Date Published: 01/23/10

RANDOM QUESTIONS By Imohimi Uduigwome Airenevboise

A couple of years back Nigeria had a very strong President and an equally strong vice president, those were the days when the good people of Nigeria knew that the men who were at the helm of affairs of the nation, the President, vice president, Senate President and Speaker were men of “timber and caliber’ When Nigeria’s first eleven, oops, sorry, Nigeria’s first four-Obasanjo, Atiku, Anyim and Na’abba were the top strikers in the Nigerian political pitch. Sadly the current first four are a direct contrast, too scared to even kick the political ball not to talk of scoring any goal! It’s very hard to imaging Obasanjo out of the country for over fifty days when Atiku was the VP (Uncle Sege would have been too scared to try it).Now Yardua is held hostage in “nobody knows where”, Goodluck who has no clue on what to do simply counts on providence to see him through again just as it occurred in the recent past, Mark wants to be an interim president to conduct fresh elections and Bankole simply want to go to Ogun as Governor to build his house, nay, state. So why should they give a hoot what Nigerians think or want? However a rather frightening school of thought posit that the two men with military background(The Senate President and Speaker) are angling to do away with the two usurper lecturers( The President and Vice President) to pave way for them to assume the mantle of leadership. Let us rise and hail President Mark and Vice President Deji! 

Does the minister of Health have any right to continue in office when Mr. President, his daughter and top government officials prefer to receive medical treatment in foreign hospitals? Should we allow the minister of Information to continue with the white elephant project termed rebranding when our President has subtly informed us that the BBC is more credible news medium that NTA and Voice of Nigeria combined! Do you blame the super eagles for their uninspiring performance in Angola when they are yet to recover from the shock of receiving a goodwill message from their President via the BBC when other teams received personal calls directly from their President?  

Do members of the Federal executive council know that they have other responsibilities apart from the award of contracts? If they are intellectually competent why is the implementation of the budget below fifty percent? Why fuel is still scarce and why is the power sector functioning below fifty percent? 

Why are people not asking why religious crises always occur in the northern part of the country? Are they spontaneous or carefully planned and funded? What is the fate of corps members serving in the northern part of Nigeria giving the fact that many have been killed while serving a motherland that could not protect them? Should they be forced to serve in a place where their security is not guaranteed or in areas prone to perennial crises? 

Why did the BBC not ask Yardua why he refused to hand over to Yardua? Why have our journalist not asked the Senate President and Speaker if Yardua actually called them and what they discussed. What has happened to the Nigerian Labour Congress? They seem to have lost steam!  

Former Presidents in other nations have set up foundations to help the poor or like Bill Clinton not only giving financially to the people of Haiti but also physically helping to unload a cargo plane that brought supplies to the Port-au-Prince Airport in Haiti. In Nigeria our former leaders prefer to cause chaos pretending to be power brokers while they strut around like over fed peacocks! Are they blind? Why can’t they borrow a leaf from Bill Clinton or Jimmy Carter? 

If political parties are sure of their credibility and ability why can’t they get their candidates to sign a legal document before an election to relinquish their post in the event that they decide to cross carpet to another political party after they might have obtained victory in an election? 

For how long will Nigerians continue to accept trash from people they elected (or forced their way) into power? Our obtuse mentality of cowering on bended knees for politicians who stole our money has brought us to this nadir of our political situation. Must we applaud them for stealing our money? In other nations elected representatives obey the wishes and aspiration of the people but here they obey their political parties and various godfathers! Nigerians need to decide how long they can continue to be treated like dirt in their own country. Nigeria is not the sole preserve of a select few it belongs to all of us, and we should be able to decide what we want, how we want it, where we want it and when we want it. Is anything less acceptable? 
 

Imohimi Uduigwome Airenevboise