'WTF' Moments

Last time there was a "WTF" moment on this blog was this time last year (see previous post), But seriously when it comes to Naija every day is a "WTF" moment.
I don't know if it has something to do with the coming elections but the number of "WTF" moments in the last few weeks is mind boggling even by naija standards.

check out the top 5 in recent days

5. SR reveals Bukola Saraki's (governor of Kwara state) stupendous wealth, if you had money in the former Societe Generale Bank of Nigeria (SGBN) (like one of my friends did) you now know who "took" your money

4. "Daniel may have his own weaknesses, but such can be corrected" Is Obj's response to corruption 'allegations' made against the governor of Ogun state (Gbenga Daniel). I suppose that only applies to those in the "right" party while those in the "wrong" party end up on the EFCC "list"

3. "We need his experience to win the polls." is what Obj had to say about the antics of Lamidi Adedibu, Political Godfather in Oyo state. I'm sure his experience of thuggery, rigging and intimidation will serve the PDP well..

2. Yar'Adua's rumoured death. Yar'Adua catches a 'cold' and the whole country sneezes

1. Atiku flies out for treatment to a torn knee cap (shame he didn't break his neck while exercising)
Obviously if Atiku had any intelligence this would have been a great opportunity to gain political capital by using a local hospital ( according to his officials the equipment to treat him was available in Lagos)
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Who will fight?

An interesting article from sahara reporters...

The Angry Nigerian In Diaspora (from sahara reporters)
http://www.saharareporters.com/www/article/detail/?id=255

By ‘Tosin Olawale Duyile

I am an angry Nigerian in diaspora. I mean a very angry Nigerian.

I am so angry that I look at our country’s neighbour Ghana and dream about what could have been in ours.

I am so angry that I wish and dream that I could be in a position with resources to hire a professional assassin and do something similar to what Jerry Rawlings did to the pigs and rats that looted his country’s treasury, to the thieves that have stolen and to those still stealing our country’s wealth, inheritance and resources.

Oh I am so angry, so angry that I constantly dream about what I would do if I have the resources at my disposal and tremendous will-power to execute my plans. If I do, I would target the corrupt leaders, including governors, administrators, legislators, political eunuchs, ex-khaki boys and hangers-on one by one. I would provide the hired assassin with high powered telescopic rifle with lead encased bullets and eliminate these bastards from afar one by one. I would then leave ransom notes at the scene and place anonymous advertisements in several national newspapers with clear instructions for each and everyone of the rest to return their loots to the national treasury. Believe me, there will be no hiding place for any of them.


But then I, like most other Nigerians am a coward. The only thing we as Nigerians are good at doing is talk and write. Talk is cheap. I sometimes watch some Nigerian current affairs discussion programmes via satellite television here in the UK. I feel so disgusted at times at the filth coming out of the mouths of the participants that such programmes rather than provide a psychological uplift, actually make me more depressed. I always look at them and think ‘birds of the same feather’.

A so-called journalist working for BEN TV in London (I won’t mention his name) interviewed Babangida last year and sucked up to him throughout the interview. He neither asked him any probing question, nor took him to task about his crimes against the Nigerian people. Rather, he pretended to be his son and kept referring to him as ‘My Father’. I felt like smashing my TV to pieces. I was angry that my 2 young children could feel the anger oozing out of me. I reckon this journalist was harbouring the hope of landing a plum job if the ‘evil genius’ (as he is called) returns to power.

The fundamental problem of the Nigerian polity is precedence. Precedence in that it is in the psyche of the Nigerian that if he / she is elected to, or appointed to a position of power or that which controls resources, he / she would embezzle and misappropriate funds and nothing would happen. Worst case scenario if he / she is found out – he would be incarcerated for a few months at worst, and later freed to enjoy his / her illicit gains.

I have often debated this ‘precedence’ problem with my compatriots here in the UK. The universal consensus is to adopt Rawlings’s solution to Ghana’s problem – Line up the leaders and corrupt officials (past and present) and shoot them, but not before they return their ill-gotten wealth. Failure to cooperate means that their immediate and extended families would be complicit and suffer the same fate. To the reader of this article, this may sound callous and inappropriate and against the fundamental principle of human decency. But desperate times call for desperate measures.

Prayers and talk alone cannot solve Nigeria’s problems. Make no mistake, the majority ethic groups of South Africa dismantled the apartheid structures not because of international support, but because there was no other option but death in struggle.

In the film Godfather, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, Michael Corleone (played by Al Pacino) visited Cuba around the time of the revolution. In the scene, they witnessed a revolutionary blowing himself up rather than be arrested by the police. His partner in crime told Corleone to ignore the action, but Corleone wisely did not and flew back to the States. His words were that the revolutionaries would succeed because they were not afraid of death. True to his words, they succeeded. I suspect that that part of the film is reminiscent of the Fidel Castro’s struggle for power in Cuba.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not a communist. In fact I am a very successful Town Planning Consultant here in the UK and I run my own business. But the message I am trying to put across is that until we as Nigerians take matters into our own hands and target these corrupt and satanic politicians and bureaucrats and force them to experience the penury and hopelessness that millions of Nigerians currently experience, we are condemned to eternal damnation. No amount of prayer will solve our problems. We need to take the bull by the horns and adopt the biblical principle of ‘heaven helps those who help themselves’.

We should adopt the same draconian principles that the Animal Rights Movement have put into perfection in the UK and the US by targeting companies and organisations profiting from research using animals, mainly primates. Some may call this terrorism, but in the long term, it would be successful. Of this I have a firm and unshaken conviction. The one thing that these dubious politicians and brigands fear is death and injury. History and posterity will forgive anyone who dares to follow this path. All peaceful means have been exhausted to stop the looting and mismanagement of our resources to no avail.

I empathise with the various militant groups operating in the Niger Delta, but they seem to have got their priorities wrong by kidnapping foreign expatriates. They should instead kidnap people like Odili and the others who mismanage their resources. Kidnapping foreigners only tarnishes our image abroad. To an average British or Korean or Chinese or Filipinos, these people are simply terrorists, no different from Al Qaeda operatives. The foreigner is not interested in the injustices in the Niger Delta area.

A taxi driver of Ghanaian descent took me to Heathrow Airport on my way to Lagos last year. This gentleman was so much in tune with the current affairs in Nigeria that he mockingly showed me Umaru Dikko’s grandiose mansion in Hammersmith. His exact statement was that what Umaru Dikko put Nigerians through, can never happen in Ghana. I nearly cried.

The sad thing about the sorry state of the Nigerian nation is that the younger generations do not know better. When I was in Nigeria last year, I engaged in a dialogue with a University Undergraduate, whom I have known since he was born. I told him in no uncertain terms that if Babangida returns to power, that would be the end of Nigeria. His emphatic conviction was that Nigeria would improve. I was alarmed and asked him why. His response was that Babangida would facilitate corruption and in his words allow everybody to chop. Babangida’s motto according to him is ‘You chop I chop’. At that very moment, I lost hope and firmly believe that I will never see a better Nigeria in my life time.

Nigeria’s politicians and power brokers are like a malignant tumour that feed on the organs of the body. Unless they are wiped out (I mean literally) there is no salvation for this great country of ours.

I remain angry, but take comfort in that my dreams may yet come to fruition in my lifetime. Any volunteers?