EDITORIAL: NIGERIA @58: SEPARATING FACTS FROM FICTIONS IN PRESIDENT BUHARI’S SPEECH
One striking quality among some Nigerian leaders is their abilities to employ linguistic eloquence during political gatherings or public speeches to create a utopian world or heaven-on-earth society in which all the problems of the nation from 1st October 1960 till date are “wiped off the slate of history in an abracadabra manner. In front of the flickering eyes of 21st century digital TV cameras of local or international journalists, an average Nigerian political leader, during public broadcast becomes a god who is capable of erasing all the litany of woes that have been plaguing the nations even before the Portuguese traders and later the British colonialists ever taught of settling their feet in the shoes of this country. In the midst of cheering crowds who more often than not only have ears merely for fashion, our leaders would solve the epileptic power problem that has become a source of pride in almost every Nigerian homes, and once there is a restoration of public power supply by the electricity company, both children and adults would thunderously shout “Up NEPA!”. Time is not so generous to allow mentioning other bags of problems that have filled the store house of our national problems.
A reader or readers with mountain moving faith in the glorious posterity of the Nigerian dream may bombard us with first class Cambridge University questions, such as, “why are you so negative about the prospects of a glorious Nigeria of tomorrow; full of milk and honey? Are you such an unpatriotic citizen to have believed that God who in his infinite omniscient wisdom endowed us with too much oil than the entire water body on earth put together and stocked the womb of our land with abundant chaste of mineral and natural resources would allowed it to be a waste? Or do you think the same God who used Lord Lugard to amalgamate the Northern and Southern Protectorate in 1914 (even though without consulting the different ethnic groups therein, despite their heterogenic cultures) as one in indivisible nation would fold his hands and sit back on his heavenly throne and allow us to disintegrate or scatter like a ship without a shepherrd? What about the precious blood of our young men and women that were shed on the altar of our unity by General Gowon during the Nigerian/Biafran war? Do you think God would allow such a precious sacrifice to be in vain? Well, answers to those patriotic questions are emphatic capital “NOs”. But then, such a patriotic reader should pause for some seconds and ask himself/herself whether or not it is possible for money to sprout on a mango tree, or a cow to lay eggs. Yes! In the utopian world of the “Say it, imagine it and claim it” modern Pentecostal faith movement, such a possibility exists. For with God, all things are possible”. The same thing is possible in the enthralling metaphysical or magical realism world of Amos Tutuola’s The Palmwine Drinkard.
However, to the empiricists, such a possibility is a pipeline dream since dreams in Freudian perspective are mere rewinding of our day time experiences. Even a toddler knows that the solutions to the problems of life do not drop from the sky. They are products of premeditated and meticulously planned actions which endure the tortoise movement of time and chance to materialize. But in Nigeria, our leaders often believe the contrary. Perhaps it is as a result of our “religious” nature.
In view of the above, this year’s Independence Day anniversary was another occasion for President Buhari to display his linguistic eloquence to Nigerians whose hope for the promised “Change” has been crushed beyond recognition like a stray fowl on a highway—what our god of Nigerian prose fiction the late Chinua Achebe in his “The Trouble with Nigeria” calls a “false image of ourselves”.
Looking at President Buhari’s October 1st Independence Day Speech with eagle eyes and an alert mind, one could easily separate the facts from fictions therein. The President in the usual manner of a typical Nigerian leader noted that the Independence Day is “celebration and solemn reflection”. He goes on to state an undisputable fact that this year’s 58th anniversary is the “anniversary of the day Nigeria realised one of the most cherished of human desires—the desire for freedom”. The fact in that statement is that freedom is the utmost desires of mankind. Nobody wants to remain a perpetual slave or captive of any other person. It was on this premise the founding fathers the likes of Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Sir Ahmadu Tafawa Balewa, Chief Anthony Enahoro, among others who sacrificed their personal ambition and resources to gain freedom of Nigeria from the British imperialist.
However, the nagging question born by this fact is whether or not we have truly realised that “most cherished of human desires” after the British cunningly granted us the “freedom” on the platter of gold and left for the past 58 years. Let us leave Nigerians whose god is sincerity to answer that question. Closely related to the first fact contained in Mr. President’s speech is his acknowledgement of the fact that that “our founding fathers …laboured so hard to build and bequeath to us this wonderful nation. It is our duty to consolidate this great legacy”. Yes! This is a gospel truth. Those who laid the foundation for this nation gave their all to ensure that she soared high like an eagle among the comity of nations. They were willing to make personal sacrifice by foregoing their ambitions and dreams for the common good of the country, regardless of the differences in their ethnic, cultural and religious affiliations. Hence, Nigeria was nicknamed the “Giant of Africa”. But there is a fiction in Buhari’s fact which has birthed an important question which is this: Can President Buhari confidently tell Nigerians that he and the other succeeding generation of leaders who took over the leadership of Nigeria after the unexpected military coup of 1966 that send these pioneer leaders to their early graves have consolidated on the said “bequeath …great legacy?”
Furthermore, Mr President stated another fact by saying that “ours is an ambitious nation”. And of course, we cannot agree less. Nigerians are indeed ambitious people. From children to the oldest man or woman in the country, Nigerians aspire to be the best in life. This informs the reason why Nigerians since the inception of the country have been striving to write their names in the sand of history despite the enormous challenges that tend to scuttle their dreams and ambitions. It is the same ambition that drives Nigerians, young and old to mortgage their destinies by voting into offices selfish politicians as leaders in when elected turn their back on the masses. The same ambitious life and dream for a better tomorrow is the reason for the millions unemployed lazy youth who sweat under the scorching whip of the sun with file jackets moving from one government establishment or the other in search of the unavailable white collar jobs. Nigerians ambitiousness is the reason why most of the best brains among us migrate to Europe and America in search of greener pastures, thus exposing them to exploitation by the government of those respective countries. Whenever you hear that a Nigerian has been hanged abroad for peddling cocaine or any hard drug, know that he did so because of the seed of ambition planted in him by God. But the question still remains, despite all this ambitious nature, “why are so many Nigerians languishing in abject penury?” Why do we still have a surging population of “budding Hitlers on our luminous streets in places like Lagos, Abuja and Kano, as beggars.
Already, there are Champaign jingles deafening the ears of the airwaves as the 2019 elections are around the corner. Already the battle line has been drawn been the ruling APC and the now born again PDP. Therefore, our ambition would soon drive us to use our thumb prints to vote the same group of self-seeking politicians back to their various offices. Buhari for example is optimistic of another four years at the Aso Rock given his outstanding performance. He has convincingly enumerated his landmark achievements since coming on board with his “change “mantra. According to his Independence Day speech, “there has been a steady improvement in the security situation in the North East” and his administration remains committed to putting an end to the crisis and making the geo-political zone “safe for all”. And that the Fulani/herders crisis “was being exploited by those seeking to plant the seed of discord and disunity among our people”. But Buhari did not tell us those “seeking to plant the seed of discord and disunity among our people” are.
During one of his usual tourist state visits to the US, President Buhari told President Donald Trump and the entire world that the Fulani militias, who have been wreaking terror or innocent farmers in Benue, Taraba, Plateau, Nassarawa, Zamfara and some part of Southern Kaduna, were not Nigerian breed of Fulanis. They were emissaries from Libya. How then does the president know the sponsors or exploiters sower of the seed of discord and disunity, yet he has not come out with any concrete steps to bring them to book. The only concrete step so far taken is the “empty “warning that the perpetrators of murder and general mayhem in the name of defending or protect ting herders or farmers will face the full wrath of the law.
On the issue of environmental degradation, the president acknowledged the naked fact that “we are one of the countries in the word most affected by” it. The solution to this environmental problem is to “mobilise international support for our efforts in this regard”. But the question is which of “our efforts” is the president refereeing to? Is it the much publiciSed “ogoni clean up”? If the answer is yes, when does the government want the polluted land for which the late Ken Saro Wiwa went to the gibbet under the murderous order of late General Sani Abacha.
He may argue that the clean-up process has commenced since vice president Yemi Osibanjo was in Ogoni some month during this year to commission the clean-up. But the question is when does he want the clean-up done and when is it going to be completed? Or since he has performed so excellently well, he is waiting to continue from where he would stop after been re-elected by the ambitious Nigerians back to the Aso rock?
Another fact is that Buhari has recounted his great achievement in the fight against corruption since coming on board. This is indeed commendable giving the pocket of arrests and prosecution of some politicians by his government. But then, can he say that the battle has been totally won. Even some of his cabinet members have been down in the ocean of certain corruption scandals. Only toward the end of last month, two of his minister came into media spotlights on the ground of NYSC certificate sagas. The erstwhile finance minister, humbling bow to the pressure to put down her crown and key to the countries treasure house after being found guilty of possessing a fake NYSC exemption certificate, which she claimed to have obtained it from the NYSC board, via the help of some “trusted friends”. Another of his ministers, Adebayo Shittu was also said to have exempted himself from the one-year mandatory service even though it was obvious that his age as at then did not meet the required 30 years for such exemptions. Rather, he told the media that “my case is different”. His was a different case since he had rendered what he called “a higher form of service” as a member of the Oyo State House of Assembly” and now the honourable minister of information” unlike Kemi Adeosun who presented a fake certificate. But should we be surprised that Shittu’s whose case is different was disqualified from contesting in the Oyo State APC gubernatorial primary?
Finally, there are other facts and fictions in Mr President’s speech, but for want of time we will end on the commitment by Buhari to “ensure that elections are fully participatory”, free and fair and that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will be exactly INDEPENDENT”. This is another fact that contains a lot of fictions in that any fact that is tinted with conflicting information or reality cannot be totally factual. It was best called faction. I stand to be corrected but Nigerians would recall that almost all the elections that have been conducted since Buhari came on board as Nigeria’s President have been marred with several controversies. The just concluded gubernatorial polls in Osun State was declared “INCONCLUSIVE”, despite a slim narrow lead by the PDP candidate, Senator Ademola Adeleke with the total vote of 353. It was later declared “conclusive, free and fair” on the 27th of September with the APC candidate Oyetolu emerging as the winner. Given the aforementioned facts and fictions in the Presidents Independence Day speech, Nigerians should learn to sieve chaffs from grains in very word that is winnowed throw the mouth of our leaders, especially in this critical time when the 2019 general elections are around the corner. It is by so doing that we will know which candidate to vote for since we would have known them by the fruits of their tongue.
On the other hand, as the days draw near to witness a change of power baton in our dear faculty of Arts, we can only hope that the members of the association can be trusted to make credible decisions in respect to who to vote for. We cannot turn blind eyes to the retrogressive progression which the association has witnessed in the past two sessions due to incompetent and clueless leadership. The business of credible leadership should be beyond he-is-my-friend or the dubious humility of the ones who go about shaking hands and feigning acquaintance. We should beware of those who would end up abusing the privilege of the right to vote and be voted for.
PUB 3/ October 2, 2018.
