By Ernest Elochukwu
Fellow Nigerians,
This letter is my own way of speaking up at this critical moment in the history of our dear country and absolve myself (even when I may no longer be there) when future generations would ask what we did when Nigeria was being destroyed and turned into a banana republic. Therefore, it is with the highest sense of responsibility that I approach this exercise of talking to my countrymen and women.
A brief introduction of myself will help put certain things into perspective. I was born some years before Nigeria’s independence. I witnessed a period of national pride and consciousness, though tinted along the narrow prisms created by ethnic minded leaders whom we have accepted as our founding fathers. I also witnessed the civil war and my impressionable mind as a teen recorded what a young child should not have seen. I was raised by parents who exhibited humanity to all, especially people from other tribes and cultures. After schooling, I worked in some companies before establishing my own business. All through my life, work and business, I have always aligned myself with and championed the cause for the general good. It is this inclination that led me to getting to the apex position in my business association. It also led me into aspiring for two consecutive seasons to represent my constituency (of origin) in the House of Representatives.
I believe it will make more sense to address specific segments of our countrymen and women since one postulation or admonition may not apply to everyone.
In the spirit of the widely held notion that leadership provides direction, I will start with those exercising executive leadership, the President, Governors, Local Government Area (LGA) Chairmen. My first question to you is: What was the dream that motivated you into seeking for and accepting the position you presently occupy? Were you motivated by a desire to make your domain the best in terms of development and quality of life for the people or motivated by the desire to just answer the name, exercise the enormous “powers” associated with the office, corner and convert public resources to yourself, family and cronies? If your answer is the former, what have you put in place to achieve the aims but if your answer is the latter (which you would not want to admit), I need to let you know that there is karma and it never fails. Come to think of it, are you dreaming of being there forever? Yes, some people especially African “leaders” had tried in the past and perpetuated themselves in office but in the end, they died. In Nigeria, names like Balewa, Azikiwe, Murtala elicit a certain kind of sentiments while others like Abacha and Oyenusi elicit other type of feelings. Some of the jabs may be in forms of jokes and comedies, but we all surely know the ones we love our family names to be associated with. Let me even tell you of the gorier side. Every major religion recognizes life after death and the certainty that our lives and actions would be presented for judgment before the Supreme Being. I have often wondered at the senselessness of me (for instance) stealing and storing so much treasure for my generations to enjoy whereas, the judgment and punishment would be for me alone as the perpetrator. Haba! Am I insane?
As a distinguished senator, honourable member of the House of Representatives or State House of Assembly by accepting and taking an oath to serve as the voices and the eyes of the people, you have taken up a huge moral responsibility. The critical question is how are you carrying out this role? Are you defending the interests of the people or you are in unholy alliances all the time with those who seek to undermine the interests of the people? I have a message for you. You may commit injustices collectively but your punishment will be individual. The same goes for political appointees who do not consider that they owe the people any obligations in carrying out their duties. If you pretend that because your appointment was made or influenced by an individual or individuals hence your loyalty must be sheepishly to them, you may go down in history as the most miserable. A day of reckoning is coming long after you might have left the office and probably died and your generation would inherit the punishment for your atrocities. Those who are thinking that all the wickedness to the people would not come into reckoning one day are only deluding themselves.
My attention will now shift to a very critical group who actually have been ruining Nigeria since her existence – civil servants and all who are supposedly serving the public working in government and private establishments. Over the years, some public servants have perfected the practice of corruption which had made rubbish of government procurement processes and same had extended to private establishments. In some quarters, it is believed that even the corruption associated with the politicians get the traction through civil servants. It is believed that corruption by politicians could not have been possible without civil servants because they are the people who prepare contract bid papers, contract award certificates, milestone performances and completion certificates, payment vouchers and cheques. Unless proven otherwise, the civil servants are the vultures that have fed on the carcass of our country. The most annoying thing about the activities of the civil servants is that they manage to present themselves as innocent executors of government policies. What a pity! But let it be known by anyone who cares to listen that karmic laws are immutable!
There is a group of Nigerians who have one thing in common. They have been relentless in subverting the electoral will of the people. I will start with the primary initiators, the office seekers commonly referred to as politicians. Elsewhere in the world, politicians seek offices to make a positive changes in their people but in your own case, the crave for political positions is only for personal aggrandizement. It is for this reason that you have seen politics as a business instead of platform for service. You now engage in “do-or-die” engagements to get into and remain in office. Does it not bother you that people rushed into the streets in jubilation on hearing of the death of certain politicians or personalities?
The Independent? National Election Commission (INEC) as an institution statutorily vested with the authority and duty to conduct national elections in Nigeria has consistently betrayed the country through a refusal to rise up to the occasion. Ordinarily, any organization that perceives regulatory shortcomings in her operations usually brings those shortcomings forward and requests for the cure of those shortcomings through enactments or amendments to the existing laws. Our INEC rather sits mutely like a child suffering from one neuro-related disease while politicians twist and manipulate electoral laws. Where are the supposedly educated and cerebral Directors and Deputy Directors? How many of them had made memos and insisted that the issues of how elections would be free and seen to be free should be discussed at management meetings? Why should INEC still operate with ad-hoc staffs during elections despite the billions being allocated to them in national budgets? Why would INEC still not come up with a standard blueprint for how elections should be free, fair and credible as is obtainable even in small African countries today? Why should INEC be comfortable with laws that suggest we are still in the 19th century while other countries are in the 21st? Does it not bother us when our parliament passed a law which says that it is no longer an electoral offence for one to engage in forgery of educational certificate or be associated with drug offences?
Many people including me felt highly elated when Professor Attahiru Jega as INEC Chairman decided to use professors as returning officers during our national elections. Then, the stories of the dirty goings-on in our supposed citadels of learning had not become so commonplace and we naively believed that the strings of degrees and matriculation gowns and wigs were indices of knowledge, dignity and integrity. But thanks to that move by Jega, we now know how “sorting” has turned our country’s educational system into citadels of shame! I need to say it that since the professors showed and continued showing their “underbellies”, many of us only grin and smirk whenever one is introduced as a professor or PhD holder! There has been recent upsurge in the number of new professors and some of us wonder if it is in preparation for 2027 elections! Someone once remarked on the irony of the situation where professors rig elections for politicians only to end up going on strike for neglect of the educational sector by same politicians. I deliberately do not want to talk about the occupant of INEC Chairman because over time, it has proved to be a creation made for the rise and fall of many. We have seen the office showcase men of honour like Professor Humphrey Nwosu who went ahead to announce the results of the elections transparently conducted even with guns pointed at them. We have equally seen this anomalies in our electoral system have produced scoundrels who used midnight to announce false and disputed results and shamelessly told aggrieved persons to go to court!
INEC staff are in active service but appear to be morose to always get their voices back as soon as they leave office. They need to be reminded that their failure or refusal to insist on what is right is culpable. The same goes for the other staff of INEC including members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) who have become permanent features of our national electoral administration. They are supposed to be the leaders of tomorrow who ought to work to preserve the society in which they will be the dominant actors and beneficiaries in future. But what do we get? NYSC members working as ad hoc staff in INEC collecting money to falsify results! Again, another paradox that the so-called leaders of tomorrow will collect bribes or allow themselves be intimidated and help rig in unqualified politicians into office only to complain about how things are not working well in the country!
I now turn to the people who are supposed to be the last hope of the common man, the Judiciary. Ordinarily, I would have addressed the Judiciary distinctly as the third realm of government. However, it is clear from our experience as a country that the lawyers (be they senior or ordinary advocates or judges) are usually more interested in the “kills” they make out of election disputations. In the past, discussions about inducements to judges have been very circumspect because judges think more about their names and reputation but it appears that with the involvement of politicians, it has become public knowledge. A documentary I watched recently detailed the chain and conduit channels through which bribes are channeled to perpetrate electoral fraud. As someone who is admitted into the hallowed chamber of justice administration, have you stopped once to ask yourself a critical question? What is the primary reason for the existence of laws and statutes? In case you have forgotten, the good of the society is the overriding reason for laws hence any interpretation or application not rooted in upholding fairness, equity and justice is tantamount to destruction of the society. For lawyers and judges suspected to be adept at twisting the laws to enable election rigging, do you really believe that there won’t be punishments for you? What you are doing in Nigeria today is giving credence to the widely held belief that law as a profession (especially as practiced in Nigeria) is mired in lies, falsehood and deception. There is even this story that lawyers are buried face down as they could not be facing up considering the enormity of lies they must have told in their lifetimes! Times were when judges from Nigeria served as Chief Judges (CJs) of some African countries and were presidents of international adjudication panels. Our lawyers should ask themselves why no Nigerian judge is currently in such bodies. If judges were able to stick to their oath during the days of military dictatorships, why would our today’s judges be so chicken hearted?
Let me address those that are rich, comfortable or well-to-do citizens who believe curiously that because they get their daily bread without much effort, they have nothing to do with politics. Some will even with shameless pride tell you that they have not voted in any elections. I have been wondering if they actually understand that they have been sabotaging our democracy by their refusal to participate. We all owe a duty to uphold and defend the democratic process through participation. By staying away, you are actually endorsing unsuitable persons to get into positions of power. You are one of the major problems of this country. You should be engaged in educating those around you on the need for everyone to join hands in working for a better Nigeria. For the avoidance of any doubt, if the poverty being caused by the criminal politicians gets to a breaking point, be sure that you and your precious family could be the first line of victims!
Next is the not-so-comfortable Nigerians some of who are poor. I marvel at your resilience but I gasp at the manner some of you behave. I see in your actions and utterances the classic case of the oppressed singing the praises of their oppressors! When you accept some money to wear some uniforms and do solidarity marches and chants in support of those who, by their actions and inactions, are ruining your lives, you are actually saying that you prefer suffering to comfort, failure to success. Your case is surely beyond comprehension. Rather than throw your frustration and pain at the government being misran by unpatriotic politicians, you focus your efforts on harassing the daylight out of your supposedly well-to-do relatives and friends on whom you most times exert vengeance for not helping you!
Next is the military and paramilitary personnel who feel a pyrrhic sense of importance whenever they put on their uniforms. I classify you as common Nigerians because that is what you are when we talk about comfort and affordability. It is being touted that the military is being well paid but can any soldier or policeman honestly affirm that he is able to take care of himself and family on his pay packet without being involved in one thing or the other? In other climes, a civilian (no matter who he is) will think twice on a proposal he wishes to make to a military personnel because he is aware of the national consciousness of the soldier or policeman. What do you make of yourself, self-worth and professional training when you serve as not just an escort but literally a houseboy to a “bloody” civilian and his family who now uses you to enforce the rigging of elections? Do you not realize that your actions constitute a letdown to your countrymen and women? Don’t you know that preventing the disruption and distortion of our national ethos are also part of your core mandate? And that using the uniform and gun provided with public finance to aid election rigging is tantamount to treason against your fatherland? Have you given a thought to why some civilians now engage military personnel in street brawls? It is because the man whose uniform is a symbol of dignity, honour and patriotism have soiled the same sparkling uniform in the mud just like a pig!
I want to turn my attention to those commonly referred to as the Fourth Estate of the Realm. A time was in the past when the Nigerian press was populated by men and women of dignity, courage and integrity. There are still a handful of journalists and media houses that are trying to approach their duty with patriotic fervor but the majority appear to be at the beck-and-call of the evil politicians. The most amazing thing is the reportorial attitude of some media houses and journalists when they write falsehoods all in the name of “hearing from both sides”.
Finally, let me address the most critical segment of the Nigerian society, the youths. The youths are said to be the hope and leaders of tomorrow for the simple logic that life’s trajectory is such that older folks fade out usually with decline in energy, articulation and cohesion while the young ones blossom in those same attributes. It would appear that the present crop of youths are the worst ever. During our youthful years, we complained, we agitated and protested at the slightest hint of anything being done wrongly. But our today’s youths are inexplicable in their nonchalance concerning what is happening in their country. We know what the global life expectancy is and we also know what the Nigerian figures are. But let us assume that most people will live to be 100 years old. If today, some folks who are already above 70 borrow and squander money that would be repaid in say, 50 years’ time, who will pay for it? Definitely not them who have less than 30 years left. It will be for the majority who are between 20 and 30 years who still have between 80 and 70 years left to live respectively. If the youths feel that it does not concern them what the evil politicians are doing, I call it living a lie! Let me also address something insidiously evil that has been sown in the minds of the youths. “There is nothing anyone can do. They will just kill you as was done at the Lagos toll gate”. These are bogey-bogey creations by the same forces of retrogression. The lives of the youths in Nigeria are already being ruined by bad and incompetent leadership. Therefore, fighting for a positive change is a compulsion and not an option! The reality is that once the Nigerian youths put religion and tribe behind them and collectively fight back like those whose lives are really being ruined, a new Nigeria will emerge! Time is running out!
*Sir Ernest Elochukwu, former National President, Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) Group, writes from the Rivers State capital, Port Harcourt. E-mail address: elonest2015@gmail.com
