*BLAME THE PROGENITORS... BLAME ME AND, BLAME YOURSELF!*
By: Ayeni F. Damilola

Who else should be blamed but those who invited us to this world, who altered our rest in God-knows-where and called us to an uninterrupted suffering in Nigeria. Those who folded their arms in the days of their strength and watched their leaders play cards with our future forgetting William Pitt's words that, "Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who posses it; and this I know, my lords: that where laws end, tyranny begins".

They danced to the trending music of Sunny-Ade and Obey while elites of the day planned our doom,our haemmorrhage and perpetual slavery. Those who refused to make hay while the sun shined so brightly, when the sun had not gotten to the meridian. They left most important things undone, unfortunately for us, the young Iroko tree left unpruned is now matured and demands sacrifices we can't just afford!

If you can not afford a square meal today, "blame" your "parents" or ask them what they did when in the first republic; the days of Tafawa Balewa and Nnamdi Azikiwe, ministers and politicians looted our money and spent most extravagantly and carelessly.

The money that should put food on our table today had been spent frivolously in the 60s without looking back. If you are brilliant but can't afford Nigerian education, "blame" your "parents" for their destructive silence when Gowon's government unfairly released those extremely corrupt politicians indicted, found guilty and jailed by the military government of Aguyi Ironsi.

This empty-headed government did not only allow politicians enjoy their loot but look side way while Military Governors 'directionlessly' squandered our money in the midst of an unprecedented oil boom. The money that should afford us standard education today has been most comfortably wasted in the 70s while our esteemed parents watched most relaxedly. If any of your siblings, friends, family members or fans has been a victim of Bokoharam's bomb, Fulani herds-men massacre or any of the mass free-killings in today's Nigeria blame them.

Blame them, who did nothing or little to challenge the assassination of General Murtala Mohammed in 1976, one man who fought tooth and nail, the infamous epidermis battling Nigerian development. The man behind Asset investigation of 1975 that found twelve Gowon governors guilty, punished them as supposed and purged them of our wealth in their blood stained hands.

Let the destitute blame their parents who delighted pleasure in acquiring high hilled shoes for themselves while about $16 billion oil revenue was reportedly lost between 1979 and 1983 when Shagari was in power. When Umaru Dikko could not account for 4 billion Nigerian naira allocated for rice importation in the second republic.

"Blame" the "progenitors" If 2face could not lead the recent nationwide protest, for they kept silent or did not act enough when Buhari's government tormented the highly esteemed Nigerian human right activist, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, and jailed him. When Funmilayo Ransome Kuti was allegedly thrown down from her storey just because her son was speaking for the masses.

Our parents did not do enough, they did not defend us like soldiers when we were yet vulnerable; they were not rigid like those 1986 revolutionists of the Philippines who challenged the anti-people policies of their government and ousted their president,they were not resolute like the Ethiopians of 1974, they didn't caution Babangida when his government released corrupt politicians from prison and also allowed them access their stolen wealth with which they later lived like kings.

It was in their very eye that Abacha looted $4 billion (international centre for asset recovery, 2009). When the colonial government failed to prosecute Azikiwe for his failure to observe the code of conduct for government officers, when, in 1962, Obafemi Awolowo was investigated and found guilty of corruption by the Coker commission of inquiry,when Okigbo panel report of 1994 on the recognition and reform of the central bank of Nigeria Indicted Babangida, Sani Abacha and former governor of the central bank of Nigeria, for mismanaging about $12.4 billion of windfall between 1988 and 1994.

Therefore, If we can't enjoy electricity, security of lives and properties, standard Education, reliable health care services and good road, the destructive silence of our progenitors should be fingered. Little wonder, they still didn't react when Obasanjo spent over $400 million on turn-around maintenance (TAM) and repairs of rifineries, the result of which we are yet to see (Adekeye, 2003:30).

In 2002, NNPC could not account for 302 billion Nigerian naira and without telling more stories, Obasanjo's first four years as an elected president lingers in our memory for the mysterious departure of about 23 billion naira allegedly stolen by his ministers. What sane man can discuss corruption under Jonathan? Not to talk of a confused,economy-destroying government we have today.

Blame me for my vote, if that man occupies Ekiti government house in this modern world; a man who delights pleasure in shouting without proffering solutions, a man whose obligation as governor is just to wait for allocation and share it before proceeding to the next junction to eat Agbado which he is fondly Identified with.

Agriculture alone is enough to bring our People out of misery but our governor won't listen, for the legislators in Ekiti, the camou-wearing Afao man is a demi-god. For the commissioners, the esteemed fountain of knowledge is a Fayose republic of Ekiti. They are naive, they don't seem to understand governance.

But above all,"blame" yourself if you are a youth and still think of yourself as leader of tomorrow."Blame" yourself if you would still hoist flag for either PDP or APC. Blame yourself if you are still waiting for tomorrow that never comes. Blame yourself if you would still not join this liberal revolution that seeks to make us independent and free from the clutches of powers that be and its characteristic god-fatherism.

Blame yourself if you would not actively support this agenda. Blame yourself if you would not proclaim this gospel very religiously. Blame yourself if you would not go for Gold, if you would not stand with the youth. If you would not stand for Tosin Ajibare, your children will blame you, they will curse you, they will in fact, point guns at you for being destructively silent.

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