By Prince Ejeh Josh.
We will only be living in self-denial if we refuse to admit that the present day Nigeria has no competent political leaders with the will to tackle the problems bedevilling the country.
Rather than solving problems, our present crop of leaders are creating more problems for the people. They lack the requisite skills with which to tackle and surmount the challenges facing us as a people.
A closer look at what’s happening in Nigeria today shows that most state governors would leave their states more complicated and more engrossed with problems and hardship than they met them.
With this set of misinformed leaders, Nigeria is doomed. The ruins are everywhere to see. The country seems to be without hope. Criminals are feasting on Nigerians on a daily basis, yet those saddled with the constitutional responsibility of protecting the good citizens of Nigeria keep telling us they are on top of the situation. On top of what?, one would be forced to ask. On top of corruption! On top of proceeds of crime. On top of misgovernance.
Without mincing words, Nigerians are being slaughtered in their hundreds while Mr. President, state governors and their cronies are on top of looting.
The craze at which those purportedly elected by the people are mismanaging our commonwealth, squandering our resources and farting like the gods would readily send tears down our cheeks that, after all, we had all elected criminals into positions of authority.
Sadly, these people were elected to serve and not to be served. That’s why they are called public servants. Today, far from that nomenclature, within that eight years or sixteen years of office, they see themselves not just as gods, they in fact, equate themselves with the Almighty God.
They can make and mar. Any democratically dissident voice is brutally silent with security agencies. Their decision is as unstable as that coming from a lunatic. Whatever they could fantasize, without even giving it a thorough thought, is their state project for that day or month. This is why Nigeria has the highest number of abandoned projects in the world. A government abandoning its own projects to start new ones? We are in a sorry situation.
These emperor Neros dash out orders according to their passing whims and caprices. Like specialists in failure, their aides massage their egos, and would never tell them the truth for fear of being sacked. At least, they are still benefiting from the loot.
The above is the bane of Nigeria. Nobody dare tells truth to the power that be. Our leaders are all-knowing. They are omnipotent and omniscient. But they have all miserably failed. What a contradiction! It’s only in Nigeria that the government would send hundreds of combined security agencies at the dead of night to go after innocent citizens who had criticized their failed and anti-people’s policies.
You would think these security agencies were going to fight a combined team of ISIS, Boko Haram, ISWAP, kidnappers and militants. Lo and behold, it’s Sowore, Nnamdi Kanu, members of the judiciary and opposition voices with no stick that they’ve gone after.
Is it not funny that our security agencies are only known for gallantry when it comes to arresting innocent and armless citizens, but exhibit a humiliating sense of cowardice when it comes to the real enemies of the state: killer herdsmen, Boko Haram, bandits, kidnappers and highly placed corrupt politicians?
It is this leadership failure from the federal and state governments that has accounted for the incessant killings in the country. It is this leadership failure that has plunged millions of Nigerians into abject poverty. It is this failure and mismanagement that has pushed our educated youths into internet scamming. It is this leadership failure that has fueled agitation for the disintegration of Nigeria. It is this leadership ineptitude that has sent many Nigerians to early grave, and more will still die. Many have dropped out of school, and a great many have never seen the light of primary education since they were born in this age of technology in Nigeria.
Sadly, while this failure persists, Nigerians would be earnestly urged to pray for their leaders, and to pray to God to take away their problems. How foolish are we! There are the kind of prayers one would make that would get God angry. That’s the type Nigerians are making everyday. Instead of standing up against these men who see political offices as a means of enriching themselves and their unborn generation, Nigerians would be fasting, dying and praying for them.
In every little issue that could have been tackled by applying due diligence, you would see Nigerians praying and praying to God to send his angels to solve it. When a governor farts, Nigerians would pray. When the President refuses to yield to advise, Nigerians would pray, making mockery of God. When it’s dawn to even an imbecile that the present security chiefs have all miserably failed, and that the President needs to reshuffle, Nigerians would go and pray. Pray to God to come and reshuffle the security architecture? Indeed, I’m yet to understand prayer points of these Nigerians.
I was recently forced to weep for Nigeria, a country I love so much, when I saw some governors negotiating with criminals, bandits, kidnappers and terrorists who have snuffed lives out of innocent Nigerians just because government couldn’t protect them. The country is doomed and darkness is hovering across our threshold. If this rain is allowed to fall, I’m afraid if any of us would survive it. Not even those at the echelon of power.
I still could not come to terms with the motivation behind our government dialoguing with our killers. Where is justice for the families that have been violently wiped out? Where is justice for the orphans whose parents were cut off by these criminally minded bandits? Where is justice for the thousands of suffering and abandoned widows made possible by the rampages of these killer terrorists? Will there ever be justice in Nigeria?
I was shocked when a governor once noted that he paid some killer herdsmen millions of Naira to reduce their rate killings. I became even more shocked when I saw a certain governor from the President’s state and some soldiers taking pictures with some AK 47 wielding criminals and bandits sending a signal that government had successfully dialogued with some bandits. I wonder what would be running through the minds of those military men. Each would be saying; “I’ve failed my call to defend my country”, isn’t it?
Dear fellow common Nigerians, we all must be worried by now. You and I are no longer safe in this country. Is it not better to die at the Mediterranean Sea or Sahara Desert than die hoping fruitlessly in this cursed land where our government has colluded with criminals to deal with us mercilessly? Negotiating with criminals is encouraging them to kill, destroy and leave the innocent citizens in ruins. This is what happens when there are miserably failed political leaders.
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DISCLAIMER: All views expressed on our opinion page are those of the writer and do not represent the position of INSIDER or any of its reporters/editors.