The collective future of a nation, cannot reside in the hands of a few. It can only be in the hands of the “collectinum”, where we decide wholeheartedly, how we want our future to be like.

Nigeria has a nation, will never progress beyond the stages of infancy, if we do not take firm collective decisions to ensure our growth and development.

Come to think of it, the body, with all its part cannot function in isolation. Can you imagine, your hand taking a life of its own? Or your leg, or stomach? Its either paralysis or a zombie infection is at work!

And as i stated in my last post, the problem of our nation is not in isolation, it just requires a thinking person to sit down, and put the whole machinery to work as a seamless entity.

But if in the little things that matters, we cannot agree and the few are deciding for the majority, then its a reflection of the society at large, a debilitating disease that needs to be tackled at its very source! And its not restricted in the political space, it cuts across, work, church, organisations and what have you.

I personally think, that oligarchy, in whatever form, or format, is a blight on a democratic setting and its eating us from inside out and we do not know it yet. For how best can you describe it, when one or two or three people decide on behalf of a million people who or what we should vote for. That is grievous!

But i don’t blame those who do so as well. The majority have placed themselves in a subservient position where they cannot think for themselves,  but rather rely on another person(s) to make that decision for them. And should they be involved in that process, they tend to make a mess of it with “paralysis analysis” of what is not. Simple vote for what you want or who you want, we turn it into a quadratic equation. (how i hate this equation in school then!).

Perhaps, if things are too simple for us, we think they must be cheap or nothing to be regarded. Because, how else can you describe it, “let’s all come together and decide on what we want to do based on these suggestions” and it becomes a nightmare of ego clashing, personal ambition and confusion.

And its our reality in our country Nigeria. We have always turned, a simple exercise into something that turns to bloodshed, acrimony, disharmony and disunity. And we have turned it to a THEY vs US. And really..can we progress like that?!

The constitution of United States of America starts with,”We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” 

Nigerian Constitution starts with, “We the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Having firmly and solemnly resolve, to live in unity and harmony as one indivisible and indissoluble sovereign nation under God, dedicated to the promotion of inter-African solidarity, world peace, international co-operation and understanding. And to provide for a Constitution for the purpose of promoting the good government and welfare of all persons in our country, on the principles of freedom, equality and justice, and for the purpose of consolidating the unity of our people”

Looking at these two constitutions, we can deduce, where the majority really decide their future as against the few. And looking at the constitution again, we can ask ourselves, are we “promoting the good government and welfare of all persons in our country, on the principles of freedom, equality and justice, and for the purpose of consolidating the unity of our people?” I think not, it begs an answer. On an aside, this line in the constitution, “dedicated to the promotion of inter-African solidarity, world peace, international co-operation and understanding” shows we are really confused about our identity and purpose as a nation. If, we have not consolidated in-house, of what use are we outside? We are yet to remove the log in our eyes, we want to remove the wood in another’s eyes…are we thinking as a nation at all?

Our ability to live in harmony as one indivisible, indissoluble sovereign nation under God must not be left to the prerogative of the few under the ignoble banner of religious bigotry, political brigandry, and ethnic and tribal hegemony. Our ability to forge ahead, must be premised on “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs”. That is, everyone deserving of a role must be based solely on merit and qualifications and not the bemusement of a godfather seated somewhere making appointments!

How has Federal Character contributed to the advancement of our nation? How has ethnic and tribal prejudice contributed to national growth and development? A civil war had been fought based on ethnic prejudice, but here we are, still at the same crossroads. No lesson learnt!

We have so much love for God that we fire off prayers to him, like a sub machine gun, cutting down enemies on the battlefield. Yet, sin has not abated the least, rather, its grown in leaps and bounds that one wonders, is God really listening to all these prayers or he has left us to our wiles. We can’t make a complete statement without sounding pious. Yet we are sanctimonious “bastards” who will readily sell Jesus Christ for half the price Judas used to betrayed him and we won’t even feel remorseful about it! And it not only applies to the “Christian” community but to the “Muslim” community as well. We readily break the laws of the land but feign obedience to God’s commandments. Who is deceiving who??

We must rise above our differences, and forge together, in one accord, our collective destiny as a nation and as an identity. A tree cannot make a forest, the ants are without a king nor queen, but what they achieve collectively as a colony, we cannot dream of it as a nation. We cannot allow, the future we want for our children to be left in the hands of a few dysfunctional individuals irrespective of their good intentions, it must be our decision and not their decision. 

“The seeds we sow today will grow to serve as shades for weary travellers tomorrow”  Nike Thaddeus.

“Those who have no sense of posterity or any concern for future generations are the ones who are really dead. I mean, they are dead right now. Walking zombies.” Edward Abbey.

Selah!