It is unfortunate that the political situation in Nigeria today is certainly not a good one because there is no section of the country that something positive can be said about. While some people have argued that the current situation is a direct consequence of the colonial foundation already laid with the 1914 amalgamation others retort that irrespective of the colonial foundations, if we had good leaders from independence, then 50years after independence we should have stopped crying foul about the actions of the colonial interlopers. Generally, scholars have variously expoused that our usual scape goats: colonialism, the military, the civil war, our diversity and the ‘oil-course’, corruption etc has continued to remain our problems confronting us in NIGERIA. It is pertinent to say here however, that other countries have gone through similar or worse experiences and have gone on to make success out of their situations. In Nigeria, things are not just bad, they are indeed getting worse, that is why the nation is now referred to as WAYWARD(Chinua Achebe), PRODIGAL(Solana Olumensa) or even VAGABOND(Elebaku).
The condition that led to the Nigerian civil war are still here with us, 43years later. Indeed, they are getting worse- domination, domineering tendencies, iniquity, inequity and the lady of justice whose eyes are wide open and uses the sword most unfairly and arbitrarily. Indeed, OUR HOUSE HAS FALLEN! The state cannot guarantee you a job, a decent pay or even a regular pay. The pension cannot buy you one newspaper and then it is always in arrears. The state would rather give a contract to a foreigner before a Nigerian. The state cannot pay your education,housing and health. It would rather throw you into streets and sell your abode to the highest bidder in the name of privatization. The government will not take any deliberate steps to protect or advance your welfare and you are a certified stranger in every part of the country.
Security men assume you are guilty until proven innocent; treat bonafide Nigerians like aliens and bus drivers are reward with accidental discharge for failing to settle with #20. This is a country where if you provoke the president, he can call you a bastard on National TV! You cannot even freely assemble to tell the government that you detest what it is doing or suggest alternative courses of action! Yet, most of these things are guaranteed in our constitution!, we buy petrol that is produced in Nigeria at international prices because that is the proper thing to do!
The rulers disregard the law and constitution, which they swore to defend and promote; they loot treasury with impunity and perpetrate all sorts of injustice against individuals, groups, states and regions. The centre has appropriated all the powers and resources belonging to a federating nation; turning the states into beggarly, unviable entities to be favored or purnished as it pleases the powers to be; while the states in turn suppress the local governments. Political parties have been turned into private properties of the powerful who now play gods, anointing their stooges to choice positions. The electoral process has been profaned and the executive has rendered the legislature impotent; the judiciary has been compromised, especially at the lower levels; the poor are visited with full weight of the law for every minor misdemeanors but the high and mighty break, bend or ignore the laws with impudence.
The fundamental responsibility of the state to protect and promote the security and welfare of the citizens has been conveniently forgotten in a country where the law of force has taken over from the force of law. Those who feel marginalized, oppressed and suffocated by unjust structures, laws, policies, practices and processes do not have transparent and objective means of obtaining justice.
Our leaders not only cheat whoever is not of their own,
they deliberately keep people and sections of the country down; practice divide and rule and set brothers after brothers. And they loot as if money is now going out of fashion! Looting is now in billions and will soon get to the trillions! The figure no longer frightens us and there is no sense of shame. Well, this is my 'sincere anger on the political situation in Nigeria'. To this end, a way forward is imperative. Hence, I ask the reader, WHAT IS THE WAY FORWARD???