Well, today is the last day of the year 2017 and, I must say, this year has been one heck of a ride. It's not been utterly horrible, of course (in my opinion, it was actually better than 2016) but it hasn't been glorious either. One thing has remained constant though: the performance of government has been underwhelming and Nigerians are polarized as usual. Now, I'm not going to assume a whole lot of people will take this advice (I mean , we Nigerians are the most difficult people when it comes to letting go of sentiments) but i'll still say it regardless. Please, don't go into 2018 carrying the old burdens of ethnicism and sectarianism you carried throughout 2017. In fact, now might be a good time to drop it so that we can go into 2018 united in the mindset that we want to make our country a better place.

The fact some of us don't realise is that politicians have been using our pointless infighting as the perfect cover to enrich themselves and get away with it for decades now. If one person points out that someone is corrupt, trust that the person would call it a political witch-hunt on his entire tribe - even though he is completely guilty of the crime. And we, having been blinded by our ethnic and sectarian sentiments would arise to defend the most heinous of criminal; we would defend the very people who are keeping us in underdevelopment, pocketing what should be the commonwealth of the people and leaving Nigerians to suffer - just because the person's name sounds like our own.

Look, in 2018, we shouldn't think PDP or APC (this is easy because neither party has an ideology). We shouldn't think Igbo, Yoruba or Hausa. We shouldn't think Atiku or Buhari. All we should think is Nigeria. Whatever is not good for Nigeria, let us get rid of it and whatever is good for Nigeria, let us keep. Don't think because a certain politician is from your tribe, he necessarily cares about you or your people. The list of politicians who have been in power for longer than I have been alive but have done absolutely nothing meaningful for their own people is endless. So clearly, tribe is not a good yardstick for giving support.

Let us come together to demand good and quality leadership from our leaders. Let us put all these blame games behind us. We've been blaming left, right and center since 1960, yet Nigeria keeps getting worse. Isn't it obvious that our blaming i doing nothing? Instead let us focus on banding together to demand that our government works for us, regardless of which party is in power, regardless of which tribe our leaders are from.

Equally importantly, let us put aside this childish infighting - insulting each other on tribal lines. It is silly, it is childish and it has done nobody any good. We are all suffering the effects of bad governance that leaders from all the tribes across Nigeria have participated in inflicting on the people over the years. Tribe makes nobody a saint or a villain - it's just one more way of identifying yourself but it doesn't make you a good or bad person. If someone does something bad, condemn it because it is bad - don't call tribe into it.

2018 is a pre-election year so expect that politicians would start making concerted efforts to get people to support them, including lying through their teeth. Don't be carried away by empty promises or tribal/sectarian sentiment. Don't sell your vote/support for a small bag of rice or N1000. Think of the future generations. Do you want them to grow up in a society you damaged by selling your vote or supporting the wrong person for tribal or religious purposes? Let's make Nigeria work. It is not impossible. It is only through the power of we, the people, that this country would work. Our elected officials may wield power but the real power lies with and in us and in 2018, I want every one of us to realize that we are the power behind the throne so let us stop acting like slaves in our own country.

But, again, of course, I don't expect everyone to take this advice. I just believe that mature, balanced, well-adjusted people would.

It's my 2 cents for Nigeria's political and social 2018.

True talk

No No No, Only Two Region Has Ruled This Country The Most And Majority Of Those Ruler Has Been For The Hausa/fulani Stock And The Yoruba's. So Any Other Tribe That Blame's Them Is Fully Within Their Right. If Some Of Those Region Werent Power Hungry The Last Of The 6 Geopolitical Zone Would Have Been Rounding Up It 8years Tenure In The Next 5years.

This Country Lacks Equity It Lack Rule Of Law, It Lacks Fairness And Oneness, The South East Should Have Been The Last Region To Rule As They Broke The System With The First Coup, Bt One Region Held The Country With Coup And Counter Coup For More Than 37years And They Are Still In Power.

Tell Me Where U Want Me To Derive Joy From In This Country. If Only Changing Nationality Was That Easy Alot Of Us Would Have Jumped Ship. Break Up Is The Best Solution As Nigeria Will Never Get Better With The Way We Are Going U Cant Fight The Government In A Multi Ethnic Country Like Nigeria.

I pray this is the final trash I will read this year. Amen

We are not one
And can never be
It's either one is a 5% or 97 % according to Buhari

Unity died a terrible death since 2015

SpComedy:
I pray this is the final trash I will read this year. Amen

If you were going for comedy with that, you missed it by three countries, two states and a street.

omaar12:
No No No, Only Two Region Has Ruled This Country The Most And Majority Of Those Ruler Has Been For The Hausa/fulani Stock And The Yoruba's. So Any Other Tribe That Blame's Them Is Fully Within Their Right. If Some Of Those Region Werent Power Hungry The Last Of The 6 Geopolitical Zone Would Have Been Rounding Up It 8years Tenure In The Next 5years.

This Country Lacks Equity It Lack Rule Of Law, It Lacks Fairness And Oneness, The South East Should Have Been The Last Region To Rule As They Broke The System With The First Coup, Bt One Region Held The Country With Coup And Counter Coup For More Than 37years And They Are Still In Power.

Tell Me Where U Want Me To Derive Joy From In This Country. If Only Changing Nationality Was That Easy Alot Of Us Would Have Jumped Ship. Break Up Is The Best Solution As Nigeria Will Never Get Better With The Way We Are Going U Cant Fight The Government In A Multi Ethnic Country Like Nigeria.

It's easy to blame the Hausa/Fulani for Nigeria's woes because a good number of our leaders since independence have been of Northern extraction. However, you would have to ask yourselves - how have the Hausas and Fulanis benefited from their people being in power? The Fulanis are still mostly nomadic cattle rearers while in nearly every state in Nigeria, you find the Hausas at the lower rungs of society, doing menial jobs like being water carriers, gate men or Okada/Keke riders. The North is far from a paradise and it should be patently obvious from the fact that Northerners routinely flock down to the South to earn a living. Isn't it obvious that it's not a Hausa/Fulani thing but that those in leadership position are entirely unfit to be there.

Let's even look at the regional leaders in the South - how are they performing? On average, just as badly as their Northern counterparts. So even if we were two separate countries, with this same mentality and approach to leadership, we would be exactly where we are right now, probably looking for someone else to blame among ourselves.

The problem is that we have had a succession of bad leaders over the years. It wouldn't matter matter if all our leaders were from one tribe if they gave us good governance. Those politicians who you see clamoring the most for one region or the other to take a shot at leadership are those who stand the most to benefit from it, not because they truly believe a leader from that region would perform better. In spite of the fact that there are 50 states in the USA and the USA is older than Nigeria, some states have never produced a president. Ever. Yet the US is a developed country. Doesn't that tell you it's not about where you are from but what you bring to the table?

ZombieTERROR:
We are not one
And can never be
It's either one is a 5% or 97 % according to Buhari

Unity died a terrible death since 2015

Whatever Buhari's sentiments are, they are his sentiments and, if they do not align with our wishes as the people of the country, they should not matter. But we are too consumed with fighting ourselves all the time that in the midst of our confusion, a few people would sneak in and impose their will over everyone else

A Country Built On Tribal Lines Would Have Faired Better, Let Take My Tribe The Igbos As A Case Study, If One Man For Ekwulobia Is Ruling And He Flaws He Wont Have Anywhere To Hide Or Any Large Part E.G A Tribal To Protect Him Other That The Mini Ekwulobia Which Dare Not Go Against The Igbo Nation.
But In A Country Like Nigeria A Politician Can Mess And Hide Either Under Tribe, Religion Or The Ruling Party ( Orji Uzor Kalu ) Comes To Mind.
The Defunct Biafra Had Twelves Provinces, Each Of These Provinces Can Not Cover The Track Of Erring Politician As Most Wont Have The Cover Of Religion Or Tribe To Call For Witchunting, The Only Cover Is The Political Party Which Can Lose It Relevance If It Get Un Popular With The Masses.
So U See My Brother Nigeria Getting Better Is A Wishful Thinking, Fight Corruption Is Also A Wishful Thinking.

If ur head is flat nko

OneCorner:
If ur head is flat nko

Looool, whether flat or round or oblong, head shape should be left out of Nigerian politics so we can discuss the real issues bothering us as a country.

SenB, why do you bother? These stiff necked, belligerent people prefer to be primitive

Even your post title makes mockery of what you are trying to communicate.

maclatunji:
Even your post title makes mockery of what you are trying to communicate.

I'm trying to communicate in their "language". Over the past one year, it seems like if those words aren't in some people's sentences in this forum, they're not writing English.

Ishilove:
SenB, why do you bother? These stiff necked, belligerent people prefer to be primitive

Because it pains me when I consider how much time we spend on infighting and blame passing that we could spend on building our nation. Developed nations weren't built by the citizens siting around the point fingers at each other. They were built by the people holding their governments accountable and creating a culture of working for the good of their immediate communities and their country at large. Nigeria can and should be so much greater than it is now but because we have spent too much time in docility and blame games, we're regressing instead of progressing. That has to change.

senbonzakurakageyoshi:


I'm trying to communicate in their "language". Over the past one year, it seems like if those words aren't in some people's sentences in this forum, they're not writing English.

Don't pander to their whims.

omaar12:
No No No, Only Two Region Has Ruled This Country The Most And Majority Of Those Ruler Has Been For The Hausa/fulani Stock And The Yoruba's. So Any Other Tribe That Blame's Them Is Fully Within Their Right. If Some Of Those Region Werent Power Hungry The Last Of The 6 Geopolitical Zone Would Have Been Rounding Up It 8years Tenure In The Next 5years.

This Country Lacks Equity It Lack Rule Of Law, It Lacks Fairness And Oneness, The South East Should Have Been The Last Region To Rule As They Broke The System With The First Coup, Bt One Region Held The Country With Coup And Counter Coup For More Than 37years And They Are Still In Power.

Tell Me Where U Want Me To Derive Joy From In This Country. If Only Changing Nationality Was That Easy Alot Of Us Would Have Jumped Ship. Break Up Is The Best Solution As Nigeria Will Never Get Better With The Way We Are Going U Cant Fight The Government In A Multi Ethnic Country Like Nigeria.

Here we go again, presidency is by election, so if u want it, play your political game well, and contest.. ..

If the SE continue to think in the same direction, sorry....

You can't expect to win the presidency without support from other regions. ......

Afonja is not an insult, its only people who does not understand history that think its derogatory.

Paretomaster:


Here we go again, presidency is by election, so if u want it, play your political game well, and contest.. ..

If the SE continue to think in the same direction, sorry....

You can't expect to win the presidency without support from other regions. ......

Mr Man If You Dont Get My Point Just Scroll To The Next Comment Dont Quote What U Dont Understand.

masseratti:
Afonja is not an insult, its only people who does not understand history that think its derogatory.

Maybe, but anything can be derogatory if used in the appropriate context. And afonja as used in the NL context is very derogatory.

senbonzakurakageyoshi:


Maybe, but anything can be derogatory if used in the appropriate context. And afonja as used in the NL context is very derogatory.

I agree with you but its only an ignorant fellow that will use the name Afonja as an abuse because they have no knowledge of history. I take no offense in being called afonja,its just like someone calling an Igbo Ojukwu,why should that be offensive?

masseratti:
I agree with you but its only an ignorant fellow that will use the name Afonja as an abuse because they have no knowledge of history. I take no offense in being called afonja,its just like someone calling an Igbo Ojukwu,why should that be offensive?

True that