Promise Adiele PhD
For reasons ranging from my late parents’ Christian tutelage to personal convictions about the inviolable sanctity of the Godhead, I gravitate towards biblical narratives these days as a soothing response to the myriad of problems confronting Nigerians. These days, I think of the bible more, not in terms of rationalizing personal misdirection or in pursuit of holy or unholy sanctimony, but to keep myself in check from tipping over the abyss to which many citizens are victims. Besides research, the nucleus of my daily mental engagement is the degenerate conditions in Nigeria. Nigeria is in deep trouble and urgently needs a saviour but who will save the country? I inevitably remember how the bible recounts God’s love for the world that he sent his only son Jesus Christ to save humanity.
The big question is – who will God send to save Nigeria? I sympathize with those who nurse the slightest hope that the current Bola Tinubu macabre political dance will save Nigeria. Such persons have willfully decided to ignore all the indices of the country’s catastrophic realities. To be sure, Tinubu is in good company with Buhari in the gradual but steady annihilation of Nigeria. Buhari initiated it, and Tinubu is implementing it. We ask, who will rescue the country?
Can Nigerians collectively rise to save themselves from the throes of economic hardship which graduates to fierce heights daily? Collective, mass action is not possible because the political class, those who are profiteers of the blood and sweat of the masses, have viciously divided the people with ethnic, religious, and sectional rhetoric. Therefore, all the different ethnic groups in Nigeria see one another as enemies and live in constant suspicion of their neighbours. Nigerians can no longer speak with one voice because they interpret and view every condition in the country from the prism of either ethnicity or religion. When there is a call to protest the harsh economic situations in the country, when there is a determination to call the attention of the political class to the dreadful privation in the country, millions of Nigerians are quick to take a sectional, ethnic interpretation of the mass action.
We hear deranged expressions such as “they are election losers”, “they want to destabilize Tinubu’s government”, and “wait until 2031 for your turn”. Satisfied that Nigerians will never speak with one voice, the political class is emboldened to tighten the noose around the necks of impoverished masses. So what do you see? People who willingly accept suffering by adjusting to every policy that lacerates their beings. If a litre of petrol sells for N5,000 today, Nigerians will adjust to it and move on. If a bag of rice sells for N500,000 today, Nigerians will quietly reconcile themselves to the situation and move on. Nigerians can never save themselves because they will never speak with one voice.
Can INEC and elections save Nigerians? INEC so constituted is incapable of conducting a free and fair election in Nigeria. It is a discredited electoral body infamous for various shades of electoral shenanigans. Before the Edo off-cycle election, Tinubu went to the state and in the most unpresidential manner, asserted his identity as the president of Nigeria. He promised the APC wing of Edo State to hand over the state to them. His audience sheepishly clapped as a group of children deluded with tales by moonlight. It simply means that Edo State was taken by APC before the election. My question is, if Tinubu and his gang knew that Edo State was taken before the election, why put the people through the torture of voting in the name of an election? Tinubu promised to give Edo State to APC and he did it.
I have a video where, divested of any shred of decorum, he declared so without recourse to the wishes of the Edo people. If Tinubu and APC’s body language is anything to consider, it simply means that the 2027 election is a foregone conclusion. The Nigerian state is captured and we need urgent national salvation. The electoral body so constituted is an extension of the country’s existential crucible. It cannot save Nigeria. Can the judiciary and law courts save Nigerians? Well, I prefer not to offend my sensibilities or violate my moral canvas by discussing Nigeria’s judiciary. The verdict is simple – the judiciary cannot save Nigeria.
Let us then turn to religious organizations for help, perhaps given their spiritual provenance and proximity to divine, supernatural powers, they can utilize their various identities and save Nigerians. The three most popular religious outlets in the country are Christianity, Islam and Traditional Religion. Can these various organizations save Nigerians? It defies reason that every corner of the country is dotted by one church or another, sometimes with funny names. Yet, the crevices of the people’s hearts are filled with wickedness, moral debasement, and inordinate pursuits that feather the Kingdom of Perdition. Our churches are filled with the most pretentious, backward, integrity-deficient people in creation. Most of the pastors are simply operating business centres where they make stupendous amounts of money and indulge in material, flamboyant excesses without regard for the word of God.
Some people see churches as a place to hide from their decadent inclinations. Such people operate a dual personality, one for the public who they deceive with an annoying pious attitude as if they cannot hurt a fly. They call prayer points with ease and shout ‘praise God’ to the high heavens during church services. Yet, beyond these façade lies a second real identity, a despicable, latent evil, an instrument in the hands of Satan to destroy and deceive. Thus, our churches are populated by eschatologically disoriented worshippers who hardly know anything about God. The big question is – what is the role of the church in nation-building? Is it possible for the church to save Nigerians from the current malaise? It is improbable because many church leaders are hands in glove with the human elements that operate the machinery of affliction and administer the pill of sorrow to Nigerians. Many church leaders are collaborators with the oppressors of the people. Truly, the church cannot save Nigerians.
Can the Mosques save Nigerians? I am aware that while some Islamic clerics preach tolerance and speak truth to power about the disconcerting conditions in Nigeria, many Mosques have become outlets for clerics to spread hate and support evil in the corridors of power as long as government policies favour them. Millions of Muslims endorsed the current crucifixion of Nigerians based on Muslim/Muslim ticket. The Muslim/Muslim ticket has proved to be the greatest political mistake of a typical Muslim who voted for the current administration. Let us be clear, Saudi Arabia and Dubai are places where honest Muslims have developed but the Nigerian case is affected by the Nigerian factor. Bandits and terrorists who kidnap for ransom in Northern Nigeria profess the Islamic religion.
Many devout Muslims drink from the same trough as the oppressive elements in Nigeria. Therefore, Islam like Christianity cannot save Nigeria. Can Traditional Religion save Nigerians? Can the priests of Sango and its accomplice Amadioha call down thunder to strike those who sit tightly on the destiny of millions of Nigerians? Sango and Amadioha are deities reputed to achieve vengeance and retribution through the swift agency of thunder and lightning. Unfortunately, the spiritual channel to access these deities is corrupted and compromised, so Sango and Amadioha lack their famed potency for swift action. Many priests of gods and goddesses which our forefathers relied on for justice and fair play are all compromised. Therefore, our traditional spiritual highway is corrupted and dormant as the people wallow in anguish. Indeed, Traditional Religion cannot save Nigerians.
Can Nigeria’s security architecture made up of the Military and Police save Nigerians? Although each time the military struck in the past, dislocating a democratic process, they always christened their adventure as a ‘corrective regime’ but the military did not cover themselves in any shade of glory all the time they were in power in the past. When you place Nigeria’s democratically elected government and military government in Nigeria side by side in terms of accomplishments and infrastructural developments, the military easily dwarfs their civilian counterparts.
The primary duty of the military is to protect the territorial integrity of Nigeria from external aggression and not to meddle in politics. Military regime is seen as an aberration in modern global governance but it seems to be popular in Africa given that African politicians behave like reprobate minds with their power drunk and sit-tight attitude. Can the military save Nigeria and clean the Augean stable? It is unlikely because military officers turn out to be a replica of the civilian government they ousted although some people may argue differently.
Can civil society groups save Nigeria? Civil society groups are practically dead in Nigeria since the country returned to civil rule. They were vocal and active during military rule but since Nigeria embraced democratic governance, civil society groups have died a natural death. It could be that many people at the forefront of civil society agitations in Nigeria back in the day are now in government and advancing the frontiers of collective despoliation of Nigerians for which they tirelessly fought. NLC and all its allied subsidiaries are paper tigers that do not instill any confidence in the people. Where are the Civil Liberties Organization, NADECO and many others? Their leaders have abandoned ships and joined forces of tyranny in the country to ambush and devastate the people. Can foreign interests, the superpowers save Nigerians? It is highly unlikely because they ingratiate themselves with the subsisting power protocols in Africa for the protection of their economic interests. For these foreign countries, a criminal, an incompetent wayfarer can head an African country as long as that stooge protects the economic concerns of the superpowers. The interest of foreign powers is to exploit and degrade Africa for their advancement. Therefore, it is remotely impossible for foreign interests to save Nigeria as long as their interests are protected in the country.
We all agree that Nigeria must be saved but who will do it? Nigeria must be redeemed but who will go for us? All the time God initiated change in the bible, he never used a crowd. He always used one person. It takes one individual to alter the Nigerian narrative and save millions of people from daily anguish. Today a bag of rice is N100,000. It looked practically impossible last year that a bag of rice in Nigeria would be so expensive. A litre of petrol is over N1,000 and the masses are inundated with all sorts of jargon between Dangote and NNPLC which the ordinary man does not understand. 2027 will be an extension of the same grotesque procession of tragedy for the people because the current political class will surely perpetuate itself in power.
I speak for the deprived, impoverished people of Nigeria who are the final victims of the metaphoric live bullets of the ruling class which kill in millions. This September, many children will not return to school because their parents cannot pay their school fees. Young boys are embracing money rituals to become rich. Young girls are turning into prostitutes overnight. Mothers are selling their children because they cannot feed them and fathers are abandoning their families because they cannot live up to their responsibilities. Unfortunately, the political class and their middle-class accomplices gloat over these conditions with gusto and an offensive sense of entitlement. Indeed, Nigeria must be saved but who is the saviour and where will he/she come from? Who will save Nigeria?
Promise Adiele PhD is of Mountain Top University and can be reached on promee01@yahoo.com, X: @drpee4
