THE DEATH OF OUR MENTORS

Nigeria has become a cinema of clowns. Every new week has a drama that occupies, engages and sustains all of us till the end of the week. These dramas as if they have been recorded and kept in a hard drive are played in such a manner that even though they are serious issues, we all end up laughing about them and making them sources of entertainment. Burning issues which should be frowned at or dismissed are so painted stupidly that they are withdrawn from the category of sensible matter then turned into laughable skits and videos clips for the public. Meanwhile, the nation itself is daily losing its soul and driving itself to a point of no return. The stories that flood our timelines, our dailies, blogs and other media astound me greatly that I think we have collectively become a generation of idiots. I ask myself many questions that are not really rhetorical but of which I cannot even present sensible answers to them. There are actually no answers anywhere- a one-of-a-kind situation where everybody is groping in darkness. Such a thick darkness that it appears there is no light at the end of the tunnel. The same reaction and maybe a little more intense than what I am feeling about our nation was captured in a video that went viral last year by one of these spontaneous road side interviewers. A woman sitting inside a Keke maruwa was asked about the situation of things in Nigeria in this dispensation and the woman’s response was an aggravated hopelessness. She said: this Nigeria e no go better again, the woman went further to portray the density of her frustration when in anger she said: I will leave this country and go to my village. With such confusion and frustration all over her, she could not even make out where her village is in that video. After that viral circulation, we all watched it and laughed. I sincerely think we should stop laughing and see that we are all going down the drain.

Where should we even start from? Should we start from the missing budget or our missing girls or our missing President? With all the shady ministerial lies, photo-shopped pictures, discordant reports, dishonest updates from supposedly trusted authorities, inconclusive statements, conspiratorial meetings, congregation of cliquish cabals, ethnic threatening statements and undiplomatic utterances. Truly the president has a right to a faceless vacation, but when everything becomes dishonest and it involves the health of the president, the country has a right to know the truth and more importantly as such vacation involves the health of the President. It is quite unfortunate the way some of our politicians think. They go abroad every day without learning any virtue- it is quite sad and horrific! (Thank God he is back!)

Should we not mention too the overrated celebration and reception of an internationally acclaimed thief. When I saw the footage, I was shocked! If ordinary civilians were celebrating so intensely the triumphant entry of the so-called messiah, should law enforcers who should know better not show some decorum in such jubilation? Instead of respecting their uniforms at least, if they had forgotten the precepts of the law, they were found jumping and disdaining the honour of whatever they represent. Nevertheless, their sins should not even be compared to a Man of God who in his homily during the thanksgiving service for the return of this international ex-convict describes this man “as a gift of God and he compared him to great men of God in the Bible, like Jesus Christ, Moses, Joseph, Samson, Paul, Jonah, among others who suffered tribulations in the course of their duties to God.” I wonder what kind of man of God would say that, and what kind of Church is that, that would even put Jesus in such category as a great man of God. This is the country we have become. An obvious truth cannot be spoken for how much? Anyway, this is not the first time someone is journeying from prison to political palace after all. In fact, the prison to political power syndrome in Nigeria is a characteristic of anointed presidents of our country. We should expect that this man will soon campaign for the presidency, and again, very sad, we will vote! The ripple effect of this is that, many now long to go to prison so as to move to power- only in Nigeria of course! What legacy is there for our youths? You can steal and still be anointed in stealing?

Should we mention the fight against corruption that has always been a mere distraction, a media façade, or at best, noisy harassment without solid prosecutions? Yes, they have been returning the money, the more the return, the more we want to borrow for our budget. Recently, it was reported that 90 billion Dollars was returned by a woman as a part from what she stole. How would somebody steal that much in just one lifetime? That is about 27 Trillion naira which if divided according to the equivocal population of Nigerians at 170,000,000 people each person will get over 158 million naira or did I not get the information right? And for those who have been stealing- whose houses have been clutched, why would they steal that much in just a lifetime, why would they have so many estates and cars? Why would she steal that much? And yet she is returning them instalmentally from her UK’s vacation, that’s even if truly she has returned that much, (you cannot trust any News in Nigeria) why are we still borrowing and still lacking? 

Should we talk about the ongoing corruption? The 250 Million gatehouse, the 6 million used to construct 6 toilets in a secondary school, the 40 million naira feeding budget for wildlife in Aso Rock and the other things happening that we are not yet seeing. What of the miracle money found with a man claiming to be gifts about 500 billion naira or so? Gifts from who? God? Such person even had the guts to approach the court for the return of his money, he will still wiggle his way through, if they manage to even get the money from him. We can continue to mention more and more of these woes and laments! When these thieves are caught, they return some and nothing is happening thereafter. So others will continue to steal, at best they will return some and everybody can then be at peace! In such traditions of stealing-returning-freedom, what legacy are we bequeathing the Youths? To steal and return and then steal again and return and then steal?

What is my concern in all of these? My uttermost concern is not even for the present time which is already swallowed in atrocities, crises and decay. The filth is so thick, the dung is so deep and smelly that we cannot even see what we are scraping off. My fear is for the future which is obviously bleak. I am so afraid that the future will be worse than what we are experiencing today. The youths and children- the supposed leaders of tomorrow are being bred into these filthy cultures and traditions. And what they have even started doing…. only God will save us. If Nigeria continues like this, the future is not bright! Tell me, what youth will get in power now and would not steal as his forefathers had already done. Even children in the womb are already infested and infected. And what do we even see? The children of these thieves are the ones succeeding their fathers- Yourba people will say: omo ekun l’ekun jo- the cub must resemble his father- the Lion. What hope then do we have for our future? What actually is the cause for this succession of evils?  

The fear that things are going to be terribly messy is truly imminent because our country is devoid of mentors. There are no leaders, icons and mentors the youths can look up to. A society without mentors is already a society heading for ruin. In other words, when there is no mentorship, there can never be a credible future. The society is created in such a successive pattern for its continuity. The continuity of excellence is in the fact that there are people who tried to be excellent and others after them emulate such excellent virtue. However, in our dear country, there is little or nothing virtuous our children are emulating. It is mostly about the celebration of thieves, rogues, mediocrity and lack of conscience. This is where our collective concern should be.

In the past, we talked about Obafemi Awolowo, we talked about Nnamidi Azikwe, we talked about Adekunle Ajasin, Usman Dan Fodio just to mention a few. These men lived not perfect lives but left some legacies that others can talk about and emulate, we now even study them in Universities for the perpetuation of their legacies. In this our dispensation, who are we talking about? Who is leaving any legacy? What legacies are we celebrating? Legacies in stealing? or in bad politics? or legacies in unpatriotic proclivities? What exactly is this generation leaving behind for the future?

My submission is this, we need an internal revolution among the youths. This is an open letter, if you like, to all youths. Our leaders have eaten sour grapes, our mouths should not suffer its pangs. Youths must occasion an internal revolution among themselves to revive the soul of this country. Recently, I spoke with a number of youths individually and I saw that the future is not all together blind and bleak if we can collectively do a mental-attitudinal revolution among the youths. At every level, in every group, at every association, there must be an ideological, psychological, emotional and spiritual baptism. After all, it is not as if we do not know that our fathers have failed and they have failed woefully, we know! Then, we need that revolution from inside and take back this country from these wolves. We must create mentors, we must change things, and we must save our country. It is our responsibility, it is our call, and it is our work! Every industry ministering to the youths must have this restructuring program at the back of its mind, nobody is pleased with what is going on. The entertainment industry- which is a powerful wave of change (should leave behind its empty, non-profiting, exaggerated, profane and salacious projects) and collaborate with others industries, together we must rise up to this challenge to save Nigeria from the claws of these lions! Together let us save Nigeria before she dies, let us save our dear country.