“The situation is like this: they hired our parents to destroy this world, and now they’d like to put us to work rebuilding it, and — to add insult to injury — at a profit.” – The Invisible Committee, The Coming Insurrection
Nigerians, rightly or not, have been labeled gullible and docile in a bid to explain why successive governments have taken them for a ride.
When Prof Mahmoud Yakubu’s INEC turned the mandate of Nigerian voters upside down in February last year, everybody thought heaven would fall with Nigerian youths reacting. When the Supreme Court refused to be persuaded by the evidence before it, the world waited for the people to react. They did not. The rogue government has now come up with unprecedented anti-people policies that have jolted and drowned the sentiments that hitherto prevented mass action in Nigeria.
The impending stomach revolt knows no tribe, religion, political party, class, or creed, and the hitherto passive and manipulable population is threatening because both the rich and the poor are wailing, showing that adversity may be what is needed to make a success out of lamblike and malleable people like ours. The reason they are panicking and running helter-skelter is that they never as the farm landlords envisaged that the farm animals could ever unite to fight for their common cause.
Crying and wailing are more related to the poor in society because they are always found in conditions that make their heart grieve. Rarely do the rich weep, that is why we say the rich also cry when we occasionally find them in unfamiliar uncomfortable conditions. We normally do not expect them to be in. So, what conditions will make both of them cry and boohoo at the same time? That inquest will form the basis of our conversation this week. Why are the rich and the poor In Nigeria crying?
Today, both the rich and the poor in Nigeria cry, even though they are sniveling and sniffing for different reasons. The poor as usual are crying of hunger and permanent threat to life due to hardship, insecurity, and suffering. The rich are whimpering for fear of what the poor might do to them when the situation gets out of hand. Perceptible trepidation has engulfed the rich in the land and they are in a state of unpleasant emotions. But this is self-inflicted and preventable anxiety, having taken the people for granted for too long, enough for them to grow teeth of anger and strong feelings of hostility.
If you have a house help who fears, respects, adores, and even treats you like a super being, strive as much as possible not to push him to the point where he will one day stand before you face to face and say to hell with your money. When that happens, know that you are in hot soup and that you have crossed the red line. Nigeria has crossed the red line with its larger population due to its successive leadership failure fuelled by corruption and insensitivity. And as the chicken is home to roost everyone is bracing up for the consequences. Armageddon is in sight and everyone is in panic mode. The excitement and distractions of football (AFCON) are gone and we are back to square one being confronted with the reality of a nation in distress. A hungry nation is an angry nation and the mood is in the air for all to feel except perhaps the unwary.
It has long been foretold, both by men of letters and the superstition spiritualists, that when hunger-engineered revolt arrives, religion, regionalism, ethnicity, political party affiliation, class, and gender interests will be suspended. Stomach will stand as General Officer Commanding dictating and determining directions to follow. Nigeria may not have arrived there yet but the indicator light is showing and the panic is in the air. Meetings upon meetings are being called and none is hitting the nail on the head. The rich are hiding their loot, hoping it will not get worse.
Meanwhile, the train is getting close to the station, and its high-sounding horn is already blaring to everybody’s hearing except a few who are deceiving the King that the situation is not as bad as being heralded by the social media that is being egged on by the opposition. To the president’s men what needs to be done and quickly too is to cage the social media and their disciples and calm will return.
Before the President can know the real story, his lieutenants must first understand the gravity of the situation and convey it to him appropriately but where those around him beat the drum of merriment in the face of turmoil, what happened to the Titanic and its crew may befall them. (Google what happened to Titanic and why.)
The adrenaline of the Northern elite is going up and they are screaming already. Their fear is real that the hungry poor are at the point of danger and could turn on them.
The first cry came from the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero, when he hosted the wife of the President, Remi Tinubu, in his palace in Kano last week. “Although we have several means of communicating to the government on our needs and requests, your way and means is the surest way that you would tell the President the actual happenings in the country.
“The hunger and starvation, though didn’t start with this government, the situation has become more alarming and needs urgent attention.” The Emir further explained that “the issue of insecurity is another serious problem we are facing. I know your government inherited it, but something more serious should be done to take care of the threats.
Then came a larger body of the Northern monarchs led by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, who screamed in a more concerned voice to the President. “The situation is getting to a level that traditional leaders could no longer pacify the people from revolting against the government and political leaders that are supposed to find solutions to their lingering socio-economic plight,” he said.
“And let’s not take it for granted; people are quiet, they are quiet for a reason because people have been talking to them.; we have been talking to them, we have been trying to tell them things will be okay and they keep on believing. I pray to the Almighty Allah that they will not one day wake up and say we no longer believe in you.
“We have reached that level, people are very agitated, people are hungry, they are angry, but they still believe there are people who can talk to them, they believe in some of their governors, some other traditional rulers, and some of their religious leaders. Fortunately, some of us double as traditional and religious leaders.”
Also adding voice to the situation is the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Yakubu Maikyau who called on the President to show a demonstrable commitment to prioritize the security of the lives and property of Nigerians already committed by him.
“The government, through our armed forces and other security agencies, must ensure that no square inch of the Nigerian territory is left ungoverned; no part of Nigeria should be left under the control of criminal elements by whatever name so-called.
“To this extent, we must declare a state of emergency on insecurity if we are to make any meaningful progress in this regard. It is time for the government to declare a state of emergency in the area of security and I urge you, Mr President, not to waste time and spare no effort in this regard.”
He also lamented the parlous state of the economy and the falling value of the national currency. “The Nigerian economy is dwindling, the value of the naira has been bastardized, prices of foodstuffs have skyrocketed, and everything negative seems to be on the rise. The insecurity has equally impacted negatively on food sufficiency and food security as a nation.’’
The Northern royal fathers in that alarm gave the erroneous impression that when the revolt would start, the target would be the government and politicians, forgetting that some of them played a more deadly role in the situation that brought the country where it is today.
Yes, the royal fathers and the NBA are very strategic bodies to speak up on issues of national concern but the question is, where were they when the chicken was laying the egg and only complaining after it had hatched? These monarchs remained mum when Buhari ran his nepotic government. They were mum when reasonable voices warned that the same-faith ticket at the presidential level would not engender the needed peace and harmony in the land. Their silence was loud when Yakubu Mahmoud raped the nation’s electoral system. The Sultan even urged Nigerians to accept the outcome of the electoral fraud as the will of God.
One wonders if the current hunger, insecurity, and their repercussions are not the will of God. When the nation’s judiciary faced its worst bastardization and debasement ever in Nigeria’s history, the bar association which should have been more concerned and vocal looked away deviously in skilful silence. Suddenly they have found a voice. Maybe whatever made these critical leaders keep mum in the face of justice has expired and needs reactivation or the stomach effect of their compromise is beginning to show.
What is clear and showing is the great words from Zik of Africa, no condition is permanent. History has even taught in leadership class that you cannot take people for a ride all the time but just some of the time. An American-Spanish philosopher, George Santayana, warned, “The one who does not remember history is bound to live through it again.” God help us.