by Segun Awosanya
Every human being has a point of view, which simply means the glasses through which we see the world, if you are a Nigerian you can’t but see the world as a Nigerian. If you are a Nigerian and from the Yoruba land, then you’ll have an extra filter on the lens of the glasses just like an Igbo or Hausa would. Adding our religious, political and class biases would require additional filters, which in the end, color our perspectives and distort reality. So what we consider to be true in most cases are the distorted result from the filtered opinion of our various lenses.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) played on the minds of our ignorant masses using their various biases to ensnare them in an ambiguous trance, misinformed them by identifying issues, which were mostly exponential purviews of the actual events and gave them someone to hate for it. The people ignorantly took the bait and accepted a prospective paternalistic promise of a welfarist system. This was not mainly due to the convincing rhetoric, or their lack of deep thinking but mostly based on the hate generated by the campaign towards the incumbent. Unfortunately for the opposition party, their campaign of calumny presented their candidate as the messiah, one who knows where it hurts, one who had seen all possible issues and ways to ameliorate the pains of the people if not abolish the problems completely.
The campaign also featured adverts that suggests total annihilation of the masses by violence and threat to life should their votes be cast for the incumbent. Parents were sent subliminal messages that their wards were not safe from kidnap should they vote amiss. They alluded that the incumbent Government were responsible for the raging terrorist attacks and they (APC) know how to put an end to it and will do so in a month should they be voted.
Amidst these confusion and noise, there were voices warning, admonishing and making attempts to enlighten the masses of the inherent disappointment should people vote according to their emotions but it made no sense as rationality had since been buried. People wanted out, they wanted to vote against the incumbent not minding who they vote for, they assumed it was a personal affair and they needed to send a message. It was just like setting your home on fire to get rid of rodent infestation having been filled with the loathe of same without the consideration of homelessness.
The Change message was timely, it was what people wanted to hear but there were no plans or preparation for the proponent of change to change them. To change and to change for the better are two different things but the people were not rational enough to ask valid questions. The opposition even boycotted the public debate where valid questions on the hows and whys could have been verified yet the people chanted the rhetoric and justified their position with the most ludicrous excuses as presented to them without further questioning.
The incumbent as at then were no saints either, they were conceited, hapless, tactless and obtuse to the vibrations on ground. Their priorities were skewed and they jettisoned transparency until it was too late. They were fighting battles at various fronts and their successes were submerged by the rhetoric of their opposition who controlled the saturated mass media. Thorns, thistles and tares that sweep into action to extinguish any idea that may be a threat to their institutionalized means of gratification from the system, then surrounded the president. The wall built around him prevented him from having an objective view of the state of the Nation thus decisions were made from the narrow, colored and subjective perspectives of those proxy to power. Though the president meant well, worked hard, made promising policies, developed several sectors of the economy, made several progress, but the glory was lost in the clamor over the impunity that surrounds his government.
Fast forward to present day: Suffice to say in the words of Senator Ben Murray-Bruce “The more you attack your predecessor the higher the bar is set for you. Know how slippery a road is before knocking those who slipped on it”. Since May 29th of handing over, Nigeria as we know it under the past administration, had slipped and turned for the worst as forecasted. The dollar which was exchanging for N197 had risen to N230 and counting, the Money market collapsed with the flight of over N300Bn, death toll in the past month till date is over 700 and counting, the terrorists are emboldened with the seeming restraint of Government to engage, not a single kill had been recorded by our Military, who in the past administration decimated the terrorist till they were a handful confined and cornered to the isolated Sambisa Forest. Banks have since refrained from granting loans based on the uncertainties as the President, who lacks the understanding of the operation of economic forces, neither does he see the importance of appointing Ministers nor have the wisdom of the role of policies in galvanizing the economic progress of a Nation.
“Nigerian stocks fell for a fifth straight week and the Naira hovered at record lows on the parallel market on Friday, with demand for dollars making further declines likely next week. Nigeria’s interbank lending rate eased to an average of 4.5 percent on Friday, its lowest since the central bank raised its benchmark interest rate to 13 percent last December and down from 6 percent last week” – Reuters 6th July 2015.
The country has since been grounded from a snail speed as hardship intensifies. States (most of which were the ruling party’s APC) had depleted their funds in the bid to overrun the incumbent during the electioneering process thus massive defaults were recorded in salaries of workers. All campaign promises were jettisoned and the party stalwarts engaged in frivolous internal battles for power and positions, which led the party into deep crisis while citizens die in droves from brazen attacks of terrorists mainly across the North Eastern States.
As of date, members of the dreaded Boko Haram sect incarcerated in their hundreds had been released upon the instruction of Mr. President and killing spree had intensified while funds (N807.4Bn lifeline) had been released as bailouts to defaulting states just to create the necessary distraction.
The Presidency as composed, never learnt anything from the past administration and continued on the path of failure by making primary issues secondary. While the Nation burns, they play the fiddle like Nero…rather than address pertinent issues they rant incoherently about frivolities. The people are agitated; the president is unperturbed and grossly distracted. It is more evident that the victory was unprecedented and there were no plans, preparation or competence whatsoever in taking decisive action as per leadership. In our rudderless state, the Presidency in isolation had shifted gear to regional politics through the appointment of trusted henchmen from the northwestern part of the Nation.
Instead of getting help or taking responsibility for their ineptitudes they rant continuously in their opposition frame of mind about conspiracy theories and rhetoric of falsehood. They claimed the past administration left an empty treasury yet miraculously; the tiers of government were sharing Billions of dollars.
The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order but what we have today can best be described as a political holocaust. In a time of drastic change (for the worse) it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.
Robert F. Kennedy puts it this way; “Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change”.
All human situations have their inconveniences. We feel those of the present but neither see nor feel those of the future; and hence we often make troublesome changes without amendment, and frequently for the WORSE. The present political philistinism is the worst to befall a nation such as Nigeria since our independence but I must differ from the general perception as usual that the people in government are our problem.
The Danger to Nigeria is not General Mohammadu Buhari (President, Commander in Chief of Armed Forces of The Federal Republic Of Nigeria) but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of a GMB presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than GMB, who is a mere symptom of what ails NIGERIA. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The federal republic can survive a GMB, who is, after all, merely what he has proven be. It is less likely to survive a multitude of chowder heads such as those who made him their President.
The prayer we all must endeavor to pray is for God to grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change the things that we can and the wisdom to know the difference.
Segun Sega Awosanya is chief executive officer of Aliensmedia Communications. He spends his time as a Political, Business and Brand Analyst. Connect with him on Twitter via @segalink.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
