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ON THE FREE-FOR-ALL SHOW OF SHAME @ THE RIVERS HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
What we permit, we promote ! I want to use this medium to congratulate my fellow Nigerians on the 'steady advancement' of our nascent democracy. Where Legislators are meant to be engaged in a battle of ideas, they are showing us how much thuggery it took to get to where they are today. Most of them cannot even express themselves via acceptable means of communication. The saddest part for me is that this is just one State and I know for a fact that most of the other State Houses of Assembly are made up of essentially the same deranged, sociopaths with different faces and names.
Just for the records, I'd like to state here that although I still believe that the worst form of democratic rule is better than the best military dictatorship, I am extremely ashamed of the quality of human beings we have 'elected' into office in this country. Campaign/Election season will be upon us again very soon, look at these faces very well......do better than that, look at the faces of your local govt chairmen and councillors, your own state legislators, your governor and his deputy, the legislators at the Federal level, the president and his vice and all their opponents and ask yourself ' would I be voting in a sociopath by casting my vote for XYZ' before you actually vote. Stand by those you know you can trust before and after the elections, do better than that by mobilizing human and material resources to aid the campaign of the few credible candidates who would step up to the plate during campaign season. IF WE WANT TO SEE THE END OF THESE EPISODES OF NATIONAL SHAME, THEN WE MUST BE THE CHANGE WE SEEK.
+Baffa Saleh +philip ugbodaga
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Friday, October 5, 2012
A tale of a courteous robber
Everyone who knew me when I was growing up in the ancient city of Benin, knows that I was a very sweet, friendly and altogether good-natured young fella but that is not exactly what I want to share with you in this blog. ( Did I hear you say 'thank God'?). The young man I want to start with is someone of whom I was told when I was yet at that stage of my life which I hinted you about earlier. I was about 10 or so when one of my aunts lost her dearest possession at the time to some 'fine boys' who felt they needed the car she had laboured, sweated and saved for, more than her.
It was an Easter Sunday and she had driven the 'tear-rubber' 505 evolution to church for 'opening prayers' by the man of God. As she later related to us when she had gotten over the initial shock, ( I don't think any of us ever fully recovered from the pain and agony of not having sat inside the car even once before the 'real owners' came for it) she came outside with the man of God and just as she opened the doors four young men materialized like wolves hitherto hidden amongst sheep and roughly pushed both of them to the floor while brandishing very heavy rifles. Needless to say, the flock dispersed within the twinkle of an eye and one would have thought that my Aunt and the Pastor had somehow missed rapture just like the four thieves but again that is not the point of the story.
Something my Aunt said that day about one of the robbers has stuck with me till this day, she said ' one of the robbers was so courteous, unlike the rest of them. He spoke like a gentleman and was very polite while addressing the man of God and I'. Even as a 10-year old, I could not understand how courteous and robber could be used in the same sentence. That statement stayed with me and over the years, I tried to make sense of it to no avail.
Then came the year 2011 when Nigerians queued up to collectively place their destinies in the hands of a ' humble and courteous, God-fearing Niger-Deltan' who had no shoes while he was growing up. Soft-spoken and respectful, he even knelt before one of the revered men of God while seeking for our votes and prayers. It was in the months and weeks leading up to the Presidential election in 2011 that I was privileged to understand what Noah, John the Baptist and even the early Apostles must have felt when they were preaching an unpopular gospel. Most of my ' brothers ' of Niger-Delta extraction openly told me that I was a sell-out and that they had withdrawn the little respect they had for me (as if that ever changed the price of fish in the market) simply because I campaigned and voted against GEJ more than I campaigned or voted for the candidate I eventually voted for on election day.
Needless to say, he won and since then has proved me right in many ways except one, he has remained ' humble, God-fearing and courteous ' , he still requests for our prayers and goes to church ( though it is not all prayers he says "amen" to ) in the midst of overseeing the worst case of instituted and democratized rape and plundering Nigeria has ever suffered. He manages to smile while expressing sorrow over the death of another set of Nigerians killed due to the insecurity funded with tax payers' money, he tells us he is fighting corruption and puts some of the perpetrators at the heads of the various meaningless committees he has set up, he tells obvious lies during National broadcasts and blames it on one of the National Dailies, he calmly states that he doesn't give a damn what the Nigerian populace expects of him when tasked on the issue of personal accountability in a LIVE media chat broadcast Nationwide and beyond, amongst many other atrocious acts.
This is October 2012 and I want to apologize to my aunt for misunderstanding her meaning many years ago, GEJ has made me understand that it is indeed possible to encounter a ' courteous robber ' who steals the very thing you cherish while claiming to help you fetch water to quench your thirst and promises to ensure that you are comfortable. My aunt never found her car, it is my earnest prayer that what this particular courteous robber has stolen will be retrieved from him before it is too late.
Sent from my iPad
It was an Easter Sunday and she had driven the 'tear-rubber' 505 evolution to church for 'opening prayers' by the man of God. As she later related to us when she had gotten over the initial shock, ( I don't think any of us ever fully recovered from the pain and agony of not having sat inside the car even once before the 'real owners' came for it) she came outside with the man of God and just as she opened the doors four young men materialized like wolves hitherto hidden amongst sheep and roughly pushed both of them to the floor while brandishing very heavy rifles. Needless to say, the flock dispersed within the twinkle of an eye and one would have thought that my Aunt and the Pastor had somehow missed rapture just like the four thieves but again that is not the point of the story.
Something my Aunt said that day about one of the robbers has stuck with me till this day, she said ' one of the robbers was so courteous, unlike the rest of them. He spoke like a gentleman and was very polite while addressing the man of God and I'. Even as a 10-year old, I could not understand how courteous and robber could be used in the same sentence. That statement stayed with me and over the years, I tried to make sense of it to no avail.
Then came the year 2011 when Nigerians queued up to collectively place their destinies in the hands of a ' humble and courteous, God-fearing Niger-Deltan' who had no shoes while he was growing up. Soft-spoken and respectful, he even knelt before one of the revered men of God while seeking for our votes and prayers. It was in the months and weeks leading up to the Presidential election in 2011 that I was privileged to understand what Noah, John the Baptist and even the early Apostles must have felt when they were preaching an unpopular gospel. Most of my ' brothers ' of Niger-Delta extraction openly told me that I was a sell-out and that they had withdrawn the little respect they had for me (as if that ever changed the price of fish in the market) simply because I campaigned and voted against GEJ more than I campaigned or voted for the candidate I eventually voted for on election day.
Needless to say, he won and since then has proved me right in many ways except one, he has remained ' humble, God-fearing and courteous ' , he still requests for our prayers and goes to church ( though it is not all prayers he says "amen" to ) in the midst of overseeing the worst case of instituted and democratized rape and plundering Nigeria has ever suffered. He manages to smile while expressing sorrow over the death of another set of Nigerians killed due to the insecurity funded with tax payers' money, he tells us he is fighting corruption and puts some of the perpetrators at the heads of the various meaningless committees he has set up, he tells obvious lies during National broadcasts and blames it on one of the National Dailies, he calmly states that he doesn't give a damn what the Nigerian populace expects of him when tasked on the issue of personal accountability in a LIVE media chat broadcast Nationwide and beyond, amongst many other atrocious acts.
This is October 2012 and I want to apologize to my aunt for misunderstanding her meaning many years ago, GEJ has made me understand that it is indeed possible to encounter a ' courteous robber ' who steals the very thing you cherish while claiming to help you fetch water to quench your thirst and promises to ensure that you are comfortable. My aunt never found her car, it is my earnest prayer that what this particular courteous robber has stolen will be retrieved from him before it is too late.
Sent from my iPad
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Of chop-and-quench 'Leaders' and siddon-look Nigerians
I got a blackberry broadcast this afternoon asking some very salient questions about the quality of the few Nigerians who have been (s)elected to occupy (warm the seats, in the case of most) of the hallowed chambers of our National Assembly, and it really got me thinking!
Thanks to the CBN Governor who is to many Nigerians a villian and to some a hero and yet to others a cross between both, some revelations have emerged which show that the NASS actually 'chops' a little bit over 25% of our entire National expenditure annually.
The question which was asked in the broadcast which I want to repeat in my own words here is ' who amongst those in the Senate and the House of Reps is that man/woman of honour who has stood against this rubbish even at the risk of committing "political suicide" amongst their thieving peers?'
Take a moment to look around you, there are thousands, nay, hundreds of thousands of youth who are unemployed not for want of ambition, talent or education but because they have been unfortunate enough to find themselves in a system where the only beatitude seems to be 'blessed are the youth for they shall inherit the troubles left by their fathers'. Is it not time for us to rise up as a people and say 'NO' with a collective voice? Must we continue to give credence to Fela's famous line 'suffering and smiling' ? When will we stop seeing the humour in all the nonsense and begin to face it as we should?
Just in case you have not thought of it this way before, let me help you - there are a few people who have vowed that as long as they are alive, power will not leave their circle and the major reason they have taken this position is that they are raping us daily, they are flogging our backs with whips while they ride on stallions, the Plantation owners and colonial masters called our brothers 'niggers', these perennial looters and unrepentant thieves also call us names in their closets of evil and their 'share the money' covens. They call us fools who do not know their right from their left, they call us wretched nincompoos who will never have a voice to speak for ourselves, afterall most of us have not attended Harvard and other Ivy league schools like they have done with the ill-gotten wealth, they say Democracy is not for the people but for the chosen few, they say the dividends of democracy cannot be for everybody, afterall not everyone is entitled to a GSM phone, but they have been gracious enough to allow most of us own at least one. They call us ingrates who want to reap where we did not sow.
My final question to you is 'do you agree with them?' If you do, don't bother to register during the upcoming voters' registration exercise. If you do, don't bother to drop the 'wetin concern me' attitude, don't bother to actively check out the candidates for various offices so as to select who to vote for. If you agree with them, Please don't bother to come out to vote on election day and of course if you are not there, then there is no question of protecting your votes. No one can tell you how to live your life really, you may have chosen to believe that you have no rights in your own country.
There are a few of us who do not agree with them, a few of us who believe that things can and will change in this country, a few of us who know that no matter where we go, Nigeria will forever be home, a few of us who know that guns and bombs will not remove this cankerworm of corruption and lack of true leadership the way our collective stand for democracy and moral integrity would. An opportunity to show yourself as one of us beckons, I urge you to take this opportunity - Register to Vote, follow the dictates of your informed conscience and vote for the right candidates and defend your votes even at the risk of losing friends and other material things. For once, let us put the future of Nigeria and Nigerians (with all due respect, this does not include the LegisLOOTERS and all their cohorts) before every other consideration. We can do this, we can lay the foundation for a better tomorrow. It begins with Just One Vote and that Vote is yours!!!
See you at the Registration Centre !!
Thanks to the CBN Governor who is to many Nigerians a villian and to some a hero and yet to others a cross between both, some revelations have emerged which show that the NASS actually 'chops' a little bit over 25% of our entire National expenditure annually.
The question which was asked in the broadcast which I want to repeat in my own words here is ' who amongst those in the Senate and the House of Reps is that man/woman of honour who has stood against this rubbish even at the risk of committing "political suicide" amongst their thieving peers?'
Take a moment to look around you, there are thousands, nay, hundreds of thousands of youth who are unemployed not for want of ambition, talent or education but because they have been unfortunate enough to find themselves in a system where the only beatitude seems to be 'blessed are the youth for they shall inherit the troubles left by their fathers'. Is it not time for us to rise up as a people and say 'NO' with a collective voice? Must we continue to give credence to Fela's famous line 'suffering and smiling' ? When will we stop seeing the humour in all the nonsense and begin to face it as we should?
Just in case you have not thought of it this way before, let me help you - there are a few people who have vowed that as long as they are alive, power will not leave their circle and the major reason they have taken this position is that they are raping us daily, they are flogging our backs with whips while they ride on stallions, the Plantation owners and colonial masters called our brothers 'niggers', these perennial looters and unrepentant thieves also call us names in their closets of evil and their 'share the money' covens. They call us fools who do not know their right from their left, they call us wretched nincompoos who will never have a voice to speak for ourselves, afterall most of us have not attended Harvard and other Ivy league schools like they have done with the ill-gotten wealth, they say Democracy is not for the people but for the chosen few, they say the dividends of democracy cannot be for everybody, afterall not everyone is entitled to a GSM phone, but they have been gracious enough to allow most of us own at least one. They call us ingrates who want to reap where we did not sow.
My final question to you is 'do you agree with them?' If you do, don't bother to register during the upcoming voters' registration exercise. If you do, don't bother to drop the 'wetin concern me' attitude, don't bother to actively check out the candidates for various offices so as to select who to vote for. If you agree with them, Please don't bother to come out to vote on election day and of course if you are not there, then there is no question of protecting your votes. No one can tell you how to live your life really, you may have chosen to believe that you have no rights in your own country.
There are a few of us who do not agree with them, a few of us who believe that things can and will change in this country, a few of us who know that no matter where we go, Nigeria will forever be home, a few of us who know that guns and bombs will not remove this cankerworm of corruption and lack of true leadership the way our collective stand for democracy and moral integrity would. An opportunity to show yourself as one of us beckons, I urge you to take this opportunity - Register to Vote, follow the dictates of your informed conscience and vote for the right candidates and defend your votes even at the risk of losing friends and other material things. For once, let us put the future of Nigeria and Nigerians (with all due respect, this does not include the LegisLOOTERS and all their cohorts) before every other consideration. We can do this, we can lay the foundation for a better tomorrow. It begins with Just One Vote and that Vote is yours!!!
See you at the Registration Centre !!
Sunday, March 7, 2010
The Voice of one Nigerian.
It has been a very eventful day for me, been trying to write an article all day and so far I have successfully chosen and discarded eight different titles. In the midst of all this, my phone has been beeping with responses to my facebook status msg and the news channels are all screaming abt the new spate of killings in Jos, Nigeria.
Something tells me if I don't collect my thoughts, I would soon be confused so I am going to stick to the media campaign we have embarked upon. A simple campaign really, our aim is to educate the voters in my home country Nigeria to register to vote in the next elections, to actually come out and vote and also to be prepared to defend their votes with everything they've got. The campaign is aptly themed 'onevote', expressing our strong conviction that every vote counts and that one vote could make the difference and that the most important vote is each person's vote.
I have gotten a lot of mixed reactions concerning this campaign, many have lauded the initiative and even made commitments to spread the word and lead the move in their own circle of influence. While I appreciate these positive feedbacks, I am more concerned about the negative feedback which show me how much work we really need to do in getting the message of this campaign to hit home with young Nigerians. As things stand, the average Nigerian Youth has no faith in the democratic system and all its structures and the truth is one cannot fault this scepticism and even indifference-cum-disdain.
This blog seeks to ask a few questions, viz: What is ur take on the Nigerian Democratic system, do you think we can make a change by standing up responsibly to do the right thing enmasse or do you think the powers that be will prevail against our collective might in this next dispensation, what are your suggestions on how to successfully cause a positive change in the political terrain from the standpoint of voter education? I eagerly await all responses. Nigeria will regain her lost glory, let's stand up for what we believe in. One Vote can make a difference and that vote is yours!
Something tells me if I don't collect my thoughts, I would soon be confused so I am going to stick to the media campaign we have embarked upon. A simple campaign really, our aim is to educate the voters in my home country Nigeria to register to vote in the next elections, to actually come out and vote and also to be prepared to defend their votes with everything they've got. The campaign is aptly themed 'onevote', expressing our strong conviction that every vote counts and that one vote could make the difference and that the most important vote is each person's vote.
I have gotten a lot of mixed reactions concerning this campaign, many have lauded the initiative and even made commitments to spread the word and lead the move in their own circle of influence. While I appreciate these positive feedbacks, I am more concerned about the negative feedback which show me how much work we really need to do in getting the message of this campaign to hit home with young Nigerians. As things stand, the average Nigerian Youth has no faith in the democratic system and all its structures and the truth is one cannot fault this scepticism and even indifference-cum-disdain.
This blog seeks to ask a few questions, viz: What is ur take on the Nigerian Democratic system, do you think we can make a change by standing up responsibly to do the right thing enmasse or do you think the powers that be will prevail against our collective might in this next dispensation, what are your suggestions on how to successfully cause a positive change in the political terrain from the standpoint of voter education? I eagerly await all responses. Nigeria will regain her lost glory, let's stand up for what we believe in. One Vote can make a difference and that vote is yours!
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