The Political Revolution Ever

 

It Began with Corruption

The political revolution Nigeria has ever witnessed since its Independence in 1960 has been happening since February 2022 till date and there is no going back. Before now, it has been business as usual and corruption grew from Day Care to Post Graduate level until it was finally given a PhD robe and crown. Most Nigerian politicians saw Nigeria as their farmland, private business enterprise and their personal ATM and POS machines. So there, they mine treasures and mineral resources as they like, recruit who they want and sack who goes against them and embezzle funds as they want without thinking of the damages and consequences of their actions. No accountability of any sort! Why will they care? Why will they account for anything? Do they even have conscience? Who will they give account to when if one thief leaves another thief will take over and the circle continues?

They intentionally created a system that will protect them - a system that promotes criminals and imprison the innocent people who they consider a threat to them. They are the official criminals that recruited men and woman out of the masses they have impoverished to cause chaos and spread terror in all the zones in Nigeria. A lot of monsters they created have kidnapped and killed a lot of people to please their official criminal masters or at times to force their masters to look their way for their pay after completing a particular deal. Burning of churches and places of interest, kidnapping, robbery, mysterious eating of money by animals, rapping of women in their farmlands and destruction of farmlands by cows became the order of the day.

Life Became Unbearable

The innocent people were the worst hit in this tragic drama and political nightmare. Standard of leaving kept going down and all hope seem to have been lost. Some who can no longer meet up with life’s challenges joined the bandwagon through praise singing – they started praising the criminals to sustain themselves, hence, the list of criminals continued to increase. Those who could not join the ‘moving train’ continued to work like an elephant and eat like an ant then go on their knees to disturb God for their daily needs that He has already provided. When the available churches could no longer contain those who come in to cry unto God for deliverance from their enemies and those who oppress them, more churches were built and founded; both good and bad; for people to pray more so that God will deliver his children from slavery and poverty, and for those who hijacked our God-given resources to distribute it evenly.

Aside crying to God for help, Nigerians resorted to creating jokes out of every frustrating and depressing situation just to get on by. Comedians started increasing day by day and using their God-given talents to put smiles on the faces of people. Through them, most Nigerians learnt to overcome their sadness and sorrow with jokes and laughter.

Agitations Started

Some could no longer tolerate the nonsense going on in the county as a result of bad governance but many did not have the courage to speak out. However, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu took the bull by the horn and started attacking the corrupt politicians one by one in his own way. When he started many saw him as a ranting animal and did not side with him but as time goes on, as he began to open the eyes of many and as many saw in reality what he was ranting about, they started believing him. He became a threat to the evil politicians and they started searching for him until they caught and imprisoned him for no legal charges. Meanwhile, most of his family members and IPOB members have lost their lives in that struggle.

Youths were not left out in this, in fact, they were the most marginalized. They started losing hope in education and in Nigeria, since there are no jobs waiting for them after graduation. Not only did Nigerian leaders fail when it comes to job creation but they also failed to create an enabling environment for many industrious youths to create jobs on their own. They couldn’t keep quiet any longer when they were tagged ‘lazy youths’ and when government started encroaching in their private lives through security operatives, and then ENDSARS started. Youths started agitating peacefully for their rights and yet again, the shameless politicians dared to touch the lion’s tale by killing some innocent youths whose crime was to demand for a better Nigeria.

God’s Answer Came

It is clear from the political events of February 2022 till date that God has actually answered our prayers the same way He answered the prayers of Israelites while they were in Egypt, and that answered prayer was the beginning of the political revolution. An Eagle rose from the land of the rising sun and decided to be the answer to the many years of prayer. He refused to be intimidated by the ruling gods but became the reason why Labour Party, a party without a surname and structure became a popular party in Nigeria today, and is even shaking the ruling parties.

Power of Credibility and Competence

Like most politicians whose campaigns are characterized by intimidation, stealing, kidnapping and lies of what they will do and will not do when they assume office, Peter Obi started his campaign by telling the masses what he did as a governor which every true Nigerian has testified to. He has since changed the political orientation of people through his speeches on the state of the economy and solutions to Nigeria’s problems. He has been consulting great minds and politicians of developed countries to learn their secret, yet his opponents are busy using microscope to dig up irrelevant faults from him while criminality spews out of their mouths and prints on their footsteps.

While his opponents were sharing money because that’s what they’ve got, Peter Obi was busy enlightening many Nigerians and appealing to the hearts of many. Hence many Nigerians have come to realize that they have been selling their conscience for a peanut that can only feed them a short while and throw them into a more severe poverty. Since Peter Obi emerged as a presidential candidate, many crashed hopes have been revived and many people have believed again in a better Nigeria. Before now, many people believe that politics is for the corrupt; to them, vote doesn’t count, they have already chosen the candidate to be in power and casting of vote is for formality. Therefore, so many people don’t bother to get their voter’s card and those who have will rather stay at home on the Election Day and wash dirty clothes and clean their houses. Today, many people have decided to give voting a chance because of Peter Obi.  Because of Peter Obi’s enlightenment, many people no longer believe in party politics, rather, they have come to believe that every credible or competent candidate should be voted for irrespective of the party they belong.

Still Doubting?

Though there are still people out there who still doubt, who can’t still read the handwriting on the wall, still believing that it will still be business as usual, like the doubting Thomas, they will believe when they see, so we don’t have to crucify them, as they are still afraid of what the political bullies can do. Meanwhile, the political bullies who are threatened by Peter Obi’s emergence and credibility have been busy strategizing on how to rig the election to their favour, so they can finally sell off Nigeria. They should know that it is no longer business as usual and prepare for karma and nemesis. Some of them will run to exile, some will be confined on a hospital bed battling with many deadly diseases while some will go six feet underground. Our only prayer for them should be that whether they are on exile or on a hospital bed about to die, may they endeavor to make peace with their maker before death knocks.

Knock! Knock! Who’s there?

A new Nigeria is about to be born and no one can stop it. The political bullies may empower their tugs to spread terror and scare people from coming out to vote. This is not the time to be afraid because the only weapon against them is our votes. We should rather prepare for self defense and be at alert while we go to our respective polling units to cast our votes. Nigeria of our dreams is knocking at our very doorsteps and we should do our best to give it a chance. Idealolive says: Election is around the corner, Vote Peter Obi of Labour Party as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria! So go collect your PVC now!

 Written by Olive Chinyere Amajuoyi

Politics and Morality

POLITICS AND MORALITY

Nigeria is a country blessed with abundant human and material resources, which has given it a competitive advantage over other African countries.  Despite its fortune, Nigerians have never enjoyed the wealth of its land because of the continuous circle of unrefined leaders that has held its economy in hostage for many years now. There is a missing link in Nigerian politics and governance which our leaders are taken for granted and until it is acknowledged and practiced in Nigerian politics, Nigeria will remain underdeveloped.

The statement “There is no morality in politics or governance” has become the philosophy guiding the Nigerian politicians. The above statement was made by the former governor of Rivers State; Rotimi Amaechi and was reported by Daily Post on November 4, 2014. Former Governor of Niger State; Muazu Babangida Aliyu made the same statement and it was reported by Naira Land on January 7, 2015. As if that was not enough, Malam Garba Shehu in a recent interview with channels T.V. on August 15, 2017 said again that there is no morality in politics. This singular statement has described the political atmosphere in Nigeria. No wonder people always say that politics is a dirty game. The zoo is let loose and wild animals have responded to freedom. Immorality has become the norm or culture of politics. We are defined by what we say, for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. One of the things that distinguish human beings from animals is that humans are moral beings while animals are not. Animals have no shame; they eat anywhere, excrete anywhere at any time, they behave anyhow, etc. Come to think of it, some trained domestic animals even follow certain rules of conduct. If there is no morality in politics, it means that the political institution is an animal kingdom. Nigerians are tired of cannibalistic governance. There is need to sweep out the animals and sanitize the political environment so that the nation can breathe some fresh air.

Politics can be defined as the activities associated with the governance of a country or area. It has to do with distribution of power and resources, and management of resources. On the other hand, morality can be defined as conformance to a recognized code, doctrine or system of rules of what is right or wrong, and to behave accordingly. Judging by the above definitions, it is obvious that morality and politics are inseparable because a leader ought to lead by example and not make rules against bribery, killing, etc., only to be exempted from such rules. Immorality, the opposite of morality can be described as the quality of not being in accord with standards of right or good conduct. Acts like stealing, cheating, killing of fellow human beings, etc. are considered immoral. This is to say that majority of our leaders who believe that there is no morality in politics are actually liars, cheaters, killers, thieves, etc. To think that they even say it boldly on air should give us the clue that they not only believe what they say but want to impose the idea on their subjects and convert every one of us to animals.

The basis for Nigerian politics and governance is greed and selfishness and that is why only greedy and selfish people clamor for it. Peradventure Nigeria is one day favored to have a strong willed intellectual or refined leader as a president, who will bring morality to Nigerian politics at all costs, I bet you, majority of our today’s leaders will back out of politics because their motivating factors: cheating, stealing, killing, bribery, etc. must have been removed.

In his statement as reported by Daily Post of November 4, 2014, Former Governor Rotimi Amaechi also advised those seeking to find goodness or morality in politics and governance to look the way of churches instead. Moreover, in addition to his statement as reported by Naira Land on January 7, 2015, former Niger State Governor, Muazu Babangida Aliyu said that politics is all about lying and cannot be the way it used to be. He said that anybody who is talking about honesty or morals should become an Imam or Pastor, and that anybody who cannot lie has no place in politics. It is obvious that our present leaders and politicians cannot bring positive change because they don’t even belief that anything good can happen or come out of the political institution. They have concluded that political institution is an immoral place because they are mentally poor and cannot fight immorality, which has become a political canker worm. It is that serious. Immorality is an infectious virus and it is spreading fast. I plead with our today’s leaders to please back off before every Nigeria contacts the virus.

An Italian political thinker of the fifteenth century, Nicolo Machiavelli advised leaders to ignore morality if they want to be successful politicians. He said that the most important thing in politics is to grab power by all means; fair or foul, and retain it by all means. There is no doubt that Nigerian leaders derived their political ideology from that of Nicolo Machiavelli. Must we copy what is wrong? It is obvious that politics without morality is not working for us, so why can’t our leaders try it the other way round. All developed countries have political institution that developed them. If there is no morality in the politics and governance of America and other developed and progressing countries, then, Nigerian leaders should please adopt their own version of immorality that brought them growth and development.

Nigeria is tired of greedy and selfish leaders who don’t even believe that political or governance activities can be done without cheating, bribery, killing, etc. If our present leaders and political godfathers cannot address their immoral lifestyle, if they cannot discipline themselves for the growth and development of their own father’s land, if it seems difficult for them, then let them all step aside for the disciplined intellectuals to take over. If they are so overpowered by immorality and are helpless, we can understand, but they should please let others come in and change things.

I do not blame a group of people that has described Nigeria as a zoo. Their only mistake is that they generalized it. From my own point of view, based on the belief and comments of our political leaders and opinions of some intellectuals and professionals that has been interviewed at one time or the other, Nigeria is not a zoo but its political institution is. There are still men and women of integrity who can take this country to an enviable height. But they shy away from politics to save their heads from hungry, wild animals. The agitations from different groups are enough indication that everything is wrong with our political institution. The citizens are only yearning for a habitable Nigeria. Their yearnings should not be called hate speeches or be neglected and swept under the carpet. Enough is enough!

Written by Olive Chinyere Amajuoyi