Some have opinions and some have none, yet those without opinions criticize those who have.

Everybody cannot be on one side, because we are not the same. We don’t share the same values, believe in the same things or expect the same outcomes. Even our perception of reality differs, you see the cup as half empty and I see it as half full, and our perceptions will lace our conversations with emotions. So if you insult me for sharing what I see and believe, I take it in good faith. There will always be people with large hearts and those without hearts, people will also range from geniuses to nitwits, the spectrum of intelligence will witness diversity all through. All of us serve one purpose, the Bible alludes that God has made all things for himself, the wicked also for the evil day (Prov 16:4). No human is useless, everybody serves a purpose.

I laid that preamble so that all those who see differently can see that provision has already been made for them. The elders say that if you know that the guest coming will accede to eating with you thereby shortening your ration, the wise thing to do is cook their own and have surplus.

In every nation, there are usually 3 types of people, those who make things happen, those who watch and criticize what happened and those who ask, “What happened?”. By our comments and perspectives we betray which of these 3 types of people we are. In the Nigerian social conversation space, we have these 3 people types already manifesting.

1. There are those who have chosen to exercise faith in the current government. Many of them have had their faith in place before the elections and understand the degree of degeneration that has happened to our country before now. They see the nation struggling, making decisions that are quite puzzling and in their heart of hearts, they feel they can at least have faith, and in their social commentary offer counsel, support and inspire some hope. These people are popularly misconstrued to be electoral fans who have morphed into blind followers.

2. There are also those who have an “I told you so complex”. They saw nothing good in the candidacy and they have not left the sidelines from day one. They have their antenna’s high, their zoom lenses tuned and their microscopes in their pockets. They claim not to be actively looking for what is wrong, in their view, what is wrong seems to be in so much abundance, nobody need look. This crowd is active and angry, and have been quite consistent in their message. This crowd is made up of people who really wished Jonathan continued together with a mixed multitude of those who voted for change only because they didn’t want the old, and those who thought they wanted change, but don’t like the change they seem to have gotten.

3. The third category are those who are passionately asking – “What happened?’ These ones do not any GPS tools, telescope or horoscope to see much of the future or predict the seasons. They simply look at the price of groundnut, look at their cost of living and ask -“What happened?”. To this crowd, change is not a good word, and whatever the first 2 above sounds most convincing as the reason things are bad wins their like. This group want a good nation, but would need some leadership to set the direction.

My hope in this piece is to define clearly where I am, and hope to reach out to those like me, convince a few unlike me, and reach out to those who would love to have some clarity so they can know what is happening and which way to go. I do not hope to be able to reach and cure those in category 2 with this post. Only God can reach those ones, and the recommended vehicle is prayer. So if you know how to pray, pray for them. The host of those who made a profession of complaining of the Children of Israel who left Egypt for Canaan died before destination. Out of love, we must pray for our wailing friends.

I have chosen to have some faith in this government! I have never earned from any party or group, and don’t earn a Naira or Kobo from any today! The last time I actively rendered service and participated passionately in a candidate was in 2011 and it was without charge or renumeration. I had a few friends we banded together and spent our selves and God given resources together. So while nothing in this government has paid or is paying me, I have chosen to have faith. I am also not less patriotic than those who have assigned themselves as wailers. While Yaradua was dead and an unconstitutional arrangement was being managed to keep then VP. Goodluck Jonathan in the back lines, I Adeolu Akinyemi joined others to march in Lagos and march in Abuja for power to be released to the President. I also had faith in the President and only exercised my constitutional rights to vote against him when the term was over.

I didn’t expect that things would not be tough, I have been preaching winter is coming for almost 2 years now, I knew an economic winter was looming. My first message this year was how to succeed in a recession, it was clear we were heading for a recession. A war foretold does not catch a wise cripple unawares. Even if one’s eyes are sunken deep within, one can still ensure one does not disappoint in offering tears at the funeral of a loved one, by starting to cry from home. Things will be hard for a season, but not for life. All our challenges and problems have an expiry date, and they are bounded by real deliverables that are doable and defendable.

Sometimes I read some comments and I don’t even know where to start responding from. In my head I’m asking, “did this person write their WAEC personally, or was a it special centre?” There are issues no doubt! The Economy, The fight against corruption, infrastructure – transport, power, housing, education, waste e.t.c. You who raise up your hand to criticize the government – what are you doing? What are you contributing to the economy? What is your corruption index? How do you get on the moral high horse of saying the corruption fight is one sided, when corruption proceeds trickles all the way down to you? Or how does a married man that is sleeping with his children’s nanny get to accuse her of lying? Does he really want her to always tell the truth?

Am I saying everything is perfect? No! Things are far from perfect, but I have not lost hope, and neither should you. I think the wheel of Democracy by it’s very nature grinds slowly and is typically not the best system for a nation in dire need of development and re-culturing. Since the machine we have however moves slowly, we must exercise patience. If PMB can tackle corruption at all key levels from Judiciary to legislature and executive arms of government all the way to civil service (a herculean task in a democracy), stir the nation into local consumption and make local manufacturing easy (power, transport e.t.c.), these would have been awesome.

I believe the “stance” Mr. President needs to take is come out boldly on TV in a national broadcast and tell us – “Fellow Nigerians, I do not care if I have another term in 2019 or not, in fact, I don’t want. What I will do is use this tenure to ensure that any Nigerian that steals from as low as sugar to as high as government funds will get their due punishment speedily!” A declaration like this, I believe will set the tone properly for the days ahead… but like I said in the beginning – “WE will not all agree”.

Adeolu Akinyemi,
A Patriotic Nigerian