WE ARE ALL GUILTY

Day in day out, the average Nigerian is violated in such ludicrous ways that will induce any conscious individual to understand that truly, we don’t belong yet to the class of people for who respect is a necessary component of existence.

Sometimes I feel that Nigeria is nothing but a zoo with us the animals running from pillar to post with no direction. No matter how hard we tried, we could never absolve ourselves of foolishness for being thirsty in the abundance of water. This piece has nothing to do with our yahoo, yahoo leaders, who are bereft of any ideas on how to move this country forward.
Yes, we have political break dancers, who are uninspiring; we have unimaginative leaders who don’t even know why they are there to serve, who believe that leadership starts and ends with how smart a thief they could be, and how much they need to become gods others should serve, lick their ass and sing their praise.

How can we ever free our conscience when we publicly adulate the same creatures we accuse of derailing our country, only because they can afford to booze the whole town to hell? There is a form of morality laundering that goes on when thieves who have looted the public treasury return to their villages to offer a few scholarships to the children of the same men whose efforts they frustrated and robbed with state power. This piece is not about the bad leadership we have been cursed with, because from where I stand, these bad people are in no hurry to leave the stage, and by implication, that only means that this rot will continue; our poverty, frustration, stress will escalate; our hopelessness will always be on the rise. As their accounts swells, their future guaranteed, or so they think.

This piece is about you and me, who are as guilty as sin, who will sit and complain endlessly about the rot we live in, failing to do nothing about our situation, failing to even make an honest attempt to do things differently, failing to accept that we the followership are just as guilty as the leadership.
You reading this, in what ways have you tried to improve your environment or pimp the mindset of the people you hang around with? You reading this, do you believe in Nigeria or you are one of those who really don’t give a hoot about the direction we are all headed? Maybe you are the lucky few, who will relocate to anywhere if things don’t work out for Nigeria; you have an option; that’s your excuse. Right? What about the rest of us who have no option, are we all investing in our instalmental death without knowing it?
Among all the evil, we somehow have shown ourselves to be resilient or even impervious to the catastrophic conditions that have kept us dazed. We all continue to pursue wealth as a way of increasing our immunities against the daily fiasco of living in Nigeria. In reconsidering the game, we have spunned enough blame for our problems to cover the entire universe in this our alienable exercise to direct our own affairs, but if we ask ourselves where we fit in this rather consternating picture, the honest answer is that we are all guilty.
We are guilty as charged for complacency in the presence of a moribund mediocrity. We are guilty for suffering and smiling and doing nothing to change the equation. We are guilty for allowing these yahoo, yahoo leaders to oppress us and mislead us this way, because some of us are busy waiting for crumbs that will fall from their tables in our direction. We are guilty because we are the problem with Nigeria not the leaders, after all, our leaders didn’t drop from the moon, they are full blown Nigerians too.
I have always said that this country will be redeemed by its exceptional youths, but the question is, are the youths ready? Have you considered the fact that there is little or nothing the leadership can do when you, the youths wake up in your numbers to say enough is enough? In the beer parlour, on the side walk, from the parks to our private homes, we keep saying we need a change, but how many of us are ready to ignite this change. Now my guy, let me run the list for you, (a) how many of us pay our bills without bribing our way out, (b) how many of us pay our taxes, (c) do you obey traffic rules? (d) Do we tell our friends or relatives who are in power the truth all the time? (e) do we say enough is enough and stand by it or do we change our tone as soon as water don pass under bridge?, (f) do we still believe in Nigeria or have we given up on Nigeria?, (g) how many of us accept gifts and contracts from the same men we condemn?, [h] do you sincerely see corruption as offensive to your senses?, (i) are you truly ready for freedom?, (j) are you ready to pay the price or die instalmentally?

Ask yourself if you are ready to change because that change must start from the people, only then would you be bold enough to confront your potorpotor leaders to retrieve your stolen future and readdress your present position in the scheme of things. Great Nigerian youths, you have the power. Purify your soul and purify the land. Your word is power for the people, because I believe it is time to stop suffering and smiling. I never finish o! What about over commercialization of religion that continues to threaten the ideal role of the so-called men of God as healers of the soul.

The anti- corruption crusade of our government, ICPC, and EFCC, will be meaningless if we cannot, within ourselves, establish the highest criteria for moral character and standards, which then is collectively projected and suffused into our social consciousness and will as a universal good. We must, as a people, rediscover and mobilize our innate conscience on a higher plane for more glorious returns. We must, as a society, develop the kind of radar that will provide early warnings when pestilence walks with smiling faces. We must decisively deal with tough questions regarding ourselves and those around us, for only through this way can we truly familiarize ourselves with each other enough to trust one another. Many of the Nigerian youths that I have met and from time to time synergize with, as much as my love pours out to you all, sympathizing with your stolen future, I will never support those who feel that yahoo, yahoo, 419, kidnapping, armed robbery, cultism, stealing, drug addiction, violence etc is an option in getting out of this mess. If any young person out there is saying that the only way to succeed in Nigeria is to be fraudulent and dishonest, I will then ask, how did Charly Boy make it?

’’Finally, great people of this country, this piece is not for everybody; it is for the few, who are sincerely pained, the few who are ready for a change, the few who have told themselves the truth by finding out from the above listed, what role they have played in the way our nation has turned; it is for the very few who feel, believe and agree that we can do better, that we can live better.
I am troubled by what I see everyday around; the country is looking like it is never going to get better, so great Nigerian youths, the time has come for us to finally make it better. Our future lies in how determined we are. If you feel the way I feel about this country, I need you to write me, call me, visit me; let’s connect; let’s find a way out of this mess, for two heads are better than one. It is better not to have a friend than to have one who is a thieving governor. Whatever you are doing and wherever you may be this very moment, just know that I love you my great Nigerian youths. Let’s purify the land now!

Charles Oputa (Charly Boy)