₦airaland Forum

"THERE CAN BE A COUNTRY"

Chinua Achebe said there 'was' a country and I have no choice but to agree. The entity we call Nigeria has been dead and long buried. Now all we have is a group of people simply going through the motions of day to day life.
The weekend brought about the #ChildNotbride
campaign,it was particularly loud by the Saturday morning. All social medias Nigerians knew were buzzing with the campaign that had to do with the new law the Senate had passed concerning child marriage. Sadly,most Nigerians(typically) didn't even understand the law..all they simply heard was that any female child could be married at any age. And as usual nobody sought to do any research and the senate too didn't bother to come forth and offer any form of clarification. By Saturday evening however the #ChildNotBride campaign had ended(I was still expecting it to carry on till Monday though)and #MBGN(most beautiful girl in Nigeria) had taken over..surprised? Don't be.
Nigerians have always been cowards,we just have never been bold enough to admit that to ourselves. I remember a saying "Push a Nigerian to the wall and he would still break through that wall and keep running"...our energy been used in a wrong way. Why not channel that energy used in breaking the wall into fighting whatever it is chasing us. The age of social media has brought about a new sense of awareness in the country but yet we still miss use it. If we feel rightly wronged on any issue,we shouldn't limit our protests to the internet(besides do our leaders go through it).
We shouldn't limit it to protests(people were asked to come and sign a petition on the #ChildNotBride campaign but who are we going to summit it to?). We have passed through the stage of all these ineffectual motions. We always say a revolution is coming in Nigeria,when would that come?! And where would it take place? On twitter,instagram or Facebook?
We should wipe this illusion called religion off our faces before we can attempt staging any revolution. But that is really a next to impossible step in this era when people worship their pastors and Imams more than God they claim to. Take your mind through all the 'protest' you have all staged,how many religious leaders have come out in support? Now take a look at Egypt and the Muslim brotherhood. Making sense? Until we begin to block out these businessmen(our pastors regularly make it into Forbes richest) and face reality,we won't move anywhere. The first 2 days of the January fuel subsidy protest had us moving in the right direction until it was turned into a jamboree. Is that why we are here?! 
About the Aluu4,has anything been heard or done since? About the disgraceful in-house physical fighting at the rivers state house of assembly,has anything been done? No,nothing can be done cause we as Nigerians have become 'Leave them,after a few ranting here and there,they would move on'..
I told a friend on Saturday 'Stone a Senator today,protect a child tomorrow'..he burst out laughing. But that is just the plain truth,when our so-called leaders start getting attacked where ever they go,they would start thinking twice when ever they meet to draw out negative policies. Simply because all these have not happened,we have a country where the wife of the president is the second most powerful person in the country. And this trend didn't just start but was brought to the fore during the reign of Yar'adua...how can a leader 'elected' in a country of over 150 million people be sick and no one can pin point where he is been treated?! Not even the vice-president knew where he was. And a shocker for you,a selected group of our 'religious leaders' claimed to have visited him and reported he was hale and hearty. Drawing any connections?..
Sit down today and ask yourself..are we doing the right thing or are we just recycling the old ways? Because without a revolution,nothing is going to change. But if for once Nigerians can muster strength and face our demons..there can be a country

All story too long jare abeg...