The ugly experiences which became the lot of the once little known African country, Somalia, did not start big or with a bang. If it had, perhaps those playing with inflammable acts and exhibiting dangerous conducts, dancing naked in the public squares around the country would have seen and felt the possibility of high dislocations, pains, destruction and deaths. They would likely beat a hasty or even a late retreat. Societies don›t just unravel, the breakup begins in very small ways or manner.
Strong men testing their resolve by first pissing on the graves of their fathers and getting members of their family to cheer and hail them as unusual and invincible new leaders. The brutes up their game, they enter the community, seize power, plant cronies and from there take over common patrimony and the orgy begins to gain traction. They begin to act in ways that send out a very strong message that the «rue» owners are in charge and if anyone desires any good thing he must lose himself totally and take the nature and philosophy of the rampaging gang in the places of power and authority. In this atmosphere neutrality is a big crime. The penalty could be death by very mysterious processes.
The pattern may look novel, it can only be so to the uncritical mind that is careless about what goes on around him. But for the critical segment it can’t be a new thing except that apart from historical lessons most of them may not have experienced in a direct fashion the consequences of negative political behaviour.
For our country the journey to true nationhood has mostly been on the reverse side of what all civilized societies accept as noble and enriching. We have had more than 60 years of statehood with plenty of resources in terms of funds and human resources, yet the story after this period isn’t a palatable one by every ramifications.
For that long we have not been able to find a country. So nationhood has remained like a mirage, each passing day the talk of one united country bonded in love and progress sounds like the story told by an idiot: very loud, full of words but in actuality signifies nothing, just hollow and meaningless.
As we try to make reviews the first admittance would be the fact that our cherished country is in full throttle in the wrong direction. Unfortunately, all of us are cheering on, behaving as if what we see happen daily are the most coveted things we ever desired. Wrongs are happening with a rapidity that should frighten any sane person but rather than be worried, rising to take charge and bid to put a halt to it by any account is a bad omen. We have chosen to become cheer parties hailing away at throw ups that have in them seeds that can cause us huge dislocations, pains and destruction. Familiar road, so we started at independence, selfishness, brash talking and dispositions, soon every one took cover under ethnic and religious subterfuge and before we could pronounce the name Nigeria, everywhere was boiling, providing no hiding places.
Ordinarily, especially given our very recent history and lessons from other countries, which like us are doing elevated perfidy to high heaven, we should be very troubled but we are not. Oddities appear normal and even acceptable even when it is clear that underneath such behaviour are provoking a convulsion that could grow to become a volcano with time, indeed very little time.
We keep saying ours is a democracy but in practice it looks more like a monarchy. The reign of a defacto leader. It didn’t just start under the President Bola Tinubu regime. It has been there all the while – civilian administrators creating their systems and processes and running with them not minding what the constitution says.
They capture the political parties and rebuild them in their image. Officials that should be neutral and excellent in the discharge of their duties are forced to either shape in or get thrown out with ignominy. The citizens who are the true sovereignty see all that, keep a straight face and get themselves preoccupied with issues of daily pursuits, behaving as if what is going on has no consequence on how they live or would live; co-conspirators. So many rest on the false premise that “it is not about me so what is my business.”
This attitude is pervasive just for the reason many of the citizens don’t have the privilege of knowing the lessons of history. If they knew the behaviour would be different. They would insist on taking back their society when the winds begin to be against their souls. But because they don’t know what they ought to know, they have become passive and even unshockable. This is creating a new challenge of its own.
One thing history has taught the world and which for us should be taken very seriously is the lesson that all evil men need to reconfigure society from good and habitable one to evil and nasty enclave favoring a few persons is for the good citizens to stay, do nothing, running on the false hope that somehow nature will fix things up. It doesn’t work that way. When citizens abdicate their core responsibility to themselves they pay the price and very often it is a nasty experience.
At this point it is imperative we draw from the German experience. The German people as a collective never sat down to agree they would elevate fascism, and racism that eventually followed, into state policy.
No consensus was sought. The people economically, socially and even politically were doing excellently well, the country kept ahead of Europe. The people were happy and never in their wildest imagination ever come across their minds a day could come when they would begin to rail against themselves and from there chase after foreigners who lived in the country in the manner of hunters after wild animals.
Suddenly, things began to change for the worse. It took just one man and few miscreants to create a new order of distortions, disorganization, supremacist ideology, killings, maiming and destruction of not only property, but systems, processes and all that sensible people termed as noble. This wasn’t happening under monarchical administration, democracy was in full swing in the country.
In a twinkle government was restructured to serve the purpose of narrow interest, men of very little knowledge were elevated to positions far higher than their level of competence, public officials began to run on pure emotions. Innocent citizens became victims of wrong indoctrination so much so that beside hostility directed at foreign population, the home people themselves began to discriminate against themselves about which of the white was purer than the other, this gave birth to the concept of Aryan Race, whites with the blue eyes were considered to be more superior to the others. They were to be accorded more rights. Anyone can imagine the throw ups. Same process in Somalia nd Rwanda with terrible aftermath consequences. Can anyone see resemblances with events in our country? What are the Fulanis saying to the rest of the country? What are politicians making out of false and provocative posturing and statements? Why is it some northerners chose to turn emergency social activists once their own isn’t in power? One tribe killed a president of another ethnic extraction in Rwanda, immediately the entire country went into a conflagration. How many of us see a trend in the same direction?
Entitlement mentality is gaining ground with men who have had opportunities to change our country but couldn’t now thinking the people have short memories are up and kicking again, making very inflammatory comments like “we made a mistake to allow the south mount the presidential seat, we would take it back and nothing will happen”. True? People very educated, acted terribly. In the case of Germany it blew up on their faces and imposed huge cost on the citizens and country. Rwanda the same story. Somalia is still in the mess, decades running.
As I said earlier, our country is in the tinderbox once again. We have peace but it is the peace of the graveyard. The political culture has gone topsy turvy and the gulf in the land has widened. The North/South divide is throwing up and if care is not taken something will snap to the discomfort of everyone. It didn’t start yesterday but by reckless acts of misguided few we left it to grow and it is getting fat and about to burst open.
The name of our very beloved country is «Federal Republic of Nigeria», it was a consensus outcome so there could be peace and progress,anyone may well take a look and tell the rest what is federal about what we do. Nothing
When the military first shot their way to power, the big challenge came with efforts to introduce a unitary system, General Aguiyi Ironsi tried it an action that hastened what was to be known later as revenge coup staged by military officers of northern orientation. We subsequent had a civil war and ever since things haven›t been the same.
Each successive administration, be it military or civilian, attempted to outdo the preceding ones in various acts of infamy. States were created on account of whims and caprices of individuals in power or close to those in power. Those misguided disposition has left the country badly wounded. To make things worse or more complicated no clear efforts are made to right the wrongs of the past rather men and groups have carried on as if they can over the rest of the groups and establish a hegemony. It won›t work.
State capture hasn›t worked anywhere it won›t work in the country. So the sooner the National Assembly and judiciary realize the enormity of the responsibility on their shoulders and begin to reassert their independence the better it would be. The same can be said for the political class.
It is scandalous to be hearing that people in this country, highly placed citizens went across our borders to ferry aliens in to come and do only themselves and God knows. The consequences of absence of reason and reckless ambition is with us already and none of us is certain how it will end. This should be enough restraint to keep to acceptable limits.
No one group has monopoly to bad acts. What is more violence stretched would produce equal and opposite reaction. Insecurity on the scale we have it was sponsored. Everyone who read elementary history knows that foreign funds flow into the country to further narrow pursuits but we ought to be sensible and restraining. The task is to strive for the ideal and gradually the desired would be in place for the benefit of all. Running out mouths, talking down on others and subverting due process won›t be helpful to anybody or group. Those who tried it in German example brought pure calamity to themselves and country. This is not what we want.