23 Aug 2006 |
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I have a dream, yes a dream of a Nigeria where the humble masses, who undoubtedly know what they are doing but obviously do not know what is doing them, shall finally wake up to their grim reality and unanimously resolve to clean out this iniquitous cesspool they call a nation. I have a dream of a sanitized Nigeria where the one hundred and fifty million people of this great nation shall live together in harmony, as one happy family, irrespective of their ethnic differences but respectful of their diversities, harness their inestimable resources and resourceful-nesses to create a home for their posterity and themselves, a home that shall be the pride of all right thinking people of this earth and the envy of all her detractors. Alas, fellow countrywomen and countrymen, the time has come when we must together hoist our banner above our house as a declaration of our unflinching and unequivocal resolution never again to be exploited by the evil and incompetent leaders whose insatiable greed for money and power has brought us so much misery and disarray. The time has come to empower the people, to sort things out by ourselves, to soothe our bruised ethnic synapses, which have become so inflamed by the depraved tactics of divide and rule adopted by the mediocre performers in our polity who call themselves politicians. Ironically, our present day rulers have adopted and further refined all the suppressive policies of our erstwhile colonial overlords, keeping us hamstrung while maliciously carting away our mutual heritage for their personal aggrandizements. Today, it has become commonplace to witness these potentates, their scions and their minions acquiring inordinately superlative properties abroad and living in frivolous profligacy with our wealth they stole from us, while the children of this land wallow in diseases, deprivation and hopelessness. Brothers and sisters, the eleventh hour has struck. It is time to pull this ivory tower down and tell these depraved felons that enough is enough. It is time they stopped telling us that white is black and black is white. We must make them and their cohorts realize that they can only fool some people some times but not all the one hundred and fifty million Nigerians all the time. More than forty years of political tinkering by middling and uninspired helmsmen is enough. We must dismantle this bizarre guinea-piggery and free ourselves from our vagabondage. I am not advocating for anarchy, though we already have it in crypto, but if an all-out anarchy becomes unavoidable, let the jungle rumble. I shall not be blamed by my grand children just like some of us with the enough chutzpah would blame our fathers for ever allowing the present status quo to take root in their days and grow unchecked until it became the monster it is today. Ladies and gentlemen, the eleventh hour has struck and after midnight we must have a new day! Time for tirades is over. Our interlocutors either do not understand the language we speak or they are simply feigning deafness, an age long artifice of theirs, which they are obviously bracing to use again come May 2007. If we let them this time, they’ll obviously steal the show from us again. Now is the time to spike their guns, to tell them who the boss really is; it must be our own show, on our own terms, this nation belongs to us. It is time for action, no going back, no shaking; it is show time now! What is my take on all this, you would obviously want to know? Quite simple; a march to Abuja! That’s right, a nation wide civil m-a-r-c-h to Aso rock! From the North, from the South, from the East and from the West, every able-bodied Nigerian, men and women must gird their loins and we must all march to Aso rock in our millions to demand our rights. Don’t think I am writing drunk, no; in fact, I can’t be more sober. I am not only convinced that it is viable but also dead sure that this is one step in the right direction if we really want to save this nation from the total disintegration that has been looming over us for quite a while. Understandably, such a huge rally requires detailed planning, coordination and funds. This is where our numerous intellectuals, technocrats and men of substance who really have the interest of this nation in their hearts shall be called for. The onus shall be especially on those of us in the diaspora to initiate actions and then bring the Nigerian masses at home on board. We need volunteers to do the planning, coordinating and fund raising. On my own part, I shall open the bank account into which all the money raised shall be paid! Oti-o, I hear them say. I kuku no say una no go trust okoro man. I beg-o. Jokes aside, we need a trustee with a traceable pedigree, possibly a corporate body, to handle the bank processes, not the Abraxas’ and gwobentashis that prowl the NVS incognito, lol. I suggest NVS, (suggestions are welcome). The account shall be captioned “Fund For Nigerian Freedom March.” (Only pay-ins, no withdrawals). The money shall be used, inter alia, for the purchase of snickers - at least two million pairs, and T-shirts - two to three million pieces; on which the Nigerian flag and something like “The Freedom March 2007,” shall be printed (here again suggestions are welcome). These items shall be distributed in all the states after the ground works have been completed and the populace educated on why it is necessary for them to turn out in great numbers. Mass transportation shall also be provided. It might take some days for a reasonably large number of the people to converge at the outskirts of Abuja, but as soon as we have at least 50.000, the march can commence. I shall be right there at the forefront chanting my Enyimba-Enyi. Whatever your own cadence is just bring it along. Don’t worry about the armored tanks that would be awaiting our arrival at Aso rock. I shall clamber onto the leading tank, ala Boris Yeltsin of the Russian revolution fame, and snatch the key from the operator, trust me. Anyway, when the soldiers armed to their teeth see the sea of heads marching towards them, they’ll not release a shot, no matter who orders them, because within that throng could be either their mother, their father, their brother, their sister a friend or somebody close to them and they know it. Moreover, they know we are struggling for their own good as well. Finally the march to Abuja has been accomplished. Aso rock is enshrouded in a sea of heads and anxious faces awaiting the incendiary speech of our first spokesperson (I suggest Shoko for that role), but apart from the heavy heaves of sigh coming from the crowd, his megaphone remains mute. At last he manages a stutter, “em-em-em,” but the megaphone goes dead again. Alas, he has forgotten his line! The people we are dealing with can be very dastardly. They use remote missiles too, but we shall not be moved. Our message shall be delivered and if necessary, we shall organize another M-A-R-C-H until we snatch back our dear nation from the ravishing jaws of those ogres. Can someone volunteer a befitting speech for this rally? All hands on deck please!
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