NIGERIANS, PEACEFUL OR COWARDS? * THE TIME IS NOW!

I don’t think Nigerians are peaceful, I believe we are just being cowardly to fight for our rights. It has been always emphasized by world intellectuals that human rights are not optional but a must. This was my status on a social networking site some days back which attracted lots of critical and controversial comments. As expected, given the unpredictable nature of humans, my status attracted divergent views .While majority said that was a plain truth, some believed otherwise. Whichever way you think it, that’s just my opinion which I am at liberty to share.

I would not have just woken up one day to say this, if I had not taken my time carefully to
 observe some obvious irregularities about the properly structured but improperly managed system of governance and the resultant cold-reactions of citizens to issues, policies and plans in my country. Good people, Great nation, that is the slogan of a new Nigeria but how can we talk of a great nation when what she has is grave leaders, hmmm! great nation indeed. Good people for real, little wonder how we were manipulated by the sympathetic manifesto of Mr President who claimed to have walked barefooted to school and that he was sensitive to our pains because he had been through it before. He tactically invoked our sympathy and won it to himself, got our votes but only to get there and slit our throats. Thank GOD he is flying now. Believe me if Mr President had told Nigerians in his manifesto that he would remove fuel subsidy when he gets to power, you will agree with me that even rigging would not have won him the presidential election of April 16^th 2011. He has insisted on the removal of fuel subsidy. Even the common man on the street is aware of the negative effects that come with the removal. But the man that had no school shoes had pledged to cushion the effects of the removal with the funds that will be derived from the removal. There is no point fooling Nigerians when we all know that even with fuel subsidy, Nigerians are still impoverished. What more its removal.

We`ve got leaders who do not care if we live or die, so long it does not affect their luxury lives and local or foreign bank accounts, yet we still sit down, fold our arms and take every mismanagement and flaws of the government hook, line and sinker. What do we call that? Being Peaceful or cowardly?

If this is what is called transformation then its better not experienced at all. Removal of fuel subsidy without properly considering the negative effects on the masses, Reconstruction of toll gates which were once demolished by the same people just to increase pump price then, Exorbitant price for the new vehicle plates number just designed, epileptic power supply, Death traps called roads all over the country, Ever-increasing tuition fee in all tertiary institutions, Selfish policies and baseless agenda etc. I don’t think this is a transformation, it is a delusion.

Every day the head gets bigger, leaving the legs and other parts of the body which carries it thinner, who does not know that its collapsing time is imminent. A presidential candidate, in a presidential debate that was televised nationwide said that if the Government makes 100 naira, it uses 80 naira to sustain itself while 20 naira goes to the masses. So much money at the top to lavish within the strongly built and well protected circle of polity which is made up of the rich who amount to less than 0.1% of the entire population, Also meaningless expenses, royal wastage, ridiculously inflated contracts and lots more, while those below beg for what to eat, clothes to wear and shelter to live in. Great Nation they call it.

The time is now, to say no to all manners of slavery imposed on us by our leaders. We cannot continue to live in our father`s land as slaves, we cannot continue to suffer and live in abject poverty in the face of abundant natural resources in a well endowed and gifted country  

The time is now, to stand up and fight for our rights collectively and individually. The right to freedom and good governance is just what we clamour for.

The time is now, to say no to all forms of embezzlement, wasteful spending, injustice and all sorts of criminal activities by our leaders.

We cannot continue to claim that we are peaceful and watch things move from bad to worst. We have got to stop watching and act fast. This is the time for action and enough of rehearsal. If we must safe our future, we must safe our today first and deliver it from the hands of caterpillars and canker worms that we call our leaders.

Show me a great nation and I will tell you the history of her revolution; the Chinese revolution in 1911, French revolution in 1789 and 1848, American Revolution in 1775, Russian revolution in 1917 and lots more. This was what the Egyptians, Tunisians and Libyans saw that prompted them to join the revolutionary trend this year. When is ours? When do we re-write our history? We have waited too long, something has to be done and it has to be done fast.