Nigeria as a country which hitherto started well by the first republic elites who patriotically and selflessly laid the foundation for developing the country after fighting and securing the country’s independence from the illegal British domination has come and gone like lightning, leaving its trail of agony and frustrations.
The untimely evanescence of these great leaders of blessed memory from our nation’s political landscape has left a herd of unsuspecting innocent Nigerians with no alternative than to live the reality of a doomy destiny and charade of adverse leadership style full of blistering criticisms. It is very unfortunate that poor Nigerians had fallen into the hands of the wrong leaders who promised to be good babysitters to engineer and guide the nascent developing toddler to maturity, but ended up as a bunch of gluttons with their hoaxes and evil tendencies. The labor of the Nigerian past heroes has no doubt come to naught as the country falls into the hands of un-suitable entities that are not qualified for the job.
Nigeria could have become an Eldorado, a land of milk just for the taking, but alas, what is happening to a country that is blessed with a wide variety of different natural resources? What is happening to the supposedly giant of Africa which is richly endowed with Petroleum and natural resources? For the past twenty years now since the military handed over the government to the civilians, it is hoped that the squalid miserable situation of the average Nigerian will be ameliorated, but the sorry state of Nigerians has become more exacerbated by the day due to the self-centered nature of our political office holders. The visible virulence of corruption has eaten deep inside their bone marrow; they often engage in bribery and embezzlement of public funds. These sets of people are unqualified and unpatriotic; they lack the technical know-how required to develop the country. The country is indeed in need of qualified individual experts who can perfectly handle the aspect of production, institutional reforms, infrastructural development, and security system to save the lives of millions of Nigerians who always sleep with one eye open. For the past eight years and even the present, the ruling political parties that manipulate their ways to the corridor of power have virtually nothing to offer to Nigerians. They are good at coining their slogans to allure the poor electorates into believing their cacophonies. The glaring incompetency and lack of concern from the side of government especially during the Buhari-led administration both in the first and second tenure has plunged Nigeria into the land of sorrow and squalor. The rate of insecurity and killings of innocent souls during the immediate past and the early part of this administration across the country occasioned by herders farmers conflicts and invasion of the nation’s territory by terrorists was enough to drain off the hope of existence from the ordinary Nigerian. The unmitigated bloodshed rose to the crescendo while hardship and crippling economic realities have become the order of the day.
President Buhari deliberately watched the killings of innocent souls across the country and provided clear indices for a failed state. He only concerned himself with issuing press releases to condemn the killings that occur monthly. Unfortunately, he exited office without addressing the evil that characterized his administration. Nigeria has invariably assumed a reputation of being cursed with bad and incompetent leaders. Even the good ones that emerge to help out could not do so because the system never supports them. Their efforts are frustrated by latent forces of evil and retrogression. The present Tinubu-led administration and the veracity of its victory from the polls being challenged in the tribunal electoral court of law by the two popular opposition parties, PDP and Labour is not helping in any aspect of its policies to give Nigerians a long-lasting respite from the persisting hardship and blood bath confronting the nation. Since the exit of Buhari a few months now, the hardship in the country has become more glaring and frustrating. Killers have continued in their bloody campaign in Benue, Taraba, and Plateau States.
President Tinubu has since reconstituted the nation’s security architecture which many see as a sign of readiness from his side to put in check the activities of the enemies of the nation.
What is difficult to determine at this point is whether or not they would allow the Buhari nonchalant attitude to the destruction of the lives and property of innocent Nigerians to subsist under the new dispensation.
The recent attacks that reportedly led to the death of close to 50 people by a band of herdsmen in Plateau and Benue have been roundly condemned.
It is now crystal clear that President Tinubu has kept to his word when he earlier told the nation that he will start from where Buhari’s stopped. Many families today cannot afford one square meal a day. Nigerians have been compelled to develop the capacity and survival instincts to remain alive under the present circumstances. It is becoming even more difficult to survive since President Bola Ahmed’s Tinubu-administration was sworn in and its subsequent removal of oil subsidies and his economic knee-jerk policies and reforms without corresponding measures to cushion the effects on low-income earners. If Tinubu were a Medical Doctor, he would have been the worst of them all. His policies could be likened to a doctor who sees no need to apply Anesthesia before pulling out the tooth of his patient. That was exactly what he did with the subsidy removal.
Nigeria at these trying times needs selfless, altruistic, and qualified hands that can save the country from this incessant misfortune. Nigeria has fallen under Chumsky’s characteristics of a failed State, where the government cannot protect its citizens from violence and destruction. The country suffers from a ‘democratic deficit’, having democratic forms but with limited substance.
Our political officeholders should learn from John Kennedy’s warning that those who sought power by riding on the back of the Tiger ended up inside.
PIONEER NEWS 