AREWA AND THE BURDEN OF TRUTH

By Ahmad Sajoh The North of Nigeria is becoming a very big political chess board with various political groups springing up to outdo each other in preaching political correctness or creating a political commodity out of the hopeless, hapless and helpless population. Most of the assumed concerns expressed by these politicians and political actors are simply externalization of the deep rooted self deceit that threw the region into the abysmal pit we now complain about. Some of the individuals I see showing concerns today should have shown just a little of such concerns when they had opportunities to make a difference in the lives of Northern citizens. Almost all of them had opportunities to do so in the past. But today having found themselves out of political relevance or visibility in the public space, what they found appropriate is to now preach what needs to be done to address the plight of the North which to a large extent is the product of our collective negligence as a ruling elite. The most annoying is that some of them speak of the crisis as emanating from political neglect by the current leadership. It’s definitely beyond that. Let me say emphatically that a few of the persons expressing concerns are credible, but majority especially within the political class had opportunities in the past to address these same issues but failed to do so. The irony of the North is that the first generation leaders of the North, the Ahmadu Bello’s were privileged children from royal homes or from well to do homes. Some of them had little formal education. But they created avenues for children of ordinary people to acquire quality education and to self actualize. Today these same children of the ordinary people who got everything on a platter took over the mantle of leadership and decided to shut the door on the children of other ordinary people by destroying the education system and instituting a regime that only provides quality and even stable educational calendar to their children and those favoured by them. Another group are those who obtained good jobs and leadership positions by merit without having to know anyone or have godfathers. Today they promote cronyism, mediocrity and a brand of nepotism that will make the most ardent tribal jingoist cringe at the thought of it. As a matter of fact they are so brazen in their self-centeredness that they are now instituting a hegemonic system where they now promote their sons and daughters to continue to provide mediocre leadership similar to or even worse than their own. The National Assembly and other strata of leadership positions today are full of such scions of the old guards. Unfortunately, being over pampered and full of entitlement, all these privileged children know about leadership are the spoils of office rather than its responsibilities. For them ” Leadership is a TITLE rather than a Responsibility ” A second category exhibiting the same dishonourable conduct in leadership is made up of loyal lapdogs or godsons of the powerful individuals who attain power for the sole purpose of carrying out the godfather’s biddings. They are even worse than the sons and daughters. Apart from opening up the treasuries of government to be looted by their godfathers and associates, they equally destroy the institutional fabric of government bodies by making them ineffective even after their exit. It’s really sad. “It is either that a Muslim cleric preaches fatalism as a doctrine or a Christian prosperity preacher justified such recklessness as favour from God. The populace are often reminded that their station in life is decreed by God or that it is envy to begrudge a rich person his riches. Very unfortunate indeed. Instead of showing concern for such a sorry state of affairs and emboldened by the support of sundry praise singers, the Northern ruling elite found a good use for the poverty and illiteracy in the region. Too much poverty? Good. Too much illiteracy? Good. Too many hungry, despondent and hopeless young people in the streets? Oh very good. Their solution became something that created the Frankenstein monster we are now facing.” So, under such circumstances service delivery becomes secondary. All such leaders are concerned about are the pecks of their offices and the underserved fame or fortune it confers. Of course they dare not deviate from the template of their parents or godfathers. Political office becomes a vast arena for playing elite fantasy games where lavish lifestyles are the most visible dividends. Exotic SUVs are the toys of choice. Birthdays, Wedding ceremonies and even burials became avenues to display criminal opulence and flamboyant lifestyles in the face of abject poverty within society. As this mediocrity and profligacy continues the condition of ordinary people continued to nosedive from bad to worst down to ugly. And they found willing accomplices in the clergy in both major religions. It is either that a Muslim cleric preaches fatalism as a doctrine or a Christian prosperity preacher justified such recklessness as favour from God. The populace are often reminded that their station in life is decreed by God or that it is envy to begrudge a rich person his riches. Very unfortunate indeed. Instead of showing concern for such a sorry state of affairs and emboldened by the support of sundry praise singers, the Northern ruling elite found a good use for the poverty and illiteracy in the region. Too much poverty? Good. Too much illiteracy? Good. Too many hungry, despondent and hopeless young people in the streets? Oh very good. Their solution became something that created the Frankenstein monster we are now facing. They conveniently decided to weaponize the poverty and illiteracy as a means of power ascendancy. They use it to hold power in a vice grip, ceding it only to their children or those they favour. The cycle of bad leadership continues unabated. And as for the youth? Well their solution is to give them drugs and recruit them as political thugs. These