56 Years of national damage: Is Buhari fixing it?

AAAARGGH…..how time flies! The ritual of independence day celebration has come and gone.

Behind the meaningless red carpet; the billeted of dignitaries in Abuja posh hotels, the ceremonial change of guard at the presidential villa, the hypocritical patriotism behind the green-white-green flag of this embattled nation, the over-inflated accounting of the event organisers, the lies of paid acolytes, the President’s reaffirmation of his vision, the simpering re-articulation of Nigeria as the giant of Africa, there must be a probing pause of how bad we have fared as a nation.

This week, a once proud nation, now badly totemised to the very bottom of the world’s socio-economic pole is 56 years old. We have added another year to the unbroken sorrow of a once promising nation, hijacked since independence by parasitic elites who have succeeded in imposing graft-driven circus called governance. Independence remembrance day is no longer the thanksgiving occasion from servitude to freedom. It is no longer the day we remembered the birth of a new nation; a new destiny and a new dream.

Rather, independence day is today a day to remember the death of a nation. When you sample and assemble all the orations and effusions of the past ceremonies, the entire rituals crystallised into one enigma: mourning. In the past, before the dawn of a change-driven government of President Mohammadu Buhari, Nigerians have come to associate independence day celebrations with the celebration of national rot, corruption, moral failure, official pilferage, blinkered leadership, stagnant progress and economic mismanagement.

From the tribe of enlightened people I spoke to, nobody could deny the fact that the blighted contortions of the past 56 years have damaged our image globally. However, with mystified silence, we merely watched our worsening conditions with powerless pursing of lips. With our broad support, we merely watched the wreckage of the economy as the PDP regents of our civic value, the misguided politicians of our democracy and the illiterate pundits of our democratic deliberations all packaged Nigeria for the ultimate self-destruction.

Until hurricane Mohammadu Buhari came to dislodge the entrenched privileges of the few against dispossessed majority. Without the emergence of President Buhari with his torch bearing integrity as the political philosophy Nigeria, we would have remained obscured by shameless vulgarity, baseness and hyper corruption. Our hallowed National Assembly would have remained a bastion of irredeemable circus for loutish behaviour that sickens the heart.

Before Buhari, Nigerians were daily denied of their common wealth by a rapacious band of dimwit diviners called politicians who foist on us ludicrous legislations passed to serve and protect selfish interests as against national interest.

With Buhari at the saddle came hurricane recession. Characteristically, Nigerians are bemoaning their worsening conditions. Inflation has crept up the ladder. Parents are struggling to pay their children’ school fees. Payment of rents have shot up the scale.

Nigerians are merely existing and going about with forlorn hope of a better tomorrow. There is a mini war along the Niger creeks. Niger Delta Avengers and IPOB agitators are demanding a separate nation from the commonwealth. Fifty six years after independence, what then happened to the colossal resources of our oil, the resourcefulness of our work force and the intellectual muscle of our educated elite? What happened to the dawning euphoric dream of greatness as seen in the 60s? Why did we allow the audacity of hope enshrined in the possible greatness of Nigeria atrophy through political non-accountability, corruption, thuggery, tribalism, moneyed politics and elitist captivity?

ALSO SEE: 5.6 Things Nigerians must start doing after 56 years of Independence

Ha…words fail! Why is our democracy seen through the lens of the Western democratic value losing its bearings in our society? Why, at every yearly independence celebration, do we all come out with same sombre narrative? Why do we have to sip, annually, on the same hemlock of defeat and stagnant destiny? When are we going to receive light in this darkening vision? Is President Mohammadu Buhari the lighthouse that will guide us past future darkness? How do we stop this recurrent grin-and-bear it stoicism which Fela Anikulapo Kuti immortalised uniquely as suffering and smiling?

Ha…words fail! All the solutions to our problems are obvious but they have been rejected by the miserable pygmies and parasites who have taken over our National Assembly and House of Representatives. This year independence anniversary celebration must not be an occasion for business as usual in our democratic journey. President Mohammadu Buhari has to uphold his promises, recalibrate his vision and usher in genuine democratic values like peace, progress, fairness, accountability, transparency and inclusiveness of all Nigerians in his administration. The blighted memory of our loss in the last fifty six years should be a reminder to all Nigerians that we all have a task to make Nigeria the true and manifest giant it was meant to be.

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This week’s symbolic gesture on the parade ground is not lost on Nigerians. The President, his VP, Senate President and House of Rep leader were all looking like leaders in starchy regalia. The same goes for the release of the dove from the cage. These are powerful symbol of reinstating democratic purity as seen in Mohammadu Buhari sworn principle of integrity, frugality and transparency in governance. The release of the dove from a cage is tantamount to setting this nation free from past captivity of man inhumanity to man, corruption, impunity, squandering of riches and moral death.

President Mohammadu Buhari has to end the old feral culture which had been extending its evil grip on this nation and its institutions. The only way we could move forward from now is to constantly disinter our buried, shameful history in the past fifty six years, and stand ready to correct the errors in our quest to evolve into a true giant of Africa. Happy fifty six gbosas to Nigeria. Happy independence birthday celebration to a change-driven nation on the road to true and enduring greatness. Ha…words fail!

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