ZOMBIE IF I QUENCH YOU QUENCH


Those who fight and run, live to fight another day, we have not seen the last protest. Whoever sends you to take human lives, tell them to start with themselves if you are not a zombie. The consequences must not be by your wish for 42 virgins or jungle justice. Nigeria is all you have. Tired of being shot by police and soldiers, bombed by Boko Haram, hunger crossing the desert, or resisting deportation; it is better to fight corruption and insecurity at home. Nigerians are mindful of exploitation of our causes by ethnic and religious indoctrination but are not cowards.

Some Northern governors are paying Boko Haram what Southern governors are paying militia to keep peace. The proportional basis of our corruption, religious and militia violence is equal to the amount of political thugs in your state. The thugs Leaders recruited graduated into religious and ethnic zombies. Adedibu in the West started as a thug before he became the grandfather of violence asking governors for their security votes if they want peace. Governor Obi rejected the call of MASSOB and transport workers to leave local taxes to them or face mayhem.

Many leaders claim they fought for and are ready to die for Nigeria, religion and ethnicity, are nothing but liars. They fought for their selfish ends taking risk stealing resources just like armed robber, that know they can be shot to death for invading private homes. If they are not in business to make a decent profit but do convert 75% of peoples’ recurrent budget into their own pockets, they are nothing but daylight robbers. No matter how trained you are from wherever, if you cannot use that training locally as an antidote to our problem, it is a waste.

We know the solutions to our problems. Instead of training ethnic and religious militants at home and abroad, we could have used our money wisely training students playing by the rule on how to seize control of our primary industry in agriculture and oil from exploration to the finest products. Even our crude oil production is limited by OPEC quota but the products of our refineries that could be used for our own benefit at home and exported to other countries in return for foreign exchange is unlimited. After Civil War we are yet to corner that technology.

We have politicians and planted World Bank and IMF self-aggrandizing Africans that negotiated 47 to 53 percent of our crude oil away but no scholars and technicians that can take control of natural resources or steal technology from Europe and America like China, Russia, Venezuela, Malaysia and India. Yet highly educated Nigerians are at home under the yoke of SAP, all over Europe and America whose hard earned foreign money has been diluted by highly inflated prices of materials and housing corrupted at home by those that have never earned foreign money but spend it freely. Even if technocrats want to pass on their expertize for free, they cannot not afford primary living in their homeland. But foreign “experts partners” can.

If we want success, that we must call Ijaw to be in forefront to confront Ebele because is Ijaw, is revolting to many. But it is not sickening to them to call on Muslims in the North to confront Boko Haram. Rightly they claim: after all he is the President of all Nigerians. The reason Ebele got to where he is right now is for no other reason than being Ijaw. He was planted to appease Niger Delta, pure and simple. But Boko Haramites must not undermine him just to appease them. A good place to learn is how Ebele turned the recent strike into his ethnic solidarity or how Boko Haram turned against their paymasters including Christians in the North.

Ebele Azikiwe played the ethnic card to his advantage during the strike and we cannot blame him because many in his position would do the same. There is a difference between a military coup and a civilian coup. Military use ballots under the gun. Civilians use ballot by persuasion either by false and deceptive high-tech public relation or by competent facts to counter and gain majority votes. Only military, not civilian can enforce a coup or overthrow a government by encouraging Igbo officers to overthrow Yoruba and Hausa officers to overthrow Igbo as could Berom or Ibibio.

It does not work under civilian setting. If Hausa is in power, send Hausa after him and if Ijaw is in power, send Ijaw after him. By the same token, if Boko Haram kicks because they lost power, let Northern Muslims put fatwa on them. The arduous duty is that it will take much more to persuade most Ijaw to go after Ijaw and most Yoruba to go after Yoruba. In order to get most in the ethnic group to go after their own or against religious masqueraders, the massagers must have been as virulent as Boko Haram. It gets to a point when your own people say enough is enough. Obasanjo got that message while seeking Third Term.

What we see in Ebele is a President that is not comfortable because of so many sharks around him. He was forced to dole out benefits, bribe or privilege to king makers so that the military or Boko Haram masqueraders would not force him out of office. The fact that he says his doubters have invaded every level of government buttress this fact. Unfortunately, while he can dole out all the Federal income from oil, he cannot punish them like Babangida, Abacha or Obasanjo.

Babangida would dole out bribes or punish anyone out of grace. Abacha from Kano, disciplined Maitatsine and dethroned Sardauna of Sokoto with muted challenge. Indeed, Obasanjo retired all the militricians and renegaded on his agreement with the Northern power brokers. Buhari, hate corruption but because his weakness for special privilege for royalty and religion, cost him the election last time around. What they all have in common is their military background.

However, military background is irrelevant in today’s Nigeria. Anyone can buy weapons at the international market, so any full scale confrontation that unites the ethnic militias will be protracted and counterproductive compared to one week strike betrayed by ethnic loyalty. Indeed, his ethnic militia turned it into an attempt to overthrow Ebele. Mind you, there are opportunists that would not blink an eye to do so, especially the Ciroma group.

Since Ebele got in, he has reshuffled the shakers of petroleum industry with his own people. He has to do more than that. Once Nigerians realize that a corrupt Nigerian is a corrupt Nigerian no matter where he comes from, we would expect people in Niger Delta as other Nigerians to demand answers from their people in charge. Indeed, all the savings that were accumulated under the previous regime is gone and the infatuation with their leaders may turn sourer.

Ebele may be one of the best antidotes for Nigeria’s problems. Niger Delta will tear itself into pieces at the rate they are spending oil money, unless Ebele stops it. If we leave the North to themselves Boko Haram will tear them into pieces. If we leave the South to themselves, they will tear one another into pieces along different tongues. Our different ethnicity is our greatest strength in moderating one another. The best peacekeeping force is within Nigeria, not from the United Nations. They cannot wait to split us into pieces. But each of the ethnic or religious leaders must lead to cure its own cancer.

So far only a couple of ethnic groups have disowned the notorious Judas in their midst. Not too many Nigerians have lynched their local council man, chairman, representative or senator. They may wage war and curses on Obasanjo, Shonekan, Tafa Balogun etc. to the glee and approval of other Nigerians. As soon as the table turned, most of the people in other ethnic groups become defensive but those willing to call corruption within their ethnic groups, are labeled traitors. It is our history and we must accept it as our weakness. We all have excuses for defending our own. In the same way solution for Boko Haram must come from Northern religious leaders and sponsors.

The goal here was not to replace Ebele with Boko Haram but to call all sides to order before they tear Nigeria apart since each sponsors their constituencies. We have to force them to see reason that there are too many politicians and advisers in Nigeria and we cannot generate enough income to pay or bribe them all for loyalties, more than the owners of presidential or parliamentary system. We want to cut waste and return most of the income from our resources to the states. If we cannot convince the Ijaw to demand that much from Ebele or from Boko Haram paymasters; we have failed to rescue our Country from corruption and insecurity.

Farouk Martins Aresa
http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/farouk-martins/zombie-if-i-quench-you-quench.html

Then Jonathan should go now! Is it too hard to say? why blow grammar?