"A nation that rewards cheerleaders and praise singers in the name of loyalty, and ignores excellence and competency breeds mediocrity, and elevates blackmail and mudslinging to a weapon of State defense and propaganda. Such is the sorry trajectory that unfolds." - Chris Mustapha Nwaokobia Jnr.
Since the death by suicide of a young Medical Doctor in Lagos on Sunday the 19th of March, 2017, and another attempt at suicide by a Lady at the Maza Maza axis the next day, my soul has been restless and my heart troubled.
I was so bothered I withdrew to seek divine illumination and answers to the many questions that agitate my mind. I am so sorry if you consider this the longest of my writings in a decade, but please patiently come along, let us think together, and work and walk the salvage of our nation.
We must not overlook the weight of the moment and the urgency of now, we must arm ourselves as we journey through this effort with the ageless reprimand to his generation by Prof Wole Soyinka, yes he lampooned his generation as 'a wasted generation', sad, they wasted theirs, and have brought us to Golgotha, where some of my generation have become suicidal.
I have watched two or is three blackmail phenomenon inundate both the online press/social media and the terrestrial press, and have asked one very salient question, WHY NOW?. Before you ask, why not now, please remember the ageless words of Uztaz Uthman Dan Folio to wit 'Conscience is an open wound only truth can heal it'. Be true to your conscience because revenge and revanchism cannot obviate the truth.
I do not here attempt any defense of the gladiators BUT have chosen the cause of TRUTH. I ask again, WHY NOW? Who are the Puppets, and where are the Puppeteers? What are the issues? And why has revenge and revanchism taken over our soul? Why do we pretending to seek justice and to right societal wrongs, blackmail and pull others down? Who did this to us?
ON APOSTLE JOHNSON SULAIMAN. A certain lady, and now several ladies are everywhere talking about what happened or did not happen in the secret. Our young ladies have thrown decency and shame to the winds, one claims she wants justice against the breach of the promise to marry, others say they want to tell the truth to unbundle and unburden their consciences, and the members of my generation are feasting on this, not asking and wondering WHY NOW, not asking who the drummers are, and why the dancers have chosen this moment for the dance of macabre.
Had Apostle Johnson Sulaiman not preached against the marauding herdsmen killing and dishing out human barbecues across the nation, would this chain of justice seeking and truth speaking women have emerged? Would they be telling us about events hidden in the belly of time, that is assuming but not conceding that they ever happened?
Do I agree with Apostle Sulaiman's 'an eye for an eye' posturing when he asked his flock to kill any Fulani Herdsman that attempts violence against him or his church? NO. Why? Because an eye for an eye will leave humankind blind. But does government owe us a duty of care to protect and defend us against Harm? Absolutely YES. Regarding the marauding Herdsmen, has government done enough, the answer is NO.
My generation must elect to be guided by issues not insults and invectives. To those feasting on the tales of women who wash their dirty linens in public, the following questions trouble the carapace of my mind, is Apostle Sulaiman, perfect? I dare say NO. Is he human? YES. Is he fallible, YES. Do Priests err? YES. I have therefore elected not to be drawn into the 'is he guilty or not guilty' fray, but insist that Apostle Sulaiman's call to government to helm-in and contain the marauding Herdsmen is VALID.
I am pleased with Leo Mezie a famous Nollywood Actor who told a story of how not having ever met with the same Apostle Johnson Sulaiman, he sent him 8million naira, to pay the bill for his kidney transplant in the UK, and also sent members of his Church to visit him in the UK. They met only after he returned hale and hearty from the UK. So if the Apostle is not only helping women, give me a break, let God be the Judge. Please, stop the Scandal and blackmail, and SAY NO to the killing of people anywhere and everywhere, be they by Herdsmen, by locals and or extrajudicial killings by State Operatives.
ON DINO MELAYE. Am I a fan of this debonair and flashy young Senator from Kogi State, who stands tall and bold at 43? NO. Do I think he is doing a good job in the Senate? I cannot say NO, because like I still believe that PMB has got two years left to prove his opponents wrong, the Senate also has got two years to come clean to the Nigerian People on issues pertaining the making of laws for the Order and good governance of the Country.
But regarding the screening of Ibrahim Magu for the Chairmanship of the EFCC, and Dino's role in Magu's rejection, Dino did no wrong. The Senate had before it a report from the DSS, a Department under the Presidency which as it were invalidated the integrity and the credibility of Magu for the headship of the EFCC. The Senate did what it had to do, Dino was vocal, YES. Did he blackmail Magu? NO. He read the report from the DSS to the Senate, and made his submission thereto. Why are we being blackmailed into calling the Senate names on this, whereas the damning report that did damage to Magu came from the Presidency? Why blame the Senate, and not the Presidency. Hmm, who did this to us?
Since Magu's second rejection by the Senate, I have stumbled on several blackmail press churned out from left, right and centre, they allege that the reason the Senate refused Magu's confirmation is because so many of the Senators are standing trial for corruption, and that some are yet under investigation with Magu's EFCC as the Tormentor-in-Chief, without dismissing or conceding either way, was the Senate responsible for Magu not knowing the amount the EFCC has so far recovered? For those who argue that the recoveries are ongoing, why do book keepers have date and time? Why do we have such words as 'about' and 'approximately'. Should the Senate have overlooked that? You do not have to be an orator to say that 'the EFCC has so far recovered about so so and so billions or trillions'. That was an expensive oversight by an obviously ill prepared Magu for his second journey to the Senate.
Need I say that nothing confers on Ibrahim Magu the sole integrity, credibility and or competency to man the EFCC and or lead the ANTI-GRAFT WAR to the next level. For God-sake where is his immediate predecessor, where is Lamorde? Who is shielding him from investigation? With the deluge of allegations against Lamorde, Magu keeps sealed lips. We must be open minded and learn to interrogate the drive of the bandwagon.
Need I also say that the insistence on Magu is an indictment on the clan of credible and competent hands that populate this space. We have a thousand and one competent men and women of integrity who can outperform Magu, the challenge should be to Mr President, he should search them out, and not to blackmail or vilify those who reject Magu.
Since the rejection, I have read that the Senate President and Dino Melaye are against Magu because of the trial before the Code of Conduct Tribunal, wait a minute, did my friend and learned colleague Hyginus Orioha not argue with me sometime in December 2015, that the Saraki trial is more of a blackmail wand to keep Saraki in check having surreptitiously beaten the Party's candidate to become Senate President. 'Prof, this trial will go nowhere until 2019, they just want to have a noose round Saraki's neck to keep him loyal. It is not in anyway a fight against corruption', my friend Barrister Orioha argued. It is indeed getting curiouser and curiouser.
I hear that the Comptroller General of Customs Hammid Alli is being bullied by the Senate because a bullet proof Range Rover imported by the Senate President was impounded. And that Dino Melaye does not want to pay duties on his exotic cars, so sad, how the frontiers of blackmail deepens and thickens. I thought that we were united against the retroactive tariff policy that required duties to be paid by Nigerians on vehicles already cleared and in use? Who did this to us?
I agree that the Senate's insistence on Hammid Alli wearing the Customs uniform to appear before it may have taken the shine off the noble trajectory of halting the implementation of the retroactive duties planned by the Customs, but today that policy stands suspended, thanks to the Senate.
However the most curious in the blackmail vehicle, is the one about Dino Melaye and his first degree certificate from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Why suddenly is Dino Melaye not a graduate? How is he able to pursue a Masters Degree program in the same university without a first degree? No nation moves forward elevating blackmail to a weapon to silence opposition, deep logic and debate is nobler.
Curiously it is those who argued that it does not matter whether our Dear President presented his WAEC Certificate or NITEL or NEPA bill in lieu of his secondary school certificate that are today chanting crucify Dino. Who did this to us? Don't get me wrong, I insist on due process, like Dino like Mr President, we must fairly interrogate all men and stand firm, blackmail is not an option.
What we must do is to insist that the National Assembly comes before the people with openness pertaining the salary and the emoluments of Lawmakers. We must insist on transparency and compliance of the National Assembly with the Treasury Single Account normative of government. And we must insist that laws are made for the order and good governance of the Country.
Chiefly laws on devolution of power, on true fiscal federalism, on resource control, laws that must engender transparency, creativity, productivity and industry, and laws that must deepen the fabrics of justice, of equity, of fairness and of brotherhood, must Occupy the legislative priority of the National Assembly.
May I advise that our generation must be careful not to allow those who wasted our yesterday to waste our today and destroy our tomorrow. As we all too often jump on the bandwagon before interrogating issues, may we always have the fortitude and the latitude to correct ourselves and stand for that which is right.
ON THE ANTI-CORRUPTION WAR. What has government done about the whistle blown on the House of Representatives by suspended Hon. Abdulmumini Jubril? Were the hands of our all powerful Magu tied in that case? Why are my colleagues in the civil society, and the very vociferous pro Magu anti-corruption crusaders quiet? What is Mr President doing about it? Why are those returning stolen monies not being tried and convicted? Or is the return of stolen monies not a prima facie admission of guilt? Who is deceiving who?
ON POLITICAL LEADERS AND PARTY LEADERS. We have men and women in their thirties, forties and fifties, who happily identify with egocentric politicians who dish out crumbs to them and use them during and after elections as bark dogs and attack cats. But curiously, when positions are meant to be occupied, these leaders so-called, nominate their children, nieces, nephews, uncles, aunts, relatives and close friends, preferring those they consider their own, to the perennial drawers of water and hewers of wood around them. To them, these 'loyal men and women' are good only for the next election, and you wonder why there is so much wickedness in the land, you wonder why disloyalty is on the increase, you wonder why suicide is rife, and villainy on the rise.
I have read some arrogant refrain tagging those who commit suicide as lazy, do you know what it means to be depressed? Have you worked tirelessly and given your best only to be pushed aside as not good enough, and your place given to a praise singer and a cheerleader, whose best compared to yours is mediocre. Have you ever applied for a job and after scoring the best mark, you are dropped because of where you come from, or your religion? These are the things we must fight, repudiate, lampoon and SAY NO TO.
We must NOT always allow these leaders to unleash us against our generation and against our peers. Obasanjo joked a few days ago about not knowing his real age, but he has an age on our national protocols and documents and no one has taken him to the cleaners on falsification of age, but when they consider one of us strong and 'heady' to challenge for the future they pay their bark dogs and attack cats to Pull Him Down PH.D. They blackmail us with everything conceivable. And they brand us 'disloyal'.
Compatriots, it was Frantz Fanon who admonished, that 'every generation out of relative obscurity discovers its mission, fulfills it or betrays it', we must rise up whilst it is day, and rather than agonize, we must organize for the redemption of our nation, and we must rescue our Generation from Golgotha. The time is now. It is time to tell the Godson's of our egocentric political gladiators that we are up to build a nation where excellence is prime, where mediocrity is Shibboleth, where nepotism is sin, and where performance rather than propaganda sells a candidate.
ON WAILING WAILERS, AND HAILING HAILERS. I have since concluded that the wailing wailer is perhaps more patriotic than the hailing hailer, a man who sees nothing wrong in the way he is governed, and does not call for better paradigms does not love his nation. Partisanship notwithstanding, we must always urge and nudge leadership to do more, this is where El Rufai appears through his recent memo to Mr President to have joined me as one of the wailing WAILERS within.
Hmm!! Before the bark dogs and the attack cats come for me, before they open on me with blackmail, let me make their job easier, I am 46years old, married to a Lawyer who happens to be amongst the prettiest women created by God, a father of three lovely kids, a graduate daughter through with her National Youth Service and looking for a job. A 14 year old son who is six-feet plus. And a 12 year old daughter with a friend. I am human, I am blessed and gifted but fallible. I am not a SAINT, but I serve the God of TRUTH. I am a TRUTH SEEKER and a CHANGE AGENT.
To those who accuse me of having been too hard on the Jonathan administration, may I say that despite running against President Jonathan in the 2011 Presidential polls at 40, I gave him the benefit of the doubt, until corruption and malfeasance became the name of his watch. And may I say that with the Buhari administration I have been more impatient because I gave to the emergence of the Buhari /Osinbajo administration my all.
Did you hear me say my all, yes my all. I gave my time, my talent, my name, my money and all I could muster to make real the promises of CHANGE. I did because I keyed into the tripod that was the linchpin of the campaign, ANTI-CORRUPTION, NATIONAL SECURITY, AND SOCIAL SECURITY/JOB CREATION. What we have made of these promises shall Occupy the sequel to this effort.
Before the blackmailers come for me, let me state that I am not HOLY, but I am humbly, wholesome. That I am that homeless CHANGE AGENT who gave his all for regime CHANGE believing completely that the present will outperform the past, for me it was and will always be #COUNTRYFIRST. That I ran the CHANGE AMBASSADORS OF NIGERIA CAN a vibrant movement that engaged the heavily funded TRANSFORMATION AMBASSADORS OF NIGERIA TAN throughout the 2014/2015 electioneering campaign, that 80% of the resources expended in the process was mine, but for the seed money given for the take off of CAN by the former Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola SAN.
That since the election, the bigger of my two SUVS have been parked at the premises from where we prosecuted the campaigns because I am yet indebted to the owner of the place. Let me state before the blackmailers descend on me that I have consistently urged and nudged Nigerians to have faith in the present administration and has however remained critical of the government where I think and believe that things should be done differently, because my primary loyalty is to nation, not the quest for appointment or for lucre.
Before the deafening stones of bark dogs and attack cats descend, let me say that besides Mr President and the Vice President to who I send direct messages and suggestions on the need for proactive citizens engagement by leadership, I have reached out via over 200 SOS messages to the direct phone line and email of the former Governor of Lagos, and now the Honourable Minister of Works, Power and Housing Babatunde Raji Fashola SAN seeking for support to defray the said indebtedness, nothing has been done. I have sent hundreds of text messages to the direct lines of the erstwhile Director General of the Buhari /Osinbajo Campaign Organization and now the Minister of Transport and Aviation Chief Rotimi Amaechi and nothing has been done. I have also sent hundreds of text messages to the direct lines of the Leader of the Party Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and yet nothing has been done to stave off the embarrassment that the CAN sacrifice has brought me.
Some have argued that I was very foolish to have given so much in support of a political cause, but I ask how much is too much to give for the good of ones nation? Some have argued that politicians are 'use and dump' experts, returning only that way when the next election beckons. And some will for crumbs from their master's table tear down every call for sane values and brotherhood in this clime. But I really don't care no more what the hirelings will say, I have chosen to speak up and to speak out that way so many young men and women contemplating suicide because of one betrayal or the other, can speak out, it doesn't matter who hears your cry. God hears you, I assure you.
To the blackmailers waiting to construe this piece as a defense for the Senate, for Dino Melaye, for Bukola Saraki, and for Apostle Johnson Sulaiman, before you throw that mud, please take note that I am a Lawyer, a graduate of Law from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus, that I attended the Nigeria Law School, Lagos Campus afterwards. That I hold a Doctor of Philosophy PH.D Honoris (not Pull Him Down) in Political Science and Public Administration. That I Occupy a Professorial Chair Honoris in Political Science and Public Administration. And humbly that my flawless diction and oratory is a gift from the Most High.
May I also inform you that Mustapha did not become a part of my name for political premium, Mustapha was a name given to me by one of the SSS men who superintended the facility where I was detained in Abuja in 2002, nine years before I ran for the Presidency in 2011, so Mustapha was not a name intended to give me political profit or mileage. My SSS Jailer, said to me that the Almighty Allah told him in his dream how I have been chosen to help birth a new Nigeria, and wondered if I would go by the name Mustapha 'the chosen one', and knowing and believing that I am a child of The Almighty I obliged. Do not wonder, it is not an alias, my recent documents, my Bank accounts, my international passport et al, has Mustapha on them.
Before you do the bidding of your Masters, let me inform that my Public Speaking engagements, my Radio and TV appearances, my Columns and Writings in both the online and the terrestrial news media, are inspired by God and targeted at no greater gain than making our nation better, and in teaching the young to think, apologies to Patrick Wilmot. It is to this goal and for this good that I gave my all in the last election.
Before the blackmailers hit, let me say that this homeless TRUTH SEEKER, CHANGE ADVOCATE and Generational Shift protagonist was never an arsonist, that the State Security Services, the Police and the Courts never found anything against me regarding the NNPC Fire of December, 2002. That taking responsibility for the fire was a patriotic effort targeted at discouraging further acts of arson by amorphous callers who claimed membership of the Youth Democratic Movement YDM and threatened that they were going to burn other Federal Government properties within that proximity if as the President of YDM I did not take responsibility to attract government attention to the the rot in the nation. As a lawyer I knew what would come after, I was detained for months, but came out as clean as the dove.
As I close this piece, I must inform that my commitment is to the emancipation of our minds. We must ruminate on these inimitable words of Abraham Lincoln to wit that 'you can fool all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.' Those who will therefore elect propaganda over performance and brand those who criticise the government as wailing WAILERS are unfair. We MUST make #COUNTRYFIRST our collective platform and the wellbeing of the ORDINARY PEOPLE our unalterable determination.
To my generation and the Nigerian Youths, I remain that young man driven by the passion for change. Now is the time for us to organize and challenge for the soul of this nation. We must not continue to wail and agonize, the time has come for us to organize and demand for our rightful place. We cannot continue as drawers of water and hewers of wood, good only for electoral victories, and to be unleashed on those who disagree with our so-called leaders and paymasters.
The time has come for us to take our destinies in our hands, for he who wears the shoe knows where it pinches, we must therefore begin to speak up and speak out, that way we can save our generation and our nation from suicide and catastrophe. And that way we can break down the rock that grows conceited and selfish political operators to whom LOVE counts for nothing, to whom all that matters is the next election, and to whom politics means everything.
In the final analysis we are the victim generation, the choices we make today will reshape Nigeria for the best, or unmake her. I hope we make the right choices. To the bridge Dear Friends. May God bless Nigeria.
To be CONT'D.
Prof Chris Mustapha Nwaokobia Jnr.
DG CHANGE AMBASSADORS OF NIGERIA CAN.
chrisnwaokobiajnr@gmail.com
+2348074040168 (SMS only).
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