Garland for Kemi Badenoch

For the immeasurable gold in silence, quiet lips would have been more advantageous on the matter involving the British leader of the opposition and the Head of the conservative party Mrs. Kemi Badenoch and the people and government of Nigeria. Kemi whose ancestral extraction are firmly established on the Nigerian soil is not novel to controversy because of her directness and deliberate indifference to the negative consequences of her arguments. This is at variance with the disposition of the British who are noted for humility and diplomacy in their communal and societal interactions.

Furthermore, it seems some of her observations on Nigeria are a bit exaggerated and barren of clear awareness of the country’s situation. In many instances, Kemi used isolated cases and individual experiences as the architype of the nature of the Nigerian nation and people.

Moreover, she is unfair to position Nigeria on the template of Britain because whether she likes it or not the Nigerian character is entirely at variance with that of the British with each environment living within its own civilization and norms. Mrs. Badenoch should also realize that as the leader of one of the leading countries in the world, she ought to have a universal view that is based on multiculturalism knowing that the one hundred and ninety-five countries littering the surface of the earth have distinct cultures and value systems.

Also, it should be clear to Nigerians, particularly our leaders and the vocal group from the continuous bashing of this country by Kemi Badenoch that the Tory leader must have had an unpleasant childhood and cold adolescence life when growing up in Nigeria and her bitterness and anger must have stemmed from the fact that this country has no justification for not being better than what it is now. Afterall, a man’s perception is his own reality. Therefore, she should not be pestered for relating and reconstructing the hostility of her childhood experiences which may sometimes be isolated to her family and not necessarily universal to Nigeria.

Furthermore, Kemi Badenoch must have been disappointed by our disgusting tendencies to shy away from positive actions that are essential for nation building. Who, if I may ask, will not be angry that sixty- four years after independence, some people still see nation building from a parochial spectacle and not as a single system that must work wholistically for the betterment of her people. Some Nigerians in this modern age and time still look at the compass and ensure that its needle points to the direction of their homes before supporting lofty government projects. In some cases, these leaders whip up sentiments and engender hatred for the project of the government through their appeal to the weak minds of some members of the public.

It may be the attitude and mien of some of our leaders in this modern age and time to nation building that stressed the patience of Kemi Badenoch to the extent that she expects more dependable finesse and tact from the leadership of the “Giant of the black race”. She was probably irked by the arrogance of some Governors and Senators who rather than be a source of hope to the already discouraged masses of our people still talk and act as if our situation is hopeless. She must have Imagined the disgraceful reaction of some people to the tax reform of the present administration whereby some leaders who are to support, assist and cross the “ t” and “i” of the documents are rejecting it because they perceive that it doesn’t favor their section of the country. Even, those of us who are core Nigerians shudder at the naivety of these leaders because we expect them to focus on what favors all Nigerians and not a section of it.

Why won’t Kemi Badenoch and those who are disgruntled with Nigeria continue to distance themselves from a state where an issue as simple as tax reform is wearing the garb of parochialism when indeed discussion on it should have been about the benefit to all and sundry?. Is there no decent level below which politics should not be played? Recently, the movement of some offices of the Central Bank of Nigeria to Lagos became such a disgusting issue precipitated national discuss by the utterances of a whole senator who is expected to know better than a street urchin

Can you blame Kemi for pouring venom on a nation that was honored and respected by the world at her independence in 1960 but shows clearly to the world sixty years after that it is a nation of yahoo boys, drug pushers and swindlers? Except those of us who are citizens, who will not distance himself from a country marked with a “broach of shame” on its chest by its peers as a citadel of retrogression because of the conduct of many of its citizens on the international arena to the extent that decent citizens of the country are perceived by the international community as members of the dishonorable cohort. Let us forget about sprinkles of Nigerians doing great in some locations in the world. The truth is that this country is known more as a conglomeration of charlatans, tricksters and impostors than for other good and superlative adjectives.

Why do we want to nail Kemi Badenoch to the cross when those who should be in the lower rug of the national ladder by virtue of their chronic lack of knowledge occupy the important spaces that are reserved for nation builders? I recall that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in one of his campaign speeches alluded to this when he said, “Our reward system is poor”.

Must the Tory leader shy away from the fact that a country that contains the largest collection of black men in the world is a great disappointment to its race. We should not forget that every third black man in the world is a Nigerian. Probably, Mrs. Badenoch’s anger is that her country of birth is a disappointment to the black race and that this country is slaughtering the hopes and aspiration of the black race on a cheap and weak building block.

A woman who says she is proudly Yoruba, but disregarded Nigeria as an entity may not be “silly” Afterall because she certainly knows her onions. She is certainly not a fool in her attempt to “separating Paul from Barnabas”.

Why won’t anyone be disappointed with a nation where terrorists truncated the smooth life of young secondary school students by kidnapping them in broad daylight and a religious organization was busy counting the number of Christians amongst the incarcerated girls.

Why if one may ask would a Nigerian of international repute not cover her face in shame when an individual in a country is alleged to have built 753 duplexes from money taking from the purse of taxpayers.?

Badenoch and the coming generation unborn would ask questions on how a nation of over two hundred million, about seventy percent of which is below the age of 45 years cannot produce ordinary toothpick and instead allow youths to roam the street as Almajiri, Area boys and hoodlums instead of productively engaging them in the factories and the paddy field. In this regard, I hope President Tinubu has not forgotten his promise that “If a man can operate AK 47 rifle, he should be able to operate a tractor. These are words on marble.

The Nigerians still in the fetus form and those quietly stored as ova are going to demand for accountability and seek to know why we prefer to embark on a system of government that is wasteful than allow those leading us to reform and fine tune the governance structure to accommodate benefits for all and sundry.

Instead of being sheepishly dogmatic and unnecessarily self -opinionated, we should call on Mrs. Badenoch to bend her head for a garland because she is able to prick our memory to systemic failures in our nation building.

•Rasheed Ojikutu is a Retired Professor, University of Lagos.