God Is In-charge, In Control; Not Governors or the President
Written Paul I, Adujie Esq.
God Tired! I am God Tired! Tired of God Excuses! Everything in Nigeria has God element or happens because of God and when things are not the way they were intended to be, such things are summarily and speedily put in God’s hands! But Nigerians must realize that…. All prayer and no work is bad for any nation!
A majority of Nigerians are disillusioned as they have been metaphorically dying of expectation fatigue for so long; quite unfortunately, most Nigerians will not admit their disillusionment and expectation fatigue
Consequently, it does appear as if a majority of the Nigerian population have agreed and accepted the idea of not making anyone accountable or responsible for the persisting national funks and malaises
Nigerians have invented a model, which holds no one responsible for sundry national miseries, even as the national human misery index has become extreme over the years.
All sectors of national life are in a state of dysfunction, therefore, the populace have decided not to confront these endless national abnormalities, and the persons, entities and political subdivisions whose duties, responsibilities and obligations are to deal, tackle, correct and or prevent these abnormalities in the first place
A majority of the Nigerian population, as if at Annual General Meeting or some sorts of national referendum, have decided that it is pointless in the most absolute sense, to hold anyone or any entity responsible for the miserable human condition which is pervasive in Nigeria
A-cure-all has been invented to cure this desperate human condition in Nigeria. God is that cure-all, uniformly, for a majority of Nigerians of every religious, ethnic, linguistic and regional background.
Wife of former president of Nigeria, Dame Patience Jonathan became the poster-boy for expressing extreme frustrations through supplications to God… as she expressed her frustrations and helplessness, at what she saw as political conspiracy against her husband, the president of Nigeria at the time, President Goodluck Jonathan….with her now very popular “There is God O!” a terminology which has now entrenched itself into the national lexicon and vocabulary.
Nigerians are liable to heap every national failure at the doorsteps of God! A given president or governor or the state and national political leadership is given a pass or absolved in the face of profound failures, with supplications to God. There is God! A variation of this appeal to the skies is,” It is well”
The trouble with these inanities and supplications to the skies and winds, are that, the abject human conditions persists and often worsens! The acknowledgement or pretence of sudden realization that There-is-God or that, or that… It-Is-Well does not alter the physical condition at hand, which may have warranted the exclamations-supplications!
All reasonable persons should want to know from the long-suffering Nigerians, how exactly, the repeat of the extremely banal statements of There-Is-God or It-Is-Well strengthens anyone? These statements merely put the long-suffering Nigerians in a state of denial, or a state of anomie and put them to sleep mentally, without the requisite agitation minds required for necessary and needed actions!
I take the view that these inane statements, actually encourages inaction and worse, pacify the long-suffering population into accepting extremely abnormal conditions, as if normal.
Similarly, it does appear that, economic and political difficulties have unfurled or stimulated vigorous religious beliefs this probably explains the fact that religion is the only growth industry in Nigeria.
Nigeria has become a place where prayers is substitute for necessary, concerted and sustained actions for addressing economic, political and even technical issues.
The average Nigerian will agree, voluntarily, to travel in a vehicle with three tyres, soon after and so long as, the ubiquitous Man-of-God has prayed over the vehicle and he has dutifully covered the vehicle with an elaborate amount of the blood of Jesus! And then, everyone feels “safe” to travel in a vehicle which is obviously in a state of extreme disrepair, therefore not road-worthy due to poor maintenance!
A majority of maniacs and lunatics who call themselves drivers on Nigerian roads, are prayer-warriors, soon after they pray, they embark on death-defying highway driving stunts or manoeuvres while believing that they are accident-proof, having been fortified by the blood of Jesus and the saliva Angel Gabriel, Jesus’ cousin!
Prayer is substitute for good vehicle maintenance! Prayer is substitute for Rules-of-the-Road, and careful driving, prayers is substitute for reasonableness or common sense measures which ought to make good driving.
Too many Nigerians appear to live in fools’ paradise, in their beliefs in the power of the skies and the winds, in the power of the illogical, the implausible and the unscientific, the Nigerian life is in a prescientific state; Nigeria is for the most part, a prescientific society.
A majority of people in Nigeria, claim belief in Democracy, Due Process and The Rule of Law, but, too frequently, same characters are liable to resort to lawlessness and its cousin, impunity. It is the height of imbecilic infantilism to espouse belief in democracy, then, rig elections! It is a shame to believe in The Rule of Law, while paying to pervert justice with the agreement of the majority! Many pretend that they subscribe to Due Process or processes, until it concerns them, then all processes must evaporate, in order to promote the interests of one, against all and societal best interests.
Nigeria was not always this way! The Nigeria of my childhood was remarkably different and better! Nigeria was certainly never perfect, but, there were public officials who performed, there were police officers who enforced the law, there were Vehicle Inspections Officers VIOs, who ensured that if your vehicle failed inspections or polluted the environment, there were sanctions.
In today’s Nigeria, vehicles are extremely old, poorly maintained, and frequently overloaded, and neither the police, Federal Roads Safety Corps or VIO does anything, the only time there is threat of action, is when extortion is the sole motivation, and when the extortion succeeds, the old vehicle magically becomes new in a few minutes, the overloaded vehicle suddenly becomes something else, but overloaded, bribes are substitutes for enforcements, impunity has come to stay, why obey the law when you can pay or bribe the law to look the other way? Everyone on the roads are then exposed to risks of death or injury.
Nigeria a nation in where there are extreme lawlessness, impunity, perversion, and injustice, still, Nigerians are ostentatiously and conspicuously religious, any cursory observation will reveal the elaborate efforts Nigerians make to be outwardly religious, and such efforts are so hypocritically portrayed!
Religion is the only growth industry, and yet, most religionists do not pay moral obeisance to their religious persuasions! A good Christian should aspire to be Christ-like, should often contemplate –deliberate his actions with, “What will Jesus Do” if similarly situated? A good Muslim may equally ask, “What will Mohammed Do?
It is readily discernable that too many Nigerians enjoy the pomp and ceremonies of their various religions, but seem to give no thought to religious ethos. It is quite difficult to reconcile being a very religious person, with being a public drunk! Piousness, chastity, good morality, charity, all used to be a hallmark of the religious. That was before prosperity gospel?
Is God a burden to Nigeria national psyche? Is God the excuse why African poverty will remain? Nigerians put election rigging or the subversion of democracy in the hands of God, Nigerians put every oppression and every injustices that there are, in the hands of God! Nigerians and Africans act as though they are content to remain in the-state-of-nature; complacency is prevalent, or even, a national and continental pastime!
Is the literal belief in God as the cure-all, the reason why too many Nigerians are docile, unimaginative and appear not to worry about innovations? Nigerians love the wonders of America, Europe, Asia, and more recently the Dubai of the Middle East! But how about replicating those developmental wonders on our shores?
What is the Nigerian sense of justice and fair-play? Is the Nigerian-African sense of justice the way it is, because of belief in God? If you belief God is Judge, Jury and the Executioner, why would you worry about The Rule of Law, Due Process or even Democracy? Why would you want to create the institutions which would promote, entrench, enforce and institutionalize these concepts?
Nigerians and Africans suffered slavery, colonialism, apartheid, racism etc; but Nigerians and other Africans have put slavery, colonialism, apartheid and racism in the hands of God!
All in injustices should be put in the hands of God, as far as the Nigerian or African is concerned, instead of creating and maintaining robust institutions to deal with these profound human conditions or issues.
Jews suffered Holocaust, and the average Jew says, Never Again! Jews have acted locally and globally, to hold to account, and responsible, those persons and entities, individually and collectively for roles they played! As a result, the world is aware, that messing with Jews has consequences! On the other hand, Africans allow conditions so abject, so extreme that African citizens die crossing the desert or the seas in droves fleeing desperate poverty, starvation or wars on the continent, and what do the potentate African political class care?
God! I am tired of anyone and anything which is given as reason why nothing gets done in Nigeria! God is in charge and in control, and nothing gets done! I am tired of this God distraction thing! Let no one give you the God excuse!
There are urgent needs to be met. But we wallow in excuses and inactions. But when it suits us or our egos, we act in unproductive sentimental manners, such as legislating sexual preferences. Why don’t the Nigerian national assembly leave sexual orientation and sexual preferences in the hands of God, rather than legislating it? Why don’t banks leave armed robberies in the hands of God? It is obvious that Nigerians do the needful and the practical, when it involves personal interests or sentiments or emotions, be it religious, regional or ethnic sentiments!
All Nigerians of every religious persuasions must soonest put responsibility at the doorstep of those in-charge, those who must be made to account, and those that must produce measurable outcomes and great results.
Nigerians must soonest hold any president,, all governors, all legislators, all Vice Chancellors, all principals or headmasters, everyone in-charge of research, anyone put in charge of electricity generation and transmission or in-charge of transportation, anyone in-charge of any system or process should be held to account for their failure or ineptitude, Nigerians should leave God out of nation failures and ineptitudes, lawlessness and corruption.
A majority of Nigerians seem to have decided that God is in-charge and in Control of everything in Nigeria, and not legislators, the governors Or even the president, this explains why public infrastructures, social amenities, the national currency and unemployment have remain the way they are, as Nigerians in their majority put these vexing urgent national issues in the hands of God!
Serious nations undertake research and development, serious nations explore and conquer new frontiers, serious nations focus on national interests and leave religions to the individual!
