The past is a wonderful library. The past enriches our memory on lessons that can be helpful in the future. This is a tale of the past that we need to remember.
Never had someone with a lowly background got to such unprecedented heights. We always had rulers (ooh sorry) leaders who were already in the scene. But this was new, this was fresh, it was like a dawn, it seemed like the morning we have been waiting for after many tumultuous nights. There was a fresh scent in the air. His rise was meteoric.
We rode the horses of wishes. Even the daughters of philistine rejoiced at his coming. A new sense of hope was in our hearts. We became eloquent in our speeches about the future.
The Millennium Development Goals (MDA) seemed achievable. We could connect with the shoeless one. We could see our hardship in him, the throes we face to make ends meet was evident in him. He did not look like the ostentatious, mind-bloating rascals we were accustomed to.
His story was the emotional tale we wanted. Our hearts made merry. The messiah (or so we thought) had arrived. Yes!!! We felt we were done with our problems. This was the long awaited savior of our dear country. This was the perfect fairy tale.
But our euphoria was cut short. We were woken rudely from our dream state. Ecstasy gave way to Reality.
A new year ought to usher new things; good or bad. The shoeless one decided the best New Year gift he could give to his benefactor(s) is to remove government relief on a commodity we produce. Whether good or bad is another story on its own. But this opened the flood gate of problems.
Then we forgot about his messahic powers. From protagonist to antagonist, the transition was smooth and fast. Our forgotten problems began to remind us they were still here. Unemployment showed its face in the Nigerian Immigration Service Recruitment exercise. Impunity became the order of the day.
Claims of stolen funds running into uncountable zeros were ignored. Corruption became rooted and grounded in all facets and sectors of the country. Educators went on strike more times than the shoeless one wore his black regalia.
Then we got to a point where we could no longer take it. Over200 possible future leaders were taken like lambs unto the slaughter house and the shoeless one felt it was a prank.
Then we, the benefactors decided it was time we took laws into hands. He and his publicists treated us like illiterates. So we decided to use our illiterate minds to vote him out. We embraced the broom and dumped the umbrella.
There was no need for a covering when the showers of blessings didn’t fall on us. It was time we sweep the dirt in our compounds. We welcomed the broom. We sang their songs. The song changed from ‘it will be better’ to “change”.
But the thing is, we are scared. The tale of the shoeless one started with this same frenzy. Things started on a good note but the end was different. We are scared if the improvements we are seeing in the power sector will last. We don’t want to be rudely awoken from this state.
We love this state we are in but our fears are still with us. We feel this is different. All indications are pointing to the fact that this is different but this is the same way we felt with the shoeless one.
We are scared. We are afraid. We fear for the life of the current messiah. We fear if the powers he is stepping on would let him be. We fear if his financiers would not come calling for their entitlements. We fear if the world powers would not against him. We fear if this change would transform into all sectors.
We fear if the promises would be delivered. We fear for the other arms of government. We fear if this is not another tale. Our fears are real because we see similarities. But we wont despair. We are beginning to see flashes of light(not at the end of the tunnel). Things are looking good but we will tread carefully.
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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija
Connect with the author- Fowowe Damilola via fowowedamilola@yahoo.co.uk
