In Nigeria truth is alien

Nigerians are a funny, myopic lot. They see everything only through the prism of tribe and religion, even when they neither go to church nor mosque.

Even self-professing godless men, who are gods unto themselves, fall easy prey to this anathema, burying their heads is in indecipherable silence when it matters most or divert attention to current discourses because it could affect them.

It beats me hollow how ‘leading lights’ of the country, who have won for themselves international acclaim, whose voices are respected accros the globe and at home could stare truth in the face and call it a lie. Such audacious action is benumbing. It makes me recall the biblical seared minds whom God has abandoned to their folly because they are reprobates.

However, one undeniable truth, which no man can do anything about is the fact that truth is naked and constant; it can NEVER be tarred with any other colour. Though we may try, no unfitting garment ever sticks with truth for long.

At all times, truth wears its very resilient toga. Bury it in the sand, it rebounds and screams even louder, ‘I am the truth’.

History is replete with stories of men who dared the truth. They beat it; twisted it and yarned diverse variants but when unbendable truth springs up, the Goebbels became reference points for infamy and notoriety.

Elders should not keep silence in the land lest children eat vultures and call it a bird. Sadly, our children have been eating vultures because of the paucity of elders.

What happens if an elder tells a child the eagle is like any other bird? What happens if an elder tells the child that survival is the only essence of life irrespective of how one survives? What happens when an elder buries history in order to prevent the child from knowing the truth of its history? What kind of a people forget their history and expect progress?

Nigeria tried it and has lost its compass to nationhood in a blizzard. A people without history is on the cliff because the children fill the gaps.You can’t blame them because of suspicious silence and the dubiety of queasy elders.

We have come to a stage in this country when we should tell ourselves the truth that we are better off together than going our separate ways. We must also tell ourselves the same truth that there are no tribes that are more Nigerian than the others. The crux of our challenges as a country, which is yet to become a nation, even after over 60 years of independence is the subjugation of some parts of the whole.

It is the seizure of the country by a few hustlers, who have shut out others despite running the country aground that puts a question mark on Nigeria’s seeming independence. The country is actually a victim of neocolonialism hoisted by unconscionable cabal feeding fat on its cadaver.

Let us rise as one and change the narratives. Let us embrace peace, love and unity. Let us resolve that no matter where the pendulum swings at the Presidential Elections Tribunal or even the Supreme Court, we just have to move on. The court still remains the last hope of the common man despite its curious dispositions of late occasioned by some curious decisions of our courts.

Nevertheless, we were told that the law is what the courts say it is, even if one is catapulted from number four to number one. Let us not contemplate any mischief lest we come to grief. We must accept that in Nigeria, truth is an alien.

Nevertheless, aliens at some point naturalize and obtain citizenship of their host country. So, let us hope and plan towards that day when truth shall no longer be manacled but fully integrated as a national etho. That time could be now!