REASONING, WHERE ART THOU?

REASONING, WHERE ART THOU?

The Lion woke up from Its Deep slumber, and feasted on the Gazelle,

The Horse Mulled the Husk in its mouth, and the grass that was brought forth,

The Cat meowed coolly and purred, after licking the milk in its bowl,

The rat scrambled into its hole after stealing a cheese from the kitchen store,

The fish swam effortlessly in the sea nibbling at the worms in its way,

THE NORTHERN YOUTH GOES ON RAMPAGE IN NIGERIA AFTER ELECTION RESULTS,

THE NIGER DELTA MILITANT BLEW OF OIL INSTALLATIONS,

BROAD DAY LIGHT ARMED ROBBERY IN ONITSHA,

RELIGIOUS/POLITICAL CARNAGE IN JOS,

BOMB BLAST AND SHOOTINGS IN MAIDUGURI, BORNO STATE,

OIL PIPELINE BLAST IN LAGOS,

FOREIGN OIL WORKERS KIDNAPPED IN PORTHARCOURT,

PERMANENT SECRETARY STEALS N2BN IN ABUJA,

EFCC PROSECUTES BANK CEOS FOR CURRUPTION,

ETC...ETC…ETC…!!!!!!

Even the Animal kingdom follows the natural Programming that The Almighty installed in them! Not the Nigerians! We kill and maim at the slightest provocation. Civil servants, Politicians and  Contractors steal what they don’t NEED from the Government. The Very rich  amass illegal wealth to Buy Slick cars, Build fortresses for houses, Buy Heavy Duty Electric generators, dig Boreholes, Send their children to the best schools, attend the best health centers, but remain in the same environment with over 95% of the poor populace. Those who, in some instances, only owned the shirt they wear and nothing more!

Here, the law of Magnetism where like poles repel and unlike poles attract doesn’t apply! The Government on its side only complicates issues. To start with, if a messenger is to be employed in any Government ministry or Parastatal, the prospective employee needs to go through series of interviews and tests! However, if you want to contest for an office, from the President down to the level of a Councilor, more ‘Important Criteria’ crop up!

You now need to be stupendously rich depending on which office you are vying for. You need to ‘Belong’ to the Right ‘Ethnic’ group. Your faith will now be scrutinized under the microscope! Wait a minute; have I mentioned you need to possess a ‘GOD FATHER’? You need to be pathological liar where you will promise heaven, but deliver hell yet you still have a room to maneuver yourself out either personally or through ‘Government Spokesmen’, another term for Professional liars! To contest an office in Nigeria, Your educational qualification is irrelevant. It’s something that can be done without, or in exceptional circumstances when need, can be manufactured. Promises of Development programs are reduced to campaign rhetoric and are generally generalized! Issues like ‘We will provide you with water’, ‘I will provide light’, ‘I will provide health Care’……etc! No details, No plans are required, no statistics, no timelines!

Any politician seeking office is only motivated by how much a former or current elected official has amassed in terms of Cash, Cars, or Mansions! The issue of sacrifice and serving people is only given lip service during campaigns. Or how can you justify politicians killing each other because they want to ‘Serve us’?  We have all become perpetual parasites on Government patronage. We now have, even though unofficial, people whose only qualification for being wealthy is coming either from the same village with the President, Governor or Minister. These are people who have permanent Suites in 5 star hotels meeting with Contractors or politicians looking for government appointments!

We have reduced Governance to Trading or to some instances, gambling where we stake all we have to get hit the ‘Jackpot’! The Poor people don’t matter at all. They don’t count. After all, what can they do? The Government controls most of the media be it government owned or private, It controls the security agencies, it controls the Elites and community leaders who ‘Speak on behalf of their communities’! Community leaders like the ‘Arewa Consultative forum or Northern Elders forum’.  Organizations like the ‘Ohaneze, Afenifere of Niger Delta Militant Leaders’! These are Cabals who thrive ONLY when ordinary Nigerians like you and me fight each other either on the pages of newspapers, on TV, or on the street. They flourish when we abuse each other. Their stock exchange Booms when we kill ourselves!

They know us all too well. They know how to make us laugh. They know how to make us cry. They hold the ‘remote control’ that operates out emotions!  The buttons on these remote controls range from Religion, Ethnicity, Zone, tribe and marginalization. When they choose to press any of these buttons we unleash the most bizarre carnage on each other while they and their children are in safe sanctuaries. After killing each other these same ‘leaders’ will be called upon by the Government to appeal to us to calm down- At a cost of course! We suffer when they still make colossal profits through our blood!

Nigeria shall not be great until we chase these ‘Leaders’ away. Until we break away from this bondage. Until we break away the ‘remote controls’ they use to make us zombies. Nigeria shall not be great until each citizen demands in a lawful way from his State Governor how every penny in his State is spent. We shall not have peace until we organize ourselves into groups that will demand Justice, Service and equity for all. We shall forever be going round and round in a circle until we demand the best education for our children from our states and Local Governments! We will be wallowing in poverty until we demand for the abolishing of all non productive ventures from our Leaders. We will forever lack if we close our eyes to wanton mis-application of Government funds to non priority projects.

We have been deprived of the most basic of life’s basic! We have been deprived of our dignity as a people. Our self esteem has been murdered in broad day light. We have been forced into permanent state of despondence. We have been forced to accept that yesterday is better than today and today will be better than tomorrow.

Agriculture, which accounts for a greater percentage of our GDP, has been cruelly neglected. Tourism is wishful thinking in the absence of security. Industries have been turned into 5 star hotels for rodents in the absence of Power. Governments at all levels have perfected the art of stealing to the detriment of the overall populace. We celebrate thieves and discourage genuine entrepreneurship. Being a legislator in our country is automatic dose of vaccination against poverty.

But all is not lost in this wilderness called Nigeria where every man is to himself. Each and every one of us can make a change in our attitude and personal actions. The sum result will be a total reorientation in the way we do things.  We must change the way we view each other with distrust and mischief. We should be our brother’s keepers. We must take any corrupt politician, Civil servant, Policeman and Judge as our common enemy. We must resist being manipulated by any one. We must wake up from this drift that is taking us away from the great destiny that awaits us. We must help the weak among us not mock them.  A Yoruba professor should be able to support an ‘Almajiri’ from the street of Jigawa State to achieve his full potential, not call him a ‘Mallam’. At the same time a Dangote should be able to come to the aid of an Onitsha spare parts seller with all he has got!

This is our country, this is where we belong. With all its sham and artificial challenges, we must be able and capable of lifting it to a position that will make America look at us with envy and love! We should use our faculty of REASONING like the animal Kingdom!

Bashir Is’haq Bashir

Kaduna Nigeria

20^th April, 2011

bibashir@yahoo.com