Nigeria’s weakest government

Since this APC central government came into power when it did – and that was in 2015 in which many citizens thought they saw an ideal picture of Nigeria in their patriotic horizon – nothing but one disappointment after another has been their experience – and sadly so.

After the long regime of Dr. Jonathan of the PDP, they thought they would begin to live and be happy again. I belonged and still belong to the patriotic collective of the anti-Jonathan time who and who have been biting our lips and gnashing our teeth. Don’t ask me why. But one thought we carried in our protesting hearts against Dr. Jonathan was that he had stayed too long in power in his cubicle in Aso Rock. We said he was too long in power because of his style which we thought was not what it should or ought to be. Now we Niger Delta denizens, in particular, know in hindsight what we should have done then even if the zoologist would not allow us to tame the tigers and crocodiles that needed to be tamed.

But you should know and understand that our ideal picture and the ideal government, either of which we thought would be enough to make us happy, we found (and still find) to be a mirage. Our joy recedes more and more. What country are we living in? What government is serving us? Or what government are we serving? As we are asking these questions we must not forget to show appreciation to Dr. Jonathan for quitting his bunker in Aso Rock at the time he did. We must eternally be grateful to him for displaying the frame of mind he displayed in his momentous final hours, minutes, and seconds in the turbulent seat of power.

The political actor’s predilection and private mind as president of Nigeria which he revealed manifested something un-common in our national life. We would not have known what we now know about the current central government which as of now cannot but remain in our memories as the weakest regime, the weakest government, we have known and had since we became independent Nigeria. Dr. Jonathan’s blossoming himself out of power has brought this realization to us, we dare say again.

There may be some persons who may disagree with me, who are capable of disagreeing with me, but I will enjoin them to take a mental image of then and now. Thereafter they should tell us or translate to us what pops up. I have no doubt that they will tell us that my life and yours and theirs then were all rapture and felicity.

Now we must tax our memories – and add or take away whatever we can from them.

Speaking for myself, I must say urgently that I have seen different regimes, different governments, that destiny has allowed me to witness sensibly and beautifully since the nineteen sixties. Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Belewa, the golden voice of Africa, and his ebullient Finance Minister, Chief Festus Samuel Okotie-Eboh and Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola, Premier of Western Nigeria and Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, Premier of Northern Nigeria were ingloriously killed, murdered, by accursed soldiers on account of the false premise of their reading and mistranslation of the governing book of that first government of our first republic. A passage back into that time and era leads to a garden or an orchard of a gardener and a beautiful shepherd whose missteps were over-blown and exacerbated as he tended our garden and orchard and fed his flock buoyantly. It was also the very fabulous time of that great politician of staggering gifts and accomplishments, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the one and only Awo, who even the wind moaned and mourned when the hands of the judge who jailed him were tied. Whatever the issues the civilian regime then grappled with, it is the most flourishing civilian dispensation and government this country has been fortunate to have my destiny.

I must pause for a moment and hop-step-and-jump to the current central government that is so weak that it wrongly assumes that brutal force is the balm to correct all queries – as it recently demonstrated when the END SARS protesters rightly took Nigeria by positive storm.

Youths who recently refused to put their hope or hang it on this government or anyone in it any longer infiltrated everywhere as they were determined to change forever the rotten circumstances of their fragile times unleashed on them and all and sundry by this government of dangerous politicians worse than any government, any civilian government, or than any military regime that had ever corresponded with our difficulties and any vague enthusiasm in times past. No amount of bullets from any quarters changes or cows the new experience of our youths. What I understood (and still understand) the EndSARS activists and would-be activists to have said or would say is akin to this concern and motto: “We have only this life to live.” But this Nigerian central government is too, too weak to understand fully what is at stake and which it should intelligently respond to essentially as a hearing and listening government of the right actions and hues, not promises, twisted or untwisted. It is not too late for this APC central government to seize positively our focus and attention and drive us to believe that it is ready to amend its wrong and rough actions. When will this government of weak minds open our universities, for example, to help placate the youths, their teachers, and all genuine stakeholders in our country’s tertiary education? Is it not time for it to show us its good and nice sides to prove to us that it is not the weakest government in our modern history, at least?

This government’s torture of us through harsh economic and political policies and all what-not is nothing but an example of perverse power perversely used. It is one sign or example of the weakness of the weakest government of Nigeria has been unfortunate to tolerate. But for how long shall this weakest government is known to us blossom? How long shall our country your country our country be haunted by this abnormal weakness and its desires? If I am compelled to provide answers to these simple questions, this is my reply: Not for long. After a point we shall sing and dance to the tune: “We have only this country to save” (My composition). And we will live for it, for our country. No tough talk, no threat, no brutality can stop the patriots, the true patriots of Nigeria, from rescuing it from unpatriotic, nepotistic, and weak political infidels and their cohorts of blind, untruthful, and disloyal loyalty.

Afejuku can be reached via 08055213059.