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Wednesday 25 March 2015

This Election, the end of Men and the rise of the People.

By Olusola Adegbite,Esq.

By the time this election is over, many of those who hitherto had represented themselves as been something, would end up becoming nothing, particularly that kind of nothing, so nothing-like that to remember it in a long time, would be sought and not found. This election will cause a hurricanic reversal of roles, in which those, whose life profession has all along been the siphoning of the free for all crude-oil supplied ill-gotten wealth in Abuja, would be condemned to a long lease in the dustbin of history. Sorry, did I just refer to this as an election? Oh, that must have been a slip. Maybe my intro just happened to have adopted the appellation INEC decided, within the confines of its constitutional mandate, to give to what will be happening on Saturday. But before I further proceed, let me say I disagree. I do not just disagree, I vehemently disagree. We must call a spade a spade. This is not an election. No, it is not. This is a referendum. Yes, it is. This is a referendum in which, in an opportunity of a lifetime, the Nigerian people are resolute on uprooting, pulling down, and finally committing to mother earth, that behemoth called the PDP, that pride-infested gang of power-merchants who chant power to the people but trade it amongst themselves, and that hegemonic rule of the prodigals who have held the Nigerian State by the jugular in the last 16years. This is a referendum for the final liberation of a country potentially built to be a giant, but whose dwarf leaders have reduced her to nothing, forcing her to operate from their height.
This election will so finish people who prior to this time, were really nothing, save for the façade they abundantly carried around. Many husband and wife who all along had paraded themselves as Civil rights activists and defenders of the helpless, but whose own mortal helplessness in the face of staggeringly filthy lucre has so far been exposed, would be so forgotten that they may not even be able to galvanise ordinary primary school students for their usual foreign-donor sponsored rallies. Many actors and actresses, artists and other members of a self-glorified “Nolly & wood”, who must have all this while, deceived themselves that they had fans and followers whose opinion they could mould, would be so cast into oblivion, that it would appear as if they were never known. Many media houses, who for the loose cash of the moment decided to become a kaakaki of evil-mongering and journalistic disgrace, may end up not been able to rise from abyss where they will be put. Many ethnic jingoist and their feudal godfathers who had sank billions into an empty and dirty campaign cum promotion, for the return of a leader, whose incompetence is known both home and abroad, all because of promissory notes of stinking contracts to come, may not be able to recover from the shame, grief and bankruptcy that may eventually follow their failed investment. Many, who on the basis of free dollars, shared rice and chickens not worth more than pigeons, decided to shut their brain to the truth, but rather willingly chose to lose their sanity and exchange all that they have laboured for, for a pot of porridge, may not even be able to regain the ashes, courtesy of the shock that is bound to follow from the inferno of defeat.
In the words of the Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka he clearly figured it out when he said, "Only four sets of people can vote and support Goodluck Jonathan in 2015. These ones he classified as those who are intellectually blind, those who are blinded by ethnicity, those who are blinded by corruption and therefore afraid of the unknown should power change hands, those who are suffering from a combination of all the above terminal sicknesses". Sir, I do not agree less. These same classification were the same manifestation that heralded the 1979 Presidential Elections. As at that time, all men of good conscience and right-thinking knew that Alhaji Shehu Shagari was not in any way a match for Chief Obafemi Awolowo, but in a characteristic manifestations of the above behavioural pattern, those who should know decided to shut-down their brain, ignore the truth and preferred to choose a man who was just content with being a Senator, over a man who had for years prepared for the Presidency and a man who had matched that same aspiration with some of the finest governmental policies at the regional level. Eventually, Shagari just like the power-brokers had wanted, ended up becoming a house-boy President, being tossed to and fro, while those who propped him up continued to pilfer Nigeria to ruins. Anyway, you all know the rest of the story. But then, things have changed. If Awolowo only had his regional powerbase of the Western region sprinkled with a little bit of support here and there then, the situation today is staggeringly different. The powerbase of today’s Buhari in both the core North and the Southwest, is in itself frightening. That is not to even bring into the equation, the blinding resentment and rejection in the land, of a government that has in the last 6years disgraced Nigeria much more than she has been in totality, disgraced since independence.
If the PDP likes, it can continue to place multi-million naira advertisements of its own self-prepared projected poll survey in the front of all national dailies, so as to continue to fool itself and its few gullible followers captured by Wole Soyinka in his classification above, but then we must tell them the truth, that one truth that will happen on Saturday March 28, and that one truth that we know is their worst nightmare. This referendum is gone out of their hands, it is not only lost, it was lost a long time ago and it is a staggering loss. I like Prof.Akin Oyebode’s brilliant political thesis on what will happen on Saturday. In his brilliant submission, he averred that for anyone to win Nigeria’s Presidency, such must win convincingly in the four (4) major geo-political zones of the country. Anything apart from this, is nothing but one chance. Sir, how good of you to hit the nail exactly on its head. Let no one be deceived, that is the equation, that is the only equation that exist and this same equation will I further clothe with deep analysis in the succeeding lines. For one, Buhari’s current powerbase is not a matter up for debate and the regions in question are no other but the geo-political zones of the North-west, North-east, North-central and the South-west. This is even a fact long before now settled, at least from the records. If the PDP cares, it can go check this record when it wakes up from its slumber, but let us give them a tip of the looming tsunami sure to hit them.
When in 2011 the General ran on the platform of a ragtag party called the CPC, without as much as a single councilor, he had a whopping 12million votes largely from the North-west, North-east and the North-central geopolitical zones, all just on his popularity, integrity and person alone, how much more now. Except in the PDP’s dreams, I wait to see how Jonathan will defeat Buhari in the Southwest, particularly in Lagos, Ogun, Oyo and Osun which has the highest votes in the region. Even Ondo and Ekiti that they still dream of is gone. Both fell the day that Area-boy Governor ascended power in Ekiti, and the moment Mimiko defected to PDP and kick-started the polarization of whatever was left of the party in that state. Let me now move to the North-central. For the wise-thinking, only a government happily self-destructing from within will lose a political powerbase like Saraki’s Kwara to the APC. Nassarawa state is a no go area and with the power of gubernatorial incumbency gone in Taraba, Benue and Niger state, it is laughable how Jonathan hopes to win majority votes in that region. This truth was even revealed in the last Senatorial bye-election held a few months back in Niger state, where even with all of the posturing of Babangida Aliyu the Governor, the PDP candidate could not win at the first ballot. Next on the line is the North-east zone and one cannot but laugh. The states with the highest votes in that region i.e. Borno and Yobe are under the firm grip of the APC, while the likes of Jigawa, Bauchi, Gombe and Adamawa are nothing but pseudo-APC States, in the sense that while they appear PDP in their Governors, they are APC in the people. After all, all of these were PDP states in 2011 when the same Buhari defeated Jonathan roundly, carting away massive votes from those states.
I do not think there is any point considering the North-west region. This is the region with the highest votes in the land, so much so that its votes is far more that the entire votes of the South-south and South-east put together, and this is a region in the firm grip of the APC and is a region that has displayed the same voting pattern over the years. These are the core Fulani states with the likes of Kano, Katsina, Sokoto and Zamfara. There may not be much to say about the Southern region, but let me say that even the South-south and South-east, which the PDP prides as its base would be heavily contested. With the APC’s control in Edo, Imo and Rivers state, and the massive inroads made in Akwa-Ibom, Delta and Anambra, more reverberations are expected in that region.
Need one say more? It is evident that these true facts are very much plain before the PDP, hence their unending retinue of errors, in-house ruins and ghastly maneuvres, all powered by puerile and outdated tactics. So bad has the ghastly moves and desperate sinking-low become, that a foreign leader, I mean a President Obama even had to give a State speech to teach us on how to behave. Shame! Shame!! Shame!!! Will that day ever come when Americans, all because their elections is upcoming, will be reduced to the level where a Nigerian President would address them on how to behave? Again, the more reason why CHANGE is here. Never again shall we as a people be so reduced to a little next to nothing, so treated as kindergartens incapable who doing the right thing, and so talked down on by foreign leaders like toddlers, all because those who are supposed to be in charge are so incompetent that the incompetence has become sickening. This we have said before, and this we will say again, let the house rat inform the bush rat, that even if General Buhari is deaf and dumb, even if General Buhari is confined to the wheel chair and even if General Buhari is a stark illiterate bearing an ordinary NEPA bill, he remains a better option that a PhD wielding but mediocrity-studded Goodluck Jonathan walking on two legs, and for millions of us Nigerians, the revered General from Daura, come rain come shine has our vote.‪#‎FEBUHARI‬, ‪#‎MARCHFORBUHARI‬, ‪#‎MARCHBEHINDBUHARI‬.
Olusola Adegbite,Esq. is a Lecturer in the Faculty of Law, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, NIGERIA.
Olusola Adegbite,Esq.
Faculty of Law,
Obafemi Awolowo University,
Ile-Ife,
NIGERIA.

TINUBU IS A LEADER OF LEADERS!

Professor Osinbajo

"Let me tell you the simple truth. Tinubu does not own Oriental Hotels....That is one of the many wicked lies being told against him....They don't know him. They just hate him. I know him very well....I mean very well...If he owned Oriental Hotels, all of us will have one room each for free....he will run it aground within one year..Three things I know him for, giving, he can give anything, he has given his all to Nigeria apart from his life....Another is politics....and another is constructive argument...I remember how as his commissioner, we use to have hot argument that often led to quarrel, he hate stooges or incompetent people. Go and confirm, if you discovered something contrary, bring it on!"-- Yemi Osinbajo. Historical personalities like Tinubu have always been maligned and castigated. Simpletons cannot contextualize them in terms of their motivations, aspirations and actions. There is no point engaging them on banal issues they tried to push in the documentary they are airing against him. No political leader in Nigeria today that has the record of Tinubu in building a new crop of leadership for the Yoruba that will last this and the coming generations. Not a single politician that has contributed to the political growth and development of Nigeria without gaining anything from it like Tinubu. In 2011 he brought Ribadu to contest for the presidency. Again, grooming a leader from the ground zero, when he could have given it to himself. It is that singular effort that has positioned Ribadu as a leadership material in this country. He worked to put together a merger successfully of disparate groups into one seamless and the strong opposition party you can find anywhere, and ever in the annals of Nigeria’s history, the All Progressives Congress (APC). Still in the spirit of national unity, justice and fair-play, he lends his resources and personal time and effort and political capital to General Muhammadu Buhari, all with the focus on the bigger picture, making Nigeria a better place for all of us. To boot, he also drew from the reservoir of the leaders he built and brought in Prof. Osibanjo, one of the most competent, politically astute and morally upright Nigerian to run as Vice-President. If people do not and cannot see all these positive qualities but are set in their ways to tar him then we are really in a tragic mess.

CHANGE IS INEVITABLE!

Peter Alabi

I agree that APC is not a clean party but I'd rather break my PVC than vote Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.
He has failed this nation and generations yet unborn. If you understand leadership and the current state of our nation you should be insulted that GEJ would even still dare to contest (though he has the civil rights he lacks the moral rights). He should be tendering apologies not asking for votes - that's my candid opinion, which I'm very entitled to.
I voted GMB in the last elections when He wasn't as popular as He is now, and as The Lord lives I WILL vote Him again this Saturday. I desire that He wins, but if He doesn't we will honor whoever the president is and live as ONE NATION, in hope that some day very soon we will all vote with understanding.
To those who say GMB will Islamise Nigeria, I feel so sorry for you; that anyone can still believe and think that way is so pathetic. Such statements are divisive, myopic and manipulative. Even if the man had such intentions, it is practically IMPOSSIBLE in this day and age.
And before you bring up religious sentiments please read your bible well. GOD's purposes have prospered in spite of the religious affiliations of people in power (even more as a matter of fact).
Daniel, Nehemaiah, Ezekiel, Esther, Joseph etc shined under Kings and administrations that were not in covenant with GOD.
Our lackluster Christianity of convenience in this country is the reason why we're so agitated about a politically-credible Muslim coming into power.
When the disciples asked JESUS if He would restore the kingdom to the Jews His response was "You shall receive Power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon You" - (Acts 1:7-8 paraphrased). In order words, You already have the power you need to fulfill GOD's purpose on the earth in spite of whether the president is Christian or not.
So dear Christian vote on the basis of merit not religious sentiments.
GOD Bless our nation! And GOD deliver His Church from ignorance.

Tuesday 24 March 2015

IGBOS AND BAD POLITICS!

GODWIN AMADI
Don’t get it wrong: I’m an Igbo man but I’m not an ethnic jingoist. I am a detribalized Nigerian and will continue to be. If I fanned the embers of ethnicity, I would not write this.
It is my opinion that an Igbo presidency will not happen soon. This is because Igbos have consistently played bad (read selfish) politics since 1999. I will not bore you with history. Rather, let us look at the present.
The main contenders for the presidential election are GEJ and GMB. Individuals as well as socio-cultural/political organizations are free to make their choice of the two candidates. However, I believe socio-cultural/political organizations should be wiser and more pragmatic in endorsing candidates. No ethnic group should exercise its choice of endorsement such that it loses all if one candidate wins. In other words, no ethnic group should put all its political eggs in one basket (read umbrella). This is especially so when the contest is so keen.
I know there are over 250 ethnic groups in Nigeria. But for the purpose of this argument, let us use WAZOBIA.
Assume GEJ’s presidency. As president, if GEJ has a discretion to exercise, he will do so in favour of the Yorubas for the following reasons:
1. Afenifere supported him
2. OPC supported him
3. Many traditional rulers supported him
4. If nothing at all, Fayose and Mimiko did enough to attract his sympathy/attention to Yorubas
5. FFK played his role
As president, if GEJ has a discretion to exercise, he will do so in favour of the North for the following reasons:
1. The VP is a son (this is no mean feat)
2. Adamu Muazu & Babaginda Aliyu were rocks
3. Northern Christians supported him
4. Considering the insurgency in the Northeast and the vexed issue of the Chibok girls, any vote from the North will be considered a gift
As president, if GEJ has a discretion to exercise, he will do so in favour of the Igbos for the following reasons:
1. Major (if not all) socio-cultural/political organizations supported him
2. Aside Rev Mbaka, majority of Igbo Christians and churches supported him
3. APGA, a traditional Igbo political party endorsed him
4. Igbo traditional rulers supported him (those that did not were dethroned)
5. Aside Rochas, all the Igbo governors supported him
6. Igbos in Lagos gave him an arm and a leg
7. (The fact that GEJ has not visited any part Igbo state since the elections were postponed is an indication of how secured he feels)
8. His name is “Ebele” and “Azikiwe”
9. Nollywood supported him
Now assume GMB presidency. As president, if GMB has a discretion to exercise, he will do so in favour of the Yorubas for the following reasons:
1. The VP is son of the soil (and this is huge)
2. Tinubu and his political machinery were behind him (As a matter of fact, without Tinubu GMD may not have been president)
3. Five out of the seven Yoruba governors supported him. Opposition in the other two states were vocal as well
4. Going by social media comments/postings (and arguably print media), most Yorubas supported him
5. Some prominent Obas supported him
As president, if GMB has a discretion to exercise, he will do so in favour of the Hausas for this singular reason:
1. He is the “General” of majority of his own people
As president, if GMB has a discretion to exercise, he will do so in favour of the Igbos for the following reasons:
1. He is a statesman
2. He is the president of ALL of Nigeria.
Apart from these two reasons, why will GMB as president of Nigeria exercise discretion in favour of the Igbos? Which Igbo socio-cultural/political organization supports GMB? Apart from Rochas and Ngige (my memory failed me), which other prominent Igbo politician supports GMB? As it is, will GMB or Hausas or Yorubas support Igbo presidency in 2019 or in the distant future?
Honestly, I just wish my people shared their support as Yorubas and Housas have done. No matter the outcome of this presidential election, Yorubas and Housas will never lose out with regard to exercise of discretion. They are wiser and more pragmatic. Whoever becomes president, they will beat their chest and say, “We made you president.”
Can the Igbos do likewise to both candidates?

Nigeria will win 2015 Election!

My last comments regarding this elections. Its time to move on to better things. Whoever wins congrats in advance to you and if you like fall our hands again, 2019 is just around the corner.
What went wrong?
It’s 3 days to the general elections and without any doubt the atmosphere is tensed up. You can feel the tension as thick as a hot knife piecing through frozen margarine. Politicians are on the last leg of their story telling, lies and shoki dancing. Youths are on the rampage with one goal in mind “milk the politicians dry, because they won’t come their way in the next 4 years”.
Since I was born, I have never seen an election so fiercely contested. Homes are divided, church members are divided, and In fact sex mates are even divided. For once since democracy returned in 1999, the ruling party is scared regardless of what they say in the media or what the party supporters say. For once there is an opposition force that is as strong as the ruling party. Yes they are not perfect and in actual fact they might not even stay together after the elections, however the driving force is an adage that says “My enemy’s enemy has become my friend”.
In 2011, I voted for the first time in my life and I felt good about myself. Why I felt good I can’t explain because I voted for a candidate that I knew won’t win the elections. I guess the feel good factor came from the fact that I lined up with my fellow Nigerians under the hot sun and gisted with people that on a normal day we would not even greet ourselves if we see. Or maybe it came from the fact that I was standing up to be counted so that posterity would judge me right.
2011 was a memorable year to say the least. It was as if the whole country was hooked on the drug called GEJ. His person, his life, his story, his qualifications bought him a lot of sympathy votes. It was massive. I can remember in my pooling both a young man say to me “I would vote Fashola as governor in Lagos and vote for Jonathan as president”. That was the way most people voted. In fact I know of a friend whose father and mother had decided to vote for another candidate and by the time the woman came back home she had voted for GEJ. The man asked her “Honey, why did you vote for him?” She replied “I really cannot say why. People where just talking about him and my emotions swayed towards him”.
Fast forward to 2015, and the story is different. That brings me to the crux of the matter and the question I have been asking myself “What went wrong?”. I know GEJ loyalist would wave this question away as if a fly is disturbing their eyes, but just be objective for a minute and ask yourself the following questions:
How is it that a 72 year old man is running a sitting president raged to the extent that the 72 year old man has garnered massive popularity nationwide?
Why is it so difficult to gather the same momentum of 2011 in 2015 given the massive resources at his disposal?
Why does it feel as if you are selling a bad product when the works of the president is being portrayed to the masses?
Why is an incumbent president looking so desperate for power and using the phrase “I will” instead of “This is what I have done”?
What was promised in 2011 and what was achieved by 2015?
Let me tell you what went wrong. GEJ was never prepared for the mantle of leadership. He found himself on the wings of the grace of God and landed in a place that was beyond him. He had the opportunity to make things right but he failed. He had the opportunity to be schooled but he failed. January 1, 2012 was his litmus test. After removing the subsidy if he had prosecuted the corrupt officials and built refineries to work, He would have become a hero in the mode of Super Man or Incredible Hulk. He bungled his chance and has not recovered from it. Today he talks about transformation agenda, but he must understand that he needs a transformation himself before he can drive that agenda. Nigerians are the easiest people to please in the world. In fact we are the happiest people in the world. As long as we have light, we are gainfully employed, we can pay our bills and the super eagles are wining we are good to go. Nigerians are hopeful people. Even mad men have hope of being sane someday that’s why they walk on the side of highways not at the center. Our politicians have been blind to this fact and have failed us but we can make the right choices this time.
They say he is our messiah, I say that is blasphemy. They say he is the devil we know, I say that’s right. They say he is a good man surrounded by bad people, I say a coach is as good as his team, Ask Arsene Wenger. Our messiah is the man that would change our system of government and tackle the status quo. The man that would say he does not need 42 ministers to satisfy federal character. The man that would return power back to the federating units/states and make the center less attractive. The man that would have a clear vision not a blurred one that all Nigerians can buy into, to the extent that other parties would drive the vision regardless of who is in power. The man that would make Nigerians believe again and become the world super power that we have the potentials to be. I dare say that “The messiah is still in the wilderness waiting for his day of appearing”.
Finally, if you have PVC and decide not to vote I have a word for you “Please do not complain when things are bad”. If you don’t have PVC do environmental sanitation at home and keep your surroundings clean. Vote for your choice and do not fight and wait for the shocker!

Tuesday 17 February 2015

CLEANER FINDS AND RETURNS MISSING #12M AT THE AIRPORT!

Josephine Agwu who works as a cleaner at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, returned the money to the security unit of the airport.
Daily Newswatch reported that the money was left last month in a bag by a passenger simply identified as Samuel from Anambra State.
Explaining why she returned the money, Josephine said that she acted on instruction given that any bag left unattended to at the airport terminal must be picked and deposited with aviation security department of the airport.
According to her, after asking other passengers if the bag belonged to anyone of them and they all responded contrary, she picked the bag and took it to the security unit, where it was opened and found to contain $27,000 and other currencies, including naira, which added up to N12 million.
When asked if she regretted her action when she realised that she could have bettered her future with it, Josephine who claimed she has a very rich Christian background, said: “If I have taken what doesn’t belong to me, God will punish me. I am contented with my N7,800 monthly salary. It was not my money. I believe when it pleases God, he will bless the work of my hands and he will make me rich.
“This is not the first time I am doing this. This is the third time in this airport. The first was in the departure area. It belonged to a Nigerian. The second was at the screening point, it belonged to a white man. Of all, only the white man rewarded me with $50, which I rejected until my colleagues prevailed on me to collect it,” said the Ordinary National Diploma (Accounting) holder.
She also said she had worked with many airlines as a casual worker in Enugu, with track record of honesty, without anyone of them offering her full employment before she moved down to Lagos to seek greener pasture but however, got a job at the airport as a cleaner.
The Airport Manager, MMIA, Lagos, Nathaniel Auta and Chief Security Officer (CSO) of the airport, Colonel Carl Onalo (retired) separately confirmed the incidence.
Onalo said management of the airport and possibly that of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) would do everything possible to celebrate Josephine for her honesty at the airport, as he used the opportunity to call on passengers and other users of the airport to have the assurance that whatever they bring to the airport is safe.There are now strong indications that Josephine may soon be rewarded by Aviation Minister Osita Chidoka who in conjunction with ICPC, promised that anyone found to be of good conduct would be highly rewarded. Chidoka had vowed too that those caught contravening the anti- corruption regulations in the airports, would be made to face the full wrath of the law.

I strongly believe that you can be successful without being corrupt!

Wednesday 11 February 2015

NIGERIA'S WOES; WE ARE ALL TO BE BLAMED!

The World is in dire need of leaders, change-agents, problem solvers, conflict resolutors and peace makers. In different parts of the World, you have conflicts, wars and chaos raging. people dying, suicide bombers on the rise, Islamic fundamentalism, rebel forces and the likes.
Nigeria is a conglomeration of Nations, she is a cluster of formidable ethnic groups. she can therefore be rightly classified as a heterogeneous society. These different nations that have found themselves within the larger entity known as Nigeria have their individual unique characteristics and way of life which can be conveniently defined as "culture". The difference in culture makes Nigeria a beauty to behold whenever there is an opportunity to showcase this diversity, but, this diversity is not being maximized positively...instead what is prevalent is mutual suspicion of the other ethnic nationality. I could call this ETHNOCENTRISM! feeling of being superior to other erthnic nationalities because of one's own ethnic leaning. Historically it has been with us.
Nigeria, is a country that has the potential to lead the African continent based on it's population size, the mineral resources cum wealth, its strategic location within the continent (it is not land locked and it is situated in a pivotal area within Africa), but she has been unable to translate her potential into actuality. This Nigerian quagmire can be traced to both extraneous and internal causes but I will chose to focus on the internal because the yorubas will say alatise ni mo atise ara re meaning the solution to an individual's problem begins with the individual.  I have classified the different categories that make up the core and periphery of Nigeria that can make her become great!

OUR FORE-FATHERS!
According to history, when the first set of White men came in contact with our forefathers it was not as if they overpowered them, they simply had a bargain which led to our forefathers giving away their fellow black-men as slaves to the white men in exchange for mirror, spirits and unbelievable irrelevant commodities! These black-men who were freemen in Africa later became slaves that worked on plantations which eventually built the  economy of the white-men. Our forefathers can't be said to have the foresight of what could become of their race! They never saw that the greatest resource any society could ever have was the HUMAN and not the irrelevant things that were given to them by their white '"business" men! They traded the future and since then generations upon generations up until now are suffering for this grievous mistake made by them.
We must have lost great scientists such as Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton and the likes to slave trade- instead of charting a new and unprecedented course for the black race, they were wasted away as slaves developing the white man's world!

OUR NATIONALISTS!
The whiteman, came back for the total subjugation of the African continent after he had subtlety taken a large chunk of the strong young men and used them as slaves to develop his own world. They came back for the so-called powerful blackmen who sold their brothers into slavery and this time made them slaves on their own soil! This re-appearance was named COLONIZATION! What we have as our present day political structure was a product of colonization. The 'lingua franca' was is bye-product of colonization. As time went on, Africans began to get educated in the western world, slave trade had been fiercely fought against as was witnessed during the American civil war under the presidency of Abraham Lincoln, the call of human rights increased, the world war exposed the mortality of the whitmen  and so confidence grew amongst the few emerging African elites.
The Nationalists who we can refer to as Nigeria's founding fathers fought a common cause but had their primordial sentiments keep them back from laying a solid foundation for Nigeria! I will quote some statements made by 3 of Nigeria's revered fathers;

"it would appear that the god of Africa has created the Ibo nation to lead the children of Africa from the bondage of ages...The martial prowess of the ibo nation at all stages of human history has enabled them not only to conquer others but also to adapt themselves to the role of preserver...The Igbo nation can not shirk it's responsibility" - Nnamdi Azikiwe.

" it seems clear to me that Azikiwe's policy was to corrode the self-respect of the Yoruba as a group, to build up the Ibo as a master race" -Obafemi Awolowo.

"North looks upon the Southerners living in the North as invaders who do not mix with the Northern people" -Tafawa Balewa.

The different groups did not trust themselves and this was and is still prevalent within the Nigerian polity. This is a foundational problem which our Founding Fathers would have helped us solved had they looked at other ethnic groups as different and not inferior! The British effectively made use of the divide and rule strategy to keep us apart and consolidate their hold on us! This same tactics has been employed by our founding fathers to maintain their hold on the citizenry and remain relevant in the scheme of things politically.

CLERGYMEN
"Religion is the opium of the masses" - Karl Marx
When the chips are down for any human being, religion keeps him going simply because it gives him hope of a better future and invariably eternity. The people who feel that hopes is lost they turn to religion, and the custodians of their religion becomes demi-gods. Whatsoever the religious leaders tell them, they are willing to believe to the detriment of the usage of their minds and freewill. With the kind of influence that the clergymen have over a large chunk of the population, love and tolerance, values, morals and selfless service to humanity should have been the basic things that should be preached by them.
Politicians would rig elections and still go to church to give thanksgiving, and the clergymen know how corrupt these men are, but they would not say the truth to their faces! There was a governor who said if the rigging of a governor's forum election was successful it was because God allowed it! He said this while giving thanksgiving in church after it was adjudged that 16 was more than 19 in a democratic election! Wealth, extravagance, nudity are found all over churches and this has continued. These men have the capacity to make people listen to them as they help them find God! People believe their pastors even more than Jesus Christ! But our clergymen have not taken that responsibility of making sure that they saturate the minds of people with the genuine word and chastisement of God. According to statistics, Christians and Muslims make up over 90% of the total population of Nigeria, if people adhered strictly to the teachings and morals of these religions, Nigeria will never be this bad!

FATHERS!
The word father has its origin from the greek word Aba which means source. The question would then be ...source of what? He is the source of the vision of his family starting with his wife then his children. He shows them what their future is like and leads them on the part leading to the envisioned future that he has. Fathers are second and final fathers to their wives! Fathers are the first role-models children will have know, Fathers are the first mentors children will ever have.
Real Fathers make men out of their boys! They teach their boys values such as hardwork, integrity, honesty, perseverance, selfless service to humanity and moral which preserves sanity in the human race. Our Fathers have not performed their duties to the maximum.  Every human is a product of the family, whether good or bad, they are a product of a family unit which has as it's leader a man/father.  If our fathers will perform their duties with utmost sense of responsibility, the society will be lbetter of for it.

MOTHERS!
The Mother is the first lover a child will ever know, and in most cases the enduring lover! The responsibility bestowed on the mother goes beyond the carriage of pregnancy, breastfeeding and weaning of the child. Her responsibility balances what the father does. She shows the child the way of dignity, by the way she elegantly carries herself and humbly loves and respect her husband. She shows the male child how a man ought to treat a woman with love and respect, she demonstrates to her female child that real beauty is covered up and not left to the full glare of the public.
The mother and the father has a joint duty which can not be passed on to the teacher, because they are the original teachers of the child. They produce what the society needs to keep it's existence. The family has failed woefully in producing the needed beautiful and value-laden people that will make the society a better place.

SCHOOLS/TEACHERS!
The teacher is a part of the relay team which collects the baton from the parents of wards kept in their care. The teacher teaches subjects which will help the child function in the society which is larger than his/her family. Most Teachers of our present day are morally bankrupt! They supply students with "expo" during examinations to help them pass! They leave students to dress half nude, leave the duty of helping a student discover where he would naturally fit based on his/her talents. Teachers even do unimaginable things with students that they ought to guide right! They are quick to sing and dance to vulgar songs in the name of also being in touch with the generation of their students. Teachers have refused to mentor students, they have refused to  seem themselves as an important ingredient in nation building!

YOUTHS!
Youths have always been said to be leaders of tomorrow! but in reality, these youths never become leaders because they never got prepared for leadership! It has been said on different fronts that readers are leaders, the youths do not like to read, they do not have strong knowledge of the past, they do understand the intricacies of their society therefore they can not give solution to the problem at hand. Karl Marx wrote the second most influential book in history when he was barely 26! But what we have these days is a generation of youths who are wealth seeking, affluence and pleasure oriented in nature. The youths are not prepared to wrestle power from the old men whom they(youths) have said are recycling themselves! It is high time youths take their destinies into their hands and move Nigeria to the next level! Ethnicity, religion should not be the prism by which youths will view the affairs of this nation

MEDIA!
The media has a major duty which is embedded in one of the theories in Journalism. It is called agenda setting. The agenda the media set for the public and society is a function of what moral standards that the media has! The media chooses to make the society take issues seriously or otherwise. The various media outfits in Nigeria are owned by politicians, who use them to their selfish ends. I could tell who owns which media outfit by virtue of the way it reports it's news.The media in some cases are not investigative enough, some are lazy. If the media will take up the challenge of creating a well informed polity, then there is hope, they should beyond their pockets, the prognosis of this Nigerian state is very gloomy if the media doesn't rise above partisanship, ethnic sentiments and negative tendencies which has left them dishonored in such a noble profession!

ME!
My blame is ....why did it take this long to write this? I got this inspiration three years ago, but I procrastinated until now.

Yomi Akinsola