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Shameful North !
By Zayyad I Muhammad
zaymohd@yahoo.com
More than thirty-two years of firm grabbed on the affairs of Nigeria, in all her political sphere, sitting on the vast and most fertile agricultural land of Nigeria, having enormous population; economically-wide-spread water resources and patient commoners; today, our cherished North is nothing but a jumble, a shadow of the dream of her founding fathers and a pseudo of the promised destination.
The political leadership, the traditional class, the business moguls and the religious groups in the North, are so much lethargically minded, that the ordinary man perceives them as a ‘hand bag’ of those in authority, they can be hang on any shoulder, any muck can be put into them, they can be used as one wishes and dumped at any point as one desired, though it is unjust to make a global labeling on all fragmentation of headship in the North; nevertheless, one is compel to do so, in order to ring the sound of a warning bell to the ears of all; that the credibility of the head ship in the North is fast diminishing; the North and indeed greater majority of Northerners cannot today compete with others in a plain playing field in Nigeria, not even talking of the fast changing world which Nigerians are mere spectators; although this is largely the upshot of lingering awful leadership in all echelon of Nigerian society.
The leadership in the North, today walks with multiplicity of faces: prior to the advent of the present democratic dispensation, from the end of first republic, the political leadership in the North, are perceived to be greedy; in the sense that what ever they do, act or say is design in the long run to accomplish some personal desire; preferential treatment, deception, adhoc approach to issues and projects concerning community growth, and so much concern with the weight of their purses and greatly inclined to creating a separate class in the society, these have so much stuck to the thinking of the selected few to the extend that nepotism supplant merit, the welfare of their broods and protégé overrides that of their communities, although in certain quarters, the believe is, these are the consequence of prolong bad habit of beseeching within the Northern society.
The coming of president Obasanjo has exposed another disappointing character of the Northern political elites, bald FEAR; this comes in two forms, the fear of their past record and the fear of exclusion by those in authority, this character of the political leadership is so evident with the emergence of Obasanjo third term project, and it has also pictured the Northern political leaders into: the siddon lookers; these are the category that want to be in the left, at the same time enjoy the fruits of the right, the second category are those that can be rightly named as lickers of Nigeria , to them every thing is perfect, so far something is accruing to their pockets, while the next set are the courageous ones, those, whose despite the obvious risk, they stand on issues that are decently right, regrettably the ex-soldiers turn politicians constitutes the bulk of the first two category, while only people like Atiku, Buhari, Awoniyi, Rimi, Na’abba are courageous enough to stand against Obasanjo sit tight agenda. The traditional class is today characterized with emulous desire; this has led to the class, losing it’s traditional grass-root obedience and respect by those in authority. The traditional class have so much lost credence within it’s locals, to the extend that they hitherto believed; it is a taboo to cast a little aspersions on them, even in one’s heart, has become an open fashion, their words are not bank on, and their clout rarely make an impact.
The tradition class is deeply immersed in the unashamed attitude of collection, of the so-called welfare from those in power; their hearts is full of the desire to have something they never need, which have crashed upon them; for the last 25 years the traditional class in the North are cheaply deposed and easily throne, from the highest class to the lowest. The business magnates in their attempt to protect their business had been made to abandon their traditional keeping aloof nature, and forced to wore the face of oblique politicians, though in modern democracy these are expected, but the business class in the North have performed abysmally in helping their communities to developed, while their counterparts in the south have done a lot in the area of provision of scholarships, community schools and health care, those in the North are mainly concern in sitting closer to the umbrella of power, forgetting their little responsibility for their communities, which even the Almighty God has bestowed upon them.
The religious class preaches temperance but they practice gluttony, they are today used by the afore mentioned trio, as a link to the larger society, these have corrupted them and disadvantaged helpless citizens to the level that many communities in the North appear to have stunning mosques and churches but lack basic portable water, health care and educational infrastructures; this is largely due to the attempt by the ruling elites to used the religious class in keeping the masses mute, it has reach a level that when the religious class talk, people know they are lying, and they also know the people know they are lying, and the people have realized that, they are well aware that, they the people know they are lying, they are too much corrupted to the extend that, the out of the ordinary position, they occupy in their communities is at its lowest ranking. To some large extent, the over staying in power by the North, have so much affected the entity call North, in terms of: attitude to community enhancement; which have proven to be an index used by other part of Nigeria in accelerating their development, both in human and on infrastructures, it has helped in corrupting those opportuned to be in the corridors of power; and created a lazy populace, diminished the hitherto credibility of the traditional class; we have today produced the largest colony of beggars roaming the streets of Nigeria, high number of illiterates, sir Ahmadu Bello’s ‘Worship and Work’ motto, has been turn into War and Waste; communities are set against each other and agriculture has lost its precedence
The North is today gearing towards re-assuming the mantle of power in 2007, this writer perceived another character for the Northern political elites; Envy, which has already started manifesting within the class, the traditional class will suffer further integrity problem, as politician can boot them like balls as they wish, the business moguls will be in the most difficult situation of who to identify with as 2007 approaches, because it is apparent that their survival is tight to politician and the religious class will witness further slipping of disciples. What would the mode of the commoners be? Not only in the North but Nigeria as a whole, the political, tradition, business and the religious class, are best to give the answer, may the ALMIGHTY help us.
Zayyad I. Muhammad writes from Jimeta, Nigeria |
