Talking or writing about the government is what every citizen who is gifted in that regard should embark on. We must not let it become boring. Since silence cannot help us at the moment, then let us talk and talk, let us write and write, let us sing and sing – about the ills of our society.

Some people would scorn at a critic, saying she only writes but has no solution to the problems she writes or talks about. This accusation may be right. However, the critic main concern is not to find solution but to alert, remind, inform her society of impending doom or boom that might engulf her land. The government is responsible for the solution of its society. The government and the critic have different but interwoven function.

Thus the critic must break heavy chain of darkness, which threatens to strangle fertility everywhere in our land while the government must be in the realm of fertile imagination on the idea of national cure. Perhaps you still don’t know that no great satirist would pray for normalcy in her society. She feeds on the ills of the society. She is as they say, a necessary evil in our midst. She knows all what is wrong with the society but barely knows the solution. It is not her responsibility to know the solution but her duty to hold the government responsible for its actions. That is how you should see her.

It is on this premise I would continue to ask questions even though I might not have the solution. Let the government do its job by proffering solution, and let me indulge myself in making sure that a government that fails to do its job does not go scot-free. There are some things that one only become totally conscious of in retrospect. It is what brings the title of this piece – What if...

Dear reader, what if Mr. Lord Luggard, the pastor who solemnized the marriage between the North and the South, had done it in good faith? What if Nigeria did not gain independence in 1960 Oct 1? What if there was no civil war, or what if Biafra had been? What if there was no military coup – the first ever – in 1966 Jan 15? What if the regions were not dissolved and 12 states created in 1967 May 27?

What if Dr. Ishola Oyenusi and Babatunde Folorunsho, two notorious armed robbers, were not executed in 1972? What of Lawrence Anini, another Nigerian bandit in 1986 Dec 3 with his side kick Monday Osunbor? What if the then youngest Head of State, Lt-Col Yakubu Gowon, did not reneged on his promise in 1974 to hand over to civilian rule in 1976? Ah, what if I had stayed in Nigeria and did not let the then Head of State, Ibrahim Babangida’s SAP (Structural Adjustment Programme) drove me into voluntary exile?

What if Nigeria did not change its currency from pounds to Naira in 1972 or switched from left to right-hand driving in 1973? Or what if National Youth Service Corps was not inaugurated in 1973? What if Gowon was not toppled in a bloodless coup by Murtala Mohammed in 1975 July 29? What if Nigerian 12 states were not divided into 19 states in 1976 March 17, 21 states in 1987 Sept 23, 30 states in 1991 Aug 27, 36 states in 1996 Oct 1? What if there was no Udoji award that brought hyper-inflation in 1976?

And what if Murtala was not assassinated in 1976 Feb 13 or what if Obasanjo was also assassinated? What if Aminu Kano or Obafemi Awolowo or Nnamdi Azikiwe or Ibrahim Waziri was the one sworn in and not Sheu Shagari as president in 1979 Oct 1? And what if Muhammadu Buhari and Tunde Idiagbon did not abort the so-called Second Republic in 1983 Dec 31? What if Ibrahim Babangida did not become the Head of State in 1985 Aug 27?

I ask, what if Dele Giwa, the founder and editor-in-chief of Newswatch Magazine was not assassinated by parcel bomb in 1986 Oct 19? And what if the killers were eventually caught? Also, what if Bola Ige, Attorney General of the Federation and Justice Minister was not savagely killed in 2001 Dec 23 in his bedroom? God, what if WAZOBIA, a supposed common language among a people had lived? Oh, Lord, what if Dele Ndubisi Udoh, Nigeria’s 400 meters Olympian, was not cruelly murdered by the Nigerian Police in 1981?

What if official praise singers known as crawlers or sycophants, and corrupt public officials are shun or avoided like a leper? What if they are treated like armed robbers? Baba Alagbara, what if Tai Solarin, a social critic of no equal, did not die in 1994 June 27? What if Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, another social critic of no equal, did not die of AIDS related disease in 1997 Aug 2? What if Lamidi Adedibu, a political thug of no equal and Ekarun or Ekerin of Olubadan, suddenly becomes the Olubadan (King) of Ibadan? What if Nigerians in the Diaspora all return, take to the street – from south to north – and nurse their land of birth back to normalcy?

What if the "owners" of Nigeria are serious about seriousness? What if Nigeria has been blessed with visionary leaders and not Polieaticians? What if civil servants are truly civil servants and not master of servants. What if Nigerians do not worship vices? What if Nigerian youths know their rights and take their leaders responsible instead of engaging in advance free frauds known as 419er or prostitution or cultism or armed robbery or cheeking our of the country? What if the artisians are truthful in dealing with their fellow country men and women? Ah, what if church or mosque has not become a commercialized spectacle in my land of birth?

Oh, what if Major Orkar’s coup had succeeded in 1993 April 22, Babangida assassinated and the North no more part of Nigeria? What if Babangida did not annul the "free and fair" election believed to have been won by MKO Abiola in 1993 June 12? What if there was no interim government of Ernest Shonekan, or what if Sani Abacha did not overthrow Shonekan in 1993 Nov 18 after Babangida had stepped aside? What if NADECO had stood its grand by rejecting interim government and Abacha? And what if Lateef Jakande, former Lagos State Governor, Ebenezer Babatope and other supposed democrats did not serve under Abacha, a despot?

What if Wole Soyinka could not escape when death was knocking at his door during Abacha era? And what if Ken Saro-Wiwa was not brutally murdered in 1995 Nov 10? What if Abacha did not die miraculously in 1998 June 8 and had succeeded himself? Or what if MKO Abiola had refused to drink that killer herbal tea and thus live? What if Obasanjo had died in Abacha’s gulag and so he did not succeed Abubakar in 1999 May 29?

Hum, what if the Ota farmer had succeeded in his third term attempt? And what if his anointed son had died in Germany as maliciously rumoured prior to the April election in 2007? What if the election tribunal rules against Yar’adua tomorrow? What if I had had the courage to pull the trigger in Abuja some years back when that devilish creature marched in front of me?

Oh, what if Nigeria had become? What if the giant had remained a giant? And what if tomorrow comes and he rises again? Oh, Eledumare, what if death only takes the soul of those who do evil things? Do you know any other what ifs? What if...

Copyright 2007       mysmallvoice@yahoo.com

Robot  Villager

# 1 Every Nigerian knows one thing for certain about their lives. It is that...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 19.09.2007 06:39