THE AMBIVALENCE OF A STRUGGLE FOR A BETTER NIGERIA!

Growth in consciousness often leads to a reassessment of one’s role in fighting for political stability in Nigeria, as such a fight has proven ambivalent when considering the purpose of human existence per se. When those in power and others waiting to take over from them are cut from the same fabric, one is frightened and demoralized by politics that is inundated with charlatans and jackals offering their ignorant selves to lead the nation. Even the struggle for self-determination does not abate this feeling of despondency due to hopelessness in finding a true leader who knows the purpose of human existence and will be guided by such consciousness in office. It is a very sorry situation because people without a true leader are people that are wasting their earthly lives by allowing impostors to lead in an important phase of their existence. So, the solution to Nigeria’s shambolic state is neither restructuring nor breakups, but leadership. Leadership here is not one who can only feed the nation, revamp infrastructures, bring down the exchange rate, industrialize the nation, fix the economy, put many dollars in many pockets, and ensure that all the sectors of the national life are in optimal operation, including education. Such a leader must equally understand the purpose of human life on earth which is the foundation upon which every mundane goal must be rested.

But where is the man who knows the purpose of life on earth to lead Nigeria out of this political quagmire and imminent catastrophe of her own making? If 95 percent of the people do not know the reason why they are on earth, what are the chances of a leader issuing from the remaining 5 percent? Yet, the primary duty of a leader is to refocus the people’s life towards achieving their earthly purpose. In doing this, he reawakens the consciousness of this confounded 95 percent who will, in turn, become veritable assets in making the government succeed and life worthwhile. The truth is that such a leader is nowhere in sight, and this is the reality that strongly discourages any political participation and struggles since the byproduct will certainly lead to a misleader, an impostor, a jackal whose avaricious propensities defers psychiatric treatment.

As 2023 looms, a disheveled society like Nigeria is set to replace a blind driver with another who has no clue of what is of benefit to the people. Even as the entire political atmosphere is intense with disaffection, ensuing primarily on the commitment to Nigeria project, these jackals are offering themselves to sail off with a leaking ship that is bound to nowhere. It is quite unwisdom to ignore a life-threatening danger to entire people just for an empty ambition. What other litmus test to show the emptiness of these candidates aspiring to become Nigeria president, 2023? When the most important challenge is to douse the disaffection and seek common ground to reunite the nationalities torn by economic and social insecurities in the country, these vagabonds who cornered our common patrimony are seeking the power of the presidency and for what?

The mundane challenges that require common sense are swept under the carpet as though they are of less importance. If a leadership aspirant could overlook such glaring troubles in Nigeria, a nation on the verge of implosion, how could he lead the people to realize their earthly goal even when he knows what it is? Any candidate who will point to the rejection of the 1999 constitution and demand for national dialogue and referendum in Nigeria as a strategy for peaceful coexistence or separation, is excluded amongst these gallivanting jackals. Such a candidate is said to be on the right track but still, unqualified to lead a nation or a broken part if he or she doesn’t know the purpose of human life on earth.

What then is the purpose of human life on earth? The perennial entrapment to the pursuit of material things at every incarnation over millennials has conditioned our minds to think of earthly comfort as the goal of earth life. This is the reason every effort of a seemingly responsible government is to cater to the material well-being of the people, as well as provide security of lives and property of all the populace. But as it is, age after age and epoch after epoch we have believed and done the same thing because we failed to realize we, humans, are not material flesh but spirits. We are spirits with cloaks of flesh (material and ethereal bodies) primarily on earth for spiritual development that will culminate in attaining paradise afterward. And it is this spiritual development of the people that no Nigerian leader, past and present has ever set out to promote and achieve. Although this problem is not peculiar to Nigeria; it is a global issue that has resulted in fear and uncertainty today.

When we failed to adjust ourselves to the spiritual principles and follow the natural trails of our purpose on earth that guarantee peace and happiness, we create a jungle society like Nigeria. Some will disagree with my opinion by citing Dave Umahi as an exceptional leader who turned Ebony capital into a small London or Dubai. But of what use is a modern city with spiritually dead citizens milling about with empty stomachs. What meaning do electric bulbs and fly-over bridges hold for graduates of many years of unemployment? The negligence of the basics of what spiritual development entails is totally missed in the Nigerian government, and this is the reason fighting to oust a government doesn’t guarantee the replacement will be better. This is evidence of how Nigeria has plummeted in everything since the first democratic dispensation of Alhaji Shehu Shagari. And it is incontrovertible that the next leaders will be worse than the incumbents.

To ensure the spiritual development of human beings in a government, there should be a sound democratic system that allows the people to exercise their free will, since the ability to make a choice is an intrinsic nature of the human spirit. People should make choices and learn from them. There should be a security of lives and property to protect the people from internal and external aggression to their possessions. There should be employment opportunities for every citizen to enable the people to follow the law of movement in making a decent living. People should be encouraged to imbibe the culture of giving and helping one another. There should be an atmosphere that encourages love amongst the people irrespective of the tongues, tribes, religion, and culture. The goal is to voluntarily learn to love one another as heaven the destination is composed of nothing but love.  If we cannot live in this way in Nigeria, it will be wishful thinking to assume that as a separate republic we will find peace and happiness among ourselves!