“And the enemies of a man shall be those of his own household”- The Bible
The above statement applies to the Nigerian condition. At least, I like to think it does. As an entity, Nigeria has formidable foes in the persons of thieving politicians and corrupt civil servants who loot the Nigerian treasury daily. Some even bankroll and sponsor terror organizations like Boko Haram. However, it is time to wake up to the realization that Nigeria has other tiny, invisible but equally dangerous foes amongst us, and even within us.
Nigeria’s other foes are fellow Nigerians located everywhere on the socioeconomic ladder – the everyday Layis or Kayodes on the street. The ones President Goodluck Jonathan referred to as ‘ordinary Nigerians’ in his January 2012 speech during the fuel subsidy brouhaha. They are the invisible Kunle, Nkechi, Titi, Dooseh, Chinedu, Halima or Usman. The ones who keep silent or plead for tolerance or mercy for convicted culprits in the face of this epidemic called “institutionalized corruption” or like Fela Kuti said, “Authority Stealing”. The ones who piously mouth words like ‘God will help us’ and yet wouldn’t ever add their voice to the public outcry against corruption in all its hues and shades in the halls and corridors of Power; the ones who won’t march against irresponsible leadership or policies when they should; the ones who would malign those courageous enough to speak, by casting stones, saying they doubt the motivations of these twittering and Facebooking ‘children of anger’, calling others disgruntled politicians, or ‘Yesterday’s Men’.
They are the fence-sitters, poised to enjoy the benefits of Change and true democracy, if ever it is realized, yet they are reluctant to play their part in birthing the Change. No, that would be messy, it holds the potential for rocking the boats and marring their resume as politically correct citizens; they’d rather sit in churches or mosques, and pray all day.
Nigeria’s foes lie within us in the form of pernicious thoughts; thoughts like “there is nothing we can do to change the status-quo” – or that “we can very well siddon-look; God will come from the heavens to make everything alright”. Bob Marley, in his song ‘Get Up, Stand Up’ tells me that is erroneous- “if you know what life is worth, you will look for yours on earth.”
The most lethal foe of true change in Nigeria can be located in the thought, the idea that ‘corruption has come to stay in Nigeria and nothing or no one can beat it’. The idea is spreading like a virus in the minds of young and old alike, teaching that “if you can’t beat them, join them” – or “jus siddon-look”. This thought is the reason for the apathy that has immobilized hundreds of thousands of otherwise patriotic Nigerians. It is also the reason for the brazenness now observable in crimes across the nation; fraud, robbery, yahoo-yahoo, rituals- name it.
Have you been infected? Are you a carrier of this pernicious idea that there is nothing you, I, or anyone can do to birth change in Nigeria? If you are, then you are a traitor to the generation that comes after you – the generation of your offspring. You have sold out your soul. You are a foe of Nigeria.
Back to the other foes, who are they?
They are the ones who excuse corruption with words like ”Na only God fit save Naija o”, ”Na only him be thief? Mey dem leave am joor”, ”If na you, you nor go chop too?” and ”Abeg, everybody na thief”. Folks who sing praises of odious persons like Bode George, Diepreye Alamieyesigha, Olusegun Obasanjo, Atiku Abubakar or Tony Anenih, saying ”My leader, my leader”. The ones who are bidding their time- waiting patiently for a chance to get close to the National Cake n filch a big chunk too. They probably would do anything for such a chance.
They are the foes of the New Nigeria that is presently struggling to be birthed, and is in danger of being still-born.
If this wasn’t so tragic, it would be comical; to think that a time like this. A time when right-thinking individuals, in Nigeria and beyond these shores, are outraged (and rightly so) about President Goodluck’s recent approval of corruption by the issuance of a state pardon to an uber-looter Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, some Nigerians have the gall to call for understanding, or for us to ‘move on’ to other “more important” things.
Pray, what could be more important than the fact that it is becoming more and more glaring by the day that this ship called Nigeria is rudderless?
Methinks these unfortunate folks are the same ones that prophet and reggae legend Bob Marley sang thus to:”Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds.”
Yes, I dare say that they are slaves! Slaves who have fallen in love with their chains and have in despair sworn allegiance to the very ones who jailed them. I also make bold to say that every Nigerian who seeks a true change in our nation would do well to beware of the poison they spew out of the jails that their minds are. If you, dear reader, still harbour and nurture a spark of hope for the nation, guard your mind from the pernicious thoughts being propagated by these slaves.
Or how else would you describe these comments by Nigerians that I bumped into on Facebook?
They are responses to a culled post of the editorial in Sunday’s edition of The Punch newspaper on the Facebook wall of Kayode Ogundamisi, a popular name on Twitter and Facebook.
COMMENTS:
Hrh Elizabeth Eff Obisanya
Jeeze even Jesus and Our Father forgives us of our sins!! and has people stopped praying the Lords prayers–forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.. People let us move forward from this please what is the big deal????
Like · 1 hour ago
Shola Olabs
God Bless you @Hrh I wonder what else do Nigerians want? the man has served hes sentence. I pray nigerians will realize there are more important things to focus on. Let us move on
Like · 1 hour ago
What is my point, you ask? We have met the enemy of Nigeria, and he does not live only in Aso Villa, or the many Governor’s Quarters across the country. He lives with us. Perhaps, he lives in us too.
He rubs shoulders with us in our homes. She is our colleague at work, He is our drinking buddy, she is a fellow church member etc.
To the extent that we aid and abet corruption by a siddon-look position, the enemy is us.
So long as we try to make light of corruption or plead for clemency in addressing criminal acts of corruption, the enemy is us.
Personally, I wish capital punishment, yes the Death Penalty, could be written into law for looters of the Nigerian State such as Alamieyeseigha, among others.
Perhaps that would serve as a deterrent to others, as opposed to a state pardon, as GEJ and his media lackeys – Reuben Abati and Doyin Okupe – would have us believe.
- Adedayo Ogunleye, is a witness and chronicler of the Nigerian condition, writes from Abuja.