Opinions

CABAL! JONATHAN! SUBSIDY! CORRUPTION!

That’s all I could hear from the lips of the men arguing on the Television about the ongoing struggles of the country. I couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t take hearing about the setbacks of Nigerians because it causes me so much pain and heartbreak that I can’t do anything to reduce the grief of my people and most of all, because the answer to our troubles are easy if only we could all be little less selfish.

People are on the streets protesting about the reduction of the fuel price; Lives have been lost, the entire country has been shut down and the Federal Government doesn’t seem to be interested in listening to the cries of the suffering people. Like their hearts are cold and made of stone.

‘Where is Jonathan?  Can’t he see his people damaged? The same people who gave him a chance to rule this great country. What is doing?”

I couldn’t change the channel because my father was watching it. His eyes and facial expressions filled with signs of full concentration.  MTV Base would be a perfect escape from all this unnecessary emotional drama. I can’t stand this helplessness.  I got up from the sofa where I was seated and began to pack up the dishes from the dinner table. Cleaning and some good music should be able to get my mind away from this country’s strife. I had to hurry out of the living room as tears were beginning to well up in my eyes. I quickly grabbed the dishes, walked into the kitchen, placed them on the counter and fell to my knees. I prayed. I prayed because it was the only thing I knew I could do; because this is my home and if it goes ablaze where else do we have to run to? Home, they say is where the heart is. My heart, which is my family, is here so this is my home thus I prayed to God to save and help us.

I got up and went straight to do the dishes before my dad comes in and begins to nag me. As I washed the dishes, thoughts about our country began to run through my mind.

Everyone is shouting CABAL! CORRUPTION! They were saying that Jonathan didn’t want to imprison those responsible for eating our money, our so-called LEADERS, even though he knew them. They are using our money to build houses in different parts of the country, to send their children out to the best schools abroad, to eat the best foods available when most Nigerians are homeless, jobless and struggle for their daily bread, sometimes to no success. Our country is being blown up and the President is taking out the fuel subsidy, making life more difficult for the average Nigerian. We have no light, some places don’t even have clean water; Our roads? That’s another story. Schools are on strike, Teachers are not getting paid. Infrastructures of some schools are decrepit, No laboratory for science students, Hostels are filled to the brim that some have no place for accommodation. Rent on houses is increasing. Our Health sector?  Please, Can we all sit down and sip on a glass of gin during which a few doctors narrate to us how lives are lost daily because of lack of proper facilities; How the mortality rate is rising high in the Country? Babies die before they even see the light of day and sometimes, the mothers as well because of the doctor do not have the resources that could have prevented this from happening?

The security of the country is… Wait! We have none. If the Police Headquarters could be blown up by a group of illiterates then what do we have a Police Force for? Our jails are congested with people awaiting trial for things they are guilty of and some not guilty at all.

I sighed and rinsed off the last dirty dish.

“He who wears the shoes knows where it hurts”

We have all heard that saying before, Haven’t we? Until we are in the situation of another, we would never understand or feel what they feel, or see sense in the reason why they act the way they do.

Everyone has their own opinion on how to solve the problem of our Nation. The problem is simple, Corruption. The solution is simple, Arrest the perpetrators.  EASY AS A, B, C but because the President is also benefiting from the money they launder, he wouldn’t do that. So we continue to rot in our misery.

But is corruption really that easy for us to get rid of?

 Yes? No?

I am not writing for you to analyze or comment on my style of writing, neither am I writing to start a fight or to take sides. All I want is for you to read and take a moment to think.  Just think, constructively, about what is really going on.

How do you fight something that has gone so deep?  How can one man clean up the corruption of over 170million people?

The problems we have in our country today, whose fault is it? Bros J? The Boko Haram Fan club? Aren’t they humans like all of us? It’s us. Not aliens from another planet that have made it impossible to tackle because we don’t have the technology that can melt their brains. No. It’s us. Anyways, all that alien stuff happens only in America. And U.K.

We only tend to see corruption when a government official squanders N200 million on some irrelevant nonsense that we forget that there is corruption even in N20 or N50. There is corruption when you lie to someone for your own selfish gain; there is corruption when you cheat in an exam hall; there is corruption when you are a trader and you cheat your customer because you want more money; there is corruption when you beat up someone and throw them in jail because you are in a position of power and they did something you don’t fancy, or you just don’t like him. It is present when you are a lecturer and you choose to fail a student just because he is with a girl you want or he just doesn’t appeal to you.

Corruption exists when you steal another’s property or partner; it is when you waste when there is a needy person right next to you; it is when you maltreat your housemaid forgetting that they are children of another, pouring hot oil on them or pulling a friend, family, student or an employee or job seeker down because they are better than you and you don’t want them to succeed. It is in Jungle Justice.

We don’t see any regard for human life these days. We treat it like it is a piece of paper you can tear. The B.H. Fan club and the rest of the humans that are blowing up parts of the country have been bribed and brainwashed one way or the other to take the life of others. A few days ago, It was said that some people were caught trying to blow up a church and they were Christians who had been paid some millions to do so. And yet, they come out to shout and say our leaders are corrupt. 

If Jonathan decides to start jailing the guilty parties, how do you think it would turn out?

Here’s what I thought out:

They capture a few of them; they go on trial and are found guilty. Jail time. With the money they have made from illegal business, they bribe their way through the system and we are back to square one.

When the others see that their safety is being threatened, what do they do? Eliminate the wahala. Kpai! Bros J is gone.

Some are saying kill all of them in Aso Rock. Ok. Where do you want to start from? Their net is so deep that even if they are killed there is definitely someone to takeover. Where would you stop killing at? How do you know which of them is actually innocent so you can begin a fresh start with them? How do you think Mob bosses still control their gangs even while they are in jail? Even we that are screaming, ‘Kill them all’ ‘Kill Jonathan’, if the amount of money they waste is flung at us, wouldn't you welcome it with open arms?

If we kill Jonathan or he resigns, who are we going to put up there? Good men like who…?

If we finally find a good man to lead us, are you willing to support him? Cleaning up a mess such as corruption would get a lot of its beneficiaries very angry. Are we going to leave him to battle it alone when that time comes? If he imposes rules on us that would makes things seem harsh immediately but in the long run would save our country, are we willing to listen to him patiently, trust in him or her and go along with it? Are we willing to put aside our anger and selfish desires and work together for the benefit of our Nation?

There’s no way to stop corruption if the human soul is so weak and there is nobody amongst us that is willing to stand up strong, gidigba for what is right. So strong that even if you are promised half of the country, you would turn it down because you want the lesser people to be happy. To achieve this goal takes much more than word of the mouth but also a powerful conscience.

Think about it.

Charity, they say begins at home, so does anti-corruption.

I turned out the lights in the kitchen, closed the door and went to watch MTV Base with my brothers. Dad had gone to bed. J