Good people of a great Nation saddled with Bad leaders

By Jon Chikadibie Okafo
I returned to Nigeria after a stint in
Europe with a strong dose of
optimism; I was highly hopeful that I
would clinch a good job and partake
in the feast of “democracy
dividends”. Well, it is gone past four
months now and my optimism is
being assaulted by what the
legendary Fela called “government
magic”-I am still job hunting.
We Nigerians are really a happy lot.
Despite the fact that living in this
country for majority of the people is
akin to the Hobbesian State of
Nature, many of us still find the
inner strength to trudge on while
praying to God and insisting that e
go better. We smile a lot and strive
as much as possible to find humour
in every situation. Our faith in God
and our apparent fake smiles stems
from the fact that we all know that
“suffer dey Africa kakaraakaa”.
On the other side of the tragic-
comedy that is the story of Nigeria,
we have our rulers who exist in a
world of stupendous opulence. They
represent the lecherous pack of
blood sucking demons that exist
only to steal from all of us. They are
usually the political office holders
and top civil servants who have over
the years, perfected the inglorious
act of looting our patrimony. They
are heartless.
The story of Nigeria brings tears to
my eyes; this is one story that is so
heart-wrenching and obnoxious at
the same time. In this story, you see
on a daily basis the horrifying
effects of the wickedness of our
leaders. It is a story where the
institution of government appears
to be solely for the purpose of
enriching obscenely those in power
while snuffing out the lives of
millions they ought to be catering
for.
It is only in Nigeria that a police
officer at an illegal check-point
shoots a driver for refusing to pay a
bribe or not paying the demanded
sum. In this scenario as we have
seen many times in the past, the
killer cop runs away or is sacked,
and the police authorities issue a
statement to the effect that a
committee has been set up to
unravel the circumstances
surrounding the said incident. At
most, a stupid sum of money is paid
to the victim’s family and the story
ends.
It is only in Nigeria that the sinfully
named Power Holding Company of
Nigeria will send agents to collect
the sum N5, 000 from residents for
a faulty transformer to be repaid, or
a new one installed. As I write, this
is the situation I find myself in here
in Surelere, Lagos where the
transformer that serves three
streets have packed up and we
have not had power for about fifteen
days now! I have been informed,
sadly, that a refusal to pay will see
PHCN officials being aloof to our
groans and cries for succour.
Only in Nigeria will the president
increase the sufferings of the
already beleaguered masses by
jerking up the pump price of fuel
while increasing his chop-money to
a little less than one billion naira!
Why should we, the people be the
only ones making sacrifices while
those in power binge and quaff on
our resources with glee?
My optimism that Nigeria would re-
discover itself gave way to an ulcer-
inducing rage when I read that
members of our scandalous National
Assembly have budgeted billions of
naira for the purchase of yet
another set of luxury cars for their
legislative pleasure. What cheek!
This is the same National Assembly
that has turned itself into the most
outrageous pack of capricious
leeches, now stepping up its game
of stealing as much as possible from
all of us while pretending to be
representatives of the people.
Since I came back to Nigeria for
good, I have galloped across the
width and breath of this nation and
the story is the same everywhere.
However, I wish to state without fear
of contradiction that Abuja, the
federal capital territory takes the
gold cup in this deceit that is the
story of our country. Abuja eats,
drinks and breaths corruption. The
mind-frame of Abuja dwellers is akin
to a cesspit where maggots
scramble for what is food to them; I
didn’t come across any Abuja
resident that complained about the
looting going on. I was only
encouraged to pray to belong.
This same story is replicated across
all the states of the federation;
Governors and their cabal have
turned corruption into a carnival
while mouthing the depressing lies
of “bringing the dividends of
democracy” to the people. Apart
from the oil marketers, government
officials are the richest folks in the
country and we all know whence
cometh their obscene wealth. It is
weird and mind-boggling how those
in government are able to sleep at
night despite the misery, the
wickedness, the lies they churn out,
the deaths they bring about by their
acts of negligence and the utter
betrayal of the trust of the people
they claim to be working for. Are we
really this callous as a people?
Certainly, there is something about
being in a position of power, wealth
and authority in our country that
seeps into those in those positions
and turns them into moral wrecks.
This is my take on this matter.
What exactly is the matter with the
Nigeria Labour Congress, the Trade
Union Congress and the organised
civil societies? Is it just me that fails
to understand why these groups
succumb to the lies and blackmails
of our government instead of acting
as the needed checks on
government ineptitude? After the
last fuel subsidy riots, I came to the
sad conclusion that nobody out
there is fighting for the ordinary
Nigerian.
I strongly suspect that the groups
mentioned above are all in the
game of “aluta continua” for their
own selfish games, and none of that
includes holding the government
accountable for all its atrocities
against the people of Nigeria.
The story of Nigeria is really a sad
one; it is a story of self-inflicted
injury. A tale of a group of sadists
sitting on the wealth of a nation and
amassing it brazenly , watching the
poor folks stumble and die, while
insisting that “we will get there as a
people”. There is so much
wickedness in this country and our
rulers are the perpetrators, they are
the ones ruining this country while
the ordinary folks try to imitate
them-this why corruption will never
stop here.
I really miss the God of the Old
Testament, I sincerely do.
johnteddyus@yahoo.com