1. Preamble Statement:
Acting in accordance with, and in furtherance of my inalienable Right to Freedom of Information and Expression as Stipulated in Section 32(I) of the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria, and as guaranteed by Article 19 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 12 of International Convention on Civil & Political Rights, and Section 12 of African Charter on Human and Peoples Right, I make this solemn postulation as representative of over 30,000 members spread across the 36 state federating states of Nigeria.
2. Matters Arising:
A. As the largest black nation in the entire universe both in population, resources and land mass, Nigeria is vastly blessed and richly endowed with human, material, natural and intellectual resourcefulness that can make her favorably compete with the 20 most developed nations of the world. It is of ample importance to recount that in 1950 and 1960s, Nigeria as giant of African was the largest producer of cash crops like palm oil, rubber, cocoa, cotton and groundnut, with export value in excess of million metric tons yearly. The income generated from agricultural evolution and revolution as at then was equitably distributed across the geo-political regions by the first republic political elites, and this led to the establishment of the 26-storey Cocoa House in Ibadan (1965); Niger Bridge, Onitsha (1965) Port Harcourt Refinery (1965) acquired from British Petroleum, etc.
But in less than six years in the life line the first Republic, the ever glowing dream and vision of our nationhood was unceremoniously aborted, distorted and thwarted by rebellions and mutinous military class with counter-productive leadership and ideological conquest. The promulgation of Degree 34 in 1966 by the military administration that suspended the independent constitution and enthroned the unitary system of government was the major reverberating punch that brought about dismal and calamitous national derailment and arrested development.
B. The oxymoronic formations of ruling military class were succeeded by intellectually handicapped and ideologically amputated political elites in 1979 which marked the beginning of the second republic. Most unfortunately, the assemblage of handpicked, unprepared and inexperience political class who rather than re-engineer and re-ignite the vision of our founding fathers, blindly and blandly wandered into the wilderness of counterfeit and occult leadership miscalculations. And in the grip of profound ebullition and demonic resolution to hold unto power at all cost, and by all means, they churned out manipulated social contraptions and economic contradictory policies inveigled and packaged as foreign loans, external reserves, import grants, tax waivers, fuel subsidies, security votes, constituency funds, election rigging, overhead expenditures, crude swap, privatization and concessioning in their preview to enrich the already rich minority elites.
The incompetent, treacherous, mystic and cabalistic political ruling elites are the ones that skewed Nigerian economy in favor and interest of their cronies within and outside the corridors of power; this misplaced government priority systematically erased the middle class, upshot a predatory and regnant super class that impoverished the lower class in the by run. It is the minority ruling elite in a ratio that is less than 5% that owns over 95% of properties and investment portfolios across major cities and funds stashed in the banking sector both in and outside the nation.
C. The Second blow that deflated our national ego and battered the socio-economic status of the nation in abominable leaps was espoused by parasitic and criminally gifted military class that truncated the second republic in 1983. They germinated the seed that gave birth to exponential rise in criminal activities and armed robberies across the nooks and crannies of the nation. They systematically weakened Nigerian Police Force and other security apparatuses, dismembered the once strong and stable institutions of Government which berthed official corruption in Nigerian. Wherefore the third republic faded off under the grip and garb of military class in shocking disavowing manner.
Without undue apologies, I wish to categorically stamp that the synthesis and nemesis of corruption driven by systematic and excruciating looting spree became the hallmark of the fourth republic under the firm clench of the past PDP government (1999-2015). This was the period that corruption was legalized and legitimized as a procedure of doing government business, thus the integrated consortium of PDP hawks designed and implemented counterfeit and contradicting programs, instigated youth crisis and inaccurately articulated policies that heightened security infractions, convoluted financial discrepancies, up surged social eruptions, tribal discriminations and economic inflations. These bunch of recycled exceptionally gifted looters masquerade as nulling political class with obsessive looting appetites, and without discernable ideational and ideological platform where the ones that created flappable and unassailable social, cultural and religious difference that encouraged the emergence of anti-social agitation groups like Fulani Herdsmen, Boko Haram, Niger Delta Militants, MASSOB, IPOB, OPC, Arewa youth ultimatum givers, Ritualizing Kidnappers and Cultist gangs etc.
D. As an intellectually disposed and enlightened citizen of Federal Republic of Nigerian, I was born in Rivers State (South-South Zone), did my youth service in Kebbi State (North-West), presently working in Nasarawa State (North Central,) with maternal and marital affiliation to Imo state (South-East Zone), and have also interacted with friends from South West Zone, I see nothing wrong with religious distribution, cultural classification, geo-political manifestation, economic configuration and social stratification of Nigeria. What is lacking in the East is in abundance in the North, what is scarce in the West is an essential commodity in the South vice versa. There may be religious and tribal differences and discrepancies, but divinity has embedded beauty and strength in diversity, as such our differences should serve as a bond to unify us as a nation rather than a bomb to divide us as a people with over 100years history of nationhood.
Without sounding too commercially hypocritical, I wish to further affirm that under PMB/OSINBAJO administration, Nigerian citizens haranguing outside the corridors of power are experiencing mutating, militating and mitigating economic hardship, mass immiseration, contrasting insecurity, and contradistinctive youth crises just to mention the least. This situation is aggravated by the skyrocketing prices of goods, services, consumable, commodities, utensils, materials and equipment across Nigerian markets. Definitely, there is hunger, anger and anguish in the land and this has negatively impacted genocidal irrationality on the mentality of the youth, dented the psyche of our teenagers, dampened the morality of our elders and inflicted humongous scale of national larceny.
This is never the sort or type of change we voted for in 2015 general election, neither is it the nature or manner of dividend of democracy we ever desired, far from it. As a social advocate and political activist, am skeptical, confused and confounded if at all this is the same President Muhammadu Buhari that took oath of office on 29th May 2015. Nigerian citizenry are tired of hearing concocted stories, implacable tirades, withering antiques and contradictory pronouncements on the curse, cause and effect of our national woes, all we want is the CHANGE we staked and stretched our necks for, two years is enough to change our condition and perception in this government of CHANGE.
3: Way forward!! To Be Continued!!
Rt.Com. Japhet A.C Ogbueri, (A.K.A Zik)
National Speaker,
Citizens Apex Parliament (CAP). FRN
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