Why things remain the way they are is because those who rule us have known the psychology of our weakness. They know that we have great sacrificing spirits and endure a lot. We can talk and complain about issues at beer parlours, Newspaper stands, even while playing draught without taking any action. We can only shout without pursuing and following any issue to logical conclusions. These are armchair politics. Our voices will not reach the power. The politicians know how to get our people. Despite their problems, they can be manipulated with little token to make them forget the things that put them in their terrible situations. This injustice can linger to the next generation. It reminds me of the Epicurean philosophy “Eat and tomorrow we shall die” When we apply it to Nigerian situation, the poor don’t mind going to any length just to feed at the moment and forget tomorrow.
They will say if the devil gives them, they will collect with left hand. We do not know that when we eat what we condemn it would affect our health. The Politicians seduce and manipulate us because they know our in and out; our weakness, they can toss us up and down like balloons in the wind. They know we can’t take actions because they control and manipulate the justice systems that we could have run to. They manipulate us because they know we say certain things out of hunger and anger and when little food is given to quench the hunger, we sing another chorus because they know that food is a successful political tool to be used on us. Sometimes, some of us after receiving something from the politicians shift camps and start attacking those that complain. They come to tell us to down-tone our voices. What is given is to quieten us does not solve our problems. It has become a pass-on issue from generation to generation. We can only murmur and nobody would hear us.
They know that our voices have no chemistry because the voices are divided. The politicians caused this divisiveness with their monetary gifts, tribalism and religious intolerance to win hearts for themselves. Politicians enjoy divisiveness! No one can volunteer to lead a protest because everyone is afraid of Nigerian police who are brutal and don’t know that what we are fighting for is also for their own benefits. Even some Human Rights Activists who pretend to be on the same page with us, buy our problems to present them to the government, but at the end the politicians buy them over and they rise in politics. When these types of people join a political party with such behaviour, they either destroy it or migrate from one party to another and can never be loyal. They become party maniacs! This is Nigerian politics. Instead of correcting the system, they join the system for only one purpose; money! Food and money have destroyed us. When those who rob us of our rights and privileges, who buy our lands at exorbitant prices, who destroy our future, give us money, we accept with trembling and hesitant hands because the stomach is empty.
Whatever we receive from the politicians may hurt us and we pay dearly for it in future. The politicians go round with cameras to documents their “achievements” when dishing out peanuts to citizens and constructing shacks as schools, wooden pallets as bridges after collecting billions of Naira for them. They execute white elephant projects and pad the budgets. When what we received from politicians finishes and we reflect deeply, we start asking philosophical questions “When will things get better in Nigeria?” It would only get better when we say things the way they are, hold the bull by the horns and not accept gifts from those we curse or criticize. Those living in America are fighting against living on one pay check to another because one pay check cannot solve the numerous problems of the workers. This is because they are not paid just wages. Some people can live on only one pay check to get financial and job fulfillments. It is not impossible to believe that a driver of a politician in Nigeria may not be enjoying amenities from his master. Amenities like living in his own house, owning a car and having his children in good schools. They don’t care. They can even lament that their own pays are not enough. It is their greed that leads them to loot and launder monies in the ministries they head.
A typical example is NDDC, EFCC and other agencies. They gather all and want the poor masses to remain in perpetual slavery. When the politicians know that we have known them and we begin to boldly confront them and point fingers at their political ills and injustices against us, they would be forced to sit up and shift gears. We should always be united and speak with one voice whenever there is an opportunity to bare our minds and avoid letting them divide us with their palliatives. They should not use the electorates as political football because if they keep quiet at a time, it doesn’t mean that their compliance is a sign of weakness. This is what politicians should understand. There should be a better understanding between politicians and the electorates because all the electorates can’t be in political leadership positions at a time. They are voted as representatives to bring development and basic amenities to the grassroots. If the elected leaders represent their people well, there would never be problems and disagreements because they would be respected as professional politicians while we remain professionals in our individual chosen fields. If we all work hard together and respect our professional ethics, our nation would experience rapid development.
• Very Rev. Msgr. Livinus Ukah is a Catholic Priest, Author of many books and a Social Justice and Peace Advocate