The burden of indivisible Nigeria (Part 2)

ONE thing though, it is in the interest of patriarchal and oligarchic social order to stage theatrical interventions instead of genuine national soul searching. It is in the habit of cabalist hierarchical efficiency to undertake campaign of public diplomacy which does no more than imitate the voices of popular aspiration but in the end, it will not foster that epochal disturbance that will redirect the course of our history. In this mad, bad and bastardised time, it is rather essential to study official rhetoric either emanating from all arms of government.

On a daily basis, Nigerians are experiencing disaffection with our political processes. There are contempt for the motivations of elected politicians and appointed public servants. Most Nigerians are tired and uninspired by Abuja public officials. Consider the data: Youth unemployment in Nigeria is 72% (70 million), a yawning aberration! Lack of affordable housing for over 100 million Nigerians. Nil access to medical care by over 150 million Nigerians. 120 million live without pipe-borne water. According to UNICEF, 100 million Nigerians lack adequate toilets. This absurd crisis of infrastructural obscenities intensifies hourly with every breaking news of fresh corruption, profligacy, impunity, fraud and executive inaction. What a great, shameless nation!

Indifference to people suffering is, in my estimation, bad politics. In fact, bad citizenship.

This ongoing crisis , however, has been accentuating and exerting far more strident call for the dissolution of our unity. Why? Our century-long amalgamation or unity is no longer democratically adequate to promote fairness, justice, equity and peaceful co-existence. It had remained the very anti-thesis of all these democratic ideals. Nigerians are tired of a forced marriage that has corruption manifest at its heart and the rampant criminality of excesses of government from the President, Governors, ministers to the special assistants who are like flies in Nigeria.

The status quo in Nigeria had remained serenely untroubled since our independence. They have never been seriously challenged. Possibly, out of our own timidity. The time is now to reject the selfish, venal values of those who run Nigeria. The time to strengthens the primacy of the nation state as a popular notion of global politics is now. Jonathan has no bold agenda to change anything than preserves the status quo and those dark forces agitating for the continuation of one Nigeria instead of our independence from Nigeria as allowed by the constitution.

President Buhari’s political utopia is a pipe dream. He cannot reconstruct the Tower of Babel. There is no way he can deliver Nigeria to the sinless state of paradise. He lacks the vision and the political wisdom to leap that great wall of obscure dread, insecurity and self-centredness to lend support to rational dreamers agitating for separate nations from Nigeria.

Nigerians who have been denied, dumb down and damaged are sick and tired of the tawdry pretences of our unity. Out there on the streets, there is a huge sense of disillusion compounded by the daily political pantomime going on in Abuja. One cannot restate it enough that power in Nigeria is wielded by the rich and strong for the rich and strong. That is why Otedola, Dangote, Adenuga, Uba of our universe have unfettered access to the seat of power than say Ndibe, Adesanmi, Onuma, Olumhense, etc. We have endured all kinds of looter-leaders for over five decades playing on the inherent illusion of the power of one indivisible Nigeria.

ALSO SEE: The burden of indivisible Nigeria (Part 1)

But the truth is, one indivisible Nigeria has spread inequality, despair, corruption and impunity. And the time is now to reject a dysfunctional federal machinery that promotes multiple insecurities among its constituting nationalities. Our political wounds and tribal hatred are multilayered and no longer consigned to the old binary North versus the West or West versus the East. There has been many other polarisations.

Ex-President Jonathan’s cluelessness was legendary. If he had any vision, he should know that national conference is potentially a seismic event of national reawakening which should lead to dissolution or parting of ways. Bonding Nigerians together in a giant bubble of indivisibility is no longer popular in our society. Unity only covet unfair advantage on few to the detriment of others. We are becoming more aware day by day that our unity is a fraud concocted by few, tiny, incubated elites to perpetually dominate and enslave Nigerians for the few.

We deserve more from the politicians than the few derisory tit-bits tossed our way by our lazy, unthinking and fraud-driven masters of the universe. Our unity only promotes hokey pokey game of cabal in which thoroughly mugunised Nigerians are forced to choose every four years new set of thieves who would soon line up to purchase bullet proof cars from Cocharis. Travesty!!!

It is becoming hard for our entrenched elites to countenance opposite ideas from the narrowly prescribed trench of one Nigeria at all cost. Who said? Our unity has not liberated millions of Nigeria from shipping and taking a permanent residency in the Apocalypse.

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High corruption is woven and institutionalised within our federal system. An ordinary Nigerian will steal N50, 000 naira and a lorry load of mobile police personnel will hone on him like an American drone.

But belong to the shameless, avaricious, greed-bedevilled political class and you could steal the entire treasury and end up a recipient of national award. That is Nigeria’s fairness genocide. That is Nigeria’s multi-polar injustice conundrum. The symptoms of our sickness as one Nigeria are political scleroticism, institutional arthritis and resistance to change. We have to dismantle this temple of shame.
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