Talking About Nigeria, Past, and Present
Except in self-deceit, even Mr. President cannot lay claim to being safe just as a retinue of our men of God so enveloped by the " Blood of Jesus."
By Taiye Olaniyi
"Conditions in the society must be very bad before people in their large number would call for its violent overthrow, for no one would want to lose everything for nothing."
The security situation in Nigeria today is so appalling to such an extent that everywhere at any place no single individual can boast of being safe.
Except in self-deceit, even Mr. President cannot lay claim to being safe just as a retinue of our men of God so enveloped by the " Blood of Jesus " still feel unsafe in fear of the envelopes being pouched by unwanted visitors.
The geography of insecurities in Nigeria is so pervasive and intimidating, it gets worsened because, in every sphere of life in Nigeria, politics as we practice it so crude, so personified, and personalized creates that fulcrum for anything and everything bad.
Partisan issues are so debilitating that whatever was done or not done by one party in power at one point in time or the other, is sent into an incinerator against the critical examination of its context and contents.
As Nigerians once conversed at the CONFAB, would the executive, our legislators, and judiciary at whatever levels take a painstaking and patriotic evaluation of findings and moderate for probable institutionalization for the unity of this beloved country Nigeria?
Methinks it is best first to think of the true unity of our sovereignty rather than being always combative and combatant over sectional, religious, and other parochial interests.
Democracy ideally affords and promotes thinking and intellectual sharing of thoughts and ideas which when are noble, leads to the attainment of an exalted nation.
So unfortunate that most times in many of our houses where Nigerians assemble to discuss issues of national interests, issues go combative in conflagration, and Nigeria gets misconfigured.
Where then lies the PEACE the Unity and what Faith in Nigeria is symbolized by the underlining "Faith, Unity and Peace as we have in the National Crest or Emblem?
What noble ideals are we inculcating as a career to Nation Building,?
Boko Haram still is unresolved and seems our own Nigeria-made "Mother of All Wars" quoting brother Saddam Hussein.
Would the CONFAB reports and findings as once codified and eventually reviewed lead to a redefinition of geographic expression and sane cartographic drawing or the drowning of the peoples of Nigeria now that we daily get sunk in everything we ought to sing victory songs?
Is the CONFAB report of years past going the way of THINGS FALL APART, or is Nigeria's Sovereignty likely turning to " There Was a Country"?
These and similar issues reverberate in my heart each time I scan through my stamp albums and closely look at Chinua Achebe's postage stamp issued on literary and scientific icons, those of Wole Soyinka, Abubakar Imam, Ayodele Awojobi, Gabriel Oyibo, and Emeagwali on January 18, 2006.
We all are sojourners in this world of ours, what thoughts, words, and actions are we posting that would STAMP us that we ever came this way?
The hues and cries over Amotekun, local vigilantes, and similar security syndromes set up truly for populace security apparel or another mere institution to feather the nests of politicians in power, politicians' security, and those powers that be?
Is the composition for only jobless, unemployed, unemployable, for the downtrodden, or would children of the highly placed Nigerians be part of patriotic recruits.?
In all these, what guarantees the security of Nigerians, as Nigerians in Nigeria if democracy remains the way it is presently practiced as: "Affluence for politicians, opulence for the powerful and business as usual and poverty in the life of the people?
"Remake the World with Love and Happiness", so says the Son of Man
Taiye Olaniyi, a retired Postman of the Nigeria Postal Service, is based in Lagos.