The nation must thrive and survive – hope and equality as birthright -By Jimi Bickersteth

“Troubles are like babies and man’s ergo, they become big when you nurse them“. Unknown.

The pervasiveness of technology is perhaps most apparent in the proliferation of cell phones many of which are no longer just phones. The communicators revolution in the late eighties make it easy to see and hear things almost as they are happening. It perhaps, is the downside of media technology, as it makes people accessible almost anytime, anywhere, causing users to feel caught in an electronic web and technology addicts, who have a compulsion to be connected, to know what is going on.

In spite of the powers of addiction, distraction, interruption most recognized problems associated with popular communications and power of media technology. But, that’s not the object of this fairly long letter. I want to state that the same devices also have much power for good, its blues and sometimes jazzy effect. The almost effortless power-push of the devices put on our palms happenings far and near.

The gale of elegant defections in the country, the simple glee in the nation’s political rallies and campaigns, the news on and commentaries about the  nation’s ‘bohemian heroes’, their saga’s in the southeast, the IPOB and ESN and the killings, the one ‘terrorising’ in the Southwest and his latest Cotonou expedition, the ‘Herdsmen’ and Boko Haram killings, kidnappings for ransom, banditry, terrorists assaults and battering; the low turnout and or voters apathy at the last Local governments elections nationwide, and the several other acts that were apparently an assault on the people and their democracy.

All of these and more were daily been reported as often and as soon as they are happening, and in a way, were curiosly, deepening the nation’s democracy if not its institutions. I was in the middle of the reverie, as the soft, yellow glow to the candlelight cast quiet shadows on my mind, and was playing strange tricks upon me just as the gale of politicians defection in the nation’s political firmaments, the Cotonou-Nigeria brewing row over one of the nation’s ‘bohemian heroes,’ and the DSS’s numerous naive and amateurish handling of its briefs. At this point there came a cloud in my mind, and I felt curiously depressed.

The day had lost its magic for me. The room came back into focus and, oddly enough, while my mind had been faraway, I had heard retained every li(n)e the defectors, the bohemian ‘heroes’ in search of self-independence, their legal advisers, the DSS and by inference the government have spoken, as my mind went spinning off on another tangent. Now, watching the burning logs in the compound crackle and blaze and throw off tiny little sparks. Dissecting the people, their politicians and the absurdities of their politics. I will briefly critique and or assess the agitations and the outlook and status of the nation and the PMB’s administration.

The bottom-up agitations and its ‘bohemian heroes’, the duo, who aspire to ‘liberate’ their peoples from the “zoo” of human habitation with their disappearing acts (conically magical). I’ve said it somewhere, that, if even the nation deserves to split, I doubt if it should be left to the antics of what the Yorubas would call, “😅áì sí ní’lé ajá tó nmú wọn f’àgúntàn ṣ’ọdẹ“. I have also observed over time that the bottom-up and solicitous nature of the agitations, southeast and or southwest of the Niger seemed to have a common denominator, which is, the inherent distortions and filtering identified as problems of downward communication, and were the sole raison d’ētre of why they do not have any real and serious followings. Moreso, enlightened people detests been forced and or coerced to play by other people’s rules and compete for prizes that other people have chosen. And that is a poor preparation for later life, especially if you mean to live an independent existence. Here there is a division. Interestingly, everyone’s “pursuit of justice” is someone else’s “delay.”

The ‘Bohemian heroes’ with rancour in their voices and eyes and their acolytes think that every adult Igbo(ho) eighteen years and above was expected to know what ‘their’ ideas and rhapsodies of self-independence and its essence was all about, whether one freely and duly grasps same or not was immaterial and irrelevant. The multitudes who perhaps have a different approach to politics and self-independence and who do not subscribe to the “freedom fighters” ideas and modus operandi, were labelled as traitors to the cause(s) and, array of curses were dutifully, laid at their doors posts, it doesn’t matter their status, rank or age in the society. One can overlook that for the more republican east, but for the Yorubas that prided themselves on respect for elders, that was demoralising.

A friend asked me, and I paraphrase, if I still believe in the Nigerian ’cause’ as it were, so to speak. I answered, that my views about the nation in spite of the plethora of problems and leadership absence remains Pan-Nigeria. But, just to add in parenthesis here, that, those views were applicable to any of the nation’s in the 4D ultrasound imaging and cinemas of our minds – unrealistic. Albeit, my grouse with the visions of the agitations was that its protagonists, apart, from their dream flags in shoddy colours, have since not come out with its precise objectives – a precise, measurable, cohesive and comprehensive package of strategic goals. What they only have on display were a ‘muddling’ process orchestrated by political thugs and political jobbers, who, thought that they had ‘better insights’ and with that ‘preeminence’ saw far more deeper, what the Zik’s and the Awolowo’s of this world could not, and took it as almost biblical mandates.

But, before you can say, “go ye into the world” and market the courage of convictions, needed to: 1.Define specific goals and objectives of the new nations. 2. Define definite boundaries and indentures. 3. State these goals clearly, explicitly and preferably quantitatively. 4. Assign the goals to individuals. 5. Control the flailing agitations towards established measurable goals. You and I know that aside from the constitutional and legislative hurdles and structured analytical processes so often prescribed in the constitution, liberation struggles were often not a tea party, it “required” according to dogma any freedom fighter, not even the great Nelson Mandela, could not shrugged off.

The rabble-rousing nature of the agitations can be more effective if the characters at its arrowheads understand the logic and process considerations behind such broad fundamentals and goal setting. The agitators can’t just arrived at preconceived ideas that stemmed from their disappointment with the money they were once raking in as government’s paid enforcers and the frustration thereof, and announced them in the precise package of their dreams, not even, polished by theoretical strategists, and expects everyone to accept such preconceived ideas, notions, constituents and components without subjecting same to the fire of crucible reasoning.

My piting limited talents and I’m sure those of our other compatriots understand that such centralised ideas act as colourants to the agitations, and, we were supposed to view and assess the agitations in its unambiguous form dispassionately. It tells all in advance that certain issues pertaining to the new nation are closed and that our thoughts about alternatives are irrelevant. By the way, a struggle that has in its fold an erudite professor of history but chosed to trump up a hapless political hireling in the nation’s most recent history as the arrowhead was not only suspect but also unfortunate.

In any case, you can’t stampede the ruling elites that way and you can’t but help conscript the very people you are pretending to liberate. This unmarketable ideas of this so-called liberation was the main reason why the agitators were far from stimulating desired participation. The agitators profiles, its social media presence and its unwieldy negative  consequences and their compound rigidities and inabilities to moderate their thoughts on the actual circumstances and needs of the people, too soon, eliminated creative options, and even cause a pièce de résistance to the self-styled freedom fighters goals. 

The agitators needed to defined explicitly stated goals – especially on complex issues of a new nation from the shadow of a spent one in an emerging markets, economy and continent – can provide focal points against which an otherwise fragmented opposition will organise. Anyone with political sensibilities will understand this phenomenon. In a like manner, a plan to secede quickly becomes a coalescing element for many disparate interests in the geopolitical zones that will constitute the new nations which as it is contained significant points of controversy. Thus, the protagonists need to progress by building consensus around one – or a few – important new goal(s) at a time. Presently, a single 360° sweep of the early warning system radar have revealed a number of ill-defined “blips” on the screen. Quite interesting!

II.

All the issues that had bogged the nation down in the mud in actual fact predated PMB. A long time had gone by since PMB/APC came to power; the APC, an amalgam of strange bedfellows and politicians of all sort and crop, whose names has become a symbol of terror, of murder and thievery. The last Saturday’s nationwide low turnout for the Local governments elections, call it the people’s apathy if you like was a signal to PMB on how much Nigerians have lost faith in the process, a fact he should not take lying low.

The people have became afraid of the politicians reputation, of the things people whisper, that they did. The corruption, the padding and stealing, the government’s precision and patent indecisiveness at tackling socioeconomic, ethical problems and it’s inability to halt the rampaging mauraders and devious team of kidnappers in and around the federation. To the people, whether they did them or didn’t do them is not important anymore. The fact remains that the people believe they did them. If you know what I mean.

There was something about the nation’s politicians, that, of course, includes PMB, that once attracted the people toward them. There was a tinge of adventure that seemed to cling to them. But there always was something that escaped one. A look in their eyes or on faces that would make you think sometimes they were laughing at you – at themselves – or that they were having a great time playing with you and with life, and you never could be sure of what they think – only what they wanted you to know.

This crops of politicians, pretty mixed bunch, they make bold motion, say bold things, but all was a front, part of the act. They are forever keeping you off balance, never giving you a chance to thrust back. They have so many different sides to them, you never know which side was the real one. ‘Smitten with (their) charms‘, as the poet say. They believe money can do everything. It can’t! You can’t buy pride and respect. The person commands them, not the price. That is where one thought, PMB is a wee bit different. They were different persons to each of us, including Sunday Igboho, himself a party hireling. Each of us saw them differently in the light of his or her own experience and knowledge. I wonder who is right? Perhaps none of us. I don’t know.

The legislature were supposedly expected to be equipped with the language, the contacts, the reach and the incentives to be cooperative with the executive in spite of party affiliations and differences and open with those who represent other functions and divisions, the MDA’s, thus further developing access, understanding, and exploring the possibilities and potentials of mutual influence, of which consensus decision-making is perhaps the most dired form.

In many cases, the symbolic value of a decision thus made may outweigh the actual value derived from a more creative or rapidly implemented decision per se. The greater intimacy provides access that encourages the development of understanding and creates harmony and synergy and the possibility of mutual influence. With these cones trust, and with trust, freedom, full use of individual ability and productivity in both social and economic life. But here, with the nation’s preeminent legislature’s lethargic and docile mien, one may ask, have the nation not lost the initiative and impetus for the things that could have led it to its greatness.

Explorers of old often viewed the lands they discovered as objects of conquest and exploitation, today, the Nigerian politicians, view Nigerians that way. They are like men who enjoy pay-as-you-go romantic relationships but do not want the responsibility of marriage. Without committing themselves, they charm the good people, with their tongue-twisting rhetorics. Playing on the peoples feelings, they give them affection through deception – an indefinable element that had blended so well it defied all attempts at analysis.

They go from party to party, prostituting in splinter groups, seeking greener pastures at the expense of the people. It is not fair to play with a people emotions like that. Where does such selfishness lead? Just like someone mad that is shooting fiery missiles and arrows, so is the man, politicians, misfits who redefine the word ‘dysfunctional’, and that has tricked his fellowman and has said: was I not having fun.

I saw faces in my mind’s eye, faces that are drawn, some with lipsticks, powder and foundation standing out on them like splashes of paint; suffering etched legibly on them. Time and circumstances had imprinted defeat upon those faces. Faces to whom poverty wasn’t exclusive. Loss of pride and spirit. The people all show it in their looks and in their different ways. Yet, the people just tightened up their belts. Young men and women aged before their time from stress of poor living conditions.

Even to those who are safe in a small way, with virginal looks of disappointment and horror imprinted deeply on their faces, it has become more evident than ever that steps would have to be taken to insure their livelihood. Their disbelief in the realities of pain and horror that had surrounded them would leave its mark on them-inside-deep inside. It is the job of the political class – to remove from inside them those hidden, invisible scars that has been engraved in their souls with as little emotion as a barber applying a hot towel.

Only you couldn’t see the scars if you don’t know where to look for it, while struggling to give all a sense of equality and a sufficient dose of every-tomorrow-had-hope-pill as you abort their destiny, allowing them to become twisted and bigoted, there is the need for politicians to explain their “fantastic” failures in the light of reason. This perhaps should have been the bohemian heroes masquerading as freedom fighters thrusts and angle of incidence and ‘attack’.

Things have got to change. In spite of the fact that they can still talk and the people would listen, even as they play politics the only way they knew – that was to win. To hell with rules of so-called sportsmanship and fair play! They were only for the dumb-bells who weren’t fast enough. They’ll defy the world. What the hell are standards. What do they care what people say or think.

Politics was supposed to open the world of opportunity. But for the nation, it actually hadn’t. Sometimes I think it’s a fake. The politicians would always have and pursue an agenda for selfish reasons and the people will eventually see their motives. It don’t make sense, neither does politics. They hate to lose.

Politicians would still pal around together, even when they couldn’t recapture the closeness that existed between them. It wasn’t because of less camaraderie between them, it was rather that they cut from the same die, predatory, selfish, spoiled – an odd contradictory mixture.

The politicians would have to begin to think realistically, or failed totally at seeking out the information and expertise they need in fashioning out good laws. For the present, they overestimate themselves and too wise in their own conceits, their decisions are often rushed, they’re often so reluctant to stop and find out what they really need to know. They need more of compassion, insight and wisdom.

The people can no longer venerate the politicians absurdities, to keep the country’s otherwise broken limbs and bruises at this time therefore demands extraordinary yeomanship. Since the politicians are been recognized for what they are, the people are ready to destroy them and any further political ambition, just as Hitler too was destroyed. The people are ready to stop them with bridges made of their bodies, of their determination, though, not in the #ENDSARS format.

When the man in the street decides you’re no good for him, he’ll stop you. No matter what you do to prevent him from doing it, he will find a way. You can’t be strong enough or smart enough to beat the man on the streets – homeless, hungry, lonely, forlorn, and poor and miserable, majority of them were unemployed, the few of them who were employed were living on some job that barely gave them an existence, and with backlogs of months of unpaid salaries and one which the fear of losing hung continually over their heads like a sword on a thread.

At the reality of the appearance of a complex situation that goes far beyond sidestepping and crossovers, the people have sought to bring to the world the grim facts of the problems of poverty, lack and the fear of insecurity for which they could no longer disguise, albeit, not properly and intelligently marshalled. The fear of the maladjustment in the polity and the sour image of the country globally has received a serious setback, and, has thus become a testing ground for assessing the sacrosanctity of unity, peace and progress that has left the world watching secretly and openly Nigeria’s continued deteriorating record as a model of sanity and stability.

The government should note that the peoples are at their tethers end and their abilities to handle delays, disappointments, detours and the serial political drama in and around the nation are deteriorating and are beginning to respond with anger, an endorsement of their politicians attitudes.

Apparently, they are showing in a way, that they may not control what’s going on in the nation, but, they can control what is within them individually and collectively, and a knack to “be in the moment”, rather than obsessing over what should happen. One would have thought that the polls should have been the best avenue to edge out the unwanted debris, but the process was muddled by godfathers selection of candidates and the eventual awarding of figures. That is the picture you see today of a people saddled with a leadership that keeps rationalising and justifying their attitudes to governance, and not growing in tune with the feeling, pace and expectations of the people.

The politicians must show great prescience and the people may be decisive with their worries and fears that has refused to become realities, both must not be clouded by emotionalism and a grotesque distortion of the truth. The truth-naked, raw, honest, uncompromising. The truth – the misery of man’s soul, his sensitivity and his fellow man’s feeling. The truth – a torch – a bright, shining torch on a foggy night in a world becloud with prejudice and stupidity.

For the ‘myth-informed’ politicians setting up unrealistic expectations, impossible dreams and magic thinking are disillusioned and they are walking away the moment their fantasy clashes with reality. The romance from PDP with APC vacates the centre stage as reality takes over. The party, PDP or APC didn’t fail and they didn’t get a bad party. They are the owner of the box, not its victim. They are conditioned for instant gratification. They hop on and off political party trains to get better offer at the next station, and if they don’t like the rules they take their ball to another playground. Some who have made a fortune as party thugs find new vocation in liberation struggle. Never mind who they all are. They’re in a ‘disposable’ Society; whatever they couldn’t get they look for somewhere else. No ideals, no principle!

Tragically, they transfer this mentality to the people. Each generation becomes less likely to be tolerant, selfless, altruistic, patient, hardworking, flexible and creative, and more likely to trade-in what they’re unwilling to work on. The myth of the merry-go-round tells us we don’t have to grapple with national and political issues. Just replace it!

But in fact, with few exception, the politicians have a better chance of finding solutions and happiness in a party with all its challenges than if they move on to another one. It is in working and growing through the obstacles and opportunities of the party, that you end up building a happier party and sustainably steadied democracy, and deepening one of its key institutions.

Quite relevant and imperative in this light, the politicians and the people must begin to exhibit that critical sense of self-examination as they discover the several missed opportunities in the protracted process and journey of nation-building: i)the unprecedented global financial crisis, ii) fiscal federalism, iii) organic restructuring of the polity, iv) the predominance of the elegance of the rule of law, v)an unfettered press, vi) an incorruptible judiciary, vii) respect for law and fundamental values – which can put an end to the rule of impunity, and of course, viii) free access to economic power to a greater number of Nigerians.

Meanwhile, the people had lost hope and tired of all the whispering lies of politicians. But the strangeness of PMB and closeness with the ‘made-in-Nigeria Amala  politics’ grew as bit by bit the connexion gelled, and is beginning to chipped the raw, sore edges from the nature of the nation’s politics. Little by little, the slightly defensive air PMB carried within him like a mental chip on his shoulder would soon disappear, and soon would leave nothing but a forward-looking aggressiveness, which in turn, better concealed, he would use the pedestals provided by social law and ethics to bend others to his way of thinking. But when!

Even as the nation’s politics and democratic experiences continues the tedious process of growing up, PMB, whistle in the dark would not do, necessity has laid it upon him, and he must go out to the court determined to show to the good, not playing to the gallery or grandstanding to the point of taking the play away from the rest of his team.
Let the clucks grumble! ‘No hay de qué – practicing my Spanish.

PMB, must overcome the beginnings of the ‘enemy’s’ prejudices. He should not base his worth on the opinions of those who try to pull him down. To succeed in life one must be able to work alongside people without allowing yourself to be controlled by their moods or governed by their opinions. But first he must reflect on the use of the federal character logic and the secular and economic ills, the pervasive lack and poverty all around.

The road to success runs uphill; PMB must not expect to break any speed records there aren’t any. In spite of your emotional upheaval, disappointment in those you trusted, and the futility of your efforts, you are up to your neck in problems and the opponents and ‘enemy’, the “let us cross to the other side” brigade and those looking for things to justify their fantasies and daydreams is rising.

No matter how threatening, each of us is a product of our DNA, environment and it-takes-one-to-make-one principle. Be strong and be careful of who and what influences you. Like Abraham Lincoln, “Bear in mind your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing’!

To the heroes of the grand defections, the bohemian heroes, it was an abuse and act of disloyalty. Not that one thinks they are wrong – they’re absolutely right in the realm of liberty and freedom of choice and of association, but principle. I agree with them in every material respect, insofar as it concerns equity, equality, fair play and social justice. In any event, one refuse to believe that any politician is intentionally bad – the insincerity of incorrigible politicians, their conduct and deportment festered so well because the people made them that way. The same thing they are doing to the bohemian heroes, but the so-called heroes would soon be left on their own when push comes to shove. Mark it!

I could feel the politicians, including those that had been brought up in politics primping up a little, straightening up in their seats, a certain competitive look coming into their faces. The race for relevance in 2023 was on and so the cheapness and shoddiness of characters and their furtive, secretly filthy manner, seeing the world from a porthole.
Good leaders have intuition. They “see it” when others don’t. The nation’s leaders don’t!

There’s nothing like petty thievery, and padding and rubber stamping to give a good house a bad name, complicated, when you expect politicians to be the essence of direct simplicity and tact combined with trigger-quick intelligence. Who, barring stealing from government coffer, knew what they wanted and wait for it. Who will tell you what they thought, what they wanted to, no matter what happened. A mystery to the people.

A feeling of being alone came over me, as I’m sure, it does for millions of our compatriots – a feeling of being lost, abandoned without hope. Politicians were a people expected, instinctively perhaps, to know the circumstances and conditions the people were in, and with the extreme gentleness of the really simple and without trying to make them uncomfortable, offered help. This confirmed my ideas. Everything had an angle. All you had to do was look for it.

In the meantime, tempers were being frayed, the latent savagery in people was being stirred. The whole mess was being stirred, as if by some master hand that stopped every minutes, to add a little bit of seasoning, hatred, suspicion, calumny, sarcasm, insinuation.

Strife is defined as ‘conflict… struggle… rivalry. It is custom-designed to wreck havoc and score political points. Differences of opinion are healthy. Handled right, they can make things better. But it’s also important to draw a line. However, the people must not allow their angst, angers at the happenings in and around the nation escalate to the point of doing damage while using words as a weapon or a control mechanism.

It’s okay to express emotions in a healthy way, but keep them in check. The goal must be to resolve the problem and strengthen relationships, not ‘sound off’. Learn to differentiate between the anger felt and words spoken. Anger carefully thought through, can reveal important information about needed changes.

Of course, such times as the nation was raised questions which are difficult, if not impossible to answer, but examined they must, the circumstances again and again, speculate about the details, search for clues that might make some sense, wonder what could or should have been done differently that might have prevented the whirlwind of defections, agitations, clamours, streets protestations, kidnappings, banditry, and mindless killings. Let’s think like Karl Marx who opined that to conquer a nation, you just have to block, the transfer of values, morals and beliefs.

To live in the world as men, among men and with men, the world is going to give you what you put into it. The next few months to 2023 general elections with a smooth melting routine that let them slip through our being seems far away, Nigerians are crying with their hearts! I wish for something that could turn the corners of PMB’s mouth up a little. You know what I mean!

I could hear the word hope ringing in my ears. It-had-never-to-be-forgotten world of meaning. Hope – that was the word. Where would we be without it? But knock down, the nation must, that wall around politicians and build one of its own – with bricks made of love, not suspicion.

#JimiBickersteth
Jimi Bickersteth is a writer and super blogger.
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