APOLOGY
O.O. Ojuoluwa (Sharpminds)

Before now, rulers took responsibility, willingly abdicated their throne, self-exiled or ended their own lives when their performance was awful and/or caught in scandalous webs. - those were days when men were NOBLE"

We are in a mess, such that requires a state of emergency. Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart", though written decades ago, describes more, the present than the past. Perhaps, it is high time we viewed it as being prophetic - the center no longer holding indeed!

To say that Nigeria is a failed State is an understatement. As it stands, Nigeria is nothing short of bitterness, sorrow and sadness. Bitterness, as highlighted by secessionists from virtually every region that makes up the country - the clamour for Oodua, Biafra and Arewa Republics is just a tip of the iceberg; sorrow, personified by day to day trauma citizens are made to go through via inflation, epileptic power supply, insecurity, hunger, fear of the unknown, etc; sadness, by the fact that there is no hope of a better tomorrow. President Olusegun Obasanjo recently reaffirmed this in a statement while commenting on the state of the State at his presidential library in Abeokuta.

To solve our problems, some believe that, changing our current name from Nigeria (a name which was given to us by the Europeans, our colonial masters) to United Africa Republic (UAR), which they argue should have been done since independence, giving that, other European colonies have long since done same, is a place to start from. They further argue that, since everything pertaining to Nigeria has a damaged image, a change of name will also rebrand her and change her global perceptions.

There has never been a time in history that people starve as they do now except during war. Hunger, poverty and starvation boldly written on people's faces that, one must wonder how their conditions retrogressed to such point. It is a state of total confusion. Yes. Imbroglio!

Businesses collapse on a daily basis. Workers' salaries unpaid even when Naira is at its worst devalued state ever. Hopelessness is now the order of the day. Parents are broke, their children stranded. Husbands can hardly meet the basic needs of their wives not to talk of the family as a whole. To make things worse, parents sell children for money, not because they do not love them, but that the rest may survive. In short, nothing is working here. Tuition fees for the various cadre of educational institutions are also scary. To successfully sponsor a child from kindergarten to final year in the university runs into millions of naira, even if such child passes through public schools throughout.

The president's response to all these is to ban the use of social media, starting with Twitter and perhaps have every content (should in case he decides to spare some) vetted by his dogs. I for one believe he should take it a step further and possibly ban the use of smart phones and mobiles and, mandate that every citizen is coerced to use landlines. At least by so doing, he would have successfully taken us back to the Stone age and officially made Nigeria the African version of Kim's North Korea!

Security wise, there has never been a time in our civil lives that life is as valueless as it is now. Before now, we were loving people, brothers and sisters. We looked out for one another and shared in one anothers' pains and joys. Now, love is replaced with hate - hate even among brothers. Care replaced with indifference.

Terrorism, kidnappings, ritual killings, insurgencies, banditry, gruesome killings, police brutalities, etc now characterize our daily living. All across the social media space are displayed on an hourly basis horrible pictures of fatal deaths. Mass burials. Disembowelled pregnant women, with their innocent babies made to feel the sharpness of deadly blades, even at their first exposure to our planet. Senseless enmities, avoidable deaths.

Even though, it has been prophesied that these happenings are the signs of the end time, yet, there are places with relative peace, harmony and joy. This connotes that, our predicaments are self inflicted. Hence, we might have fast tracked our own end time as against the prophecy. We all are guilty. There are no innocent(s)!

Yesteryear seems better than now with no hope of things getting better soon (should the status quo remain). The story of the fellow caught having stolen a pot of amala on fire while the owner went to get other ingredients is touching, yet there are worse! There are cases families drink water to sleep because it is the only available edible substance they could lay hands on.

Those whom the people elect to represent them at various capacities on the other hand keep doing business as usual. They live lives of decadence, have luxuries at their disposal, acquire more wealth at the expense of the people and, manipulate them with crumbs from their loots.

Yet, it is unimaginable that some people pride in being rulers of such a place as ours! It is noble for rulers to preside over the people and their reigns notable for good. Otherwise is however, IGNOBLE. And when it is otherwise, it is still noble when leaders involved take responsibility, leave the throne honourably and/or perhaps willfully take their own lives, as were the times of heroes in time past.

Not this present breed of leaders though, they are not honourable. They are ignoble. They do not have the gut/wit to let go of power even when they obviously fail woefully, even their own household. The more our situations get worsened by their actions and inactions, the more they look for reasons why they are not at fault. They have mastered the art of trading blames. Blame game is their hubby. And because they will not leave willingly, they will be willfully dethroned, and, dishonourably.

What lies ahead? Where do we go from here? Events will unravel no doubt. And sure, the table will turn. When? How? Where? History has it that people do have patterns of behavior which envelope their judgements. On judgement day, events will surely unravel.

I am Olabode Olanrewaju Ojuoluwa,
Youth Advocate and Social Reformer