Fidelity to the nation

The Nigerian ruling class in their characteristic arrogance believe themselves to be superior to the people; the people to them are dumb. The oligarchs in power continue subverting the popular will of the people and are neither driven by ideologies or values; they are never burdened with the responsibility of freeing the poor caught in the poverty trap.

Nigeria’s version of farcical democracy has consigned them. The idea of fidelity to Nigerians has no place in the hearts of the ruling oligarchy. They release the most heartless murderers; Boko Haram back into the society and now the nation is in the hands of cold-blooded murderers. Now, conscience is buried under the weight of clan bigotry, the barrier erected against insecurity has been broken down by bigotry and the evil perpetrated by terrorists.

The fidelity I am talking about is the loyalty the people expect from those mandated to run the affairs of state on their behalf by erecting barriers against insecurity, against any evil threatening the people, insidious, waiting to and indeed engulfing them. But alas, the conscience of politicians in Nigeria and those voting for them year in year out has been slain on the altar of money.

President Muhammadu Buhari should dig deep into history, check out what great leaders did when faced with daunting challenges, the bridges they burned to commit themselves to survival. The ability of a leader to have a quick grasp of a highly complex and difficult task ensures that he takes simple expedient actions that would attract and retain the loyalty and confidence of the people. The chaos created due to faulty decisions is manifest in the escalation of the activities of bandits and other terrorists.

For example, the release of Boko Haram murderers back into the society they dealt with wickedly in a cruel manner is not the right step. The truth is that in the circumstance we have found ourselves as a result of extremely poor decisions our leaders make. Why should anyone be afraid of Nigeria breaking up? Whose fault is it that President Buhari is so cold, so distant from restructuring demands by the people? Nigerians want the country restructured. When Buhari said that Nigerian youths were lazy, northern youths read the lips of “sai Baba,” picked up their cutlasses and bikes then headed south. Why did northern leaders not advise their youths to deploy their energy appropriately and turn the vast northern arable landmass into an agricultural el-dorado and northern governors exploiting other economic potential enough to feed the entire world and its industries?

The fretting over a non-existent unity by those benefitting largely from the unequal yoke is laughable indeed. The first law of survival, we are told, is protection. However, today in Nigeria, all the walls erected to protect us against the evil that is seeking to consume us have broken down due to bad decisions the ruling class makes.

John R. Jimoh, Ijebu-Ode.

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