WAKE UP: NIGERIA – TO THE YOUTH AND MR. PRESIDENT

By BASHIR ADEFAKA

Nigerian Youths. SARS is already ended. Other things you now do is for you to blame yourselves. How?

What is your contribution to the successes and betterment of Nigeria that you now cry dies not favour you? Tell the world your confidence in MADE-IN-NIGERIA? By yourselves, your hate and lack of patronage of MADE-IN-NIGERIA, aside later excuse of power during PDP era that made them shut down industries, versatile industrialists don’t feel proud producing here. I remember when somebody showed my grandmother a fabric that was milled in Ado Ekiti Textile labelled MADE-IN-ENGLAND. Instead for you to buy it at N100 Made-n-Nigeria, you can then proudly but it as Made-in-England at N2,000. This Nigerian Rice COVID-19 was selling cheaper than foreingn at N13,000 compared to N20,000 snuggled rice. Fine Nigerian Rice: Tomato Mama, Bulls etc. But I was in a market and the Nigerian said “What am I doing with Nigerian Rice and the seller gave him the costlier one which government banned from coming in. Today, that personal choice of his is reason he is blaming Buhari for his hunger now. Except he would also say COVID-19 was caused by the President.

Fellow Nigerian Youths, you hate whatever is produced in your country, quality though knowing that was how economy is developed but promote smuggling whereby you prefer people taking your money abroad to build other economy, bring their products to dump at neighbouring borders, still pay tariffs there to develop economies of those places e g. Benin Republic and you then hail them forcing their way smuggling those products – legally paid for in those neighbouring countries – into your own country where you lay claims to be well managed economically as citizens.

I am only reminding you before you go guilty of excesses.

WE FEEL THE PAINS ALL TOGETHER. NOW THAT SARS BRUTALITY AGAINST US IS BEING CURBED, AND POLICE IS GENERALLY BEING REFORMED, YOU WILL ONLY DO WELL BY ALSO SETTLING DOWN TO REFORM YOURSELVES. SINCERELY WITH YOU, THE EVIL YOU AS PEOPLE, GOVERNED, DO TO NIGERIA IS BIGGER THAN THE EVIL OF THE LEADERS FOR WHICH YOU NOW WANT TO OVERTHROW YOUR PRESIDENT AND KILL ALL YOUR APC GOVERNORS WHILE HAILING PARTICULARLY YOUR OYO STATE PDP GOVERNOR USING THE SOLDIERS TO PROTECT HIS STATE, AND YOU KNOW HOW HIS FELLOW GOVERNORS OF APC ARE ESCAPING DEATH BY THE WHISKERS FROM YOUR FELLOW PROTESTERS IN OSUN AND EKITI STATES. DO YOU EVER PONDER TO KNOW WHEN TO START AND WHEN TO STOP?

You voted government into office, you go to sleep. The only thing you do is watch foreign football and curse your country daily. You prefer to wear American colours, UK colours because you are always ashamed to be identified as Nigerians, even on the soil of Nigeria. Yet you have no country anywhere else you can call your own.

Since 1999 you have not seen Lagos-Ibadan Expressroad, Shagamu-Ore Expressway, Rails connecting Niger-Delta to Northern Nigeria, South West to North, Abuja to Kaduna ever given the kind of attention (under your Southern Presidents – Obasanjo, Jonathan 16 (+/-) years) like you have seen being given attention under the Northern President (Buhari) in the last 5 years. None of those Presidents of your races (Yoruba and Ijaw) ever touched all of the six zones fairly like Buhari of North even his people of North don’t see him as representing the North but that he is just the normal neutral Nigerian President even benefiting Southerners and Christians more than his own tribe and religion.

Now, you see his great achievements but pretend like you don’t see. How do you want your condition to end when, even to a President that has used your resources well for you, you stand under ethnic and religious sentiments and hate to, by yourselves, cause division within yourselves so as to make the country ungovernable for him. When the heavens fall, are you going to be saved? Since what you do is going to cause collective destruction to all of us, I implore you to go and sit down and know that where President Buhari may have his own grey areas, which you have not given me the chance to see because since 24 hours after he took over on May 29, 2015 this hate you started doing some of you later joined, that you too have your own because all the food prices hike you cry about is caused by your own parents and some of you the youths in food warehousing business. You form association for everything in Lagos yet these things you form association to determine prices for are not made by you but the North you so much hate. Transporters increase fare daily in Lagos yet earnings are not increased.

You said Buhari should have used Government Fiat to force those doing the wrongs. How many of similar Fiat in the past did you stand with him when they sponsored their media, lawyers and civil society organisations to start raising human rights issues over things criminals we should have joined hands with government to stamp out? And when it comes to international image, you will have ended up ruining your country thinking you are ruining Buhari.

Under 8 months that he came, he jumped power from 2,600 megawatt to 5,000 megawatts and fixed the refineries which started working including Kaduna. But militants of the South South were bombing those things and you youths, as media practitioners and lawyers, stood behind them in the name of human rights when eventually the President used military to stop those destroyers. Your claim was that “why should you deprive people over their resources?” Meaning you practically succeeded helping the Niger Delta ruin themselves. How many hands of the North did we see in the corruption’of NDDC meant to make Niger Delta a Dubai when eventually President Buhari’s established Forensic Audit process exposed the root of problem depriving the people? None of those lawyers and media who had helped them blame the North for Niger Delta problem has raised an issue because the thieves are now seen to be Southerners. But that led to why we returned to Subsidy he had insisted he won’t pay.

But you don’t talk about how he returned to the subsidy, all you know best how to do is “they are all the same. Why did he promise no subsidy and he is still paying?” When you go to NewsStand, you can only buy or take Sports News reading football of foreign countries. No interest reading about progress in your country. The only time you read Nigeria is when bad things happen, forgetting that it has direct bearing on your lives. You as Youths are educated. How much of your education do you put into practice? You claim you don’t have information, but when you are confronted with evidence that you have information, you begin to say you don’t need information but transformation. What then is your cry about?

Where is your cry that you now block roads everywhere disturbing even we that are neither SARS nor government from freely moving around? Have we got to a point that we no longer have people who can enforce law? I will now call attention of them who have wanted you to come out for Revolution, the likes of Abass Adetunji, Omoyele Sowore and others who said Revolution was possible and must come, to now see what we tell them about evil of lawlessness and about how and why the youth generation presently in Nigeria is not fit to be in charge. Did I not say it?

Unfortunately, fine fellows like Yusuf U Ajeka swayed and began to even see Buhari as the evil. And they will say it is their entitled opinion. They know many stages of development: as parents they fail in their duties. As teachers, only few dedicate themselves to the service. I greet Alhaja Moyosore Oyetunji, a fantastic mother and teacher. I greet Alhaja Aderonke Medinah Badmus-Mohammed, great education director and mother. What about you as mother and father? Of what benefit is opinion rights that hurt others? I hope Prof. Fola Lasisi, Prof. Kamal Bello, Hon. Lateef Olawumi, Accountant Hammed A. B Eleyele, Mustopha Jamiu Olamilekan, Lauretta Onochie, Idris Ahmad, Idris Katib, Lawal Kehinde, Femi Adesina, Akinwale Ojutalayo, Akinwale Ojutalayo, Amir Qamarudeen Ajala, Giwa Omotoyosi, Blessing Edeh, etc are following me?

Anyway, from all the painful areas I expressed above, I, at this point, expect that President Muhammadu Buhari should use the powers that he has now on these elements across the system: government and populace and forget about whether the people will be satisfied or not. I know that if you stand up to do price control, which we all believe is required, their godfathers will still sponsor media and public revolt against you. But you are the one with the power. NIGERIA IS NOT MALI. Don’t allow these meaningless people hiding under democracy to use opportunity of #ENDSARS protest to destabilize the country.

The fight you have to fight now, Mr. President, is simply not terrorism but of a people who are not inclined towards obedience of law. They are the reason education is in trouble. They are the reason Road Safety is not providing safety. They are the reason Police is no longer friend of the people. They are the reason civil service has become civil cultism and Nigerians don’t access betterment of life until they get out of the country. Why should children continue to sit for JAMB give years no admission? Those that came out don’t have job and so, neglect of over 40 years, you except Buhari to have cleared under 5 years. Yet, Britain you idolise had existed for 300 years before America pulled out. America that is now your idol has now existed for 252 years and by mere COVID-19, its economy sang you saw it. But you under 60 years country is still standing from that hard experience despite mono-economy. There should be no sense in blaming such President who has continued to hold the country head tall amidst the harrowing globally inflicted situation.

Mr. President, You have about 3 years more to go. Take the first 6 months from now to declare State of Emergency in vertually all the institutions: education, health, agriculture and humanity. Sign, immediately, Executive Order that will practically reconstruct and reform the character and attitude of the people so that all these ethnic and religious hate towards one another, which they use to cause division and still blame it on you, will stop.