A nation’s survival and point of direction solely depend on the vibrant minds of its intelligentsia. Regrettably, the most educated people, especially those interested in arts, philosophy, and politics have gradually betrayed the masses trust; abandoning them in times of need. It seems each woman is now for herself. The so-called survival of the fittest! When a nation is retrogressing, it may be due to the failure of the intellectuals to communicate their ideas to a wider audience.

In Nigeria today the legislature, judiciary, executive, and the fourth estate of realm are no more a vibrant group that challenged the system. Instead they seem to be part of the larger problems confronting the nation. Therefore, it remains sheer hopeless hope for the masses to think that someone else will fight their fight. It won’t happen. The history of nation building usually starts with the masses and ends with the masses. But Nigerians masses do not understand the significant of this historical fact. That’s why they have naively and wrongly put their hopes on fallacy of leadership and religion and rhetoric.

If Nigerian masses use half of the energy they use in churches or mosques to fight their “leaders” who often exploit them on a daily basis, the situation would have improved. Even though they get poorer and poorer, the masses still foolishly believe that God would soon solve their troubles. It is time we told them that God will never come down to fight on their behalf. The Koran and the Bible are instructive enough about crusade and liberation. One wonders why a people who claim to be more religious than the Pope failed to realise the axiom – heaven helps only those who help themselves.

It is high time the masses understood that those who have been fighting on their behalf are now tired, extremely tired. Even many of these fighters have been bought while some acutely engage in pretence. It’s up to the masses to decide their own fate. But if they like they should continue to wait for Heaven’s bless. It should by now clear to the masses that no Jupiter can alleviate their sufferings. If they doubt my assertion, then they need to think back for a possible analysis. Let them go read the speeches from General Murtala Ramat Muhammad up until the one made by Alhaji Musa Yar’Adua/Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in 2007. It’s the same loud and confused and empty talk.

It is as if the bait of rhetoric has hooked the masses. These Nigerian leaders have bewitched the entire nation almost to a point of coma. For fifty years they lie about reform. They keep postponing the day the masses would enjoy basic amenities like adequate running water, constant electricity, suitable road for motorists and pedestrians, well-equipped hospitals, uninterrupted standard education and so on. It was supposed to be year 1990 then 2000 then 2010 and now 2020. Of course the masses know it is all hogwash but because the masses themselves have sold their own soul, it’s easy for the “leaders” to go scot-free with such blatant lies. These “leaders” have become the mirror of the masses and the masses have become the mirror of these “leaders”.

Even though I keep reminding my people that their sufferings would go unabated unless they demand for the main portion, my people are completely satisfied with the remnants. At best they are taking the portion in wrong ways by becoming crawlers. That is why they are so weak to take charge of their lives. That is why they have considerably lost all the things that make a government respects its citizens. Many Nigerians are in the habit of saying, “e go better”. And when I pointed out that many have died one by one while chewing “e go better” without seeing the better days, no one reads meaning to such observation.

See, the crusade has since died in Nigeria. And so Nigerians don’t protest anymore. Gone were the days when secondary school students and those in the Higher Institutions used to organise genuine and effective protests. Today, virtually every citizen has lost the spirit of fighting for freedom. They may have forgotten what freedom means. Even when they summoned courage to fight, it was only a clever ploy to demand for the remnants to fill empty stomach. They are in the habit of betraying the fight as soon as they tasted the leftover. A quick example is those I once referred to as False Democrats. They are everywhere including the media. Some are now helping to sell Yar’Adua’s illegitimate government to the nation. Many did the same thing for Obasanjo, Abacha, Babangida, Buhari and other usurpers.

I strongly believe in the power of the organised masses. The masses elsewhere had fought several battles and won. They had conquered the most brutal authoritarian. The orange and velvet revolution in two central European countries is a useful example. There’s no gun or god; sword or shored that could withstand the fury of the masses. But Nigerian masses have been killed – emotionally and spiritually. They have contributed to their own downfall due to greediness and greediness. As a result, they have lost their integrity and human value. They have allowed themselves to be swindled out of their inheritance. The military and their civilian collaborators are conspicuously winning the battle.

But do you honestly expect anything different? When the masses sell their birthright, what you have is exactly what is happening in Nigeria now. False leadership, do or die affair, stagnation, criminals in the corridor of power, armed robbery, pen robbery, fraud and perpetual lies. Take for example the Niger Delta issue. The government has been promising to solve the problem more than thirty years ago, yet nothing tangible has been done or achieved. Take also Yar’Adua’s health which the government has been lying about. So it’s about culture of telling lies. To see the masses taking all these things lightly is beyond my comprehension (and this is no exaggeration).

Anyway, the masses had lost the fight for freedom a long time ago. They lost it in that moment they allowed a bunch of adventurers to dominate their affairs. The masses power was lost in that minute they approved the first coup. Their inability to resist that first attempt was the vehicle by which the likes of Aguiyi Ironsi, Dim Ojukwu/ Yakubu Gowon, Murtala Muhammed/ Olusegun Obasanjo, Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida, Sani Abacha and Abdusalam Abubakar rode to suppress a nascent uprising. If only the colonial masters did not worsen things by the so-called amalgamation. The result of those early years is affecting the nation up till today. It’s probably too late unless the masses regain the masses power which I doubt.

Copyright 2008

mysmallvoice@yahoo.com

Robot  Villager

# 1 A nation’s survival and point of direction solely depend on the vibrant mi...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 04.09.2008 03:13

allaccess  Villager

# 2 =Robot;4295093297>I strongly believe in the power of the organised masses. The masses elsewhere had fought several battles and won. They had conquered the most brutal authoritarian I am deeply honored to be reading one of very few articles calling for the Nigerian people to take matters into their own hands and sort out the mess that is their country. I am seriously impressed as is my fellow white work colleagues who are fed up reading repetitive high vocabulary thesis on NVS all talking about the same things, leadership failure, tribalism and corruption. The question I have to grapple with everyday in my office about Nigeria is "what are these 140 million people doing about it?" I am sure, and does many that the problem of Nigeria can only be resolved when the people of the country have had enough and are prepared to send a powerful (even violent message) to the stake holders of that country. thanks for this article Posted by allaccess| 04.09.2008 06:06

aliyuAH  JJC

# 3 Thanks for this useful piece on the Nigerian situation. While one acknowledges that the Nigerian masses as the victims of the current degeneration have to do something about it, your judgement of the Nigerian masses seems a little unfair. In the first place, who are the masses that you are refering to? Secondly, how would they undertake this task given the odds stacked against them? A good account of recent developments in Nigeria will show that the masses have not always been passive or collaborating with political thieves. Indeed, the masses whether as students, peasants or workers have stood up to many governments in the past, but it would seem that the political class has gotten more ruthless and uglier. Nigerians who have lost loved ones during the June 12 struggles and numerous student uprisings in 1990s without significant change in the national situation are tired, and they have given up. Obasanjo's eight years of misrule on the back of the masses' struggle against the military has taught Nigerians that their sacrifices and sufferings do not really change their material conditions, it merely replaces one ugly ruler with another. This is why students are more interested in hustling and cultism than activism, and the workers would rather join them than struggle to beat them. Corruption and arbitrary politics has taught many to simply seek their own survival and leave the fate of the collective to God or whatever. The challenge then is to get people to rethink the bitter lessons of their experience. Posted by aliyuAH| 04.09.2008 15:09

emenanjo  Villager

# 4 =aliyuAH;4295093561>Thanks for this useful piece on the Nigerian situation. While one acknowledges that the Nigerian masses as the victims of the current degeneration have to do something about it, your judgement of the Nigerian masses seems a little unfair. In the first place, who are the masses that you are refering to? Secondly, how would they undertake this task given the odds stacked against them? A good account of recent developments in Nigeria will show that the masses have not always been passive or collaborating with political thieves. Indeed, the masses whether as students, peasants or workers have stood up to many governments in the past, but it would seem that the political class has gotten more ruthless and uglier. Nigerians who have lost loved ones during the June 12 struggles and numerous student uprisings in 1990s without significant change in the national situation are tired, and they have given up. Obasanjo's eight years of misrule on the back of the masses' struggle against the military has taught Nigerians that their sacrifices and sufferings do not really change their material conditions, it merely replaces one ugly ruler with another. This is why students are more interested in hustling and cultism than activism, and the workers would rather join them than struggle to beat them. Corruption and arbitrary politics has taught many to simply seek their own survival and leave the fate of the collective to God or whatever. The challenge then is to get people to rethink the bitter lessons of their experience. Aliyu, I think I agree with you but I want to assure you that the masses are not complacent as most of us think. The day the masses will react, most of us would be surprised of the outcome. Some will be shocked the way the almajiris in the North will be transformed to take on their looters. Anybody who thinks that the almajiris are not a revolutionary force because of the impact of Islam on them and the ''false consciousness'' under which they are been tutored, should start having a rethink. When the revolution is ripe and ruptures, most of us would know that they are not "a sack of potatoes". They know their enamy; they know where they live and they know what to do, when a shove becomes an unbearable push. Posted by emenanjo| 05.09.2008 04:55

tanibaba  Villager

# 5 The title of your article reminds me of the conversation i had with somebody recently in the UK. She made very strong negative comments about some Nigerians and came to the conclusion that all Nigerians are like that. She also informed me that all Nigerians are fetish because she has watched several home videos from Nigeria which confirms her position. I had to turn to a teacher that day to lecture her on the fact that it is wrong to observe certain things about certain individuals and then conclude that that is a Nigerian trait. I told her that we have the Hausa Nigerian, Ibo Nigerian, Yoruba Nigerian, Ibibio Nigerian, the Ijaw Nigerian, the Tiv Nigerian etc. Nigeria is not homogeneous. It is not a nation either because some of the constituent part of Nigeria have been in existence long before the British came to Nigeria. Each group has rich history and the division is thick, very thick. This permeates the entire project called Nigeria and also the masses. It is also the major reason for the failure of any national uprising except as led by such bodies as the Nigeria Labour Congress (which often suffers from these divisive sentiments and whose success is largely due to the commonality of class interests). Whichever way you look at it any matter that will call for mass action on a national scale will likely fail because while the cause may not benefit some, some others will consider first their regional/ ethnic interests and if these can be safeguarded or retained by not joining the mass action they will yell "to hell with these rascals" This sorry statement about the structure of our country has also affected developmental efforts as each group is well entrenched in primodial sentiments. Nigeria is like a beautiful mad woman found naked in the village square. All manner of men/women use the force of the darkness to rape her mercilessly in the night and resurface in the morning to complain to town council that the mad woman is disturbing and distracting them with her nudity. Meanwhile the head of the town council just raped her the previous night. It is a pity but that is my country for you. Mass action, at best can only succeed at the regional level where the common interest of either religion or culture, not even economy is threatened. It is a pity but sometimes i weep for this country. Is it by force to be together deceiving each other and tearing at the edifice so that we can leave for our children not " a banner without stain" but a banner stained with blood and evil. thanks for the piece taslim Posted by tanibaba| 05.09.2008 06:03

abayomi waheed  JJC

# 6 physicians are interested in the cause of a disease to assist in the management. the better the precision of diagnosis, the better the prognosis in most cases all other conditions being constant. the cause(s) of 'death of Nigerian masses' will include but not limited to: the amalgamation the military curse the oil curse the politicians' curse the civilian curse some causes of diseases can be removed, others can not. that automatically leaves us with the last three at least for now. but the most important of the 3 is the civilian curse. the change/cure we so much need can only come from within us- individually first then collectively. lets ask our inner selves if we are true even to ourselves. then to our family and then to the Nigerian project. in a blind study to feed an hungry child, whilst we are hungry as well, who do we feed? most will feed the baby last knowing that nobody is looking. only a few will do otherwise. Posted by abayomi waheed| 05.09.2008 08:46

IamGOD  JJC

# 7 I just signed up here on the site and it is really refreshing to see and hear people who want genuine change in this entity called Nigeria. I seriously believe that education of these "masses" is key to Nigeria's deliverance from these vampires. How many people are aware that they have rights and basic requirements from their Government? How many even know the names of their so called representatives? The farmers, market women, petty traders and transporters, who keep the nation afloat are largely ignorant of these things. Only a minority have access and are enlightened on using the internet. When people are made keenly aware of their rights, Nigeria will transform overnight. The question now is who will tell them their rights and teach them how to demand for same? Posted by IamGOD| 05.09.2008 16:12