DEEP-SEATED ROT

DEEP- SEATED ROT

I met a rather brilliant Nigerian engineer last Sunday at a belated independence party organized by an exceptional Nigerian surgeon of Nupe descent. I could infer that the brilliant man hails from the Niger-Delta region of Nigeria based on our brief discussion which ranged from literature to politics. When I told him about my residual faith in the possibility of a Nigerian state, he just shook his head rather vigorously from left to right and expressed his absolute unwillingness to nurture such hope anymore. He said he had hope in Nigeria but abandoned it after the last general elections; he could not understand how Nigerians repeatedly made the same errors and then cry out for a redeemer subsequently. He concluded that Nigerians were on their way again to making the same wrong move come 2015.

I have been reading quite a lot in recent months, enough to consider a degree in Nigerian or African history all in a bid to understand adequately and clearly the defect in our DNA which forces us to act “foolishly” even in the face of obvious warning signals of danger. It is clear to me that both the leaders and the led have fundamental problems that are not mutually exclusive. The grossly deficient leaders are mostly permitted to continue in their ways partly due to ignorance or nonchalance on the path of some followers; it can also be linked to a lack of understanding of the implications of actions or inactions attributable to either camp. Ideally, there ought not to be a sharp distinction between the led and those in front. The case with Nigeria and several other African nations is unique due to the dominance of particular ruling classes and their cohort who have held on to power for so long that some have turned their reigns into dynasties.

Many easily and readily turn to blame the British and their Queen for the problems which have crippled Nigeria from the day of parturition. “Why did they amalgamate us? Why did they give the North so much power?” Citizens of this landmass have queried the ghosts of Frederick Lugard and his wife to explain what they were thinking when they opted to cement three unbalanced regions together. I believe the man was just handling the business of those who appointed him and went about it with methods he deemed expedient at the time. The British had the northern and southern protectorates to secure and hold against the rampant French who had possession of all but one of the Nations surrounding Nigeria prior to World War II. The British had hold of the present day Nigeria with a strip on the western part of Cameroon, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Gambia and a portion of Togo in West Africa as part of their loot from the scramble for Africa. Their grip on the local and lucrative trade along the water ways would have been threatened if they did not shore up the northern boundaries to resist the French who had and still have overwhelming influence in the West African sub-region.

Slave chains from the Maritime Museum in Liverpool. J'olee October 2014

The British system reinforced indirect rule in the northern region and would have preferred that it was extendable across the land. The people at the time thrived despite limited education and we must commend those who wrestled the infant nation out of the hands of the colonial masters. Irrespective of their prejudices and inexperience, I think they were brave and hopeful of making Nigeria work. It is easy to blame the British for influencing the outcome of the 1959 elections that led to the swearing-in of Tafawa Balewa as prime minister; the fact is that majority of what has gone wrong with Nigeria and in fact a good number of African nations can be traced to the failures of Nigerians and Africans respectively. What could have been the result if the leading NCNC opted to form a government with the Action Group in 1959 instead of linking up with the NPC? We may never know but it is clear that primitive sentiments have highlighted our fault lines and constantly break the bonds that could have held our fragile territories together. We can say we learnt some evil from the colonial masters but the atrocities that have been perpetrated in recent years have been done without the colonialists having the muzzle of a shotgun apposed to the temples of the evil doers. Rubber workers in present day Democratic Republic of Congo and under Belgian colonial dictators had their hands chopped off in the 1860s to 1870s for failing to meet up with their allotted quotas. The civil war in Liberia witnessed widespread crude limb amputations executed by Liberians on Liberians. We have witnessed mind blowing evil in Nigeria over many decades mostly by Nigerians on fellow Nigerians. It goes beyond the accusations and counteraccusations of genocide; it covers the many cases of extrajudicial killings, kidnappings, armed robbery, unsolved murders, executions etc. Some many say they have not pulled a trigger or set off a grenade to harm fellow Nigerians but they have directly stolen or helped to siphon the commonwealth of the nation which has left our infrastructure dilapidated and unfit for even domestic animals. A worse group are those who have continued to vote for mediocrity or watched on as proven financially corrupt and incompetent individuals continue to ridicule the nation and sabotage the future; our children and generations unborn. I am not saying that we need saints to lead the nation, we need people who understand that they have a responsibility to account for whatever leadership role they get entrusted with. Sadly, we have monarchs who think that the prosperity of their people is directly proportional to the increasing number of private jets that prowl the Nigerian skies and international airspaces.

It is amazing to me that the Nigerian military could indulge in setting up a court-martial to try allegedly dissident soldiers inclusive of middle ranking officers in the middle of a violent conflict. The recent trial had 4 lieutenant colonels for mutiny alongside other officers; lieutenant colonels are just about a rank behind the fellow who stands constantly behind the president to adjust his chair and carry his bag or umbrella as required. My problem is not with the enforcement of consequences of breaching army rules but with the fact that there is something unidentified or supressed which is providing enough stimuli to agitate lieutenant colonels to move against their superiors. This reminds me of a theory that attempts to explain cancer development where cancerous cells get to manifest at different times and at different sites. All the cells get exposed to a cancer causing stimulus but progress at different paces before manifesting as outright malignant cells. These men and women may have been exposed to untold hardship and heart-breaking conditions fighting in the North-East of Nigeria which may be enough to turn yet another group against their commanders and the system that continues to fail them. It only took about seven army Majors without modern technology a few hours to alter the course of this nation in January 1966; Just a thought.

It is on record that one of the methods used by the Nazi party in Germany to dominate their people was working through the youth and children. These young ones were separated for indoctrination long before the Second World War broke out. Countless valuable books were burnt and the growing children became racist and opponents of God. I came across what a German poet Heinrich Heine, said about a century earlier which was referenced to the Nazi inspired book burning: "Where one burns books, one will soon burn people." It was not only books that got burnt, the cerebral cortex area of the people to process all forms of learning and being human got fried. The holocaust and metastasis of German supremacy into neighbouring nations and the world ensued which triggered a monumental global response to rid the world of Hitler. I got to see a video of American forces in Germany just after the war ended. They made the German citizens in the vicinity of a concentration camp march through the camp and perceive with their senses what havoc had been done in their backyard and what the source of smoke they saw daily was. The initially smiling people were shown after their tour broken; perhaps rudely awaken from their hypnotized states. I came across YouTube clips of the German edition of the singing competition; The Voice kids and could not help but marvel at the enormous talent on display by kids younger than 15 years old. The multi-racial profile of the now German kids speaks volumes about what a once hostile nation has become. The exposure to diverse cultures and very good command of English while maintaining their German language by these young minds could not have been an accident. There must have been a deliberate and calculated methodology by the older generation to ensure that their children learnt how to live and avoid the errors of the past. Their soccer squads in recent years have moved from hard-core pure-breed German machines to include players with Turkish, Brazilian, Argentine, Ghanaian, Nigerian, Polish and even English ancestry amongst other nationalities.

The multicultural Nigeria still remains perched on this diversity to excuse her fragmentation and failure to thrive. Some people who have never crossed the Niger blame the North for the problems in Nigeria without understanding the history and geography of our union; some others continue to suggest their tribes as superior and capable of thriving alone. They easily forget that these major tribes are not as homogenous as they assume; it is Ekiti indigenes that turned against fellow Ekiti indigenes in the last gubernatorial election. It is the rich Northerner or Southerner who thinks what is good enough for his child cannot and should not be made available to the poor and destitute kid. Is it not funny that the provision of Almajiri schools for far-North children is deemed as sufficient for breeding cerebral children in the 21^st century? It is so shameful that the incumbent uses that as content for one of his numerous campaign adverts which started to air outside of the period when campaigns towards a “free and fair” election become authorized by the “independent” electoral body. We have successful floated a lopsided educational system where some children are deemed more deserving than others even before they said a word. We have had leaders who took whatever platforms established prior to and in the immediate aftermath of independence and thrashed it. We used textbooks written by properly trained indigenous teachers and educators when we were in primary and secondary school. Some of us were fortunate enough to have met some of these brilliant minds when they were still teachers or principals; sadly the chaos that the education ministry became under the military led to the gradual phasing out of the last of this group. Most schools now are grossly short of qualified personnel or loaded with unqualified or inexperienced graduates turned NYSC teachers. Relocating overseas has been a constant practice by even qualified teachers; who should take the blame for this drain? The “unpatriotic” teachers? There is little trace of relevant history taught in our schools; how can serious issues such as putsches, mutinies, inter-tribal conflicts and the civil war be missing from the school curriculum? We cannot live like our past never happened; all we succeed in doing is exposing these young minds to getting education on these controversial matters from perverse, sentimental and corrupted sources. School is not meant for brainwashing but a place where issues are dissected and laid bare to enable the students form, develop and correct their ideologies irrespective of whatever warped information store they had already been uploaded with from infancy. Some of us fortunate enough to have attended schools set up to bridge the perceived divide and mal-union created by the civil war have developed enough to exist beyond prokaryotic sentiments; sadly some never let go of their prejudices and have directly or indirectly helped to cultivate a new breed of hostile Nigerians who wage cyberspace warfare on anyone perceived to be different based on the names or the perception of religious or political differences. Many of us who know better have lost our voices or feign ignorance of the unchallenged affront on the psyche of our nation’s future. The military scuttled just about every system established prior to and just after independence; should a new dispensation not work towards restoring the years of wastage? Instead the plundering continues and many of us have retreated into our religious cocoons and assume we are in Goshen when nuclear arsenal are detonating or threatening to detonate around us. We are watching Nigerians annihilating Nigerians but we lay claim to “anointings” and a coming age like there is no mission prior to that.

The rot in religion has reached astronomical proportions, those entrusted with securing issues of faith have buried such trusts and joined the marketplace while those they ought to preserve are consumed or turned to worse demons than they are. Many thought to be generals of the faith I profess have only succeeded in breeding cyborgs and greed pulverized zombies at the same time facilitating the turning of backs by not a few against their creator. The hard-line devotees of these men have turned their awe-inspiring models into objects of adoration; they cringe at their words like they heard the voice of God face to face. They say we should not critic or judge them when they do serious wrong and quote mostly out of context from the same book we base our faith upon. Some say we should not do so because of what great things they have done which we have not even dreamed of. They fail to understand that not judging issues is only applicable when the judge who is seated on a moral high ground is equally or in fact more guilty of wrong and poised to declare outright condemnation and damnation. We are not with stones to knock out their eyes and pulse but are clamouring for common sense, fairness and justice to prevail in issues that pertain to humanity and making sure evil is not covered up in God’s name. The good Lord said we should remove the log in our eyes and follow that up by removing the speck in our brother’s eye; not judging means that we all go about with various sizes of “NEPA” poles in our eyes with the result being a land of the blind leading the doubly blind. Over -spiritualizing basic things has only succeeded in breaking up homes, causing depression and promoting criminality. A lot of things tagged as blessings are merely proceeds of unrighteous acts; the practice of which have become the norm and immune to proper surveillance by good consciences. Some of our leaders have directly or indirectly permitted crime and injustice both at home and in diaspora. I may be wrong but I think it is rather advisable to be weary of linking up with almost exclusively Nigerian-themed churches outside the country; at times I wonder if some of them indeed have the mandate to evangelize the nations they are located in or if they are just financial institutions.

A certain “man of God” used his platform recently to express what I can only infer to be chauvinistic, vitriolic words in a matter that ought to be private. The really sad part was that no woman in the audience cringed on hearing those words; some simply nodded their heads in approval while a few uttered hushed to loud tones of “Amen” to the words of the great man. We have adored man to the extent that their words, actions and inactions are never designated for scrutiny. This must be the reason why someone can say a building collapsed killing scores because of alien ships in our atmosphere; the reason why people believe that they would use bullion vans to stash their offerings to church because a man of God said so. I watched a TV report/ debate on the platform of Africa 360 which originally aired on the 20^th of September. The host had the erstwhile goalkeeper turned pastor Peterside Idah and another Nigerian Solomon Izang Ashoms a magazine editor with her in the studio to discuss the unfortunate disaster that occurred at Ikotun-Egbe which claimed scores of South African lives.  Mr Solomon spoke about his reservations regarding the authenticity of a certain popular prophet based on personal experience and statements obtained from former followers of the man. The interaction soon degenerated into a full-fledge debate with Peterside appearing to defend anybody who names the name of Christ and wears a collar but he could not disguise his affiliation with the popular prophet despite his incoherent attempts to do otherwise. When Solomon brought up the issue of “holy water” being sold for exorbitant fees, Mr Peterside acknowledged his presence at one of those meetings and said the water was never sold but given as complementary gifts to as many who bought books, discs and other commercial materials. Watching Peterside talk caused me to reflect on the national team he once played for. It is common knowledge that Nigerians are extremely religious and this also reflects in the simple issue of football. Some of our players and managers are captured by roving cameras after victorious games shouting out the name of their prophet like an acknowledgement of the validation of his prophetic utterances regarding those games. It is almost as if these players suspend their thought processes and ride on whatever conditional and sometimes retroactive prophecies that get spoken regarding them. We hear our football officials and coaches constantly asking Nigerians to pray like Germany went on a 7-day dry fast when they demolished Brazil at the 2014 world cup. It is amazing how requisite hard work and preparation is substituted for luck and divine favour by those who had $200,000 evaporate from their safe without a trace. 

We have regrettably bred a people who are seemingly apolitical and nonchalant about issues regarding the nation. We assume our sole responsibility is to pray but we forget that there is a “watch” dimension. We have raised a people easily swayed by religious propaganda; a people who would line up behind any person that comes before large assemblies to have hands laid upon him even where it is clear the fellow is only out to deceive and plunder. We have sadly, a people who consider ethnicity and potential benefits before gravitating towards a church. Many have shirked their responsibilities as citizens to spiritual beings and forget that they have a task to defend the integrity of their nation and their own collective existence. They forget that the workers who worked with Nehemiah to rebuild the ruins had working tools in one hand and weapons in the other. This is not a clamour for the similitude of the second amendment of Americans to keep and bear arms but a clarion call to all and sundry to arise and fight for the soul of Nigeria from those who have and still desecrate the union for personal gain.

The necrosis that is causing our persistent septicaemia is deep seated and threatens to cut us down if not managed. The cancer of corruption appears inoperable and the metastasis reaches beyond my generation and the trait appears queued to be surely transmitted to our generations unborn. I still have hope that we would still come good someday by God’s grace but we all must play our part however insignificant we think it is. I actually began to write this last week but got stuck because I felt uninspired. It took watching a video about people’s perspective on abortion in America and reading through a few obituaries and eulogies in honour of a few fallen to get me going again. I count it as a privilege to be with hope and alive; I want to continue the fight to rid myself and this nation of the rot deep within until my time is up. I pray not to cease until the future of this land are locked in a permanent embrace irrespective of their ethnic origins.

God help us.

Jide Akeju

12/10/2014

 

Love without conditions by Paul Ferrini. Shot at the Maritime museum Liverpool. J'Olee August 2014