Last week,
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo met with governors at the Presidential Banquet in
Abuja. Obviously, the recent three-month ultimatum by northern youths to
Igbo
to vacate the north and IPOB's Kanu renewed agitation for Biafra were on his
mind. Osinbajo advised the governors to protect lives and properties of all
citizens in their respective states, saying “Nigeria is indissoluble.”
My
dictionary defines dystopia as “an imaginary place where people are unhappy and
usually afraid because they are not treated fairly, an unpleasant future where
people are often dehumanized; a nightmare world characterized by human misery,
squalor, oppression, disease, and overcrowding. Sounds like Nigeria?
Usually,
dystopian societies are portrayed on pages of novels like Orwell's “1984,”
Huxley's “Brave New World,” and in movies like “The Hunger Games,” and
“Divergent.” They give us a quick look into distorted societies where justice
and freedom are suppressed; where deprivation is a way of life; and lives are
dispensable. Where there is no state or local government. Where there are no
legislative bodies. There is just a national government or global government,
run by a charismatic leader who relies on martial law and control of natural
resources to keep things orderly when unpopular decisions are made.
There, the
oppressed thirst and fight for basic rights, such as freedom of speech,
expression, and association. They also fight for basic necessities of life like
food, water, jobs, safety, and security. We're asked to imagine a society where
people are pushed to the limits of what they can endure, and often, killed if
they can't. Today, right now, Nigeria represents the most disturbing dystopian
narrative of our time and is no work of no fiction. It's Nigeria. The most
tragic place to live on earth where a majority of our people battle poverty,
violence, prejudice, intimidation, hunger, homelessness, hopelessness, disease,
freedom of movement, mass unemployment, insecurity, deprivation of basic
essentials of life; poor education, enforced isolation, disregard for human
rights. Our people battle them all, every day.
Women,
children, infants, the elderly, those living with disabilities, and the
innocent. They battle these injustices every day because, for the past 58
years, they have existed not lived under corrupt, irresponsible and
unresponsive government. Simply put a slow death. Unless you've lived day in,
day out, amidst the suffering siege and the onslaughts, it's impossible to understand
the despair that Nigerians endure. Don't forget they live on $1 a day.
Nigerian
hospitals cannot handle emergency care that our children need. Day after day,
our people wait in the hospital not knowing if it will ever be the turn of
their children to see the doctor. We're are treated in hospitals with barely
any medical supplies and only rusting instruments. Your shoes stick to the
floor of the hospital with blood. Our children are brought up with a leaking
sewage system, hunger, disease, no access to treated water and electricity. We
live daily with the bombardment of armed robbers, kidnappers, rapists, ritual
killings, and hired assassins.
We cannot
travel anytime we like. We're practically imprisoned in our homes. Nigeria is
in a state of trauma. All the poor majority of Nigerians want is what the
ruling elites who loot our treasury want. The opportunity to live a normal life
with dignity and security, and build a future in which our children can thrive,
dream and fulfill their potentials. They must be allowed to do this.
We cannot
allow the hellish status quo continue: a daily battle for survival. Remaining
silent in the face of this endless injustice makes Nigeria no better than the
peanut-crushing crowd in the arena at the “Hunter Games,” oo-ing and aah-ing
and shaking their heads at each new trial and new death. Are we going to stand
and spectate while the ugly foundations of a modern day dystopia are being laid
before our eyes? Or are we going to fix the rot and be compelled to unite?
Mr. Vice-President,
to prevent dissolution of Nigeria, the following should be done:
The 1999
Babangida Constitution is antithetical to principles and practice of democracy.
It must be replaced by the people's constitution that will address all the
imbalance, flaws, and omissions of a true federalism such as the immunity
clause, revenue sharing formula, resource control, local and state police, and
so many other areas that conflict with our union.
A referendum
should be conducted as soon as possible to allow Nigerians to decide whether
they want to remain as one country or go their separate ways.
The jumbo
salaries and criminal allowances of legislators should be slashed and to be
competitive with what other legislators earn in civilized countries. The
illegal and unconstitutional security votes collected by the governors should
be scrapped immediately.
The judicial
and criminal justice system should be completely overhauled to ensure equity,
fairness, speedy resolution of cases because justice delayed is justice denied.
It bears repeating that a country without the rule of law will never know
peace, progress, or prosperity. Corrupt judges still run the show undeterred in
our courts. They should all be fired posthaste. The attorney general and the
solicitor general of the federation and CCT Justice Danladi Umar should be
relieved of their posts without further delay. They're the greatest impediments
to the administration of justice in Nigeria. Special corrupt courts should be
established by executive power.
Some of the
recommended reforms from the National Conference should be implemented now.
It's a
direct invitation for secession when political leaders and legislators bury
their heads in the sand like the proverbial ostrich and pretend that all is
well with Nigeria and that Nigeria is indissoluble. Yes, Nigeria is detachable
without addressing and finding lasting solutions to problems that fuel
separatist agitations. Every tomorrow has two handles: the handle of anxiety
for doing nothing and the handle of a peaceful coexistence by finding solutions
to issues that divide and capable of dissolving our corporate existence as one
nation.
Everything,
I mean everything, seems to be breaking loose now. It's no time for tomfoolery!
bjoluwasanmi@gmail.com
*Saharareporters*
0 Comments