There is something about our politics I don’t like and that is the unwritten law that you don’t have to hold a divergent view or position if you belong to a political party, group or in government. I don’t believe that is right. If there is a collective decision one can mellow down on public presentation of his position to further the dictates of collective responsibility. Even then nothing should stop one from expressing his positions within the group if he believes there are vital gaps in the collective resolution and if he is convinced the eventual outcome could work against the interest of majority of the citizens and threaten the health of the society. Where decisions are not collectively taken and a small group in strategic locational power positions try to supplant their whims and caprices as state policy and programmes, in this atmosphere every right thinking party member or public political appointee should have a right to voice an opinion especially when it is correctional in nature.
I had a discussion with some friends during the week and one of them said they never tried to make serious contributions in the Executive Council meetings and he let us know it was because of the disposition of the chief executive officer and I didn’t hesitate to tell him that was wrong on the basis that government, governance and issues of development are matters of collective action. The success or failure of the piloting officer to various degrees affects the other participants. So when you are in a circle particularly that of public interest, let your views and position be made known because ultimately what will make a man would be where he stood in times of critical need. I hope our national and state assemblies would begin to use the voting system on every issue so that the public can have documentary evidence of the position of our political leaders on every issue of societal development. It helps the citizens to make choices and pass judgments.
This federal government has a big agenda. This agenda is far big and towers above the restructuring and proper development of our nation. The agenda encompasses hegemony, which in this case is tied to the extension of the influence of the Fulani, territorial expansion and further spread of the Islamic religion. This is not the first time I am making this important observation. I have done so severally on this page, in fact I have told myself it is time to leave political issues and talk about the economy, science and technology. My decision was based on what I see when I travel outside the country, on television and what I read from books, newspapers and magazines. I see paved terraces, wide and well-made streets lined with fine trees and good lawns. I see efficient transport system, clean buses and taxis, motor rail and underground train system. These facilities transport citizens round every nook and cranny of those nations, enhancing connectivity and in turn boosting economic activities and rewards.
In our nation life is brutish. Poverty is ravaging the population. If what I see is a true reflection of the situation then it would be right to say that hundreds of citizens die everyday from hunger and poverty induced diseases and health challenges. Over two-thirds of the country’s touted population of 170 million people are either out of job or unemployable. Those with jobs lose them in rapidity. These are the issues that should engage our attention and focus of our leaders but unfortunately they are not; our leaders would rather pursue mundane matters such as superiority of race, religion and ethnicity. They quarrel more over personal disagreements and public offices than they do over very germane issues. It is very shameful. At the time we are talking of June 12 and making a big issue out of what should be a mere award and restitution, China was inaugurating a modern train that could do over 4000 miles in three hours. In Russia, astronauts from China, Japan and Russia just landed from space where they had been for six months carrying out various experiments. We are here crying that they colonized us and are still cheating us. From what we are doing the cheating will continue and we don’t need Bishop Oyedepo to prophesy that in the not too distant time, they may relocate to space and find a bomb to eliminate us from the face of the earth to make it pure for their stay.
I repeat I am ashamed to be discussing religion at this time. This return to it has been provoked by the utterances of the Minister for Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbe, who said late last week he was going to spend hundreds of billions of Naira to build ranches in 10 states. Top on the list are states in the Middle Belt of the nation and featuring prominently are Taraba, Plateau, Benue and Kogi states. I think Ebonyi is also among them. Nothing reveals the hidden agenda more than the inclusion of Ebonyi State part of the Igbo nation. One would wonder the number of cattle brought into Ebonyi that should warrant federal government using public money to establish ranches for private businesses. The inclusion of most states in north central tells me only one story: that the attacks and killings of innocent indigenous population is a deliberate orchestration by those who want to redesign our nation into the image they have. The issue of cattle ranches is not an important matter facing this nation, it became because some people are not lovers of this nation and they want to destroy it.
The disposition of the federal government and the inconsistency that has been the hallmark of policy approach to this matter reveal the ugly intention. This administration was barely three months old when in the National Assembly we began to hear about grazing bill. At first we thought it was a rumour, not long after it became a reality with very obnoxious provisions. This had not died down when Ogbe came up with the idea to import grass from South America. From here we heard appeals to locals to “accommodate” fellow Nigerians. Not long after it became that foreigners and not Nigerians were the barbarians, to our consternation we observed that foreigners could come in and kill and run away scot-free and government would only rationalize. In the midst of these the Inspector General of Police ordered the disbandment of state vigilantes and the disarmament of citizens with licensed guns. Few days ago Christians in Adamawa State who killed a herdsman were sentenced to death but till date the killers of the wife of a pastor in Kano and of a female pastor in Abuja are yet to be identified and arrested not to talk of trial and conviction.
The other day someone told me Arabic language was part of the exam for admission into the Nigeria police. Add that to the fact that security agencies are recruiting based on local government basis and more recently few days after some northerners had spoken along the same line, we began to hear about a bill designed to make the coastal territories federal lands. The truth is when tribes and religious irredentists begin to kill in strange lands the objective is usually to create opportunity to come up with the options they want. It is so in this case and it would be worse if it continues.