Why We Must All Do Our Bits To Make Nigeria A Functional Country By Tony Ishiekwene

"Mrs. Goodluck Jonathan’s mum was in Germany earlier
this year for a medical checkup. She died a few months
later in a car accident on a bad road in Port Harcourt.
Ironically, the same road that killed her was then
repaired for her
funeral."****** Yemi Adamolekun  (The Punch online:
Accessed 20/11/2013)
The above quote was part of a write up by Ms. Yemi
Adamolekun, in the Nigerian Punch newspaper of
November 20, 2013, titled “A wake up call for Nigerian
Elites, and I wish Nigerians of all walks of life- elites,
the political leadership and the follower ship read Ms
Adamolekun and wake up from their slumber, literally
and metaphorically.
There are great lessons to be learnt from her write-up
and I hope Punch newspaper should re-publish it so more
Nigerians, particularly the gluttonous, greedy and
selfish Nigerian elites would see some reason to stop the
destruction of the only Country we can call our own- a
very blessed country, but for its leadership and it’s
over-pampered political and economic elites. If only
the people would listen to the type of candid admonition
offered by Yemi! Look at that lady (Will never learn
any lesson, because she is dumb) who just buried her
mum flying all over the place with chains of wasteful
presidential jets with her coterie of "hangers-on" and
free-loaders- men and women wasting state resources
in Bangkok, Thailand; three weeks ago she flew a
hundred women praise-singers to South Korea, in cash-
for-PhD award ceremony. The husband developed self-
inflicted tummy cramp and almost avoided "Nigeria
Investment Lecture (HICC)" in far away London, after
over-indulging with "fine Wine, “Alcohol and choice food
also using Nigerian tax-payers money, with a crowd of
another 100 or more free-loaders at London high brow
“Intercontinental Hotel,” including Ruben Abati- yes,
"confused" Abati!
Nigerians, particularly the elites don't understand that
these "robbing Peter to pay Paul" mentality amounts to
a "Zero-sum game." no winners, as a dysfunctional
system is the end game, and we are all losers,
ultimately. When you steal too much from the poor, the
ills and consequences of poverty haunt you at the end,
no matter how crafty you think you are. In more decent
climes, thieves hardly get away with their crime; but
the few who do, give enormously to charity; our
Nigerian, and most African system gluttons and
Kleptomaniacs hardly give back to the weak and
vulnerable members of their society; we dehumanise the
poor with obscene celebration of ill-gotten wealth- how
many big cars I have, how many imposing mansions I
have at high brow areas in Nigeria and Europe and US,
even "my generator is better than yours" syndrome!
Achieving personal economic and financial “success” at
the expense of the overall system you belong will never
guarantee you peace or wellbeing, as the Nigerian
rogues have found to their chagrin, as they build high
“prison” walls to avoid dare devil robbers; and some die
in the sky on their way to Europe and American
hospitals.
Only God saved my life in 1996 when I lost my best
Nigerian friend and brother, Clement Ojie in April, 1996
in a Road Traffic Accident between Ijebu-Ode and
Shagamu. I was laying on the road unconscious, with
Clem's body lying right by me in that dual carriage-way
on the hot afternoon of that day, unknowing to me. No
Ambulance to pick me, and thankfully Jude Ojie (now a
medical Doctor in the US) was unhurt from the same
car accident, and he dragged me to the road side,
before a mad driver crushed me to pieces. Everyone
was driving past a panting Tony by the wayside,
unconcernedly, until a a good guy-whom I don't know
till this day- but God will continue to bless him,
wherever he may be- and driving on the opposite
direction of the dual carriage way drove all the way to
the next exit, reversed and came to take me to Ogun
State University Teaching Hospital, Shagamu. What a
good Samaritan that guy was (Super good Nigerian
man), and may I also say a big thank you to Messrs
Fidelis Okenmor Tilije, Alhaji Sam Oku, etal who drove
down from Lagos after I regained some consciousness to
take me to Igbobi Orthopaedic hospital for further
treatment- not forgetting the help with mobility
equipments from my good friend, Pastor Joe Attueyi,
especially en-route my flight back to a London hospital.
Friends and relations sometimes ask me to return to
Nigeria, because I could do better in terms of making
big money; but there are certain things money can't
buy and they are too many because the place (Nigeria)
is dysfunctional- A system where there are no rules, or
where there are different rules for different folks
breeds anarchy! And then you wonder why the people
think that a 24 hour supply of electricity is "rocket
science!" These are the things I am used to in the past
27 years or so; No, it doesn't go off 24/7, 365 days a
year it is constant. And they are human beings not
Angels or Pastors running the show here. A friend from
Nigeria came to cook in my kitchen and she was asking
about the "Gas Cylinder," or something like that; I told
her I have never seen one in 27+ years, and she
wondered how the gas comes 24/7 non-stop. I told her
I don't know where the gas comes from, including the
one I use to heat the flat in winter; I just pay my bills
to EDF and I let their MD worry about how Tony
Ishiekwene gets his cooking gas. He fiddles or mucks
about with my gas, and I'd meet them in court, simple!
The warehouse could be in Timbuktu, Acapulco or in the
Cloud or underground bunker for all I care!
Anyway let us all try and do our bits to get Nigeria
back-on-track. The follower ships have shown too much
“mumurity” in taking all the shenanigans of our political
elites. The political office holders rape and commit
“murder” in the name of their peoples,whom they
impose themselves on, but pretend to be “elected by my
people.” Elections in Nigeria since 1999 have been
largely farcical, to say the least. Stop aiding and
abetting the rigging of elections,” so the best man/
woman for the job gets it. Yaa, in half-decent countries
of the world, practicing true democracies, individual’s
capacity, ability and integrity are vetted before
granting political leadership role to them. That way
their first-rate run their affairs, not third-rate like
we have currently in Nigeria. It's either true democracy
or dictatorship, no half-way or in-between kind of
democracy; I don't buy this idea of "nascent"
democracy therefore electoral fraud should be
condoned. Electoral fraud and the imposition of
charlatans as political leaders is at the heart of all the
problems buffeting Nigeria.