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This is succinct. Apt and concise. Our plight cannot be better explained. Better expound and better exposed. No other does it better than this.
It’s a must take-home for the rulers and the ruled. It captures everything Nigerian. We should chew it, eat it, swallow it and drink it. All at the same time, at the same speed of light.
Our rulers are the authors, drafters and crafters of our predicaments. But they can’t be the finishers of our fate. That’s not their space. It’s God’s. And reserved exclusively for Him. It is far beyond them.
No matter how hard they labour to play God. It will end in vain. That can only be their ultimate. Tin-gods they are. Tin-gods they will ever be. And to the gullible that hero-worship them.
That is the despicable way they strive to ruin our lives. This short treatise depicts just that. It must not depart from our lips. It’s our guide and guardian. It tells emphatically how our rulers choose to rule us. Even if it is against our collective wish.
Social media is doing us a monumental service. If not, this dissertation would have remained in the belly of the unidentified author. Dead and buried with him forever. What a huge loss it would have been.
The piece is irresistible. Ignore it to your eternal peril. It touches nearly all aspects of our nation’s life. And in a jiffy!
You can’t miss it. It’s all over; real, actual and stark. It’s like a singsong: “They took the cry of Nigerians to the President. They returned with an answer that should worry us all.
“The Catholic Bishops didn’t go to Aso Rock seeking contracts. They didn’t go lobbying for appointments. They didn’t go ‘standing on any mandate.’
“They went carrying the pain of millions of Nigerians. They said Nigerians are hungry. The answer? ‘There has always been hunger before I was born.’”
Which year was that? It remains in the realm of mystery since ages. Till eternity!
The discourse is unrelenting. It cares less: “They said the economy is crushing ordinary families. The answer? ‘The economy is doing well.’
“They expressed concerns about public confidence in INEC (Independent Electoral Commission). The answer? ‘INEC is neutral.’
“They worried about whether the next election would offer a level playing field. The answer? ‘Whoever wants power should be ready to wrestle for it.’” Why not? All is fair in politics.
You grab it. You run with it. That’s their manner of fairness. We call it “fairlessness!” It is fearful, frightening. Greed is their watchword. You grab everything. Until you’re trapped and grabbed.
It’s not yet over: “And immediately, my mind went to (the biblical King) Rehoboam. The people begged him to reduce their suffering. The elders pleaded with him: ‘Listen to your people.’
“His loyalists told him: ‘Show them who’s boss.’ He listened to the loyalists. He ignored the people. The result?
“A kingdom that took generations to build split in a single day. The people walked away shouting: ‘To your tents, O Israel!’ (1 Kings 12:16)
“Every government should fear one thing more than criticism: The day it stops listening. The greatest threat to any president is not the opposition.
“It is the army of professional cheerleaders who tell him that everything is working while the people are telling a different story.
“A nation cannot be governed by applause. Propaganda cannot fill empty stomachs. Slogans cannot reduce the cost of living. And praise-singers cannot rewrite reality. History is littered with leaders who mistook loyalty for truth.
“May President (Bola) Tinubu never become another Rehoboam, surrounded by people who protect his ego while exposing his legacy.
“Because when leaders stop listening, history starts speaking. Think about it.”
The unknown oracle has spoken. The choice is theirs. Not ours. It’s not a JAMB question. You can’t afford to gamble. It’s costly.
See it in another clime. In faraway Botswana, Southern Africa. Its president is making sterling difference. A new dimension. But still African. You would love this. Very sweet to the ear and pleasant to behold. This is not a ruler. He is a leader in the actual sense of it.
Worthy of emulation. A president challenging himself? He’s truthful and faithful to his people. He’s open and broad minded. Nothing to hide. Nothing to cover. That doesn’t make him less an African. President Duma Gideon Boko holds sway in Botswana.
He happened to the Botswanans on November 1, 2024. Tinubu did the same to us. More than one and a half years before. That was on May 29, 2023. And that’s where the far-fetched similarities end abruptly.
It’s not unexpected. They are not birds of the same feather. They can’t flock together in any way possible. Not even remotely. They don’t gel. Boko handles things in stride. He takes the bull by its horns.
This is beautifully demonstrated in his trending three-minute and two-second video clip. This is how we ought to be governed. It is what we deserve as a matter of right. Not otherwise.
Boko’s voice in Gaborone: “…We also have a forensic audit that is going on whose outcome will be brutal and devastating. I can tell you. Anybody who has stolen anything from the government must start running now. It is vicious. It is serious.
“It is a process that’s not controlled by me. Experts, crack experts who have the skills and the expertise to identify the problems and to trace where the assets have gone.
“Anybody who has had anything untoward to do with government resources must know that the most stunning moment of ‘come apex’ is around the corner.
“And we took this approach so that it doesn’t become a political witch hunt. Nobody says, well, they persecuted him when he was in the opposition. Now it’s payback time. There’s no payback. Objective, scientific proper professional process that determines what happened.
“And we’re not doing it to punish anybody. We are doing it in order to correct and to lay down some bright lines about not only those who were there before but those who are there now and those who will come in the future.”
Boko rattles his attentive listeners: “Now they know there will be a forensic audit. If you steal. You embezzle. You will go to jail. It’s easy. No matter who you are.”
Yes. No two-way to it. It’s only one straight way to jail. Boko means real business. And every word that comes out of his mouth. He won’t mince, mix or miss it. His body language confirms as much.
He refuses to stop jolting the audience: “We didn’t bring it for anybody. We brought it for the government so that we can fully account. And that is what the country is going through.
“So, towards the end of this year, I think the report will come. And we will begin the whole process, seeking to recover. These assets, these guys are saying, look, the country may actually be assisted immensely once it recovers.
“And of course, there will be new sources. And they were saying, you know, as we are digging, it’s so scary. We get scared ourselves. We want to stop. We freak out, when we pull this string.
“But it’s not from anybody. It’s not a witch hunt. It’s so that there is full accountability. And this is what the country has to do. It’s all for generations that are yet to come, it is known.
“But there will be no leader who will come and turn public resources into his private chest. No, it doesn’t work like that.”
Our leaders and their band of cohorts should stop chasing their ugly shadows. Those vicious attacks against John Cardinal Onaiyekan and Catholic bishops are uncalled for. The brutal fireworks miss the target. You don’t govern that manner. It’s how to reign and ruin. You don’t win a war that way either.
You can’t subdue criticisms with that wrong approach. You rather fuel it the more. You don’t substitute governance with propaganda. You worsen the appalling situation. Somehow, somewhere, somebody may be consumed, swallowed.
We know your intentions. So, also Onaiyekan’s. We can read your lips accurately well. Even before you open mouths. You all are no strangers to us. We know what we know of you. You can’t hide nothing from us. Let the hostilities cease forthwith.
What Boko does isn’t magic. Neither is it a wonder. But a sign of a robust future for Botswanans. He lets them into what lies ahead. He has resolved to do the needful. And lead them to their intended destination successfully.
It is doable. And normal in any sane society. Boko is showing how. Having been positioned firmly on the front seat. He’s a willing, yielding president. He grandstands not.
He won’t cave in to frivolities and inanities. His demonstrated political will is key. He doesn’t resemble the Rehoboam of our time.
His template we need. Let’s grab it. And run with it. With all the vigour in us!
BREAKING…
308: Miracle rescues in Kwara, Niger
This column was almost in bed when this came. Another miracle sauntered into our space. We are glad it happened. The amazing feat of Oriire rescue has come over to Kwara and Niger states. Three hundred and eight abductees, 163 in Kwara and 145 in Niger, regained freedom yesterday after months in terrorists dens.
Welcome back to life. As we earnestly await varied details in the impending hours and days.
Thank God they were rescued and/released as the case may be.
