The follower-ship truly have their destiny in their hands and therefore are a major determinant, after God of course, of what sort of people that lead them. The leadership is only a mirror that reflects the true nature of the people they lead or at least, the majority.
You see, the problem with us in Nigeria and as human beings in general is that we hate the truth, truth is bitter and it has incidentally proved to be the only solution to problems. People lie even in the developed country but the degree to which a country develops happens to be DIRECTLY proportional to their level of acceptability of the truth!
Recently, a lawmaker was jailed in the U.K. for stealing from the government (tax payer's money). He could have gotten away like they do in Nigeria if the majority of the civil servants in service sees nothing wrong and in fact, justify bribery as their means of sharing in the 'national cake' as they do here in Nigeria.
Well, the truth is that even two rogues in government out there in the developed world are not sure if the other is a rogue or not, why, because the general notion is that stealing is wrong, if you are caught you get the hammer nothing less!
In Nigeria, the problem is not finding a 'brother in crime', no, it's not a problem at all. The problem, however, is the price of this new 'brother' of yours - whether it is low or high.
People feel hopeless in Nigeria of today so much so that they say and support the idea 'it won't get better' with their handiwork not because they truly believe in the hopelessness they so much prophesy but because they have allowed greed to take control. When greed is in control, you careless of how you get what you need, you care less of the rule of law and more of the material wealth you can accrue. this attitude unfortunately, is more like that of a common thief... like a ... like an animal!
In the animal world, only the strong gets all they want, only the strong. The strong takes anything and everything from the weak without giving anything in return. This is 'jungle justice'. Survival of the fittest - the strong survive, the weak wither away.
If there's a reason behind our gift of the sixth sense, it must be for the purpose of reasoning, ability to think and act far above the animal world level. It must be for us to see that life is all about give and take.
We all have talents - God given gifts by which we are unique and different in our rights just as we all have a need that we cannot meet, hence, we need the other man who is gifted in the line of our need to help out. This, perhaps, is the true essence of trade and commerce. Our sixth sense is there for us to realize that we are all weak just as we are all strong.
Yes, the rich is strong in terms of money and possessions but weak in terms of labor; politicians are strong in terms of making laws and policies but are weak when it comes to health issues... and so on and so forth. The bottom line is that we all need each other. We need a leader-ship just as the leadership needs a follower-ship. A simple truth we need to bear in mind is that whatever happens to us as a people is not the fault of a group of people among us but our collective fault."...God will not change the situation of a people unless they change what is in their hearts..." says the Quran.
What is the worth of Dollar and Naira bills hidden away in some bank account, tell me, of what value is money to a dying sick man, rich or poor?
Our political leaders steal simply because there are people who accept such money from them - their follower-ship, the people they lead! They shall continue the looting until the day they find no one that accepts it from them.
The day that the poor refuses to be manipulated like an animal by the rich and by his sixth sense realizes their equality in weakness and need - the rich needs something which he cannot do to be done while the poor needs the rich's money for sustainability. Until the day the electorate sees the bribe offered in exchange for their votes and support as the yoke of poverty and poor leadership to come, a day that serving political officers are removed from office when found guilty of any corrupt practices, until the day the follower-ship stop worshiping the leadership and sees themselves as the true masters, after God, of their affairs, until that faithful day, I see no changes.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
...continuation.
We are all excited and worked up as we entered the New Year. Nigerians worldwide are looking forward to April 2011, you know why? Because Nigerians would get another opportunity to right the wrongs of the past, but, from the look of things, I see no changes.
I mean, the same set of people that ruled in the past 4 years are the ones coming out for re-election or, should I say re-selection?
Selection begins right from the primaries in most, if not all the available ACTIVE parties. They rarely vote in the primaries, a few old men comes up with a 'consensus' candidate which all other members MUST accept as their candidate, be he good or bad he's accepted and supported by all and sundry.
Now, if the internal policy of a political party is to 'select' rather than to 'elect' their flag bearers, what do you expect that they do to win during the general elections ESPECIALLY when they happen to be the ruling party?!
This is the reason why I remain skeptical of any change during the next regime. Only a fool expects a change in out come when same things are done the same way. And I bet, I'm not that fool just as I guess you aren't either? The question now is if there could be a change at all and the answer to that question is a big YES!
Like I pointed out in the previous post, no leadership that I know of at least, can rule over a people with a different orientation for long.
When there's a continuous occurrence of foul play in a polity, the citizens should watch out as there are a few bad eggs among them that are sabotaging their efforts to effect changes. They must be wary of such people. These bad eggs are slippery and slimy, more like a snake, they come around acting and talking as though they are with you in the struggle but in the real sense, they are only there as spies for their greedy 'partners in crime' up the ladder.
They also ensure that you remain inert as they ensnare you with sudden valuable gifts of all sorts thereby killing the spirit of righteousness in you and replacing it with that of guilt and consequently that of shamelessness so much so that you see nothing wrong with someone stealing and looting public funds. Such is the case in Nigeria today.
Financial fraud is now the order of the day, the hero now is he who got away with the greatest loot, the theme of most political post holders as well as civil servants today has changed from 'service to the people' to 'take what you can and give nothing back!'
These explains why people can win elections from prison and the reason why ex-convicts and politicians and civil servants that are known to have committed financial crimes or to have mismanaged public funds before would come out to contest and win elections in Nigeria. When you ask how these criminals had managed to win major elections, the answers you get might sound like 'nobody voted for him, the election was rigged', funny, right? I bet it is.
It’s funny how people would rally round such criminals during political campaigns proudly wearing souvenirs bearing the name or picture of these 'corrupt leaders' around singing their praises. They start to explain how he did this or that during his time in office and how he would continue the 'good work' if given another chance.
Funny how same people we so bitterly complained of are now begging for another chance to continue and we give our consent, continue what, looting?!
Until we change, nothing's gonna change. Until we TRULY say no to money politics, we should forget about a truly free and fair election in this country.
The day in Nigeria when 'automatic tickets' are done away with both in internal elections of parties and inter party elections, the day those who mismanage public funds are not granted a 'second term' in office, the day when ONLY those that might have transparently declared their assets are allowed to contest, until that day when the political agenda of aspirants are demanded and put to test in national debates on national T.V.'s as they do in developed countries, till that day, I see no changes.
I mean, the same set of people that ruled in the past 4 years are the ones coming out for re-election or, should I say re-selection?
Selection begins right from the primaries in most, if not all the available ACTIVE parties. They rarely vote in the primaries, a few old men comes up with a 'consensus' candidate which all other members MUST accept as their candidate, be he good or bad he's accepted and supported by all and sundry.
Now, if the internal policy of a political party is to 'select' rather than to 'elect' their flag bearers, what do you expect that they do to win during the general elections ESPECIALLY when they happen to be the ruling party?!
This is the reason why I remain skeptical of any change during the next regime. Only a fool expects a change in out come when same things are done the same way. And I bet, I'm not that fool just as I guess you aren't either? The question now is if there could be a change at all and the answer to that question is a big YES!
Like I pointed out in the previous post, no leadership that I know of at least, can rule over a people with a different orientation for long.
When there's a continuous occurrence of foul play in a polity, the citizens should watch out as there are a few bad eggs among them that are sabotaging their efforts to effect changes. They must be wary of such people. These bad eggs are slippery and slimy, more like a snake, they come around acting and talking as though they are with you in the struggle but in the real sense, they are only there as spies for their greedy 'partners in crime' up the ladder.
They also ensure that you remain inert as they ensnare you with sudden valuable gifts of all sorts thereby killing the spirit of righteousness in you and replacing it with that of guilt and consequently that of shamelessness so much so that you see nothing wrong with someone stealing and looting public funds. Such is the case in Nigeria today.
Financial fraud is now the order of the day, the hero now is he who got away with the greatest loot, the theme of most political post holders as well as civil servants today has changed from 'service to the people' to 'take what you can and give nothing back!'
These explains why people can win elections from prison and the reason why ex-convicts and politicians and civil servants that are known to have committed financial crimes or to have mismanaged public funds before would come out to contest and win elections in Nigeria. When you ask how these criminals had managed to win major elections, the answers you get might sound like 'nobody voted for him, the election was rigged', funny, right? I bet it is.
It’s funny how people would rally round such criminals during political campaigns proudly wearing souvenirs bearing the name or picture of these 'corrupt leaders' around singing their praises. They start to explain how he did this or that during his time in office and how he would continue the 'good work' if given another chance.
Funny how same people we so bitterly complained of are now begging for another chance to continue and we give our consent, continue what, looting?!
Until we change, nothing's gonna change. Until we TRULY say no to money politics, we should forget about a truly free and fair election in this country.
The day in Nigeria when 'automatic tickets' are done away with both in internal elections of parties and inter party elections, the day those who mismanage public funds are not granted a 'second term' in office, the day when ONLY those that might have transparently declared their assets are allowed to contest, until that day when the political agenda of aspirants are demanded and put to test in national debates on national T.V.'s as they do in developed countries, till that day, I see no changes.
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