Mind Restructuring: Decent Society, Oba Tragedy And Morality -By Richard Odusanya

Arthur Schopenhauer, a German philosopher and an idealist who was cerebral and often talked about honesty, posited thus: “Every truth passes through three stages before it is recognized, in the first it is ridiculed, in the second it is opposed, in the third it is regarded as self-evident.”

In an environment of lies, truth is a stranger, and those who choose that path should be prepared to be maligned, because that’s where evil find solace. When a lie goes viral it is likely, going to be misconstrued for truth.

It is a fact that our realities and mental state cannot be divorced from our minds. That is one of the reasons why our commitments and insistence to the project of “Mind Restructuring” will continue to dominate the space for a very long time to come.

We live in a world full of deceitfulness, lies and the fallacies; we live in a nation where liars are profiting more than the faithfuls; we live in a society that functions on lying about everything; we live in a country that is a big contradiction and obscenities a home grown deceptiveness that has been elevated to statecraft.

However, truth is sacrosanct, constant and consistent. Truth is not a native of any country, it is that tiny voice our ‘conscience’ truth is a light, of which darkness cannot comprehend. This is a moment for the truth that cannot be faulted, and the time for us to be truthful to ourselves as a people bond in unity.

This is certainly not the best of times for us as a nation, the future of our upcoming generations is at stake, the unity of our nation and the collective interest of our beloved country Nigeria is under siege. It was a very sad development at the parliament watching the members of the National Assembly (NASS), becoming the harbinger of anti-democracy and also the “oba” debacle, at a time, when we are supposed to be sober, reflecting on the killings, humongous amount of loans collected from the west and lately the Chinese, headquarters of extreme poverty, third worst governed country, over three million out of school children, 35 percent unemployment rate, hunger in the land, gross mismanagement of resources and diversity; the ‘oba’ debacle sufficed. Initially, I could not properly capture the essence of the game, I was curious about the morality, indiscretion, indecent exposure, display of affluence and the obscenities.

Initially, I thought it was a recap of the “Hushpuppi” debacle, recall that our society is an enabler of such a despicable and unfortunate scenario. He was the darling of many, has over three million followers on social media. Top political gladiators and the so called big men are seen together. Our security agencies and network could not detect him, until the Americans arrested him in Dubai.

On a more critical and deeper look at the whole thing, I discovered that, he had a cover somewhere. I noticed that a supposedly, super cop in person of one Abba-Kyari, who was previously taunted as a super cop, for his various exploits in the field, and should ordinarily be the posters boy for the police and a regime that pride itself as an anti-corruption regime and fighting criminality. Identifying openly seems to suggest that the regime is beyond the whole charades.

The evidence of desperation is getting clearer by the day, it was mentioned in our recent article, that in the coming days, the political gladiators and the palace jesters would most likely become more desperate about not leaving.

Yours truly and many of my colleagues then, witnessed the same scenario at a very close distance in the era of Olusegun Obasanjo. Subsequently, I saw Femi Adesina within 48 hours of the “oba” debacle posing with some renegades, whose identities are unknown, he claimed that they are “Igbo youths” in support of a government that is winding up. I was convinced that the game has started, we are on another journey similar to the Olusegun Obasanjo’s inglorious era.

Conclusively, we owe it a duty, and the responsibility to continue to appeal to them to see reason why the present political gladiators headed by Maj Gen Muhammadu Buhari RTD, should not copy Olusegun Obasanjo; instead they should emulate Nelson Mandela and John Jerry Rawlings and their attributes. Nobody can rig election or try the shenanigans of tenor elongation in South Africa and Ghana because of both statesmen’s legacies.

Arise ‘O compatriots.

Richard Odusanya is a Social Reform Crusader and the convener of AFRICA COVENANT RESCUE INITIATIVE ACRI.