The Irish times of Tuesday the 19^th of September carried in its front page the picture of a starving African child, coming on the heels of a government white paper issued by the Irish government, with a promise to increase overseas aid to 0.07% of GDP by 2012. The significance of the front page picture of a starving African child, once again highlights the monumental failings of Nigerian and African misrulers, who have only succeeded in creating an African continent synonymous with starvation, disease, and strife  

 The somewhat undignifying and dehumanising assault, with pictures and television images of the seemingly helpless, strife stricken, and hungry African, has become for many of us a regular feature of western life. It brings to question our humanity, and the very essence of our being. It makes me ponder quite often; what goes on in the head of the African, and the African misrulers? What makes them so shameless, so lacking of dignity, so unconscionable, so unbelievably greedy? Are we cursed? Could it be in our stars? Does the sun set differently on our continent?  Why have we accepted the manmade suffering, penury and underachievement that have become our lot, in an era were trains run under the sea to link up Paris and London amongst so many other dizzying technological feats?

 If ever there can be change, it can only begin when African leaders begin to feel the shame, and the loss of dignity, their misrule has wrought on the long suffering African. As the 2007 Nigerian election approaches, there is once again the notorious macabre dance brand of Nigerian-African politics which concentrates more on inter-ethnic and class power struggle, than on bread and butter issues.   So far the main and only theme of the approaching elections remains the power struggle between the different contending zones, with little or no thought given to the issues that affects the life of the teeming masses.

With the exception of Professor Pat Utomi, no single presidential candidate or party has articulated any broad concepts on how to unshackle the masses from the chains of excruciating poverty. While the concept of zoning may not be a bad idea, given our multi-ethnic realities, and in light of our  political history, it must or should go hand in hand with competing,  creative, radical, and realistic programmes or ideas  on the reduction of poverty, job creation, comprehensive healthcare, and education amongst others. 

Given the absence of any debate on issues (bread and butter), one is persuaded to believe, the zonal struggle for power is principally a struggle to zone the unending looting of the treasury. Not too surprisingly, each zone feels it’s their turn to take charge of the looting of the state coffers as of right. Loquacious  South-South leaders and politicians, that has shed  a mountain of crocodile tears over the poverty and despoliation of their zone, has not even in the least articulated any short or long term  measures for the emancipation of their people.

It does confirm the long held suspicion, that the zonal power struggle is an elitist scam to rotate or zone the looting of the treasury, beneficial only to the cabal and their cronies, with scant if any regards for the citizenry. The deception of using zonal sentiments to secure power, only to end up impoverishing and marginalizing those in whose name the power was given, is an all too familiar scenario in our clime.

Zoning is a lofty idea and ideal which has the potential of curing some of the ills in our peculiar circumstances, but at the same time we must insist on the best man, who has a genuine agenda for the masses. An ideal president would be someone who prioritises the masses above all else irrespective of his ethnic group. Such ideal candidates abound in every zone. The onerous challenge would be to filter out such genuine presidential materials amongst the many wolves in sheep’s clothing whose only agenda is to zone the looting.

If we must in due course, stop seeing those tearful images of the grief stricken African child, and if we must restore our dignity, and take our rightful place among men and nations, the time is now, to elect a proven, dynamic,  Pan-Nigerian, high end achiever and visionary.

Comrade Lawrence Chinedu Nwobu

Email: lawrencenwobu@yahoo.com

Robot  Villager

# 1 Given the absence of any debate on issues, one is persuaded to believe, the zonal struggle for power...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 19.09.2006 23:48

emj  Villager

# 2 Given the absence of any debate on issues (bread and butter), one is persuaded to believe, the zonal struggle for power is principally a struggle to zone the unending looting of the treasury. Not too surprisingly, each zone feels it’s their turn to take charge of the looting of the state coffers as of right. Loquacious South-South leaders and politicians, that has shed a mountain of crocodile tears over the poverty and despoliation of their zone, has not even in the least articulated any short or long term measures for the emancipation of their people. Chinedu---it ain't about Zoning, it's about having the right people with their head well set(focused) in govt. No amount of grammar or turenchi will emancipate our people. Posted by emj| 20.09.2006 00:02

Palamedes  Villager

# 3 The harder the road to victory, the sweeter it is. Supporters of geopolitical zoning seem to have short memory: First, they wanted their own states and having accomplished that, then they wanted to unit into geopolitical zones. The geopolitical zone is yet another layer whose sole aim is to divide-and-chop. In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) is a manual process to unite the sperm with the female egg. The emphasis is on the word manual. Naturally, about half a million sperms ejaculated by the man into the women would compete to reach the egg. Only the strongest and the quickest and tactically astute sperm reach and fertilise the egg first. In IVF, sperms do not compete to get to the egg first. The Nigeria politician wants a free ride, that is to say, little work for big gains. The zonal advocates are advocates of political IVF, that is to say, no test of character, no debate, no competing with other eligible candidates, no kissing of babies, no verbal abuse by the public, no encounter with the hard working people whose money some of the aspirants have stolen – my contempt goes to Odili. They want a free ride to Aso Rock. This is an act of cowardice, and we risk electing people who are cowards, unqualified, of weak characters, and can't hold on to their own in international politics – all because they got to the top post with little or no hard work on their part. If despite this, we still accept zonal candidates then the fault lies not in our politicians but in us. We would have lost the instinct, which makes a nation, civilise and progressive. Posted by Palamedes| 20.09.2006 06:37

ithinkbetter  Villager

# 4 =Palamedes;131260> In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) is a manual process to unite the sperm with the female egg. The emphasis is on the word manual. Naturally, about half a million sperms ejaculated by the man into the women would compete to reach the egg. Only the strongest and the quickest and tactically astute sperm reach and fertilise the egg first. In IVF, sperms do not compete to get to the egg first. palamedes: fallacy upon fallacy is absolute vanity: correction!..the embryos judged to be the "best" are transferred to the patient's uterus through a thin, plastic catheter, which goes through her vagina and cervix. often, several embryos are passed into the uterus to improve chances of implantation and pregnancy. only fittest sperms fertilize the eggs in this procedure(IVF)....comprehend! Posted by ithinkbetter| 20.09.2006 07:14

Palamedes  Villager

# 5 ithinkbetter: the NVS resident rottweiler I shall resist the temptation to go into technicalities with you – of course, you are no match. The IVF analogy demonstrates a point, which you have completely missed. This is very typical of you and your inability to discus issue seriously. Your comment made no mention of the article. Forget about me for a moment, can you manage to write a couple of paragraphs – free of gibberish - of your thoughts on the article? And just to remind you, the article is about geopolitical zoning and not about IVF. Posted by Palamedes| 20.09.2006 08:23

ithinkbetter  Villager

# 6 palamedes: ...i didn't know you have also taken up that name "mad-rottweiler"...good for your ego-massaging...estúpido..indeed! HALF BAKED ILLITERATE! ...What would happen if you drilled a tunnel through the center of the Earth and jumped into it? Posted by ithinkbetter| 20.09.2006 08:32

bennie  Villager

# 7 Chinedu, Well written. This has always been my argument. We need real politicians who can sort out the problem of food, poverty, health, education, shelter and security for the poor Nigerian masses. I don't care about such a person's ethnicity or geo political origins. QED Posted by bennie| 21.09.2006 10:33