TINUBU, MKO AND A BANNER FULL OF STAINS

 

It was June 12 again earlier this week.  Nothing spectacular happened apart from the drab address by the President early in the morning and a “Falling Down act” at the parade ground.

June 12, 1993 was a date, memory of which, people fifty and above who were of voting age thirty-one years ago will carry to their graves.

It was a day with HOPE for millions of Nigerians. HOPE 93 was not just a campaign slogan of the Social Democratic Party’s Presidential Candidate.

I remember joining other voters on the queue in conformity with Babangida’s OPTION A4. Young and old, men and women stayed on unperturbed without any inducement, financial or otherwise.

THE Presidential election held on 12th June 1993, the first since the 1983 military coup ended the country's Second Republic was the outcome of a transitional process to civilian rule spearheaded by the military ruler, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida.

The unofficial result of the election, though not declared by the National Electoral Commission (NEC), indicated a victory for Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), who defeated Bashir Tofa of the National Republican Convention (NRC).

 
The winner of the election was ever declared as the elections were annulled by Babangida, citing electoral irregularities.

The annulment led to protests and political unrest, including the resignation of Babangida and a weak interim civilian government, which culminated in the continuation of military rule in the country with Sani Abacha ascending to power as the military head of state via a bloodless coup later in the year.

The death of Abacha brought in Abdulsalam Abubakar, another General, who bowed to pressure from all corners and midwifed the 1999 elections which heralded in a democracy that has survived for a quarter of a century.

While casting my mind on the twenty-five years of uninterrupted democracy, asking myself if we are better off, a line in the NEW/OLD National anthem struck me.

“To pass on to our children, A BANNER WITHOUT STAIN”

A banner passed to the next generation, even the unborn, is a legacy, something to remember, a motivation, a morale booster. It should be a representation of the good things we have done that will act as guide and impetus to people coming behind us to continue from where we stop. They should find role models and character totems from the banner we pass to them.

But a look at the banner we hold is saddening. The generation next have nothing good to learn from our generation.

Those who first sang the anthem had an intention to hand us a sparkling banner. They succeeded to an appreciable extent.

We inherited patriotism. The spirit of nationalism and pan-African movement that led to independence of African States and establishment of ideology-based leadership was the banner they handed us. It may not have been hundred percent clean, but it has a semblance of A BANNER WITHOUT STAIN.

The banner we however hold ready to hand onto our children is stained by so many things.

First is a warped national orientation and near-zero national morale. Nigerians are no more PROUD TO SERVE a motherland that is no more actually sovereign. How do you call a country whose economic policies are dictated by IMF, World Bank and Western Powers rather than the interest of the citizens sovereign?

A banner that makes mockery of the saying that CRIME DOES NOT PAY is not without stain. Our children read the news of criminals in government carting away our common patrimony without let or hindrance. They witness corruption in high places go unpunished.

We were once told that the Judiciary is the last hope of the common man. Today the Justice Lady no more wears a blindfold. The scales are also weighed against the people. It is no more balanced.

A government that keeps telling the people half-truths and outright lies leaves an indelible stain on the banner. On one side the FUEL SUBSIDY IS GONE, while the government goes paying the same subsidy behind the curtain.

The story of Air Nigeria is a national shame especially when no one has been sanctioned for it. It’s a dirty green patch on our banner.

Gathering a crowd and getting them clapping that a refinery was ready and working while knowing it was a lie, is an insult on our national psyche leaving an ugly stain on our banner.

States still owe salaries and pensions while a new Vice President’s residence gulps a whopping N15 billion and the National Assembly splurged N57.6 billion on Sports Utility Vehicles (SUV) for its members at a time when our universities remain grossly underfunded and negotiations for a living wage is taking eternity to conclude. This also leaves am indelible stain on our banner.

A 700 kilometers Lagos-Calabar coastal highway for N15 trillion, when scores of existing highways remain death traps is a sad story line.  This misapplication of the SCARCE public funds splashes dirt on our banner.

367 companies closed down and most of them moved to neighboring African countries as of December 2023. Out of those still in business, 335 are in distress, while N350 billion worth of goods were not sold.

Those expected to receive our banner are either unemployed or underemployed.

133 million Nigerians adjudged in 2022 as being multi-dimensionally poor is another stain on the banner we want to hand on to our children.

The blood of innocent children, women and, young and old people shed daily by bandits, terrorists and religious fanatics all over the country splashes on our banner. It is more saddening when the murderers are known and walk free.  Blood stains on our banner already stink.

Brazen theft and embezzlement in government with impunity and ignominy makes a stainless banner impossible.

Heads of ministries, departments and agencies of government making conflicting statements on the same issues is a black spot on the banner we want to  hand over to our children.

The children we want pass the banner to don’t believe there’s any use for a banner. They have lost hope. They are ideologically blank. Most are disillusioned and seek temporary solace in drugs and alcohol. Their hands are not steady enough to hold and eyes too blurred to see the stained banner we want to hand over to them.

The present rulers of Nigeria lack political will and moral fiber to take our banner to the laundry. They lack neither knowledge nor will to achieve at least some cleaning of our banner.

We look on to God of creation to direct our noble “CURSE” and help our youth to know the truth but we wake up daily telling them lies.

How do we build a nation “where no man is oppressed” when the Middle Class has completely disappeared; where laws are meant only for the poor and the rich are above the law; where there are different electricity supply bands for the rich and the poor.

Nigerians have never been this divided along religious and ethnic lines, making it meaningless to sing “In brotherhood we stand”

Singing “In love and honesty to grow and living just and true” sounds like one rancid joke.

Still holding on tour dirty and blood-stained banner and with a hungry hoarse voice shouting inaudibly “NIGERIA WE HAIL THEE”, we still mouth “ARISE O COMPATRIOTS”.

 

Femi Ladapo (Femolad) writes from Ibadan Nigeria