PMB Sir, I am going straight to the point because there is no time to waste. When you shed tears for Nigeria in 2011 I know it was because the country had retrogressed beyond your wildest imagination. Then, we topped the list of scamming countries, we had the highest murder rate per capita and highest debt-to-GDP. Even today, Naira ranks among the fastest-depreciating currencies in the world, and we are ranked on a world barometer study at having the greatest disparity between the haves and the have-nots.
Earlier in the week, I was at the Wole Soyinka Media for oil Reform lecture at the Sheraton Hotels Abuja, where Governor Nasiru El Rufai declared that our rich men enjoy the lifestyles of the wealthiest in the world while our poor are the wretched of the earth. I shuddered with disgust for such proclamation of disequilibrium. And I tried to find explanations for it.
My finger landed on the absence of the rule of law, including, private and public indiscipline, juvenile delinquency, adult deviance, primitive accumulation and crime without punishment. You may have heard PMB sir, that out of more than 300 cases that EFCC prosecuted in the last couple of years only about ten were indeed sanctioned. Even those got away with a slap on the wrist. People who stole billions from Nigeria were let off the hook with a penny-pinching fine.
PMB sir, let me hasten to add here that no country progresses when its citizenry is mired in the sweet scent of monumental economic sleaze, lawlessness and impunity. I believe that the Nigerian people elected you because of their belief that you can deal with economic crimes without fear or favor. So when you hear that your administration is slow, it is not because you have not appointed ministers. Those who are agitating for ministers are doing so because they bleed those positions. Most others don’t care. At least there are Permanent secretaries who are running ministries satisfactorily. People say you are slow because nobody is yet seeking reprieve from behind the hideous squalor of Nigerian prisons.
PMB sir, you will be visiting the United States on Sunday and I wish you a very safe trip there and back. However, while there, mute out on that controversial subject of same-sex marriage. Tell Obama to expect an answer from our senate and just leave the matter there. Say no more. But before meeting President Obama, I implore you to keep your face glued to your window shield as you drive around Washington. You will not see automobiles behaving as if the universe had stopped revolving, although it is the seat of the only remaining super power known to man. You will see order and civilization, in Washington, which, in real terms, is only half as beautiful as Abuja.
You may also see thousands of people strolling out of the earth. Do not mistake them for worms. No, they are passengers of the subway, the underground train. These are conveniences that we lack in Nigeria and many are saying that only you can make this country right. So learn from what you see, not what you hear, because it is the sentiment that galvanizes western leaders to action.
Things are different in Nigeria. Here, the more you look the less you see. The political landscape is pregnant with blunders and barren of ideas as to how to steer us in the right direction. Our country has been hovering on the brink of economic ruin, avoidable murders, corruption, lawlessness, and an inept NNPC that Nasiru el Rufai said if we don’t kill, will kill us. Our politicians have shown themselves to be so selfish that they can even surrender the reins of power to the opposition if treachery will advance their ambitions.
But it is not just the fault of the politicians. We must take some blame for what has happened. Our vigilance is comatose. By our own docility, being afraid to speak up, and baked in the furnace of polarized politics, we have become steeped in the pool of corruption. Having accepted political handouts as an entitlement, we have resigned ourselves to mediocre representation. We pass all the ills of the country on to politicians, yet many of us are beneficiaries of their practices and will not raise a finger or voice to expose them. We are stewing in our own juice.
As a catalyst for improvement and redemption, we need to put to sleep our in-born political divisiveness and give birth to a dawn of unity in the best interest of Nigeria.
Let’s examine where we, as a people, register on the guilt barometer. They say everything is on slow march, which seems to be your capital crime. But Rome was not built in a day. My guess is that those who make this argument are mischievous sir. In 1984 you were kicked out without resistance because you were slow at outlining your transition to civil rule program. But those who kicked you out never left in a hurry either, until eight years later, when they ran up hill with their tails between their legs. So keep it slow if it will bring light at the end of the tunnel.
I wonder, looking back, how positive things about this country always coincide with your tenure. I still recall with nostalgia the days of Nduka Ugbade in 1984 when the Golden Eaglets lifted its first ever global soccer laurel. Then you were Nigeria’s military Head of State. You looked magnificent in your military regalia at 42 and your head gear of choice, the beret sat splendidly on your head. But it is not your sartorial appearance that people relish. It is the stuff you are made of. You have the self-esteem to understand that money does not define people. Their characters do. So you did not steal and I believe even today, you will not steal.
And that is why after decades of mismanagement and squander-mania, even those who went to jail for operating private businesses at work as civil servants have forgiven you. Nduka Irabor and Tunde Thompson the two journalists you jailed under your obnoxious decree 4 also have. PMB sir, you are on the roll so far. But when people trust you with their lives, and you accept such responsibility, you are no longer exempt from criticism and accountability.
Finally PMB sir, I just want to wish you a happy eid-el-fitr which concludes the Ramadhan fast as usual. And a safe trip to the US and back.
