Why are Nigerians behaving like the ungrateful heirs? Why is it impossible for them to show gratitude once in a lifetime? Why are they becoming more and more haunted by the stupid riddle – of their leaders? Why are their expressions becoming more progressively troubled? Why are they characterised by disorder or insubordination?

In other words, why do Nigerians hate their past leaders with such physical energy?

“How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is

To have a thankless child!” (William Shakespeare)

Past leaders are expected to be widely known and esteemed like a glorious harmattan morning. But in the case of Nigerians, they have assumed an attitude of thankless towards their leaders. They often perform the ungrateful task of comparing cases of failure among their past leaders. Nigerians have wilfully turned their past leaders into villains. Ironically, they believe every preceding regime is always better.  What’s the matter with Nigerians?

Nigerians should listen to the Nigerian Baptist Convention (NBC) which drummed support for one past leader, saying “rather than the avalanche of criticisms which trailed his eight-year rule, Nigerians should commend him for adding value to the nation’s economy". Perhaps what the NBC is saying in essence is the fact that the prophets are not respected in their home towns.

I can not remember one out of the past rulers of Nigeria who actually received genuine praises from the citizens after leaving office. Perhaps it is such lassitude that has reminded one of them to lament the rubbishing of his track record, saying “I am sorry for Nigerians”. Are Nigerians jealous of their rulers? Or are they trying to destroy their past leaders as a sweet revenge?

No Nigerian past rulers have been turned into a canon fodder for attacks on everything that went wrong in Nigeria other than His Highness, Emperor Olusegun Matthew Okikiolakan Aremu Obasanjo. Since he left office, the Ota farmer and God spokesperson, has been receiving consistent bashing from every segment of the country – most especially from the media. They want to destroy Obasanjo because he refused to share the national cake with them! They want to rubbish the father of modern Nigeria’s achievements! They want to soil his name by all means. Why is it difficult for Nigerians to see a messiah in this man who loves them passionately?

Critics, including yours truly, have exploited every aspect of communicative method such as essay, satire, parody, poetry, and article – to portray Obasanjo as a false democrat whose inordinate ambition is to rule Nigeria for life. Although the man has repeatedly denied being well-knowing for his political manoeuvring, his deportment has always given him up. A typical example of course is the infamous third term which was eventually aborted. But third term was/is part of Obasanjo’s love for his country. Didn’t they get it?

It is obvious that Obasanjo detests critics just like Ahab did not like Micaiah, because he never prophesied good concerning him, but evil: probably he liked the sycophant son of Chenaanah better; yet might Ahab have escaped a bloody death, had he but stopped his ears to flattery and opened them to faithful counsel (1 Kings 22).

Obasanjo probably would have realised his third term ambition had he listened to “one man whose words are not framed to tickle delicate ears: who to my thinking, comes before the great ones of society, much as the son of Imlah came before the throned Kings of Judah and Israel; and who speaks truth as deep, with a power as prophet-like and as vital – a mien as dauntless and as daring”.

But for his greed Nigerians would have searched for him – again. There’s no one like him and I don’t think there would ever be. This is the reason I sympathise with him (although he says he doesn’t need anybody’s sympathy) concerning the way Nigerians are treating this rare gem. They booed him everywhere he went since he came down from his high horse. I think someone like Obasanjo who has been sacrificing his life for the benefit of his country deserves a modicum of appreciation.

After all, Obasanjo helped Nigeria defeat Biafra, a country I believe would have prospered had it been. In fact I strongly believe that any nation out of Nigeria would have arrived somewhere. It was Obasanjo who saved Babangida’s life, another maradona who loves his country so much. It was he who gave Nigeria a Shehu Shagari in 1979 and a Yar’Adua in 2007. Both men turned to be dynamic rulers.

When the military goons were terrorising the Nation in those days, it was Obasanjo who stood up against them. Obasanjo has always been in the forefront of fighting for the masses. For instance, he introduced Land Act decree and Operation Feed the Nation (OFN) without which Nigerians would have starved to death. Meanwhile, his comrade, Ahmadu Ali, introduced exorbitant fees beyond what parents could afford. And when the students protested, they were shot and many killed.

How could Nigerians be so ungrateful to a man who gave them Mallam Ribadu, a young man who fought and got rid of corruption? They are so mean to the extent of turning his son against him. It is the only reason why Gbenga accused his father of sleeping with his wife. Nigerians did not even stop at that. They pursued the former first daughter, a serving senator until this pretty woman jumped the fence; they maliciously accused her of fraud when in fact she generously shared the booty among her co-workers.

Do Nigerians understand what is called respect? But Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello should not worry, for her papa don hire that ogbontagiri lawyer called Afe Babalola (we no be family o). Soon the EFCC would leave him alone like it left Mohammed Babangida alone after the initial gragra. No be Nigeria we dey talk about?

I mean if there was no Obasanjo, there wouldn’t have been a great Nation called Nigeria. Nigeria wouldn’t have had the best hospital, good roads, constant electricity, adequate drinkable water, qualitative education, maximum security, and other social amenities they are now enjoying. See, Obasanjo is right when he said that Nigerians are ungrateful people. They are simply ungrateful and “I am sorry for them”.

Copyright 2008                              mysmallvoice@yahoo.com

Robot  Villager

# 1 Why are Nigerians behaving like the ungrateful heirs? Why is it impossible for them to show gra...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 23.04.2008 13:08

cdimkpa  Villager

# 2 This is indeed the OBJ era. All his pros and cons are being served hot and sizzling, and his friends and enemies are amassing their different arsenals of war and defence. I hear his wife, mama Iyabo was stripped and burgled in South Africa (SA). Even SAs hate anything OBJ? The saying that when it rains, it pours cant be apter (is there even a word like apter?:D Posted by cdimkpa| 23.04.2008 15:20

OMEZIMBA  JJC

# 3 Hakeem, Ur write up is full of ironies. Are u castigating the worst criminal that ever lived in Aso rock or are you praising him. Please, I beg you. Dont ever associate Obasanjo with the biblical stories, He only represents satan and serpent. A man who made us all to believe that he is a born again, only to make the likes of Abdusalam, Abacha and IBB to look like angels. Tufiakwa. You said he gave us Yar'duah, it should have been better if he allowed us to produce Yar'duah. A man who under his regime, Nigeria made within one year, what a country like UK makes in a decade ( Thanks to exorbitant oil price ). A man who has all opportunities to register his name among the saints and become the father of modern Nigeria, he wasted all the opportunities due to avarice and greed. No one should pity him, I put it unto you today, that I have moral obligation to stone Obasanjo to death if I ever meet him alife. Posted by OMEZIMBA| 23.04.2008 20:33

chaos.com  Villager

# 4 buhari was good. Nigerians were terrified of commiting any type of crime. Posted by chaos.com| 23.04.2008 20:44

Agidimolaja  Villager

# 5 Hakeem, Maybe because each time a leader left the stage, he left people of Nigeria with so much frustrations and he increased their burdens or maybe because Nigerians have never been allowed to elect their own leader except MKO Abiola whom enemies of Nigeria did not allow to take over. From Sir Abubakar Tafa Balewa to our current Yaradua, leaders have either been imposed upon the people of Nigeria or a military thug just took over power,sometimes violently. Who then would respect a military thug that dressed himself in the borrowed robe of Head of State and then suspended the most sacred National document - The Constitution? What other felony can you compare to suspension of Constitution?None! Sincerely speaking none of those quasi leaders perfored above average. I so much dislike some of them for the terrible jobs they did and/or the way they came into power while I have some feelings for very few of them. In my own opinion,Obj is not the worst of the bunch as several people are shouting all over the land today at the rooftop. Obj did better job than other past leaders considering the odds against him and the condition of Nigeria when he came to power. And how could he perform any better when those who imposed him upon us are among those that are responsible for Nigeria's great troubles and predicaments and woes.The same legendary crooks are the ones to work with him,just as they worked with the likes of IBB, Abacha etc. Take a good look at the list of top PDP members.Tell me or allow me to tell you about past havocs that each of them have wrecked upon this unfortunate country.Yet Obj cannot do without them.He has to work with them and sometimes he was forced to look the other way. Remember Obj was imposed upon us in this country and those were his kingmakers. I'm not defending Obj neither am I among his fans.I'm just voicing out my opinion about the situation on the ground. Although many of our readers may not agree with me but that is the home truth. Obj did his best even if his best is not good enough. It is not a new thing to me though, that spectators are always the best players. I'm of the opinion that if any of those who are scouting for Obj's head today are given the opportunity to lead this complex country while facing the same situations as Obj did,none of them could perform better than Obj. Posted by Agidimolaja| 24.04.2008 02:45

tanibaba  Villager

# 6 This strikes me as a sattire. But one thing is clear. Even out of office OBJ continues to be A FRONT PAGE HEADLINER. taslim Posted by tanibaba| 24.04.2008 07:22

chykaa  JJC

# 7 "I mean if there was no Obasanjo, there wouldn’t have been a great Nation called Nigeria. Nigeria wouldn’t have had the best hospital, good roads, constant electricity, adequate drinkable water, qualitative education, maximum security, and other social amenities they are now enjoying." Excuse me but are we talking abt the same country??? Cos i dont think ANYONE is enjoying quality education, constant electricty or any of the above mentioned u so claim we are enjoying! Sorry but your write up is confused. Nigerians are ungrateful because our leaders are not doing anything but enriching themselves. Tell me really is there anything anyone should be grateful for as regards the activities of the government? Posted by chykaa| 25.04.2008 09:26

tonsoyo  Villager

# 8 Yeah Right Hakeem! Nigerians are like that and they earned the right to criticize their leaders the way they do because they are the best citizens in the whole wide world. Nigerians pay their taxes regularly, they obey traffic rules, they diligently perform all their civic duties by over 1000% yes they earned the right to abuse their leaders. The leaders that have been imposed on Nigerians were not from among the citizentry they were all imported from Chad, Niger, Botstwana. How can you look at that Abacha and say he is not an almajiri from Chad, and can you look at Obasanjo and say he was not sired in Zimbabwe where elections were massively rigged. No those leaders are not Nigerians themselves! Nigerian should criticize their leaders because they do not take bribes in their little offices, even if he is a poor clerk, Nigerians that work in our hospitals do not steal drugs and they do not steal office supplies and take them home, no danfo and molue drivers do not increase fare anytime rain threatens to fall. Our Policemen do not even take bribe! Why should anybody complain that Nigerians do all these things even if they do, didn't Obasanjo know that he is suppose to deter them from doing it?, didn't Abacha know that he should have left Abuja and do traffic Warden in Lagos? Oh why shouldn't the Police men take bribe, afterall the leaders do it too, afterall IBB should have left the comfort of his Aso Rock to check Driver Licenses on the street. Nigerians have a right to do everything above if they want to and blame the leaders for making them do it and then turn around to blame the leaders again for doing it. Hakeem those Policemen that take bribes are not Nigerians, those petty traders who always clogged the rail tracks after repeated warnings to desist are actually from Togo, those fake Pastors and Imam that egg on the leadership are from South Africa, this is why Nigerians blame their leaders. Until Nigerians are put in Nigeria, and the leaders are picked from among the Nigerians and they stop importing them from Somali, Nigerians wil continue to blame their leaders. How can such a great people with great passion for respecting their civic duties be cursed with such terrible leadership. That's why! Posted by tonsoyo| 25.04.2008 10:06