My Fear about 2015

The illness of the former president Yar’adua with the concomitant lack of control at the federal level gave some unscrupulous elements a golden opportunity to opulently embezzle and rule arbitrarily while the then president was in a faraway country receiving medical treatment. Despite the fact that the Nigerian constitution is succinct about who calls the shot when the president is not in charge, the “members of the cabal” kept on running the nation like their father’s farm. It is in the midst of this chaotic situation that the CLOs and other notable Nigerians rose up not only to rescue power from the devilish cabal but to defend the constitution, hence the unalloyed support for the then Vice President Ebele Goodluck Jonathan, as the Acting President. Although the country had no experience on the workability of such part of it constitution, but the doggedness of Save Nigeria Group led by Pastor Tunde Bakare and other Nigerians, coupled with the support of the National Assembly to enthrone the constitution, hence, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan was declared President in Acting capacity, as prescribed by the Constitution.

The concomitant of the above situation generated an overwhelming public sympathy for Goodluck Jonathan which helped him in no small way. It is a known fact that Jonathan has served as Vice Chairman, Chairman, Deputy Governor and Governor prior to this time but no one can bank on him based on any tangible achievement throughout his political career. In spite of this abysmal lack of performance, voters still went foolhardy to cast their votes for him regardless the bad antecedent of his party, PDP. We heard people saying “I voted for Jonathan, not PDP’. I had the opportunity of asking one of such devout of GEJ, “what are the qualities you saw in this man, Jonathan?” but to my surprise the guy could only say “I am casting my vote for him because the cabal wanted to cheat him”. I shook my head in utmost surprise and I asked myself, “What has befalling on Nigerians to the extent that we cannot differentiate between performance and public sympathy, between activity and productivity?” Note that not only that people foolhardily voted, but PDP also did their ritual of rigging.

A few weeks after GEJ was given a full mandate, Nigerians began to experience the worst days. Corruption rate was on the increase day by day and economy is at the lowest ebb. As if these are not enough, the security situation of the country deteriorated and it is difficult to know who is in charge- Boko Hara or Federal Government. To add salt to the injury, Mr. President came out to tell Nigerians to get use to bombings. I am sure both the FG and media guys have lost counting on the number of lives lost.

In the midst of this national mess, Mr. President demonstrates complete ineptitude and criminally weak. This is one of the reasons I always say on twitter that members of the administration should be charged to court after this tenure in 2015 for their failure to use everything at their disposal to stop killings and bombings, including declaring State of Emergency where necessary.

I am joining my ‘faith’ with other Nigerians that 2015 will witness not only the fall of GEJ but a complete collapse of the corrupt edifice called PDP. If we must be sincere with ourselves, ‘faith’ without work is dead and without result. In other words we must work out our salvation from PDP. One thing about Nigerians that is disturbing is that we love standing akimbo; hoping God will just come down from Heaven and bring change. Such change will remain a mirage and complete illusion.

Ordinarily, 2015 General Elections should not have been a bone of contention if not for the abysmal failure of Gej and his cohorts under the annoying umbrella called PDP. My fear for 2015 is not about PDP but the so called opposition parties. I am afraid of which of them is real. Just last month, a friend of mine came to me to seek advice on which political party to join in preparation for 2015, all I told him was to rule out PDP from political parties to join but I spent almost 30 minutes thinking over which political party to recommend.

It is very unfortunate that most of our opposition parties are terrible. They are set of opportunists hiding under the façade of activists and lovers of people. They are busybodies that are ready to criticize this government because they were sent out of PDP unceremoniously. They are wolves in sheep’s cloths. They are criticizing because of their political disadvantages at the moment. They are people of very bad antecedent but unfortunately because of the general problem of amnesia, Nigerians decided not to think about the skeleton in these guys’ cupboards. Most of them are waiting for favorable permutations. They are waiting for the wind and to take advantage. You will see them leading anti-government rallies. With their participation in such rallies, they are succeeding in ‘siphoning’ the love of people. How I wish Nigerians get back their thinking caps. I sincerely pity the future of this so called Giant of Africa.

My fear for 2015 when we are still in 2012 is more than apprehension. After 14 years of the rule of PDP what will happen should the same PDP win 2015 elections? What does the future hold for our children? Must PDP rule forever? Are we not tired of something here? “Na like dis we go dey dey”?

Don’t get me wrong, PDP is not the problem; after all, nobody is bearing that name. The problem of Nigeria is Nigerians. It is these same Nigerians that murdered NITEL and other government owned companies. These same bad Nigerians are in every nooks and crannies of our opposition parties. Even if we should pray and work to wrestle power from PDP come 2015, who will take over the power? The godfather Tinubu or who?

My fear concerning 2015 is in two categories. The first is who will take the mantle of leadership after the demise of PDP in 2015? Would they not be those former PDP members that were disgraced out of PDP and then joined opposition groups? Can these people do anything spectacular aside the cluelessness that PDP is currently advertising? And on the other side, my second fear is the greediness of our opposition parties to come together.

It is a known fact that PDP is corrupt but very strong because of the resources available to them. And commonsensically, to defeat such fortress one will need a concerted effort. Trust me, without a synergy among the opposition parties, defeating PDP will remain a day dream and illusion. Thank God that most of the opposition big figures have alluded to this fact, which necessitated the proposed Mega Party talks. As laudable as this coming together is, most opposition figures are much more interested in their share of the coming spoil. Sharing formulas and permutations will always scatter them. Then, where are we heading to?

Who will rescue Nigeria from these unscrupulous Nigerians?

God Bless Nigeria!

Olujide ‘Gbenga D

You can follow me on twitter: @golujide

Ascension of Vice President: Caveat to Ghana

It was a hectic day for me at work when I got home thinking to resist all temptation of logging on to my twitter account. I was soliloquizing when I received a broadcast from BBM; it was the announcement of the death of President John Atta Evans Mills. I quickly logged on to check on my timeline, lo and behold the news was true. Honestly, the shock was so rude to rob me of sleep for hours. Of a truth, straight and good trees are not likely to stay long in the forest.

The death of John Atta Mills is a colossal loss not only to Ghana but to Africa. His quintessential leadership is unrivalled in Africa. His way of life should be a great lesson to all African leaders, though; they will not want to learn from such man. But the purpose of this piece is not to eulogize the uprightness of Late John Mills, but to send a warning signal to Ghanaians not to fall to the same pity Nigerians fell into when we were in Ghana’s shoe.

Just like Ghana today, Nigerian President (Yar’Adua) also died. While Yar’adua was away in Saudi, the powerful members of Cabal led by the then First Lady took over power contrary to what the constitution prescribes. The abysmal reign of Mrs. First Lady and the total relegation of the Vice President culminated into public outcry and consequent upon unreasonable support for the then VP, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. All Nigerians wanted was the enthronement of constitution which made Pastor Tunde Bakare under the aegis of Save Nigeria Group to organize rally declaring support for the presidency of GEJ in acting capacity. If you ask Pastor Bakare why was he at the forefront of such rally for a man without any antecedent of performance, I am sure he will say he was only campaigning to uphold Nigerian constitution and nothing more.

When the tenure of Yar’adua-Jonathan elapsed by May 2011, GEJ automatically felt he should be the substantive president. One thing I want Ghanaians to know is that Vice Presidents becoming presidents in this situation are without any ambition for presidency. No well-thought programmes. Most of them are just there. They have no vision about presidency. And for the fact that they have no role in the constitution but for when the president is indisposed, vice presidents are at the behest of political scavengers.

To be sure, I will never blame any Vice President that took over from president in such circumstance, if their remaining tenure is fraught with no performance. This is the reason why I stood akimbo when GEJ was messing up while completing Yar’adua’s term. But it is now like a sin for any VP in such situation not to aspire for Presidency after the expiration of such term. For the fact that they have no ambition for presidency, is the reason why they are prone to what Nigerians are experiencing with GEJ. Their aspiration to presidency is most likely borne out of greed and African mentality of not to leave corridor of power. Such VPs end up being clueless.

For records, when Nigerians threw their supports without any reasonable yardstick but for sheer sympathy for Gej, the so called shoeless president ended up to be the worst president in that anal of Nigerian history all because of this lack of preparation for the throne.  The Nigerians example taught us that John Mahama may contest for the coming election come December and Ghanaians should also beware of the kind of sympathy-vote pity that Nigerians fell into. Despite the abysmal performance of PDP since 1999, we heard people saying “I voted for GEJ not PDP”; this actually blindfolded Nigerians and foolhardily voted for PDP under the façade of voting for GEJ.

While I call for 100% support for John Mahama to complete the term of his former boss, John Atta Mills, I strongly beg them to use Nigeria as example in this regard. Ghanaians should vote for credibility, honesty and good pedigree. On no account should their sympathy for Mahama have anything to do with the coming election. In July last year, Mills was nominated to be the ruling National Democratic Congress party’s presidential candidate for December 2012 elections. The primary represented the first time in the country’s history that a sitting president competed for his own party’s nomination. However, the death of Mills yesterday had destabilized this permutation. Ordinarily, John Mahama stands the chance of being picked by the ruling party to field in for Mills, but I beg the country to look beyond rhetoric and vote wisely.

An unprepared but qualified person is worse than unqualified but prepared person. Ghanaians, “shine your eyes”. Who becomes the next president of Ghana is a source of concern because it will determine what will happen to the political and economic gains during the era of John Atta Mills. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Ghanaians.

God bless Ghana and save Nigeria!

Olujide ‘Gbenga Daniel (@golujide)

25/07/2012

Closer to You

Days after days, I am getting closer to You.

It is my solemn oath not to stop getting closer,

And on getting to You, I promised to get closer, every moment

Closer to you.

There is something special about You that draws me closer

Although, I should not be drawn because of my imperfection.

It is still contentious, but I draw, perhaps, You are the One drawing me.

Closer to You.

Sometimes it’s weird and unimaginable to draw near to You.

All along, the yardstick is just a token of Grace or a common privilege, which only You can bestow.

All the same, I wake up everyday to see that only I have a keen interest in You,

But You have interest in me more.

Concerning closer to You .

OGD

20/04/2012

Obituary: Corruption or Anti-Corruption?

Nigeria is a place where you cannot give direct answers to direct questions. It’s a kind of complicated place where you cannot even know who is in control of governance; Boko Hara or Gej or Coordinating Minister or Bretton wood institutions. It is a place where you cannot get one simple answer to one simple question. Hence, our curiosity to know which is dead between Corruption and Anti-Corruption may suffer the same fate. The consolation price is that we can use some parameters to arrive at a reasonable conclusion.

“Corruption is a vice which is international in scope, monstrous in nature, crudely rampant in developing economies and unobstructively devastating and pervasive in virtually all Less Developed Countries (LDCs)…” of the world, with the giant of Africa, Nigeria taking the giant lead. It is no longer news that corruption is the bane of development anywhere in the world. Good governance therefore becomes a mirage where corruption triumphs like our own.

The irony of everything is that every successive administration tends to fight corruption to the extent that Olusegun Obasanjo defines corruption as "…the abuse of public power to private and personal benefits….” Despite all efforts and machineries to excommunicate this monster from our Holy Communion table, it appears to be growing stronger each day. The bitter truth is that this may continue in as much as we are fond of putting poor (in mind) people in the corridor of power. One thing I have learnt of late is that you cannot steal what doesn’t belong to you without first demean or given up on your ability to work hard to get such things. The question is, for how long are we going to pretend as if all is well?

Despite the fact that my thesis was on corruption and nation building, I still cannot figure it out yet which is dead; corruption or anticorruption. Apart from government machineries to curtail corruption (like offices of Account General, Audit General, Legislator etc), we have myriad of agencies, task-forces, committees and so on that are there with primary responsibilities to fight corruption. Thief should be able to trace the path of fellow thief, but what happens when the thief that was assigned to nab other thieves are busy stealing? Weird? That what happens here.

It is needless to say that I don’t need a professor or prophet to answer this question for me. The answers are obvious and a corollary of what we see each passing day. If I may ask, where was EFCC by the time now convicted James Ibori was stealing $250million? Where was ICPC when OBJ (the same man that defines corruption as "…the abuse of public power to private and personal benefits….") was using his privilege of office to siphon money in the name of Presidential Library? Where was NEITI when the so called cabal was pocketing a whopping sum of N1.7trn under the smokescreen of oil subsidy? Where was Accountant General when Honorable Ministers of Finance and her Petroleum counterpart could not account for millions from subsidy?  If you ask the most foolish Nigerian he will tell you that 99% of past and servicing governors, senator, minister etc are stinkingly corruption. How come anti-corruption agencies are in short of cases and convicts? The way and manner their few cases were unwittingly handled are sources of concern.

Every day is passing as if nothing wrong. The bitter truth is as I putting my fingers on my laptop to put this article together, there are hundreds of politicians across the nation planning or stealing the fortune out of our dear nation. They will not stop doing this because we have no intention of stopping them. Nigeria is so rich to the extent that the siphoned monies since independence in 1960 would have been too much for Africa to develop. Little wonder that 112 million Nigerians (i.e. 67.1% of the 167million population), according to Nation Bureau of Statistics, are living below poverty level. Daily, some people in so many locations stole something. If we modestly assume that a million naira is being stolen each day, that just 365million this is not enough for just one corrupt governor in a year. You do the math!

For the fact that we have hundreds of abandoned projects, dilapidated government hospitals, roads, erratic power supply, disease epidemics, no access to portable water, policy somersault, abject poverty, growing illiteracy level etc, are eloquent testimonies that corruption is very much alive and inversely, it shows that anti-corruption mechanisms are only walking corpses. Hence, we may need more than a miracle to raise these dead corpses hiding under the façade of EFCC, ICPC, NEITI, countless committees and task-forces.

God Bless Nigeria!

Olujide 'Gbenga Daniel

golujide@gmail.com

PRESS RELEASE: NIGERIANS TO RECORD GOVERNANCE DEMANDS THROUGH NEW PLATFORM, “NIGERIANS DEMAND”

True democracy and good governance depend on the people. In Nigeria, a set of passionate and progressive citizens has started educating themselves and others to make our collective voices count and to take our democracy back. We no longer trust our elected representatives to represent us, rather than their greed and political patrons. We no longer believe that we can make our concerns heard only through the ballot box. We no longer have faith in our so-called democratic institutions, which have become the means for unscrupulous groups to continually loot our national coffers and push our country to the brink of disaster.

Therefore, we can no longer remain passive. Nigerians Demand is a group of citizens who have decided to engage in direct, peaceful democratic action, to Participate, Educate and Disseminate, in order to be heard in Nigeria. We do this to inspire one another to speak up. We also do it to remind our representatives in every sector of government and the moneyed interests that direct them, that: We, the people, still know our power!

Nigerians Demand was born of the principle that, together, we can be the change we want to see in Nigeria. We are one of the movements the larger “Occupy Nigeria” movement, made up of diverse communities and organizations that came together around the January 2012 protests, has given birth to. We are autonomous individuals with no particular political affiliations or affiliation to any other group or organization, volunteering our core skills for the cause, as we believe it is our generational duty to. However, there is involvement by cause groups, civil society groups, and existing social justice organizations. We are committed to democracy, nonviolence, inclusiveness and real change – not just talk – in Nigeria.

The Platform

Our web portal www.nigeriansdemand.com was launched on January 23rd 2012. It allows Nigerians from every demographic to submit and categorize the demands they wish to make of the Nigerian government. These demands will then be authenticated, filtered and geographically mapped, as well as compiled into a Nigerians Demand “Manifesto” that will serve as the voice of the ordinary Nigerian who wants a New Nigeria.

Nigerians can make their demands via:

Our Online Form: on www.nigeriansdemand.com/demand

Twitter: #NigeriansDemand[Demand][#Location][#Category] e.g. #NigeriansDemand[create anti corruption court & empowerment of EFCC to ensure prosecution & adequate sentencing][#Lagos][#Governance]

Email: By sending an email to demands@nigeriansdemand.com. The Email must contain
[Demand][Location][Category]

Nigerians Demand
+234 1 2160475
info@nigeriansdemand.com
www.nigeriansdemand.com

-----
Nigerians Demand platform (www.nigeriansdemand.com) is an interactive tool for Nigerians to map their
governance demands with the aim of getting the true democracy we deserve. In recent times, Nigerians have
become more and more willing to engage in policy-making processes, due to greater political
awareness. Nigerians Demand is also a movement that allows Nigerians of every demographic, countrywide, to
make their demands known in a unified voice – because our voices must count.

My Letter to the Man Nuhu Ribadu

Dear brother,

It is my great pleasure writing this to you. Meanwhile, my purpose of writing this short note to you is not only because of my concern for you but because of my great concern for good governance and democracy in Nigeria which a vibrant opposition is a sine-qua-non.  For the fact that one of the main opposition parties in the country featured you as a presidential candidate is even of more concern.

I write to you in respect of your recent appointment as the chairman of the Task force and you acceptance of same. In retrospect, accepting such Greek gift is tantamount to a political suicide. You have just succeeded in digging your own political grave.

I always appreciate students of history, not only because I am one, but because they have the sense of looking back so as to judge the future. In retrospect, such acceptance by Bola Ige in the anal of Nigeria history should be an eloquent testimony that this kind of offer is dangerous; though Chief Ige is not here to narrate it better.

If that was far, can you compare the much-talked about track records of Ngozi Okonjo Iweala before she joined the crew to after? What has she done to our economy since she became the first “Glorified Assistant President” coordinating supposedly fellow colleagues? Reuben Abati used to be a great person before he accepted such offer that you (Ribadu) accepted with pride today. What can Nigerians and posterity say about Abati today? Oh! No Nigerian politician wants to hear such word- posterity. They don’t even believe in the word. But even if they don’t want to hear posterity, they should love nemesis because it will soon nab them.

I will charge you not to play politics with Nigerians in your response. We are all familiar with such response of ‘love for duty for country’.  Don’t hide under the façade of community service.  For what you care, with the advent of Mr. Twitter that President Goodluck Jonthan accused of ‘misinforming’ Nigerians, we have woken up beyond such smokescreen.

Don’t get me wrong, brother, I have no reason to doubt your intellectual capability and military zeal to effect change, but the truth is you cannot beat them; you can only opt out or join them. Remember, you will be reporting directly to the Honorable Minister of Petroleum Recourses, Allison Maduekwe and all the members of Cabal. They will tell you what to do and what not to do per time.  NEITI was created in 2004 or so to perform almost the same functions of your task force.

Come to think of it, even if you discover anything, because they know you will, who would you report this to? During your hay days in EFCC, you were reporting to Mr. President. What are the changes you think you can bring under this choky environment?

To me, this is a litmus test for your democratic ability and sense of purpose. Moreover, If your quote about your father wasq true, I hope your father would be expecting you to go back to your Local Government Area and contest for chairmanship or councillorship. I guess that was what your father meant by love for community service. Like the Confucian adage goes: “person who chases two rabbits catches neither.” If Madam Allison appointed you, it follows that she also reserves the prerogative to sack you at will.

I cannot imagine John McCain or Romney taking such appointment from President Obama. Let tell ourselves some truth here. We don’t want Government of National Unity, it’s a fraud; it has never work anywhere. If we must stick to democracy, out opposition parties must be vibrant.

Your acceptance of this juicy offer makes you an opportunist and rent seeker, if not political scavenger. You have not proved yourself worthy of leading our dear nation by this offer. There are thousands of areas that you can serve you country without taking this offer.

Perhaps my zeal for you was born out of my wrong perception of you and your pedigree.  Whatever, but my candid advice is that you should not take the offer, if you are still member of opposition that we are expecting to snatch power away from PDP.  Of course a lost dog will not hear the warning whistle of the hunter.

God Bless Nigeria!

Yours Sincerely,

Olujide ‘Gbenga

08/02/2012

Occupy Nigeria: Lessons and Achievements

OCCUPY NIGERIA: LESSONS AND ACHIEVEMENTS

The mid 2011, April to be precise witnessed the advent of what is now known as “Arab Spring” which started in Tunisia. Like a deadly cancer spread to Egypt, Yemen, Syria and then Libya with its attendant unseat of Hosni Mubarak, then “almighty” Mummud Gaddaffi. All these happened with the power of protests. Little wonder that the Prestigious Time Magazine Person of the Year went to the “World Protesters”. As if that was not enough, the so called developed world also got its own fair share the waves of protest in 2011 starting from #OccupyWallstreet, #OccupyOrkland, etc, though not for regime change.

All these laid credence to the much talked about #OccupyNigeria which started on 2^nd January, 2012 in FCT which was a culmination of the dramatic removal of petrol subsidy by the Federal Government on 1^st January. The subsidy removal brought the price of PMS from N65 to N141 (about 120% increase), hence, the prices of all goods and services skyrocketed. It is worthy of note that the FG went ahead with this obnoxious policy, which Nigerians believe was an IMF agenda, despite the previous revelation by former Petroleum Minister, David West and other sector analysts that the much talked about subsidy does not exit and therefore a fraud.

However, it must be reiterated here that, although the idea of #OccupyNigeria was in the offing months prior the Jan. 2^nd Abuja protest, the removal brought it to the limelight. The objects of #OccupyNigeria are viz; good governance, anti-corruption, cutting government opulence life style, and provision of infrastructural facilities.  It was a lofty idea, I must admit and only a bad thinking Nigerian would not join the chorus.

Before I am engrossed in amnesia, the purpose of the piece is to examine achievements and lessons learnt from #OccupyNigeria. It is also the intention of the writer to encourage Nigerians to sustain such tempo and spirit, because it has great potentials of bringing the change Nigerians are panting for and put the people in the corridor of power on their toes. It must therefore be said here that all opinions are 100% mine and I am expecting others thoughtful minds to write something about their own experiences too.

ACHIEVEMENTS

1.       Information is power. One of the gains of #OccupyNigeria is that many Nigerians are now informed beyond rhetoric. Nigerians are now alerted about the scandalous 2012 budget and more importantly the running of the government. A new citizen spirit has emerged. The discovery that feeding in Aso Rock for 2012 is to engulf a whopping sums N1 billion while millions of Nigerians are wallowing below, further sparked off the anger of Nigerians.

2.       The protests which occurred in different parts of the country exposed the extravagant and opulence life of Nigerian politicians to the world. In fact, the solidarity protests by Nigerians in diaspora in London, USA, Malaysia, South Africa, Spain etc further gave wide popularity to to Nigerians’ demands despite the intentional media black-out and also served as a formidable pressure on the government. Perhaps, the National Assembly probe after the protests ended is an eloquent testimony that the protest was successful.

3.       Although the protest ended abruptly against the wishes of the protesters, thanks to the dictatorial and undemocratic attitude of ‘General Goodluck Jonathan who declared a ‘mini-state of emergency’ in all the state capital, the protests made the recalcitrant FG to rescind on its former stance. Like a General announcing a successful coup d’état, the president unilaterally announced the reduction of price of PMS to N97.

4.       The protests did not only achieve the reduction of price of PMS but it gathered dusts: That the Minister of Finance has no idea of how subsidy funds were spent and disbursed; the so called cabal members that are feeding fat on the subsidy; the Mr. President, the C in C, is not in control of Nigeria; the government officials inflate the subsidy figure at will for their own parochial interest; that governance in Nigeria lacks accountability and transparency; that Mr. President has no gut to question his ministers; that almost all the governors supported the removal.

5.       The 12-day protests revealed that Nigerians are capable joining forces despite our religious and tribal differences. The protests witnessed Nigerians all over the world coming together to say resounding NO the way politicians are running the affairs of the country. Hence, one Nigeria is not only possible but plausible. 

LESSONS

1.       The protest started on 2^nd January by Nigerian in every walks of life and NLC/TUC only joined the struggle on 9^th January with a nationwide strike. But the mistake here was that we allowed the Labour Movement to hijack the protest from Nigerians as if they were the one that started it, hence, their betrayal on 16^th put a total stop to the movement nationwide. It must be said here in retrospect that apart from Industrial Revolution of the 18^th Century, there had never been a time anywhere in the world that a Labour organization spearheaded such revolution. This is not unconnected to the fact that one cannot become a labour leader without first being a ‘labour politician’. Nigerians should not have expected so much from Labour Leaders in the first place.

2.       The two days observed on Saturday and Sunday did more harm than good. Although the 2 days were to allow Nigerians to restock, but the break soften the tempo and poured cold water on the minds of protesters who were full of enthusiast prior to the break. Of course, the break allowed the FG to muster efforts together and deploy soldiers to the streets and venues of the protests before Nigerians woke up from their break on Monday.

3.       A great lesson learnt was that the much needed change in Nigeria is possible and that our politicians can be prevailed upon by the electorates. Right in the midst of the protest Mr President announced 20% cut of salaries of members of the executive and also promised to reduce government officials’ junketing outside the country. Though these are not enough and apparently not only what we are clamouring for but it is an eloquent testimony that if we keep on asking questions we will put politicians on their toes. And in contrast, if we keep mute, we should not expect any change.

In conclusion, it is convenient here to say that Nigerians have learnt that politics should not be left in the hands of politicians. We don’t need to be among opposition parties, human right activist or CLO before we effect the desired result in this country. We have seen it in North African countries and most importantly we have seen its semblance here, that we can thrust the ethics of change and good governance into the hearts of our politician. Hence, the change we are craving for is in our hands.

Be that as it may, this write up will not complete without acknowledging some patriots who gave their precious lives so as to achieve good governance in Nigeria during the January Occupy Nigeria. Though as I would like, I was not able to get their names, but I was told that we lost about 15 great Nigerians. We pray that may their gentle souls rest in perfect peace. We are proud of them and their names and bravery are written on the plate of our hearts. Meanwhile, I have the honour acknowledging our heroes, though time and space may not permit me to mention all their name; Pastor Tunde Bakare, Mallam El-Rufia,  J. Japheth Omojuwa, Kola Oyeneyin, Kayode Ogundamisi , Tolu Ogunlesi, Babatunde Rosanwo, Odewale ‘Egghead’, and Seun Okin, among others.

God Bless Nigeria!

Olujide Gbenga D. 26/01/2012