By Anthony Kola-Olusanya
What a country we
have in Nigeria, what a people we are. Politicians (including elected officers)
of all shades and characters have turned Rotimi Amechi's (Rivers State
Governor) crisis with his Party's (PDP) leadership and President Jonathan to an
opportunity for seeking national prominence and
visibility. Not let out are the so-called new-day 'progressives' from ACN/APC
who sent a prominent team of their Governors to visit Amechi's 'Mecca of
troubles' on a 'progressive pilgrimage' and to lure him to joining them.
I
also read in one of the national dailies (Punch, July 20, 2013) that Dino
Melaye's ACN (anti corruption network), Trade Union Congress (TUC), Nigeria
Labour Congress (NLC) and other kinds of groups are planning a pro-Amechi
NATIONAL PROTEST to Abuja (like that of Tahir Square, Egypt) tagged "Touch
Amechi, Touch Nigeria". Even our own respected Kongi, Prof. Wole Soyinka
couldn’t help but get himself dragged into this charade.
While
this madness is going, Academic Staff of Polytechnics (ASUP) in Nigeria have
been on strike for 3 months. Academic Staff of Universities' (ASUU, the
umbrella body for university teachers in Nigeria), strike is going into its 4th
week, millions continue to look towards Heaven for succour as hopelessness and
despair continue to reign in the land.
As
if all these are not enough, the Nigerian Senate reduced the legal age for
marriage to 13 at time when Ghanaians are calling for a change in legal age for
marriage to 23 so that young women can be educated and better prepared for
marriage. Yet nobody is planning a PROTEST against the newly passed legislation
legalizing PEDOPHILIA in Nigeria, to ameliorate the sufferings of millions of
Nigerians, to force governments (both at the Federal and State levels) to
negotiate with ASUP, to respect 2009 Agreement it entered into with ASUU.
How
time changes. Once upon a time, Nigerians of note and repute would have called
protests. Nigerians students and youths, market women, and entire populace
would have been bracing up for an imminent nation-wide protest. Lawyers would
have gone to court.
What
is next? We don’t know. Maybe the Senate will legalize RAPE, MURDER (like the
Stand your Ground rule in some American States), or Exportation of our young
women for PROSTITUTION abroad (like it once existed in Korea) and killing of
young vibrant men (like in China’s Tiananmen Square) or even SLAVERY. What is
this Senate not capable of doing?
It’s
so sad and embarrassing to be alive to witness a once prominent and promising
nation and peoples degenerate so fast into abyss. Like a colleague recently
said to me, “We live in a SELFISH Society, mind your own business”. Nigeria has
become a nation/country of the SELFISH.
However,
there are still many selfless people out there (in the civil society, labour
unions, students’ and youth movements, among concerned professionals, women
groups and the military and other paramilitary organisations) who can be
counted on to genuinely rise up and once again come to the defense of Nigeria
and Nigerians and bring this country back from the Abyss.
To continue to wait
any further will not augur well for us all. May God bless our people and the
labour of our heroes and heroines past. EVERY ONLOOKER IS EITHER A COWARD OR
TRAITOR!!!! (Please share and pass on the message).
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