On June 12, 1993, Nigeria held what is up to date acclaimed nationally and internationally as the freest and fairest election in its political history so far. The circumstances of what has happened since then, whereby the purported winner of that election was not allowed to hold office and the subsequent political intrigue which has led us 15 years later to where we are today, are open to discussion today and as long as we have a foreclosure to that Pandora box.

Suffice to say, 15 years has gone by, and the winner of that annulled election, Bashorun MKO Abiola is dead; the mandate given by millions of Nigeria on that said date has been cast aside both by immediate and remote circumstances surrounding the aftermath of the annulment. In an ideal world the death of the bearer of that torch would not remotely equate to the death of the mandate, but Nigeria being a peculiar  country has seen people in every shape and form circumvent the very issue that the mandate was suppose to resolve.

So, 15 years later and 25 years after Gen Sani Abacha announced that our hospitals are nothing but mere consulting clinics, our infrastructure is in a total state of collapse, nothing, I repeat, nothing seems to have changed.

You  might want to pick issues and say what do I mean by saying nothing has changed? After all, we’ve moved from a military government to a full-blown civilian one. We even recently conducted an election from a civilian administration to another, and take it or leave it, someone won. The manner of the victory may be debatable, infact it may be an issue yet to be resolved by the Supreme court, but it still took place. We now have  a full blown democracy(??), in which people who wear agbada rule, rather than those ignoramus khaki boys.

However, we as a people still behave as if we are in uniform ourselves, we don’t obey simple instructions, we drive on one-way streets, we display our bigmanism where and everywhere we can get away with it. It been said in some quarters, that a people get the type of leaders they deserve; is it a surprise therefore that we are ruled by these sets of oppressors?

It is not the aim of the write-up to bash anyone on the head, after all our rulers have bashed our heads for so long. However I hope we can look at issues as both followers and leaders. Yes, we do deserve a better set of leaders, a country with a Nobel Laureate, world renown scientists, doctors, lawyers, to be governed by the set of miscreants we have leaves much to be desired. However in our own little ways, what have we being doing/not doing that is taking Nigeria backward. In our business, places of work, do we do it honestly, earnestly or haphazardy knowing nobody is there to question us. If so, before we raise our hands to abuse those ones at the centre, we need to put our own house in order. This is no  excuse for the lackadaisical manner governance in the country is being handled at the moment. But where we as citizens form a collective mass by doing our part effectively then we shall put these so called rulers to shame. Part of the issue, June 12 raised has been in the area of leadership. Unfortunately, 15yrs later, we are still far from having forthright and visionary leaders. That is not to say, had June 12 stood in its mandate, that the leadership issue would have been resolved, however we would have known that these are the people we (the people) elected, rather than the ones imposed on us.

Another area where we seem to be retrogressing is corruption. It has become a canker that everywhere you are, it oozes at you. However if we decide as a people to stop patronising people in position of authority, not expecting that when someone goes into government with X amount in their bank account. They must come out with multiples of X by the time they finish their service. We encourage this, by making demands on these people, and even abusing anyone who goes into government and comes out almost the same way financially.

Why have I addressed these issues from a people perspective rather than a government one? Because once we as a people begin to change our perception of who/what our leaders should be, they will have no option than to begin to see the foolishness, of moving in the opposite direction. For  instance in some part of the world, as a public officer, you are accountable, this is so entrenched in the psyche of the system (by extension the people) that you just don’t think of mismanaging people's fund anyhow. That’s because, a point has been reached in the system, where such things are just not permissible because of the awareness of the governed and the governor. Yes, the system might not be 100% perfect, but things are done to a reasonable standard, unlike us, where we are far below any permissible standard.

The issue raised by June 12 is also that of the entity called Nigeria, its governance, administration, equity, resource generation and distribution, dealing with its multi faceted segments. Unfortunately 15 yrs after, we are still starching most of these issues on the surface. The issue of governance has been so comical that a certain political party is hoping to rule for the next 60yrs, well, they have perfected the act of doing that. The civil service is in a moribund state, if not dead, resource generation and distribution has led to a new form of militancy never experienced in this part of the world before. How do you calm down these guys, when you are rubbing salt in their injury? I’m not an advocate of violence, but this is an issue the state need to have an in-depth look into. It is one of the cardinal points raised by this administration and I hope it is given the urgency it deserves.

June 12 in its purest form may not be obtainable today, but the issues it raised are still very relevant and need to be addressed. It is my hope that we as a people can collectively rise up to these issues.

God bless the federal Republic of Nigeria.

Robot  # 1 | 09.06.2008 14:58

On June 12, 1993, Nigeria held what is up to date acclaimed nationally and internationally as th...Read the full article.