By Meikudi Ashiat
In 1960 when Nigeria was redeemed from the jaws of British gaol, we danced that the son of our father would right the wrong, we jubilated that our entitlement would bequeath to us, and we rejoiced that prosperity, the safety of self, freedom, empowerment to all and sundry would become flourished.
The Yoruba among us surged their waist beads and hit the street sang (‘bye bye to jati jati’) Now look at the depth and figure of misfortune among the people.
A decade back, we were cluttering to democracy, calling our people to be our leader, clamoring ‘jobs Alagbada la n fe’ (we want a Government of our Own). We thought that democracy was the messiah that would dry our flowing tears.
We thought democracy would end our sweat of mystery and bestow the luxury life we dreamt of, we thought democracy would cease our suffering and take us out of the dungeon of poverty and suffering we have been swimming in, to a glittering life.
But, the opposite is the case, we have been put beside the blazing flame of poverty, and we are dwelling in the inferno of mystery with the venom heat radiating from the guile democratic system.
In 1863, when Abraham Lincoln defined the term ‘democracy’ it denoted people’s power to legitimize their political affairs by themselves. People’s consent to be freely expressed is what distinguishes true Democracy from Democracy in name only, which is what Nigeria practices.
Democracy in Nigeria has been used as a yardstick to harbor the mischievous perpetration of those in the realm of controlling the nation’s affairs. Corruption, embezzlement of public funds, and mischievous have taken afront the affairs of our administration leaving Nigerians on the verge of suffering.
Our rights and freedoms have been crumbled vehemently; the right to free movement has been tampered with, and mismanagement and corruption are now the main domines driving the vessel of people’s lives.
The country has been turned into a low wall mounted by every goat, any alien can easily penetrate the mount and find his way to any mischievous, perpetration in the country. The system that is supposed to serve as a watchdog is being used as an instrument for instilling mismanagement and corruption.
The country was once known as an abode of haven and refugee but given today’s state of the nation, it is best described as the hostage of evil perpetration, descending agony, and mystery to the inhabitants. The labor room of our economy is, at this moment, a bedlam of confusion and rank incompetence; it has a full complement of deceit and guile.
The country’s tale is synonymous with a country with bountiful resources but lacks proper and standard management, misery and joblessness filled up, bursting at the seams. It is a country of poor markets, rich palaces. A rich nation controlled by poverty and misery. The country was tragically becoming unhinged. Now, see where the ship has anchored.
Our banana is progressively rotting; it is not ripening. The hungry are hungrier; the sick are sicker; the greedy are becoming more greedier, the satanic more satanic and audacious.