Nigerians and patriotic despondency By Babs Ope.

After a careful but deep thought I made a 'controversial' statement yesterday that the main problem of Nigeria is not the Judges nor the leaders; though they have their fair share in the sorry status of the nation no doubt.Take note that the word controversial is quoted. It is so because some of my friends have put up seemingly genuine arguments to question my insinuation and audacity. Some have even in their usual defence of any obviously wrong and condemnable acts of public domain successfully validated my thought base.

We live in a country where ethnic patronage and  unethical political followership have taken over the national interest.The politicians deliberately and successfully instrumentalised this as a form of distraction to keep the awareness of the public away from their notorious malhandling and misappropriation of the country's resources. What is currently in vogue and being used by the politicians and other agents of division is the use of blogs to fan the ember of disunity and to incite the citizens against the government, one tribe against the other through spurious and baseless reporting that makes people react unnecessarily without finding out the authenticity of the news in circulation. Some citizens are even being sponsored for agitations, destruction and sabotaging of the country's natural resources. The politicians successively created poverty to kwashiokorise the citizens rational thinking capabilities. The obvious success of all these are evident in the distasteful commotion that has engulfed the public domain. Some have become unconditional critics and supporters of whatever that tends to hurt their heroes and mentors when of course they are the ones that are responsible for our problems. I am sure the politicians who created this would be happy comfortably relaxed in their sofas rubbing their bellies and watching their investment soaring in extreme gullibility by the day. But for how long? As long as we are disposed to their inordinate ideals and divisive games nothing would change. Don't get me wrong, I clearly understand the ideals of leadership and followership and I am not trying to rubbish that. What is made out of Leadership followership process is what tells the difference.

The beauty of democracy is well envisaged if divergent opinions are well reviewed without bias and followed with decisive actions, which is seen to be having remarkable impact on the society and not the kind of opinions that are centred on abysmal notion of fault finding. We have got be realistic in opinions and be able to make same defensible.

Now to the reason why I said Nigerians are the major problem of Nigeria without exonerating myself even though I try to understand a situation clearly before putting my mouth; I still find myself wanting in some grey areas. I am called the hailer of the present Government because I support its mandate to rid Nigeria off many of her myriad of problems and I am not oblivious of the efforts of some saboteurs to rubbish the leadership. I don't really have any problem with the leadership and its approach towards getting the country out of the mud but I have problem with we Nigerians including me. How, you may wish to ask? We haven't provided the leadership with any sensible alternative approach to its policies but we are quick to hail and criticise out of objectivity (wailing). We have not constantly engaged the government like it is done in saner climes. We rather chooses to engage ourselves in some primordial sentiments informed by perpetual misinformation from divisive elements to react unjustly while the future appears uninteresting to us. We don't seem to make our leaders accountable to us rather we are distracted questioning their rationality over any decision. When their decision flops then we are quick to pick holes. It is time for us to begin to engage our leaders and tell them consistently what we want and not what our emotional sentiments tell us based on political affiliations. Nigeria is above any political affiliation.

We have a country that have been deliberately incapacitated by some monstrous cabals in the name of making laws and gave us a ruse called 'rule of law'. This same rule of law is 'harsh' on the poor and 'mild' on the rich. There is a lot of imbalances in our judicial system. The poor boy who has been poverty stricken by the same system of impoverishment steals someone's food and being sent to six years imprisonment while a rich politician who have successfully stolen money that is enough to cater for many generations buy justice and allowed to walk free with an option of plea bargaining and all we can do when such corrupt judges are singled out and arrested in a drastic manner is to start ranting fundamental human rights in their support. Where would a judge who is not being paid in dollars get the whopping sum of $2m ( Nine hundred and sixty million Naira) from? What business empire does he have that requires stashing of dollars at home? And yet in some people's delusional reasoning they keep defending such amount might be legitimate. This makes the our patriotism questionable.

 In advanced countries Judges enjoy good condition of service that takes care of their needs and never would a Judge contemplate perversion of justice. Judges in advanced countries are not stupendously rich like some of our Nigerian Judges. In fact any amount that goes beyond the threshold of their monthly salaries and allowances would be investigated. The source would be confirmed and appropriate sanction would be meted on such a Judge. Some of our Judges here in Nigeria knows the sheriff on the seat of power has zero tolerance for corruption and has thus chosen their homes as their mega bank. The appropriate agencies could not trace the alleged funds to their banks but are left with the option of searching their homes which was successful. The DSS recovered huge amount of money in different currencies as intelligence revealed. These are the Judges that the National Judicial Council (NJC) committee have recommended for sanctions based on their alleged corruption stances. Now instead of us to commend the DSS for the drastic approach taken to recover these monies, some of us turned ourselves to human rights activists to claim these monies might be legitimate. Some have even been dictating how and when DSS should have carried out their duties. We are quick to refer to the rule of law that has entangled and slowed down our development. Without making mock and being affronted to the rule of law, sometimes some drastic situations requires drastic actions. It is either we choose to remain where we are or some unhelpful protocols are broken to get us to where we are supposed to be. Despite DSS press release over the arrest of Judges providing clarity, some of us would not still stop castigating them for doing what they are required to do by law. I have listened to lawyers especially the Nigerian Bar Association calling for boycott of courts proceedings. That sounds unpatriotic as they know they have always profited on the weakness of our constitution and some of them being conspirators in the judicial bribery and complacency. They have not only considered their interests above that of Nigeria but they have successfully insulted the intelligence of Nigerians. A wholly review of our constitution remains the solution to many of our crises. The constitution should be made fair to all and not to the oppression of the poor by selected few.

Corruption is a cancer that must have its stubborn cells killed totally for the nation called Nigeria to enjoy good health. However, as uneasy it may seem, a gradual appropriate medication dosage will get her there. It is the same corruption that have rendered a lot of people in abject poverty, high rate of unemployment, robbery, militants etc. It will interest us that about 60 percent of migrants who dies in the Mediterranean Sea are Africans with about 18% of them being Nigerians. What this means is that three out of ten migrants are Nigerians. Because we are cooling off in Nigeria probably enduring the situation that corruption has brought to us or because some of us have the opportunities to travel out of the country doesn't mean we are better than them. That's the very much reason why the government of the day needs our support to build Nigeria of our dreams. With or without our constructive criticism, Nigeria would reach its destined potential and promised land. What legacy are we willing to leave on the sands of time? Are we killing our country from within or without? No government is perfect and would not always do all that we desire it does, that's why business of governance is continuum. When election is over it is over, there comes a project called Nigeria not leaders. We also need to do our bit to build Nigeria and not expect government to do it all. We only need to check our leaders objectively and engage them to be accountable.
Let us always support anything pro-Nigeria and  condemn anything against her well-being.

God bless Nigeria.

Babs Ope is a rational thinker, social commentator and public analyst. He believes in equity and fairness. He believes in one Nigeria that is prosperous to all.

He can be reached on babstel@hotmail.com