The Nigerian Village Square - No Doubt, This House Has Collapsed!

No Doubt, This House Has Collapsed!

Written by Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye

Wednesday, 24 January 2007

No Doubt, This House Has Collapsed!

By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye

This is an example of a country that has fallen down; it has collapsed. This house has fallen — Prof Chinua Achebe

"Something startles where I thought I was safest" -- Walt Whitman

A couple of months ago, the Minister of Education, Mrs. Obiageli Ezekwesili, came to the Independent to meet with top Editorial staff of the newspaper. The meeting commenced with the normal ritual of introductions, and as my brother, Mr. James Akpandem, the Managing Editor, who introduced the Independent team, got to me and said: “This is Mr. Ugochu—”, the minister cut in: “I kno-ow him! He is the angry man!” And the whole room erupted in loud laughter.

When later it was my turn to speak, I began by saying that there was somebody else whose column, “Conversations of the Angry Man”, appeared every Monday, that I was not the person, and that the minister was, perhaps, mistaking me for him. This caused another round of loud laughter, with someone raising his voice above the loud mirth: “You are angrier than the Angry Man!”

To make sure she was actually referring to me, each time the minister, in the course of her speech, recalled an incident that offended her, she would say: “When I saw that, I became angry, but not like him!” And she would point at me or use a gesture to indicate she was referring to me. At some point she said: “I am even more angry than you are. That’s why I am doing what I am doing to change the situation. It takes someone who is really angry about the situation of things to do what I am presently doing at the Ministry of Education.”

Now, I do not think that what I feel about the dilapidated state of Nigeria is anger. I would rather say that I am deeply pained. I am deeply pained that a nation like Nigeria could be practically abandoned to rot away by a gaggle of heartless and conscienceless men who have managed to get themselves into power. Nigeria today presents the perfect picture of how a country could look like in the absence of any form of government. I agree with Prof Chinua Achebe that Nigeria today is too dangerous for silence! In fact, in this country, everyone is on his or her own. Virtually, no one in Aso Rock today wakes up each day with genuine thoughts about the welfare of the citizenry. Whatever one occasionally sees in form of motions or semblance of actions are mere political stunts enacted solely to give the masses the impression that some form of governance is in place in Nigeria, and to let them know that very soon, elections would hold, and they would be required to come out to vote, so that their turn-out could be used to justify the outcome of the hideous rigging that would surely be perpetrated.

We live in a country where the government has become perennially incapable of causing any form of cheering news to occur. One thing anyone can predict with unfailing accuracy in Nigeria is the failure of this government in virtually every aspect of our national life. My kind prayer for those who think I am exaggerating here is simple: May God help you to survive to tell the story any time you find yourself in any of those very perilous situations that bring home to you the rude reality of the dangerous state of Nigeria.

On New Year’s eve, my entire family and I would have perished, but for the mercy and intervention of God. We were travelling to the East on the very mischievous and perilous Lagos-Shagamu-Benin Expressway. It should have been a very joyous, pleasant ride by a happy family through the country-side, observing the beautiful forests and enchanting hills, all sandwiched between several villages and towns, under a clear bright sky, but for those cruel potholes, which were purposely left there by those who should eliminate them, to ensure we never for once have any cause to be happy in Nigeria. As we approached Okada in Edo State, we became captives to a most stressful and terrible traffic hold-up, caused by the horribly bad road which the authorities had deliberately refused to repair, and we were made to crawl in this suffocating trap, amidst curses and over-boiling anger from fellow drivers, and the heart-rending cries of children who could not understand why anyone with blood running in his veins could subject them to such a heartless torture, for about five hours.

When it seemed we had escaped this one, we ran into yet another, an even more complicated one that delayed us further. As the sun gradually shed its brightness and receded to its lonely, dark-blue hut, and a canopy of darkness eagerly sought to enfold and blind us, I began to pray that we escape the unyielding trap before it became really dark, because, given the reputation of that area with hoodlums, I could imagine what would happen to those still trapped in the midst of that thick, intimidating forest when the darkness becomes really thick and murky.

We eventually escaped as it became darker, and into further adventures on that road amidst impatient, angry drivers, many of who were, like us, unduly tasked by the nightmarish, manmade affliction we had just left behind us, and whose tempers had been driven to the edge by the excruciating experience. In short, the road became a mini-battle ground, and to cut a long story short, as we entered Asaba, when it had really become dark, we had an accident that severely damaged my car, knocking it into a very violent and benumbing coma. But thank God who is our only Hope in this unmanned jungle called Nigeria, we all escaped unhurt, including my two-year old son, who was picked up from the floor of the car where he had fallen from the back seat. My wife who had removed her seat belt at that instance to attend to the kids who were already freezing with cold smashed the windshield with her head. But although her head was decorated with very tiny bits of broken glasses, she sustained no injuries. It was a miracle.

As we got out of the vehicle, and discovered that no one was hurt, gratitude to God welled up in my heart. Indeed, we may not have a government, but we have a God! Sympathisers came and helped push the badly wounded car out of the road. When they saw that no one was hurt, they all dispersed. Suddenly, we were there, all alone, on that lonely stretch of land, under the freezing cold, abandoned to our fate and ourselves. I looked this way and that, and it became clearer to me again, that in Nigeria, you are always on your own. Whether you lived or died is entirely your business!

As we waited for the friend I had called up in Asaba to come and “evacuate” us from the accident scene, my four year-old daughter began a lamentation:

“Now, Daddy’s car has spoiled, what are we going to do? We won’t go to the village again. How will my Daddy go to work again? What are we going to do? Daddy’s car has spoiled, what are we going to do?”

She was saying this and crying bitterly. These were simple lines any child can compose and render, but her very sad, mournful tone that lonely, cold, sad night, and the deeper meanings and disarming imageries her words conveyed broke my heart. I had never seen her in that mood before then, and even as I write now, I wish with all my heart that nothing would ever happen again to make me see her or anyone in that mood. Her words appeared like sad poetic lines, written with pale colours on that lonely stretch of dark land. So, if I had died in that accident, that's how my children would have been mourning me? My thoughts ran really wild.

Now the question I am forced to ask is: even if there was no road at all on the place we now have the Lagos-Benin Expressway before 1999, is nearly eight years of being in office not enough for any focused, people-oriented and compassionate government to construct a befitting and safe road for the use of Nigerians? There is absolutely no reason that can justify the horrible state of that road, the callousness and cruelty of those in power.

But for the clearly avoidable traffic hold-up that delayed us for several hours, nothing would have made to me embark on such a hazardous night-journey with my family, and be caught up in the kind of “war” the drivers engaged in on that road that night. I was even planning to spend the night in Onitsha, because, it was even more suicidal to enter the more dangerous Onitsha-Owerri Road, still in very bad shape, at night, to compete with the ever furious trailer drivers. Yet, this is the same road President Obasanjo used to flag off his campaign in the East in 2003!

Many have died on these roads and no one, except the countless orphans, widows and widowers they left behind to lick the deep wound of their sudden, violent departure are feeling it. After eight years in office what exactly can the Obasanjo government show for the incredibly huge revenues that have accrued to it since 1999? The roads have degenerated to mere stretches of cruel slaughter-slabs; the hospitals have become waiting rooms to cold and lonely graves; indeed, it is a big shame that after eight years of wasting the nation’s resources on frivolities, Alami and Bamaiyi, are receiving court orders to go abroad for medical treatment, just as government officials and their families do; schools have decayed so much that no person who can afford it can risk having his child in a Nigerian school. No, they would rather send them abroad, and that includes Ghana! Very soon, people would start sending their kids to Liberian schools and patronizing Somali hospitals!

Also, Nigeria has never been as insecure as it is now! If you were told some years ago, specifically before 1999, that a time would come when both the police and the people they are hired to protect would all become a mass of helpless, hapless, vulnerable and frightened victims of a growing army of an all-conquering and seemingly invincible hoodlums, would you have believed it? But that is exactly the case today. We are the sixth largest producer of petroleum, but what do we have to show for it? No fuel filling at stations, no functioning refineries, nothing. While corruption has been institutionalised, and leaders are building wealthy dynasties with stolen funds, the killing hunger in the land is driving Nigerians to roast themselves alive while scooping fuel from pipelines obviously vandalized by NNNPC staff and their collaborators.

Nigeria is still trapped in suffocating, blinding, thick darkness, because, the Obasanjo Government, after nearly eight years in power is still talking about 3,000 megawatts, 10,000 megawatts, while industries are closing shop in Nigeria and relocating to better-managed countries like Ghana because of the unending crises in our power sector, thereby compounding the already worsening unemployment situation. Everyday, this government invests energy and resources only to explain away its failure, and declaring phantom achievements.

Look at the situation in the Niger Delta. For years, the place was neglected, while money realized from there, at the expense of the people's lives, sources of livelihood (fishing and farming), were squandered on damnable vanities, "woman friends" and building of ungodly and contaminated dynasties, that will surely meet with calamity in the near future. Now, the nation is paying greatly for that profligacy. The place has become unsafe for oil exploration. The Filipinos have just barred their nationals from coming to work in Nigeria any more. Many more countries may follow suit. The situation will compound further, and those who have accumulated stolen wealth may not have any peace or space to enjoy it. Na so this world be!

Indeed, this house has collapsed. I do not envy the person who will take over from Obasanjo. The person will inherit an angry, hungry, impoverished and frustrated populace, wilfully plunged into unimaginable hardship by a regime that behaves as if it was contracted to visit untold punishment on Nigerians.

Indeed, the next president will take over a collapsed country.

And the people will pour their impatience and frustrations on him, because the suffering will become worse, as the impact of Obasanjo’s “reforms” ( i.e., selling off Nigeria’s prized possessions to self and cronies) begin to be felt.

No doubt, what we see now, is but the beginning of protracted nightmare, what with all the talk about continuity. It is that bad.

_____________________________________________
Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye writes a weekly column (SCRUPLES) in Daily Independent www.independentngonline.com . Email: scruples2006@yahoo.com

Robot Robot is offline
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	# 1 ...Read the full article. Posted by Robot\| 24.01.2007 19:38

Anointed Anointed is offline
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	# 2 "...were squandered on damnable vanities, "woman friends" and building of ungodly and contaminated dynasties, that will surely meet with calamity in the near future." Amen and Amen and Amen!!!!!!!!!!!!! Posted by Anointed\| 24.01.2007 20:28

Fine Naija Bobo Fine Naija Bobo is offline
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	# 3 I thank God you and your family survived the accident on Obasanjo's dilipidated road that night. I agree with you that, even though we do not have a government, we have a God. The money Obasanjo has poured into the Atiku-must-go project can put that Benin-Lagos Expressway in good shape. Imagine spending about five hours in a hold up, in the middle of no-where, surrounded by thick forests? Thank God, you are alive to tell the story. Only God knows what happened to those who were still trapped in that terrible traffic-jam by nightfall. Some of them would even have more bitter stories to tell. Happy Survival, my brother. Posted by Fine Naija Bobo\| 25.01.2007 04:40

Abraxas Abraxas is offline
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	# 4 Hi, folks! Indeed, this house has collapsed. I do not envy the person who will take over from Obasanjo. The person will inherit an angry, hungry, impoverished and frustrated populace, wilfully plunged into unimaginable hardship by a regime that behaves as if it was contracted to visit untold punishment on Nigerians. Indeed, the next president will take over a collapsed country. And the people will pour their impatience and frustrations on him, because the suffering will become worse, as the impact of Obasanjo’s “reforms” ( i.e., selling off Nigeria’s prized possessions to self and cronies) begin to be felt. No doubt, what we see now, is but the beginning of protracted nightmare, what with all the talk about continuity. It is that bad. Actually, in case you do not know yet, General Olusegun Aremu Okikiolakan Matiyu OBASANJO (GCFR) has created a very enabling environment for his primary constituency, the Nigerian military cabal, to justify the overthrow of any democratically elected government after him. Muchas gracias. Don Juan Carlos ABRAXAS (III) Posted by Abraxas\| 25.01.2007 05:13

Ugochukwu Ugochukwu is offline
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	# 5 FNB Thank you and God bless. Posted by Ugochukwu\| 25.01.2007 05:20

Fine Naija Bobo Fine Naija Bobo is offline
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	# 6 VANGUARD, Thursday, January 25, 2007 Atiku Hits Obasanjo Afresh Asks President To Explain How He Turned Struggling N20,000 Business Into ‘Vast Business Bmpire' By Emmanuel Aziken Posted to the Web: Thursday, January 25, 2007 ABUJA—THE political camp of Vice President Atiku Abubakar wants the presidency to explain to Nigerians how President Olusegun Obasanjo was able to turn around his business empire with only N20,000 in 1998 after his release from jail into “a vast empire” across the country. The embattled Vice President was absent yesterday at the weekly meeting of the Federal Executive Council with his party — Action Congress (AC) — asking the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to disregard the PDP petition seeking his disqualification from the April presidential election. Responding to Tuesday’s declaration by Presidential Special Assistant, Mallam Uba Sani, that the Vice President impoverished the North by diverting funds meant for the development of the North to his ABTI empire, the Vice President said the President was himself susceptible to charges of impropriety in his dealings since 1999. “It is public knowledge that in 1999 when Atiku and Obasanjo ran for their joint ticket, the President was broke, and it was Atiku that raised the N100 million needed to pull him out of bankruptcy in order to qualify to run as candidate of the PDP. According to Minister Nasir el-Rufai, the President had only N20,000 in his account when he came into office,” the Vice President said in a statement released by his campaign office. “Perhaps, Uba Sani would care to explain to Nigerians the following public facts and allegations that have been made against his principal: •How and by what means did one man who had a failed farm in 1999 come to acquire six extensive, flourishing commercial farms in all the political zones of the country? The farms are located in Oyo (2), Ogun, Taraba, Cross River, and Ondo states. The President is getting set to commission one of these farms at Olokoda, which is reportedly capable of producing 10,000 broilers per day. •How and where did President Obasanjo get the N700 million which he paid back into the Mofas Account, after overdrawing this account long after the 2003 elections? •Up to now, the Presidency has not denied that Bodunde Adeyanju, the President’s Personal Assistant, collected huge sums of money from the Mofas Account, on behalf of his principal. Who was this money given to, and for what purpose? •Is it possible for the President to purchase 200 million shares of Transcorp from his salary and allowances when, according to the account of Minister Nasir el-Rufai, the President had only N20,000 in his account in 1999? •Save for the ABTI University, all the ABTI institutions that Uba Sani mentioned in his tirade were there before 1999. The source of funding for ABTI University is common knowledge. In contrast, could Uba Sani explain the source of funding for the Bells Technology University which is linked with his principal? •How and by what means did a retired military officer with no more than N20,000 in his account in 1999 come to allegedly acquire major shareholdings in commercial banks, insurance firms and airlines in Nigeria , as a weekly medium, Leadership, exposed two weeks ago? •Uba Sani is yet to deny the magazine cover story that his principal contributed to the collapse of Hallmark Bank by overdrawing a campaign account which he (the principal) solely managed, to the tune of billions of Naira, long after the campaign ended." However, the Action Congress (AC) on whose platform the VP wants to govern the country, yesterday, asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to disregard the petition sent by the PDP to the commission seeking his disqualification from contesting April’s presidential election. National Publicity Secretary of the AC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in a statement in Abuja said the PDP’s petition was of no consequence since it did not comply with the provisions of the Electoral Act. According to AC, the power to file petition against any candidate is contained only in Section 32(4) of the Act, which provides that “any person who has reasonable grounds to believe that any information given by candidates in the affidavit is false may file a suit at the federal high court or state high court against such person seeking a declaration that the information contained in the affidavit is false. “Any petition outside that quoted above is not grounded in law and, therefore, of no effect whatsoever,” the party said. “However, we are not surprised that a lawless, garrison party like the PDP will resort to cheap and illegal tactics in its growing desperation to erect road blocks on the VP’s path to the presidency,” it added. Meanwhile, AC has described as “a gross disregard for the judiciary and the height of lawlessness,” the presidency’s refusal to restore all the rights and privileges of the VP in accordance with the pronouncement of the Court of Appeal. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by Fine Naija Bobo*\| 25.01.2007 05:44

Abraxas Abraxas is offline
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	# 7 Hi, folks! Question: Can President Aremu Okikiolakan Obasanjo (GCFR) please explain how he turned a struggling twenty thousand naira (N20,000) business into a vast business empire? Answer: Exactly the same way that Vice President Atiku Abubakar (GCON) turned his thirty thousand naira (N30,000) life savings into a vast business conglomerate, on retiring from the Nigerian Customs Service, after a corruption-free, meritorious long service to his so-called great country, the cassava republic of Nigeria, now a full-blown banana republic on the verge of collapse under President Olusegun Matiyu Obasanjo (GCFR). Muchas gracias. Don Juan Carlos ABRAXAS (III) Posted by Abraxas\| 25.01.2007 06:05

Fine Naija Bobo Fine Naija Bobo is offline
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	# 8 *Daily Independent, Thursday, January 2007 Don’t Impeach Obasanjo, Ali Pleads With Reps 25th January 2007 By Iyobosa Uwugiaren and Alex Emeje, Abuja •No, Obasanjo Must Go, They Insist Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Chairman, Ahmadu Ali, on Wednesday led a delegation to meet with a caucus in the House of Representatives headed by Speaker Aminu Bello Masari. There he pleaded: "I beg you, in the name of the Almighty God, and in the interest of our democracy, don’t impeach President Olusegun Obasanjo."* Two groups in the National Assembly – The 2007 Movement and the pro-third term members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – who felt betrayed by the President and the party are collecting signatures across parties lines to begin an impeachment process against him. An insider confirmed that both groups have secured the number of signatures required by the Constitution and may table the matter in the House next week. Apparently frightened by the plot, Obasanjo sent the top echelon of the PDP, led by Ali and National Secretary, Ojo Maduekwe, to the National Assembly to plead with party members for a change of mind. The delegation arrived about 2 p.m. and met with the PDP caucus in the House for two and a half hours. Lawmakers who attended the meeting said it was stormy, as members expressed disappointment over the action of the president and the party against them, especially during the primaries last year. Francis Amadiegwu (PDP, Imo) told journalists that Ali’s plea did not persuade members, who had vowed not to have anything do with the party and Obasanjo’s cause any longer. He quoted the aggrieved as saying that despite their commitment to the party’s programmes, Obasanjo and the leadership of the PDP openly worked against them in the primaries. They expressed displeasure over the arrogant posture of the party that kept on substituting the names of those who won their primaries for those who lost; meaning that, it does not pay to be a loyal party member. But Amadiegwu said Ali stressed that "our hands are clean. Obasanjo and the national leadership of the party had nothing to do with your political fate during the primaries; it was your governors and state leaders of the party that decided what happened during the party primaries." The delegation promised to call for an enlarged party caucus to further discuss the issues. Apart from the leadership of the PDP which recently created structures to counter the impeachment initiative, a source added, powerful business interest groups in Lagos have voted vast amounts to lobby the lawmakers to mellow. "The next few weeks will be very rough for Obasanjo. He will soon know that all power does not belong to him, as some members of his clique want us to believe", said a lawmaker from Lagos State. Posted by Fine Naija Bobo\| 25.01.2007 06:28

akuluouno akuluouno is offline
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	# 9 Dear Ugo, I thank God that u and ur family were able to make it alive after the gruesome ordeal that u went through. The Nigeria story is a basket case and no matter how it is retold, the recurring decimal is failure. Until we depart from the politics of people, religion and ethnic groups and enthrone ideas of good governance as the all embracing modus for our politics, so long shall we continue to play to the gallery with the concommitant waste of human lives, human resources and even natural resources as well as good will and opportunites to boot. I think the maxim in governance today is "corruption ergo sum" meaning "I am corrupt therefore I am" rather than the well known maxim by St Thomas Aquinas or somebody like that "Cogito ergo sum." All Nigerians whould henceforth salute our Caesar in the way Roman citizens did to his predecessors " Morituri Te Salutant" meaning " We who are about to die Salute you" in view of the manner that space is killing all of us gradually. :cry: :cry: :cry: :frown: :frown: Posted by akuluouno\| 25.01.2007 08:48

Exxcuzme Exxcuzme is offline
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	# 10 _______________________________________________________________________ Indeed, this house has collapsed. I do not envy the person who will take over from Obasanjo. The person will inherit an angry, hungry, impoverished and frustrated populace, wilfully plunged into unimaginable hardship by a regime that behaves as if it was contracted to visit untold punishment on Nigerians. _______________________________________________________________________ Please envy the person who will take over from Obasanjo as he will have over 40b in foreign reserve to play with. If the position is not plum, why do you think every dick and harry is vying for it? Posted by Exxcuzme\| 25.01.2007 09:40

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