of being Nigerian is permanent in me.
I've said all the aforementioned to drive home the unfortunate fact that it's only a minority of Nigerians that have pushed our country back decades and driven us off the course of prosperity and greatness. By their avarice and greed they have destroyed lives and ruined hope. The PDP has been lording it over us since 1999 and Nigeria is now worse off than it was in 1979. Accidental billionaires have been created at the expense of suffering Nigerians. Oil blocks have been allocated as if they were their family inheritance while the rest of us are having our pockets picked every second of the day. The thieving is no longer done discretely and clandestinely, but openly and ever more widely. The EFCC and the ICPC are just mere tools in the armory of the thieves and their existence has no justification of any sort.
If Nigerians had been living in an unsure country up until 2008, we have been living in hell on earth since then. Six years of unrelenting suffering. Six years of an unforgiving assault on our sensibilities and a rape of our sense of being. In short, six years of Jonathan has been the worst of any government anywhere in the world (with a comparable level of resources) in living memory. Maybe Okonjo will release the long-promised and much-awaited so-called forensic audit of NNPC accounts before the elections. Maybe all the oil thieves will be brought to book before the elections. Maybe the too-many-to-count cases of bribery and corruption will be prosecuted before the elections. What a club of spineless thieves we have at the helm of affairs of the country! To call Jonathan a disaster doesn't do the word any justice; he has been a curse. Pure and simple. For a man who claimed to be shoeless once to preside over Nigeria's affairs the way he has done these last six years has been nothing short of unforgivable.
In true dubious fashion, Jonathan and his thieving elite have been waging a campaign of calumny against Buhari but not a single one of them has come out with a snippet of proof of graft against him; just innuendos. Well, until such a time as they come up with any credible proof of thievery against him, Nigerians will cast their tent with him. You see, for the first time in a long while, their cage is well and truly rattled. They are throwing the kitchen sink at him, but they will fail. They are fanning sh*t on his person but it won't stick.
Jonathan and his apologists would not, and could not, debate the real issues that confront the nation. All they engage in is their politics of 'stomach infrastructure'. Can you imagine the denigration of the Nigerian people implied in that phrase? They think and hope that if they distribute expired bags of rice to Nigerians in 2015, as they did in the recent Ekiti and Osun States' gubernatorial polls, they would be triumphant. Jonathan has even gone on pilgrimage to Israel with his 'spiritual' mentor, Oritsejafor and many of his partners-in-crime and made a show of it by praying for him. Can you imagine the cerebral incontinence of this lot? They have been at it for a long time: trying to play Nigerians against Nigerians by using religion and ethnicity to divide and rule us. Their game-plan is all too clear and we are ready for them. We refuse to be separated from our common destiny, and I'm confident Nigerians WILL prove in 2015 that their common will shall not be broken. We will unite as one to show these miscreants the way out of office and will be hunted for their ill-gotten wealth.
Dubai, Russia, Venezuela, and the like should be prepared for an influx of political asylum seekers in 2015, but those countries should realize that our country shall relentlessly pursue anyone that has fleeced the Nigerian people no matter where they flee to. That is my prediction for 2015 and I'm no prophet. I believe in the victory of right over wrong. It's only a matter of time now.
Why a sudden positive upturn in my disposition? Well, if the events in our land over the course of the last week is anything to go by, all well-meaning Nigerians should be rubbing their hands in glee at the very real prospects of the cycle of callous governance being terminated and the veil of despondency finally lifted. The era of the devilish misuse of power is on its last legs. The reign of terror and impunity, of unimaginable level of corruption and graft, is almost over. We will soon heave a collective sigh of relief, as God wills. The shame that has been visited on our dear country WILL soon turn to glory that our country was always destined to be. These are my convictions.
For the avoidance of doubt, I am proud, first of all, to be a Nigerian. I am even prouder that, contrary to worldwide perception that we are a country of thieves and 419ers, we have set out to rubbish those unfortunate misconceptions about the true nature of the Nigerian people and its culture. No matter what tribe or region we come from or religion we practise, Nigeria throughout history, has always been a haven of calm and togetherness with a strong sense of shared and common destiny, with the unique exception of the sad episode of the Civil war. Nigeria rose from the ashes of that Civil war with a renewed sense of solidarity and common purpose.
I grew up in a country that was prosperous and moving confidently and surely in the right direction until the sad advent of the NPN that brought the Army out of their barracks. The recklessness of the PDP government today is reminiscent of the then NPN's. The parallels couldn't be more stark with the distinct exception that the Army and all the security agencies are now more politicized than ever before. I lived in a country so affluent that Nigerians used to travel abroad for holidaying purposes, not for asylum ones. Nigerians used to go abroad to study, not to toil. Nigerians used to spend the Naira at Heathrow Airport and our currency was the strongest in the world. I was proud to be a Nigerian then, and I still am and always will be. The joy of being Nigerian is permanent in me.
I've said all the aforementioned to drive home the unfortunate fact that it's only a minority of Nigerians that have pushed our country back decades and driven us off the course of prosperity and greatness. By their avarice and greed they have destroyed lives and ruined hope. The PDP has been lording it over us since 1999 and Nigeria is now worse off than it was in 1979. Accidental billionaires have been created at the expense of suffering Nigerians. Oil blocks have been allocated as if they were their family inheritance while the rest of us are having our pockets picked every second of the day. The thieving is no longer done discretely and clandestinely, but openly and ever more widely. The EFCC and the ICPC are just mere tools in the armory of the thieves and their existence has no justification of any sort.
If Nigerians had been living in an unsure country up until 2008, we have been living in hell on earth since then. Six years of unrelenting suffering. Six years of an unforgiving assault on our sensibilities and a rape of our sense of being. In short, six years of Jonathan has been the worst of any government anywhere in the world (with a comparable level of resources) in living memory. Maybe Okonjo will release the long-promised and much-awaited so-called forensic audit of NNPC accounts before the elections. Maybe all the oil thieves will be brought to book before the elections. Maybe the too-many-to-count cases of bribery and corruption will be prosecuted before the elections. What a club of spineless thieves we have at the helm of affairs of the country! To call Jonathan a disaster doesn't do the word any justice; he has been a curse. Pure and simple. For a man who claimed to be shoeless once to preside over Nigeria's affairs the way he has done these last six years has been nothing short of unforgivable.
In true dubious fashion, Jonathan and his thieving elite have been waging a campaign of calumny against Buhari but not a single one of them has come out with a snippet of proof of graft against him; just innuendos. Well, until such a time as they come up with any credible proof of thievery against him, Nigerians will cast their tent with him. You see, for the first time in a long while, their cage is well and truly rattled. They are throwing the kitchen sink at him, but they will fail. They are fanning sh*t on his person but it won't stick.
Jonathan and his apologists would not, and could not, debate the real issues that confront the nation. All they engage in is their politics of 'stomach infrastructure'. Can you imagine the denigration of the Nigerian people implied in that phrase? They think and hope that if they distribute expired bags of rice to Nigerians in 2015, as they did in the recent Ekiti and Osun States' gubernatorial polls, they would be triumphant. Jonathan has even gone on pilgrimage to Israel with his 'spiritual' mentor, Oritsejafor and many of his partners-in-crime and made a show of it by praying for him. Can you imagine the cerebral incontinence of this lot? They have been at it for a long time: trying to play Nigerians against Nigerians by using religion and ethnicity to divide and rule us. Their game-plan is all too clear and we are ready for them. We refuse to be separated from our common destiny, and I'm confident Nigerians WILL prove in 2015 that their common will shall not be broken. We will unite as one to show these miscreants the way out of office and will be hunted for their ill-gotten wealth.
Dubai, Russia, Venezuela, and the like should be prepared for an influx of political asylum seekers in 2015, but those countries should realize that our country shall relentlessly pursue anyone that has fleeced the Nigerian people no matter where they flee to. That is my prediction for 2015 and I'm no prophet. I believe in the victory of right over wrong. It's only a matter of time now.
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