The orchestrated plans to break up Nigeria

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds."

¯ Albert Einstein

True, my dear country Nigeria is no longer a safe place, especially with the daily bombings, kidnapping and senseless killings of innocent souls across virtually everywhere in the country. To be honest, I am even scared writing this column this week, because who knows where the next deadly bomb is going to explode.

Like everything Nigeria, the spate of bombings in the country has taken another dimension, with faceless living human beings among us senselessly going after innocent church worshippers and Islamic pupils. A shameless action and ungodly if you will agree with me. Is it not actually a worthless less efforts to go bomb or kill people worshipping or praising that magnificent, all knowing and all seeing God that none of us has ever seen or behold, and at the end of the day both the bombers and everyone else will definitely die and answer to all his or her good and bad deeds on earth?

What justification do we as humans really have to kill another soul none of us can ever or will ever be able to create? Or is there any one among us that God the owner of everything in this vanity world has given the license or birth right to kill on His behalf? The fact is, whosoever commits any evil in a house of worship should expect a disgraceful retribution beginning from here on earth before the final one on the Day of Judgment.

Well, it is just a matter of time before we all depart this turbulent world and go answer to all the deeds we used our hands, legs, mouth and body to commit before our creator and I am sure none shall escape His judgment, especially those who have one way or the other destroyed or killed his creations on earth.

Back to my dear country Nigeria, no doubt the series of confrontations by various groups on the people and nation known as the Federal Republic of Nigeria is without double saying a sign of war on the peace loving people of this great country. If not, why should any sincere group want to instigate a religious war in the country, a dangerous war that no sensible country would want to engage in. Right now it seems the die has been cast and those who are bent on breaking and splitting up this resilient country are fighting desperately to do so.

Another overview of the various deadly crimes going on in this country over the past ten years might showcase another angle to their motives. From the current deadly systematic bombings and ethno- religious crises going on across the north, the vicious kidnappings and armed robbery in the south-east, the orchestrated assassinations and political wrestling in the south-west and the diehard militancy and political unrest in the south-south. All these tend to point to an orchestrated plan to fulfil that doomsday prediction by the West of the breaking up of Nigeria before 2015.

Well, maybe we should not just close our eyes and senses and give way to these faceless people to win over our sovereignty. Unless if we want to overlook some of the deadly atrocities that have been committed against this country over the past ten years or thereabout. Carnage such as the spate of deadly bombs that has continued to shake the fabric and foundation of the country, the daily orgy of killings in the name of religion, tribe, settler, indigene and other narcissism that lead to senseless loss of lives across the country.

Should we overlook the ransomed attitude of some militants that occasionally threaten our co-existence, or prudently view it as part of this orchestrated plan to break up Nigeria, the nation bestowed with some of the richest natural resources on planet earth? Won’t it be proper and elaborate if we try to see the daily invasion of our villages and towns by faceless killers as part of this coordinated preparation to tear asunder the ‘Giant of Africa’ in fulfillment of 2015?

What about some of the daily inflammatory utterances and comments of some of our political, religious and traditional leaders over the years as the country boils and groans under insecurity, ethno-religious crises, kidnappings, armedrobbery,assassination, militancy,political crises, corruption, maladministration, injustice and all the other underdevelopment forces and wahala that have continued to bedevil this great rich nation over the years; should we see all these as part of this jealous sketch to sever the tight cold that has continued to bind us together since our unfortunate civil war or just overlook them as the country keeps boiling and slowly losing its hitherto solidness and vibrancy?

I tell you there seems to be many organized plans to destabilize this country, and a good observer would have noticed some of these man-made arrangements, but like everything that goes under the sun, man plans, but God the creator, designer and owner of everything has His own plan. So, it is important that we must not and should not bow to the plans of man. This is our country, none of us really begged to be made a Nigerian; we all found ourselves as creatures in a vanity world, and I think it is important that these faceless human beings among us who are all bent on cracking and splitting up this one nation under one sun would realize that none among them can really modify any part of what God has made this country to be without His consent.

Again, like everything that happens under the sky, I believe there are always solutions to everything, and Nigerians must understand that we are not the first; neither shall we be the last to be threatened by these various challenges. But the ability of those saddled with the responsibility of ensuring our continued co-existence, who are actually men and women among us is presently what is in doubt. It is important that they sit up to their responsibilities, and be courageous to step aside if they are not capable of holding to their oath of protecting and defending the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, including its territory and its people. They should be bold to hands-up if the current tide of unrest and insecurity are weighting them down, instead of holding on to their positions and pretending that all is well and under their control, while hundreds of innocent lives are daily lost to this orchestrated chart to break up this resilient country.

Oil subsidy removal: The President, his tiny faction and the majority of us

“Nothing is more revolting than the majority; for it consists of few vigorous predecessors, of knaves who accommodate themselves, of weak people who assimilate themselves, and the mass that toddles after them without knowing in the least what it wants”

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The oil subsidy palaver: It is currently the hottest debate and one of the most talked about issue across the country and beyond our shores.  And its few proponents are daily churning out different propagandas and ideologies on why the vast majority of us should and must support the oppressive idea of subsidy removal as being planned by the present administration under the commanding power of President Goodluck  Ebele Jonathan.

I am still finding it very difficult to believe that our dear coordinating minister for Economy and Finance could disrespect her intimidating gele and almost practically weep to convince the majority of us to accept this repressive plan. And to quote her as reported by the press, “What we are asking you Nigerians to do is to give us a chance. We know there is lack of confidence in government. We need to rebuild the trust. Even those of us in government are tired of complaining. We can’t succeed without you. Give us chance to perform and see if we can make that change” she said.

 Thank God, our dear minister boldly accepted that we the majority have since lost confidence in government and are very suspicious of any proposed policies and promises of most of our politicians.

Perhaps the minister and those strongly advocating this unpopular plan are not really listening to the loud voices of Nigerians across the country and beyond  on why they don’t want  or subscribe to this plan called subsidy.  They are not listening and hearing the pathetic voices of our mothers and wives on the skyrocketing prize of  kerosene, garri, masara, dawa, elubo and all the other hitherto cheap foodstuffs the  majority of us have been pacifying our oppressed bodies with to keep body and soul, amidst the insecurity and total lack of confidence in  government over the years.   It seems the president and his few supporters of oil subsidy removal have not been listening to the daily lamentations of the majority of Nigerians about the crazy yearly increase of house rents across the country. They have not adequately relaxed their busy minds to really see, feel and understand the pain most of us daily go through in the hands of our overzealous transport owners as we strive daily to get to our places of work, markets and schools. They have failed to comprehend that the majority of us are already tired of this long fruitless journey of promises and failure.

The majority of Nigerians on which all the goodies from this planned oil subsidy removal would fall are loudly saying NO! to this one-sided plan that is already causing serious hardship and wahala in many homes across the country.  The few minority supporting this plan I believe are not being sincere with their conscience, if not, the poor states of our roads, hospitals, schools, including our various shut-down industries and retrogressing  villages should have illustrated how truly the various imported government plans and policies on oil have failed us massively over the years.

I think it is important for the president and his few supporters to shine their eyes and listen to the mobilizing voices of the majority that could ignite a fire that might prove difficult for them to extinguish when the furious flame roars across the country and probably igniting that revolutionary vision acknowledged by the president few weeks ago.

It is important for the president and his tiny faction to see beyond their secluded views and broaden their vision to the reality that the power of the majority can always put a match to a time bomb waiting to explode, and the index so far is indicating a fragile timeline waiting to burst.

Also very important for the president to know is the fact that unpopular policies have always been the catalyst that saw to the downfall of various  governments that failed to listen to the majority voices of their people across the world and an albatross to their regime.

I think the president and his cabinet owe all those enthusiastic Nigerians who voted in this administration and made it possible for them to now occupy their present positions a mark of gratitude and an un-quantifiable public service for all the trust they gave to them, including their selfless sacrifices before and during the presidential election; one of the most tensed period in our history as a nation, instead of now subjecting them to economic tension.

Some thoughtful questions for those in support of this anti-people polices are: Do they really have control over the pump price of petroleum product in the country? Do they have the will and gut to unmask and tame the elusive cabal that are ripping us off and benefitting greedily from this collective wealth? Do they truthfully have the patriotic zeal to deregulate this important sector of our economy for God and country? Has it really occurred to them that no government can and has so far succeed if its focuses depends solely on oil to revive its economy, initiate development and rebuild its infrastructure? Do they put into consideration that this planned oil subsidy removal is wrongly timed given the insecurity and our yet to recover economic meltdown?

The truth is the president and his fuel subsidy collaborators cannot claim to know more than all of us. It is relevant for them to have it at the back of their minds that the ladder of life is fragile and succumb easily to the inevitable wind of  change which might someday turn against them  as the future of many Nigerians, including them, their families and offspring depend on the good or bad  policy and vision they will have left behind. It is significant that they know that we all belong to this country and own it as a responsibility to see that we all enjoy the free natural wealth bequeathed to us by God.

Right now the majority of Nigerians have said no to this unnecessary government policy and I think it is imperative for the National Assembly and all the state legislative arms, and the judiciary to compel the president and his proponent team to listen to the wish of the people who are the majority and make them see the wisdom on why our mass voice is opposed to this unpopular plan. The majority I believe brought about their emergence and will continue to have the vast support of the mass populace and shall always carry the vote of victory.

President Jonathan and his many wahala…

“Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results not attributes.” Peter Drucker

Perhaps no other President has been unfortunate to be confronted by so many wahala since Nigeria independenceth than President Goddluck Ebele Jonathan. These wahala can be categorized into two:  the man-made and God made, with the latter dominating the scale.  And to be fair to the president, it has not been quite easy for him as the number one man of this great rich controversial country.

The daily challenges and wahala confronting Mr. President comprise various strikes from different sectors of the Nigerian social, economic and political fronts, which are ASSU and NLC strikes amongst others. This administration has to its credit one of the most challenging and threatening internal problems since our independence. This courtesy of the deadly Boko Haram   mayhem, the Niger Delta militancy, the Jos, Bauchi, Kaduna, Yobe, Nazarawa and Benue ethno-religious slaughtering. Not forgetting the constant political thuggery and bloody Motor Parks rivalry in Oyo and other part of the south-west environs. Worthy to also mention is the record breaking increase in dare devil robbery and kidnapping in the south –east and part of the south-south.

To be honest, my eyes just took a peep more prudently at the Nigeria nation and I can clearly see that this present administration has no option than  to buckle up and face all the man-made  challenges and problems daily  confronting it furiously. From the disgraceful Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and its scandalous privatization exercise, and the other massive corruption cases hanging boldly like a tag on its head perpetrated by past and serving government officials and politicians.

Another burden and challenge facing this government is the pathetic state of our educational sector and the eyesore that has become our public schools. Though the administration has to its credit the record of settling up new universities across the various geo-political zones in the country, it has always failed to really look inward and behold with shame what has become some of our historical public schools, from primary, secondary to higher institutions across the country. Some of the hitherto beautiful structures are now more of relics and unfortunately still accommodate hundreds of innocent Nigerians under hash and disgraceful conditions. Some of our young pupils  and  under-graduates can still be seen sitting and squatting  in various classrooms, despite the yearly billions of naira allocated to this  important  sector of our lives.

The load on the shoulder of this administration, I tell you, is not an easy one.  How else should we describe our nose-dived sport ministry and its various shameful failures despite all the commitment of the administration and support from the Presido personally in ensuring that our sport ministry has the best, especially our corruption infected Nigeria Football  Federation (NFF) and their bunch of unpatriotic and money induced administrators, coaches and players?  I wonder how many Nigerians this cluster of failed sportsmen and women would have sent to their early graves through high blood pressure anytime they come, make their loud boastfulness and at the end fail woefully with cheap excuses. Thank God, Nigerians are now wiser, they now funnel their energy to how to get their daily bread and garri, instead of wasting unfruitful time and vigour supporting or worrying about our failed sportsmen and women, who over the years have brought nothing but scandals, corruption, infighting and shame to our hitherto number one sporting nation in Africa, and among the best in the world.

It is not easy to rule a country like Nigeria;anyone with ambition or privilege to vie or govern this rich diversified nation must and should be ready to confront all the big wahala that should be expected from a country with more than 150 million people. That person should be bold enough to confront the security challenges and massive corruption that could greedily swallow it if left untamed.

Among the loads the Jonathan administration is currently carrying on its over burdened head is the important issue of good roads across the country, steady power and water supply, modern hospitals and equipment, unemployment, closure of industries, especially in the north where almost all the hitherto vibrant textile industries, and other manufacturing enterprises have long kissed the dust. I am sure the present administration has not forgotten that on its shoulder still lies the promise of  establishing a modern school system for the battalions of almajiris  still daily roaming our town and cities, disgracefully in rags with weather beaten bowls in search of food and where to lay their  oppressed heads.

There is this popular Hausa saying: tsunsu da yaja ruwa, shi ruwa kan daka. Translate: The bird that draws rain got beaten by the rain. The president since assumption seems to have been drawing some of the thunderstorm and rain that is falling over his administration negatively. From his proposed single tenure bill, his long overdue promise of naming and exposing those behind the spate of bombings across the country, the names of the greedy cabal milking us from our oil sector and his current controversial oil subsidy removal plan.

Though I am yet to meet Mr. President in person, my eyes from afar could deduce that he seems to be someone that should be able to face these many wahala confronting his administration presently, given the fact that providence so far has been on his side and fair to him in all the battles he has so far been confronted with in life. How he does this rests squarely on his shoulders, and Nigerians and history shall only remember and refer in these words: During the administration of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, because the final buck and solutions to these loads of wahala presently, still stop on his table.