IN SEARCH OF HOPE

It's so often the case that one tends to put things forward when quick, remedial action would be so much more desirable. As they say, 'a stitch in time saves nine.' It goes without saying that over 95% of Nigerians are pitifully dissatisfied with their lot, not just in the material sense, but in terms of freedom (in all its hues) and wellbeing (including basic health care, regular power supply, potable water provision and security.) What else needs to be written about our country's first half-century? How much more needs to be said about our country's last five decades? I bet no sane author or historian of repute could muster the courage to claim that they do possess previously unknown or unheard of material, or have suddenly unearthed some precious new information about our fifty retrogressive years. It has been a tale of woes since 1960 for this embarrassingly blessed but eminently unlucky and rudderless nation.

Unlucky though it may be, but to arrest this perpetually luckless state needs collective and decisive defenestration of this army of bandits that bring shame to the noblest of all human endeavours by parading themselves as politicians. If democratic politics is the art of preaching the values one believes in to the electorate, and convincing it well enough at election times to be voted into the position to enable the implementation of those values, then the overwhelming majority of this lot that our dear nation has been cursed with for over half a century are royally guilty of deception on an unprecedented scale. The politics of this nation has been an arrogant fraud, mindless butchery and blatant debauchery.

It isn't my interest to enumerate or illustrate this senseless and callous rape of our country's virginal innocence. My interest, rather, is to explore ways and means by which we, as a people, can bring this murderous cabal to its knees and bring a new order to our country. An order that puts people before materialistic allure; an order that places the collective interest over the personal; an order that has a beating heart and dignifies human life; an order that ruthlessly eliminates these soulless and flagitious spoliators, who know the price of everything and the value of nothing. An order we can all be proud of, and if needs be, be prepared to die for. How particularly pertinent are the words of David Hopkinson (former head of M&G High Income Investment Trust Plc) twenty-five years ago "As a historian, it does not matter which century you look at, but freedom, expansion and prosperity follow from - and do not themselves create - order and stability."!

Of course, it is beyond the scope of comprehension of these impertinent buffoons that waltz around in their stupor and pretend to be politicians. The vast majority of them have a history that would have made Al Capone a worthy recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize! The only future they truly understand is when the next installment of the national cake carve-up is due, be it through budget misappropriation, contract inflation, or the obscenely termed 'security vote'. The continuous occupation of our political landscape by these inept and insatiable vultures can only spell doom for our dear nation and its long-suffering people. A sizeable majority of these self-appointed political elite do not even possess the rudimentary knowledge of the art of governance, not to talk of the intellectual capacity and capability to even begin to understand the extent to which they have collectively pummelled our dear country to a state of near submission.

The heart of our nation has been ripped out and thrown to the wolves. A rebirth is what needs to be urgently and diligently engineered; an enviable and collective exercise that recognizes all Nigerians as willing and ready architects of their destiny. We simply cannot afford to let these pot-bellied halfwits and barbaric nonpersons continue with their unchecked and reckless destruction of our commonwealth. We should be prepared to accelerate their relentless march towards eternal infamy.

Throughout history, people have fought tyrannies and overcome them. The biggest theft is the theft of hope. Countless millions of Nigerians have been robbed of hope, and when hope is insidiously and incessantly pilfered, life becomes increasingly meaningless. It is not for want of effort that an obscenely high percentage of Nigerians have become destitute over the decades, nor is it as a consequence of their stupidity that they have suffered unspeakeable contumelies at the hands of this heinous pack of so-called politicians that indulge in prating about how their 'well-meaning' policies will be the best things since sliced bread.

Nigerians MUST wake up NOW. We must redefine our politics; politics has to have a new meaning, a new beginning with a new purpose. We must move away from blood politics, do-or-die politics and the politics of fear, intimidation, despair and subjugation. Thousands of articles on the need for the total overhaul of our dilapidated political edifice have been written; millions of speeches have been made and countless pseudo-reformers have surfaced. We can talk all day long; we can write and deliver the most beautiful of speeches till we run out of words; one thing is certain: these emotionally deficient morons and their ignorant sycophants will continue to dig their heels in even harder, and push their obnoxious snouts even deeper into our trough of hope and renewal.

What then is the next step? The harsh truth is that it's our collective call. Our collective will for the survival and prosperity of our country and its people MUST supersede their decadence. We must rise up as one to confront those forces that are resolute in their effort to frustrate any meaningful attempt at wrestling back our future from their soiled hands and vicelike grip. When they find it increasingly harder to hire thugs and hired killers to do their bidding, it will begin to dawn on them that their time is up. When the few thugs and hired killers they are able to find turn the tables on them, confusion will reign in their midst and they'll have nowhere to hide. Call it the Cultural Revolution if you like, it must be our starting point if we are to initiate a sustainable push towards total freedom.

We want to see folks in schools, Colleges, Universities and apprenticeships. We need to see a rebirth of industry and enterprise so that our army of unemployed graduates can start contributing to the development of their country. We need to see a functional and functioning healthcare system. We need to leave the dark ages behind and propel ourselves into the 21st century. These mini-despots need to see that the people are done with enduring; we need to show them, in no uncertain terms, that OUR time has come. As Winston Churchill would have said: Never in the field of politics has so much been owed by so few to so many. The initiative is no longer theirs, but ours.