HAPPY JUNE 12...

Are Nigerians not one of, if not the impossible people in the world?

President Buhari has been in power since the last four years, and just last month, on the basis of a rigged election, he had himself sworn-in again for another four year term which many have predicted would be another round of misery, bloodletting, hunger and frustration that characterised his first term in office. And here we are singing his praise for "having the courage" to declare June 12 a public holiday, and shouting "happy democracy day"...

What is a holiday when people can't feed, when innocent people are being killed daily across the nation by terrorists that the president doesn't even have the courage to proscribe?

If I were a member of the Abiola family I would ask:
What is the meaning of a holiday to even late MKO Abuela's memory when his legacies are not being uphold? When those who denied him his mandate, detained him, kill his wife Kudirat, destroyed his business empire, and eventually had him killed have not been brought to justice? Are some of the keys actors of that era not still roaming free today?

If we as Nigerians know our rights, won't we be demanding instead for a report to be published detailing everything that transpired then, that led to the annulment of one of the freest elections in our history, to be made available to the public?

If the government was really serious, would it just declare June 12 a holiday and go to sleep?

How about paying reparation to the Abiola family? How about unfreezing his accounts? How about compensating his family for delibratelty destroying the man's empire and for the untold suffering that Abacha who is the current president's hero, made him go through? Or didn't we all see how Abuela was feried from place to place in a Black Maria then like a common criminal?

In any case, there are those, like former President Obasanjo, who still insists Abiola himself was not a saint, that he deserved what he got. In as much as I cannot join issues with such people, I think we all should look at the June 12 issue as a matter of righting a wrong, and in doing so, the government also must have the courage to move beyond merely declaring June 12 a public holiday...

But there is a a side of the story that I want us as Nigerians to consider, that's is if we are of the mind...

Abiola was a Muslim who did so much to further Islam in Nigeria. There were even reports that he sank a ship load containing copies of the Holy Bible which were destined for our shores...whether this is true or just another bitter rumour I can't say, but I but merely stated this to buttress the point that he was a "good Muslim"...

Despite this fact and as well as him being very good friends with IBB who was the president at that time, as soon as it became clear that Abiola was well ahead in the count, General Babangida had the election declared void...

The Church could easily have tolerated the decision going by the fact that Abiola was a fierce proponent of Islamic interests, yet it didn't. In fact, the spokespeople of all the major churches then agreed to insist on Abiola’s claim to become president, insisting that since the elections had been surprisingly free and fair, General Babangida had no right to annul them...

But Abiola did not find nearly as much support among his Islamic allies in the North. The Sultan of Sokoto told the faithful that it had been the will of Allah to annul the election, even though Abiola was Vice-President of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs then...

In fact, there were even some occasions then when Hausa-Fulani politicians openly stated that the North would commit "political suicide" if it gave the presidency over to a politician from the South...

Muslims in Yorubaland were so shocked by what many of them called an act of "treason" on the part of their co-religionists that some of them even called for the Southern Muslims to quit the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs and set up a new umbrella association...

If we were a serious country, what lesson should the Abiola affair have taught us? Why did the Caliphate deny Abiola the presidency? Why did the Yoruba Muslims renege on their threat to pull out of the Islamic body if the mandate was not resorted? Should we take the declaration of a day as holiday more serious than these and more questions that plague us today as a people....

The answer to these and more questions lies in the same reason why our political class has taken us for a ride over years...

Not only are we a people who suffer from chronic dementia, we also don't know our rights, and we love our chains and defend our oppressors...

Look at what is happening in the country today, look at what happened at the Senate yesterday, as we speak, like his first term, the entire echelon of government is again occupied by a section of the nation and a particular religion and yet, we are shouting democrat day?

But I guess this won't be for long...

I hope history, will one day, sooner than later, repeatedly itself in country...

In 1989, Romania was exactly where we are today as a nation. With a satanic government headed by one of the most ruthless dictators in history as its head, the country was in shambles as we are today. In fact, the president then, had a special trained force in place protecting him and the elite.

Then one day in December of that year, the scales fell from the eyes of the people and there was an awakening. Civil unrest broke, then a revolution started in the city of Timișoara and soon spread throughout the country.

In 24 hours, General Secretary Nicolae Ceaușescu was round up, captured, tried and summarily executed, both him and his wife Elena and their allies.

And that was the end of 42 years of Communist rule in Romania. It was also the last removal of a Marxist-Leninist government...

Today, with all our resources, Nigerian leaders can't provide infrastructre or give her people a meaningful life, Nigerians are suffering and those who can, are fleeing to other countries to become second class citizens... Instead of turning the enormous wealth of the nation into infrastructure like other countries, the elite, the cabal, are stashing the monies away in private accounts for themselves and generations that can't even exhaust spending the money...

We have taken 20 years and spent billions to generate 1000 Megawatts of electricity when Egypt, spending less have taken just a few months to generate times ten that number accordingly Dangote...

And to make matters worse, we, instead of demanding our rights and asking accountability from our rulers, we are here singing the praise of a government that allows the killing of Christians and innocent people, and has even refused us the basic right of choosing our own leaders in a free and fair elections.

I believe one day, the scales will fall from our eyes, then there will be that awakening, and this sacrilege that's called leadership will fall and become history... I hope this happens in my lifetime....


Before then, happy June 12...