A message for all Nigerians

THIS is not a prophecy. I write this message to you all at home and in the Diaspora, wishing you good health and high spirit for this great country, Nigeria. I wish you all the best in 2017 and beyond. This massage may not be new.

Let us forget the mistakes of our past leaders and focus on the present and future. It is a fact that any person who allows the past to hunt and track him down hardly finds progress a successful course. It is true that the present predicaments of Nigeria today are resultant from the unpatriotic, selfish and unguarded extravagance and complacency of our leaders, though few were real heroes for national unity and cohesion. They did not plan and execute, amidst abundance, projects that would have placed our dear nation on the path of development. This is not the Nigeria we should belong to if the right steps were taken by our past leaders. Basically out of ethnocentric attachment and ancestral preponderance, they murdered equity and fairness in the spread of national fortunes and endowments.

Except the colonial plunderers, our past leaders were human beings like all of us in blood and progeny. They did not think differently just like our individual forefathers most of who so much loved family satisfaction more than societal growth. Undoubtedly, they fought for our independence but unfortunately they did not lay a solid foundation for our national integration. Everyman among the earliest leaders, probably out of the reluctance with which he accepted the 1914 amalgamation, fought for his people. This fight for tribal men by every successive leader of Nigeria has been the bane of national integration and development. And with the clear religious divide between the North and South, it has been very difficult for them to steer clear from bigotry and unfair consideration of other existences.

However, let bygone be bygones, though we must reflect on the past to guard against repeating same errors. Efforts to change the trend in Nigeria’s governance had hit the hard rocks and that subjected Nigerians to the avarice of torturous, venturous looters who ruined Nigeria and used Nigerians as mere farm tools or cogs in vehicular wheel. The question is whether Nigerians should forgive them and forget their ruins. As human beings, it is advisable to forgive because hardly are men saints. But the land has remained in pains and these people are alive watching what they have caused Nigerians.  Awosivan Segun aptly captures the state of the nation in his cartoon on page 18 of the Vanguard newspapers of January 11, 2017.

Now that we have come of age and seem to agree on the way forward, let us keep faith in God and the present leadership. Election of independent selfless Nigerians into positions of trust will help us. We should develop the passion to use our votes to determine the course of leadership. That is the big problem we still have: how Nigerians can use their mandates without prejudice to vote politicians basically on merit. Rigging is another weevil in the system, but it is largely possible when the electorate compromise by accepting bags of rice, foodstuff and meager amounts for their votes. It is unbelievable what happened in some quarters in the last general election when some politicians were said to have bought votes by paying money to voters and initiating them into secret vows against betrayal. Votes were bought for as low as N100. Is it ignorance, poverty or both that is responsible for such unpatriotic attitude and actions?

Nigerians must stand up against dictatorship. Winners should be generous enough to carry every citizen along, while losers should accept their fate and the will of the people and form an informed, strong and unfaltering opposition. That is why the measures put up by the present leadership by not rushing to sack all appointees of the former government and for partly using the appointees in recovering looted funds is praiseworthy. Nigerians should stand up against looting of our commonwealth. Though it is being fought vigorously by the incumbent administration, there are still a lot of leakages and corrupt experts whose days assuredly are numbered. What is happening in Africa today is a good omen for Nigeria as the superpower of the black continent.

Close to the electoral challenges are court verdicts, rerun elections and related judicial (mis)handling. It is the common belief that the court is the home of justice where wrong is righted. Current events have shown that the courts have been turned into entertainment centers and caricature circuits where powerful politicians run to secure positions by influence. Judges used to be regarded as untouchables, in their intellectual and partly spiritual sanctity. It is funny how courts are dealing with issues that are clear: the controversies in the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the court judgments in the past governorship tussles especially for Abia State, the inability of the courts to convict financial criminals – at least those who have confessed and returned looted commonwealth as well as the cases of corruption leveled against many judges of our courts, amongst others.

Our judiciary, if it is to maintain its status as the last hope for the oppressed, needs total overhaul. Our learned men must change for good and aid the present government on the path to national transformation. And with the executive arm purging itself of corruption, much is expected from the legislative arms whose financial dealings have been shrouded in secrecy. Nigerians must demand transparency in the budget performance and the expenditures of all arms of government. May God save us. That is why every Nigerian who wishes the country well must support the war against corruption. Corruption, invariably, is the root of most internal security challenges in Nigeria today. The Niger Delta militancy was blown open when money supposedly meant to empower the people and develop the region were used to procure arms to keep corrupt politicians in power. Boko Haram started similarly same way.

• Ajah writes in from Lagos