23 Aug 2004 |
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| The import of the above statement is generally lost on most of us in this entity called Nigeria. One may argue against the generalisation of such thought, but considered in its salient magnitude vis a vis our every day existence, our believes and values, our wishes and cravings, then the wholesomeness of the overwhelming effect of this statement becomes even more catchy. We all know evil, that is, in one form or the other; its suffocating grip on our bewildered psyche; all the moral wreckage we have experienced both individually and collectively as a result of our exuberant adulation of things evil. We understand evil because we live in evil times; or shall I say evil times live with us… Because of these obnoxious effects of evil on us and its attendant immoral implications, we unconsciously prefer evil that is lesser, cushioned, and justifiable. Hence the age-old maxim: between two evils, choose the lesser one. Therein the contradiction and the import of this piece. The lesser of two evils is still evil… I came across this statement while browsing the Internet. A small town Reverend Minister, in expressing his disgust at the choice of George W. Bush as US president in 2000 during the infamous vote stealing in Florida, put a bold banner across the doorpost of his church. This, I am sure he must have reasoned, would help impress on his flock that no matter how appealing and attractive evil may be branded, and dressed, it is still evil, and ultimately, a sin. Towards the rundown to the general elections of February 1999 that ushered in our new experiment on democracy in May 1999, after the years of cankerworms of Abacha and IBB and their co-band travellers, the polity had reached boiling point. From the annulment of the election of June 12 1993 to the incarceration of the presumed winner, Abiola; from the sacking of IBB’s ill conceived exercise at infantile procrastination, the lame contraption called ING, to the constitution of the Constitutional Conference; from the coup of 1995 that brought Obasanjo and Yardua face to face with the reality of military insensitivity to the Diya coup of December 1997 (some say phantom); from the dead of Abacha on the laps of Indian prostitutes after ‘eating apples’ (he evidently didn’t read the blibical story of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden) to the dead of Abiola after drinking tea in the company of fellow tea drinkers; from the mounting of the saddle by Abdulsalami Abubakar to the release and pardon of Obasanjo, Nigeria had seen it all and was only waiting to exhale. Agitations of marginalisation by Ibos, violet recriminations by Yorubas and contained revulsion by Hausas, just to mention but these three major ethnic groups, were rife and threatening to tear Nigeria apart. War arsenals had been stocked; software fine-tuned and hardware reindoctrinated in order to meet the immediate challenges. Nobody was willing to sheathe the sword, hence the idea that the other would gain a comparative advantage that would ultimately be used against it made compromise impossible. The nation was in a grip of a vicious vice that threatened to engulf it. It was then that the powers that be made the terrible mistake that has kept us where we are presently and is still portent enough to rip through our already traumatised soul: Obasanjo as the choice to replace the disgraced and retreating military seemed the lesser evil. We chose the lesser evil, forgetting that it is still evil and now we have a catalogue of disasters that evidently will continue after 2007, until we come back to our senses. From May 1999, it has been from one act of devilish treachery to another: the NLC has already fought so many fierce battles in respect of the price of fuel. Some Labour won, others, victory seems far away; a speck in a dark starless night. Fuel prices have jumped from N24 to N55 with even more dogged propensity to jump higher because of the rot that is NNPC and the lies, half-truths and inconsistencies of the presidency. Nobody in the right senses would say it is uhuru; we can only but imagine what it will be in 2007. NEPA is gradually but steadily going under. With billions already spent and nothing to show for it, promises are already been replaced by threats. Rather than use candles for ‘candle night dinners’ as it is done in other serious countries, we use candles for illumination. The cacophonic noise of standby generating sets is the rule rather than the exception, with its attendant health hazards. Insecurity now reigns in the land. There have been so many deaths by assassination with the police looking helpless. Infact the president told us the other day on BBC what we have known all this while: that his police hire out their weapons (the same that is bought with the tax payer’s money) to criminals for a fee. The Police that should protect has, in the glare of the world and therefor our shame, become an extorting agency, shamelessly demanding money from innocent road users who risk been shot at the slightest show of hesitation. When they are not extorting money, they are engaged in abducting duly elected representatives of the people, as it was the case on 10th 2003 with the Ngige/Uba saga. Odi, Benue, Ikeja bomb explosions, Choba raping spree etc; dividends of democracy piloted a lesser evil. Through all these woes, economic recovery through vibrant and logical policy decisions has been all but absent. Rather than formulate policies that will create jobs with its attendant human upliftment, rebuild infrastructure such as roads, schools and health centres; rather than create an enabling environment to attract the much needed foreign investment; rather rebuild the confidence of ordinary Nigerians in a system that has been so unfair and unjust to them, what do we have: an executive arm without focus that is interested in globe trotting, begging multinational companies to invest in a country torn by religious and sectarian violence, with no infrastructure to support such investment. An executive that strongly believes (albeit wrongly…) that our salvation lies in debt forgiveness, naively ignorant of the whole scale corruption in high places that alas, is incompatible with the spirit of debt forgiveness. An executive that thinks that blinding hunger, demeaning joblessness and disease, and insecurity (at home) is nothing and that image (abroad) is everything. The lesser of two evils is still evil… Granted: a people deserve the leader they get. But is this really God’s will for Nigeria? Must we all perish as a result of the utter insensitivity of a cabal that was foisted on us through election rigging other illicit manoeuvrings of these self styled god fathers, tragic characters of deceit and pain. That brings us to the issue of 2007. It only takes a little foresight to recognise the dooms day signs: three years away from election date, the polity is already inundated with spurious claims of who holds our salvation. Ex military rulers, already tested and found despairingly wanting, have arrogated to themselves the omnipotence of the gods and hijacked the electoral process in their greed and desperation, thereby limiting the choice of the electorate. With a measured dosage of cynicism for the wish of the electorate, deceit and hypocrisy, Nigerians will again wake up in 2007 with a president they did not ‘vote for’ and the whole sordid cycle will once more come full swing. We have come face to face with our destiny: in this fight for survival, the soul is priceless. The evil men in the corridors of power; those who have scorned at our collective plight through their inordinate ambitions and gross insensitivity; that are regular visitors to the dark shrines of satanic manoeuvres both in Okija and other remote climes of the land; those whose wish is to permanently make us poor and confined to the back quarters of a land stupendously blessed both in human and natural resources; those who see Nigeria as a coveted prize that must be appropriated at all cost. We must stand against these evil men, even with the last drop of our blood; for that is the essence of our existence now, that is if posterity must side with us in the dawn of time. The lesser of two evils, whether garbed in priceless silk, spiced with fragrance of the sweet flowers of Arabia, or even conceived in royalty, is still evil… 23.08.2004 |
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