NIGERIA: A Place Where Evil Is Camouflaging In Righteousness -By Richard Odusanya

Nigeria has been rated as one of the most religious nations in the world and most religious leaders and politicians capitalise on this to play the people against one another, especially when they stand to gain something. A place where evil is camouflaging as righteousness. In Nigeria, the average person is religious at heart; it does not mean that he has a certain conviction but he will make sure he attends church service on Sunday and if he is a Muslim, attends Mosque on Friday. Yet, our level of religiousity did not prevent us from evil tendencies that signposts the beginning of where we are today as a nation.

Painfully, and as a matter of fact, a large number of the religionists and so-called “men of God” have keyed in on this by organising programs all through the week and Nigerians will abandon their works to attend these programs that are deliberately designed to control the minds of unsuspecting gullible followers excited about magic which on its own, is obviously a landmines of religious, ethnic and other chauvinistic tendencies including fake prophecies hidden behind personal aggrandizement and preference for what sits well with them. It should also be noted that envy can hide in support, jealousy can hide in compliments and hate can hide in love.

Before, going further, let me share with us the views of Thomas Hobbes, an English philosopher and a sixteenth century thinker. Thomas, profoundly posited: “Man will never and can never be satisfied. Man’s existence is defined by his greed. Man is in essence a greedy being.” Flowing from the views of Thomas Hobbes, I daresay that Nigeria is a place where greed, self-centered mindset and deceitfulness is prevalent. Paradoxically, though, when evil is trying to be righteous it find a fertile ground in fickle-minds many of them assumed that evil is righteous and desirable. Unsurprisingly, many people misconstrued self-righteousness for godliness. Sad realities of our beloved country-men and women alike.

Regrettably, there has been no Nigerian leader that is altruistic and dynamic enough to thinker with or challenge the falsehood, deceitfulness and rascality that has been prevalent in the political, religious and social spaces. It presupposed, that, there’s a common goal, purpose, aim, objective and target which is how to grab power and control the levers of power whilst plundering our common wealth and joint patrimony – In order to keep themselves in power, they constantly play the religious and ethnic card making ordinary citizens across the country to view one another with suspicion, hatred and bitterness – as evidenced by the Olusegun Obasanjo’s poisonous New Year letter with malicious gusto, subtle blackmail and pugnacious hypocrisy.

Likewise, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, in collaboration with his friends leading the cacophony of deceitful voices projecting Peter Obi as propagated by a section of the religious leaders. Admittedly, most of our people are vulnerable and gullible followers; we are not given to painstakingly questioning or investigating illusions when we are sold dummies – it is part of the reasons why we are were we are today. If truly we love God in the way we demonstrates it in places of religious worship, then, we should be able to have some level of hatred for evils not just by projecting what sits well with us alone at the detriment of others and spreading falsehood, deceitfulness and hatred. It is important for us to rejig the way we think as a people who love each other regardless of ethnicity and religion.

It is thus, imperative, that as a nation we need to begin to examine the roles and activities of some of our leaders. This is as exemplified by the editorial board of @punchng – the board profoundly posited: “…Citizens should constantly monitor, interrogate, and demand accountability from them. As they demand that Nigerians sacrifice more, the President, Governors, and lawmakers must make greater sacrifice and must be seen to do so. That is the true test of leadership.”- Punch Editorial Friday 30, June. This is not the first time that a full-blown editorial dedicated to the well-being of the generality and good of the nation will be published by a national newspaper standing up for the masses as the conscience of the nation

Furthermore, my most recent article “Balancing Hope And Despair In Turbulent Times” attracted a lot of feedbacks. There was also numerous articles from far and near written by some of our senior citizens, opinion leaders, erudite and altruistic minds. Below are some of some of the examples of the pullout:

1. “….Senseless, right-wing, anti-people economic populism has become hegemonic in Nigeria as a direct result of careful, deliberate, sustained, artful, and largely unimpeded propaganda by out-of-touch and unfeeling World Bank/IMF ideologues in Nigeria such as Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Peter Obi, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Akinwumi Adesina, and others.”- Farooq Kperogi. I align completely with the erudite scholar (Notes from Atlanta).
Overtime, I have taken similar position about the same characters, their stock-in-trade and imperialists mindsets. Thankfully, I have been vindicated.

2. “The government will have to move speedily to address the suffering of the people, undeserved pains inflicted on the people, because of the irresponsibility of the Nigerian ruling class,” he said. He noted that the fuel subsidy regime is a result of the irresponsibility of the government and its failed promises to reform the oil sector.”- Femi Falana (FF).

3. Last but not the least. In the recent article of Simon Kolawole, ‘Them Belly Full (But We Are Hungry)’ He posited: “…For too long, we deceived ourselves that we were an oil-rich country. We lied to ourselves that we were a special breed of homo sapiens who should be treated differently from the rest of the world.”

Flowing from the above, as much, as I aligned with the Special Adviser to the President on Special Duties, Communication and Strategy, Mr Dele Alake, who recently made it clear and said: “President Tinubu recognises that Nigeria is being looked upon for leadership, and he is prepared to step up to the challenge.” The challenge is the steps towards such ‘Noble Trajectory’. Yes, granted that President Bola Tinubu started well. From issues of fuel subsidy, financial improprieties and that of appointment of service chiefs ticks all the right boxes: Professional competence, ethno-religious balancing, and the right character. Thus, the burden of performance is squarely resting on the shoulders of the appointees, such as, turning our present situation around for our citizens to rejoice again instead of groaning in pains.

In conclusion, I like to conclude this contribution by admonishing us that the only way to love God is to hate evil and also to remind us that the master-key to peaceful coexistence is tolerance. In the book of Ecclesiastes 3:16 NCV: I took another good look at what’s going on: The very place of judgment—corrupt! The place of righteousness—corrupt! I said to myself, “God will judge righteous and wicked.” I have seen under the sun that in the place of justice there is wickedness and moreover I saw under the sun: in the place of judgment,
Wickedness was there; And in the place of righteousness, Iniquity was there.

Finally, in the book of, Isaiah 54:14 In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee.

Odusanya a Mind Restructuring Enthusiast.