The elections have come and gone and it’s business as usual in Nigeria .  There were reports of massive rigging, so what, its business as usual.

In 1993, Bashorun MKO Abiola won the Presidential elections in Nigeria which were annulled by the Nigerian military junta headed by the self styled evil genius, Ibrahim Babangida.  MKO was subsequently arrested for daring to claim his mandate and news of his sudden death while in custody of the State brought hundreds of youths and progressives onto the streets of Lagos and other places, protesting, setting fire to tyres, and rioting went on into the early hours of the morning, with several people killed by agents of the State who always respond to protests with their usual highhandedness just like we witness today with tear gas, intimidation, arrests, so what, it has been business as usual.

Similarly, it has been reported that close to 300 people died during the recent elections, the dead have been buried and forgotten, they were unlucky, so what, its business as usual. 

Last month, the President-elect collapsed and was flown to Germany because we have no hospitals in Nigeria .  The so-called hospitals we have in Nigeria today can best be described as dispensaries in the old days (even dispensaries had drugs)!  The Nigerian health system has been neglected for years, it is now comatose and desperately needs blood but who cares its business as usual. 

As if it wasn’t bad enough that one of the ‘best’ Governors in Nigeria who could not provide a modern hospital in his home State of Katsina had to seek treatment abroad, the Nigerian Vice President had muscle pull while ‘exercising’ in his private gym in his palace, and was flown to London for surgery, to be treated by the same Nigerian doctors and nurses who have been exiled to far away countries in the West to seek a better life for themselves and their families because the Nigerian State and its leaders had failed them, so what, its business as usual. 

In the recent elections, the PDP robbed Nigerians of millions of votes across the country, and particularly in Edo State where the people’s man, Adams Oshiomole won not just the peoples hearts but their votes.  The results of the elections across the country had been predetermined before the elections, and we knew who was going to be the next President of Nigeria months before, so what, its business as usual.

It has been 8 years of nonchalance, incompetence and hypocrisy of past and this government to public discourse, a bunch of thieving misguided rogues and self centered bigots masquerading as rulers and politicians, so what, its business as usual.

These were President Obasanjo’s words in 1999 “ Nigeria is wonderfully endowed by the Almighty with human and other resources. It does no credit either to us or the entire black race if we fail in managing our resources for quick improvement in the quality of life of our people. Instead of progress and development, which we are entitled to expect from those who governed us, we experienced in the last decade and a half, a particularly in the last regime but one, persistent deterioration in the quality of our governance, leading to instability and the weakening of all public institutions. Good men were shunned and kept away from government while those who should be kept away were drawn near. Relations between men and women who had been friends for many decades and between communities that had lived together in peace for many generations became very bitter because of the actions or inaction of government. The citizens developed distrust in government, and because promises made for the improvement of the conditions of the people were not kept all statements by government met with cynicism”. 

“Government officials became progressively indifferent to propriety of conduct and showed little commitment to promoting the general welfare of the people and the public good.  The impact of official corruption is so rampant and has earned Nigeria a very bad image at home and abroad. Besides, it has distorted and retrogressed development.  Our infrastructures - NEPA, NITEL, Roads, Railways, Education, Housing and other Social Services were allowed to decay and collapse. Our country has thus been through one of its darkest periods”.  Please go back and revisit your report card.

The bible says, it is not what goes into a man that defiles him but what comes out of him (these are Obasanjo’s words on which he should be judged).  Although I have been extremely busy, I have been monitoring the Nigerian situation for a while and visited our beloved country just before the elections.  The level of decadence and poverty in communities beggars belief back home.   I did some interviews with AIT and NTA while I was in Nigeria and those who have seen them on TV think I was very vocal, even risking arrest and intimidation.  How can anybody not be vocal?  How can we bury our heads and behave in a business as usual manner?  There is no reason for Nigerians to do business as usual.  Our emancipation lies in our own hands not in the West!  We must reject any attempt to impose rulers on us. 

For those who would argue that the Obasanjo Government has achieved a lot, our foreign debt has been paid, blah blah blah, how much has the Nigerian Government re-borrowed? Secondly, how has the payment of our foreign debt translated to garri on the table for the common man?  Has the quality of life of Nigerians improved in the last 8 years?  How has the payment of our foreign debt transformed the Nigerian health and educational systems?  Can my old mother go to a general hospital and see a doctor and get prescriptions without stress?  Can my relatives and friends sleep without fear that armed robbers might break into their houses at night and rob them of their lives or limbs if they fail to find money?  If I was not living abroad and sending money home every month, would my family be sure of their next meal and school fees?  Are children in public schools been taught at a level where they can compete with their counterparts in private schools never mind elsewhere in the world?  Can you travel on Nigerian roads without fear of your tyre pulling off because of the deplorable condition of our roads never mind the hawks in black uniform who will make your life very uncomfortable every 1km of your journey?  Let Obasanjo’s cronies answer these questions truthfully (for want of a better word) and I would rest my case.

Robot  # 1 | 02.05.2007 09:47

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