by Adams Abonu

The unparallel commitment to the growth of our democracy being exemplified by the duo of President of the Senate David Mark and Speaker Aminu Tambuwaal is like an oasis in a desert of dreams.

Fellow countryman, I trust that that this short letter does meet you in good spirit as you go about seeking your survival in these trying times for our country. It is intended that this letter jolts our consciousness to a few issues that have reached alarming extents as our dear fatherland totters rudderlessly towards an ominous precipice. It is common knowledge today that our ship of state is in a midst of troubled waters. Unfortunate incidences like the widespread corruption that seeks to beat its own record; a dysfunctional and derelict infrastructure base; complete chaos in many a part of the geographical entity called Nigeria; the gradual but deliberate erosion of our collective national pride as occasioned by the exuberance of charlatans and shady characters at the corridors of power and so many other national woes bequeathed on us by those whom we choose to serve us or who chose to serve themselves on our behalf.

As I sat to write this letter, the most crucial issue that seeks the attention of every right-thinking countryman is the continual assault on our national posterity. Recent developments in the body polity tend to give credit to negative assertions on the prospects of our future as a people united together for the  common good. We have seen how the greed and recklessness of some discredited politicians of the first republic unleashed the civil disorder that heralded the unfortunate civil war and entrenched a series of military misadventures in political leadership. We saw how the high-handedness of respective military juntas did damage to the structures of national integration and development built by our visionary independence-era leaders like Sir Ahmadu Bello, the revered Sardauna of Sokoto; Chief Obafemi Awolowo; Dr. Nnandi Azikiwe; et al. We saw how the corruption that was the face of military (mis)administration spilled to our democratic experience with attendant consequences on the welfare of the people which is the primary responsibility of any government worth its name. What we are yet to see is how the desperation and appetite for power being currently exhibited by our present crop of ‘leaders’ would finally strike at the worn-out cord that binds together our national equilibrium.

My fellow countryman, we have a beckoning responsibility to salvage whatever is left of our national posterity by waking up to confront the antics of a leadership that has clearly lost its sense of direction and has turned on the very people that gave it credence in the first place. There is desperation in the air. The average Nigerian does not demand much from government but a genuine aspiration for the good life. He gets desperate by the days as his hopes for a good life is waned by the ulterior ambitions of power hanger-ons. On the hand, the posturing of the Presidency, the highest trustees of the peoples mandate recently clearly expresses a damaging desperation capable of tilting our country further towards the abyss of national disintegration. While the majority of Nigerians wallow in abjectivity and utter frustration as a result of a lackluster government’s cluelessness, a fraction who has taken advantage of the complacency of the populace pilfers our commonwealth with reckless abandon. They instituted a culture of sleaze and gave graft a ‘presidential’ face with pardons for criminals who brought so much disrepute to Nigeria. They increased the burden of everyday living for our brothers and sisters bringing about a feeling of despair in the air. When they have finished playing several pranks on the lives of our servicemen and hapless Nigerians by turning a blind eye to the killings and chaos by “gunmen” and setting up several irrelevant committees, they have now turned on their perceived enemies to complete relegation of urgent national proprieties of development and reconstruction. They have united together in mischief like a band of vultures waiting to scavenge on the corpses of defeated countrymen.

This is a time in our national evolution that calls for proactive approaches to halt this race to oblivion. We must unite to stop our national heritage being plundered by the ambitions of these marauders. The greatest challenge we must overcome as we resolve to save Nigeria from these impostors is to shade our apathy to the sufferings of our brothers and sisters. When we look about and behold the foul air around, we must be moved to act. We must act now to save the future of Nigeria. We must not continue to wait to see evil precedence being set. Nigerian youths, the very trustees of our national posterity owe this nation the task of redemption. The opportunities of mobilization which the Social Media provides should serve as an avenue to sensitize the entire citizenry and open their eyes to the antics of power drunkards.

However, certain institutions that have stood up to the course of the common man need the support and encouragement of all and sundry. The unparallel commitment to the growth of our democracy being exemplified by the duo of President of the Senate David Mark and Speaker Aminu Tambuwaal is like an oasis in a desert of dreams. The National Assembly who rescued our democracy from rape by the famous Doctrine of Necessity must, as a matter of urgent national importance step in again to caution the excesses of the Presidency.

My dear countryman, now is the time to save the future of Nigeria.

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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.