LONG POST AHEAD> DO NOT COMMENT IF YOU CHOOSE NOT TO READ IT!


There we were, thinking the reign of terror of past military governments was brought to an end when Obasanjo became our civilian president in 1999. It seemed like Nigeria was on its way to a new beginning, a Nigeria that our forefathers envisioned. We are a blessed nation with resources. Why shouldn't we be great? We have the largest population in Africa. Can't we bend that to our advantage? These were the questions Nigerians were asking themselves. And we all believed that we could do it. That we could move forward. Unfortunately, some people chose to think otherwise. As much as we had good elements in our nation, we had thousands of rotten apples that did not want progress, that loved Nigeria the way it was: a backward nation in the modern world. While other developing countries like India are busy moving forward, Nigeria is still here having tribalistic, religious, petty arguments.

Since the beginning of the civilian government, all we have seen is corruption upon corruption. Some blame PDP. Some choose to blame ACN, now known as APC after the merger. Some blame the individuals in power. No no no. . . we've all got it wrong. Every single Nigerian is to blame. How? Remember yesterday when you bought that butterbread biscuit and you threw the wrapper on the floor? You knew it wasn't right but you thought, well, its just a biscuit nylon, its no big deal? Will you be surprised if I tell you that the leaders you blame have the same mentality? 'Oh, its just 40bn naira. These citizens are too dumb to notice anyway'. Some people will scream ahhhh 40bn and biscuit nylon are different now. . . no they are not. If you are in that position, you'll be tempted to do the same. Your values are your values. You cannot say that you will run past the traffic red light now, but when in power you'll be completely corruption free. A leader of a nation is the image of his people.

Of course, not everyone is terrible. But when the terrible ones have outnumbered the good ones, how will we be able to notice? Nigerians, wake up. WE ARE THE PAST, PRESENT, AND THE FUTURE OF THIS COUNTRY. The sooner we realise that, the better our lives will be. Think of it, what will you tell your children? I successfully joined the fight to destroy what couldve been a unified, prosperous great nation? An do you think they'll be proud of you when you say that?

Then we have the people that play the race and religion card. I will use China and India as examples. I'm sure you didn't know that there are 56 ethnic groups in China. Their diversity, rather than tear their country down, has helped make it greater. Look at how China's economy is dictating the world's fuel prices. Or India. Do you know how many tribes they have? How many different dialects of their language exist? You don't see Telugu and Tamil tribal wars in the news every day. These people understand the meaning of unity and use it to develop their country. Instead, Nigerians are busy trying to prove which tribe is superior. We have 259 languages spoken in our country and instead of the world visiting to be in awe of our diversity, they run away for fear of getting killed by religious/ethnic battles. I was so ashamed back in 2011 when Arsene Wenger and his team cancelled their novelty match with Nigeria because of insecurity. Is that not shameful enough??

Fayose is not responsible for the disunity in Nigeria. Neither is Buhari, or Asari Dokubo. Yes, they have all, at one point or the other, done or said things to suggest that they were racially biased. But we are the people. We do not have to react to their statements. We can ignore their actions and instead be concerned about making our country a better place. Your race doesn't define your values. You, and only you do.

We have those who play the religion card. This is a very delicate subject. We are to respect people's religious convictions no matter what. In every religious group, there will be extremists who will turn the meanings around for political or monetary reasons, or whatever their other selfish motive is. I have read the Quran, I have also read the Bible. Heck, I sometimes attend traditional ceremonies in my hometown and grab wisdom from the Ifa priests. You have no right to judge, that is for God alone. And every religion in Nigeria teaches that. Its sad how some people will rise to defend their religion and not adhere to its teachings.

In a democratic nation, elections are a time for people to bring forth their ideology and their ideas, then the majority of t he general public gets to decide who's ideas they feel are most suitable for the country. Yes, in the past, we have failed, but we will not succeed until we have failed before, or we wont know the value of that success. We have a new President, Muhammadu Buhari, and whether you like it or not he is here to stay . . at least till 2019. As a nation, we are supposed to work with him, instead of looking for his faults. When he makes mistakes, we are to correct and not condemn him. It is only when we all work together that there will be real progress. Nigeria is in a bad state now, this is not the time to argue who would've been the better choice. We have a president already, we should be concerned about how we can make our nation something to be proud of, in our own little way. Someone asked 'how does Buhari's probing affect Musa the bus conductor'? Musa should not wait on Buhari to come and give him food. Musa should be busy looking for ways to organize other bus conductors together so that picking of passengers will not be a rowdy affair of jumping on a moving bus but rather a civilized, organized way of picking them from designated bus stops. You don't want to change, but you want Buhari to change everything for you. Buhari's job is to approve contracts for the building of good federal roads so that Musa will not have an auto accident.

Obasanjo and GEJ's governments made effort, but they were not supported by Nigerians. Even if you say that their governments were corruption laden, what steps did you take to make sure that you as a citizen are not a thief calling another thief, thief. Nobody is perfect, they tried and they both made mistakes. That is the past now, we are supposed to look towards the future. Leaders are ordained by God. Never try to forcefully remove a leader, or you will not benefit after you have succeeded. Look at Egypt, Iraq, Libya as examples. They have not recovered. Even North Korea is now worse. . . They thought Kim Jong Il was a dictator. Look at how worse his son turned out to be.

I can cry from now till tomorrow and fill ten pages of nairaland with my musings. But these are just a few of my thoughts I'll leave for you to ponder on. Good luck to you all and have a nice day!

You definitely don't expect anyone here on NL to read this, do you? Op?
.


[size=15pt]#SUGARBEE[/size]

i had to try at least. . . but most are concerned with fighting and arguing

SUGARBEE:
You definitely don't expect anyone here on NL to read this, do you? Op?
.


[size=15pt]#SUGARBEE[/size]

Op no vex! I don see ur warning. I dey come back come read your post. Sosongo