It was Aristotle who said “Tolerance is the last virtue of a dying society”. But, have Nigerians truly reached their limits? Someone has said, “Nigerians are too tolerant. If you push them to the wall, rather than fighting back, they would go through the walls”.
In July 2020, I woke up from a frightening night vision about Nigeria. I saw a stretch of neighbourhood in Nigeria looking desolate. It was a scene reminiscent of the war-ravaged city of Mogadishu. Shops and businesses were emptied; roads were waterlogged, refuse-littered, dirty, smelly, stinking and messy. Some roads leading to major streets were flooded with human blood. Buildings were rickety and ram-shackled; and the surviving people standing aloof on streets stood in a panic mood. There was no food to eat or water to drink, as I combed that neighbourhood from building to building, and from shop to shop. It was a terrible sight. I woke up with a very heavy burden in my heart. Looking at the past, I began to fear for the future of Nigeria.
William Federer accurately captures it that, “the story of the future is written in the past”. Extending this further was the poet, Carl Sandburg, who also said, “when a nation goes down or a society perishes, one condition may always be found; they forgot where they came from. They lost sight of what had brought them along”.
Truly, Nigerians have lost focus of their history.
Nigerians, as the day of reckoning beckons on you, the day you would make a choice of your next leader, I write to speak to your conscience with a deep sense of utmost concern and passionate appeal. I write to speak to your conscience, the internal dashboard given to every man by God to guide and shape decisions and choices, that you should not blow this last chance. Yes, it is your last chance at rescuing this sinking ship, at least for the sake of your children, many of whom have never witnessed the pleasantness of the past, but are now faced with the arduous tasks of carrying needless burdens of hopelessness, poverty and penury into the future. Truly, Nigeria is one of the greatest countries on earth, as far as potentials are concerned. Sadly, it is one of the worst countries on earth to achieve dreams and fulfil destinies. In virtually all known global measures of societal success, Nigeria pales in ranking.
Nigeria is at this crossroad of darkness because at all levels, in the church and outside of the church; righteousness has taken flight out of the nation. The politicians, for the most part, are agents of darkness. Similarly, the church that should be the light of the world, has been gravely compromised. The world is now the light of the church. It is so bad now that many among the church leaders in Nigeria have forsaken their first love totally, and are now wining and dining with mammon, with a lot of them actually involved with unbelievable dimensions of occultic practices and affiliations that millions of Nigerian Christians have remained oblivious about. Thus, Nigeria is indeed at a terrible cross-road of darkness.
I can recall very vividly that, former US president, Ronald Reagan expressed a very striking sentiment to the American people in his quest to equip them with the traction they clearly lacked at a most critical time of their history. He said, and I quote, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”
That is the spirit, the decision to fight for the future of your children by electing the right leader to lead us through the next four years. It is the decision to fight against ethnocentric sentiments, religious bigotry and premordial sentiments, in selecting the man with values that you would wish your children emulate in their future. Historically, the Nigerian population has been a victim of many weapons, chief of which are poverty and ignorance. One of the most powerful tool in the hands of evil leaders is “poverty”. It is a tool used all over the world to weaken the people and force them to trade their conscience for temporary financial gratification. It was used by Adolf Hitler to tame the church in Germany. It was used by Joseph Stalin in Russia. In more recent times, it has been used by several other despots and narcissistic leaders, particularly those in Africa. To make matters worse for Nigerians, the corrupt political elites, together with their evil collaborators in the private sector, have decided to punish Nigerians with the poor and shabby implementation of the currency swap policy, thoroughly weakening the people and preparing them ahead for easy financial inducement at the polls.
But you, the people, hold the ace. It is your last chance to decimate darkness. It is your last chance to unite with one voice and change the trajectory of this sinking ship. The power is in your hands, Nigerians. The force of change is triggered by the force of unity, unity of purpose and unity of direction. If you can hold up your heads, tighten your fists against inducements, despite your current pains, and put your feet to the ground in choosing a good leader, your sun will soon shine again. I do not wish to belabour you with what you already know. My assignment is very simple, to help you appreciate the sensitivity and the strategic nature of the decision you would be making on the 25th of February. Remember, no one will bear the consequences of that decision, but you and your children.
Do not believe their truth. Lord Acton said, “Official Truth is not Actual Truth”. Their truth is fraught with lies. The actual truth is that your current leaders don’t love you. You are simply a tool in their hands to help them achieve their goals. This truth should actually guide you into choosing a leader whose manifesto, personal integrity, past results, and current mental and intellectual capacity that’s devoid of ethno-religious sentiments stand ahead of the pack, a leader whose past and present destiny you crave for your children.
25th of February is the date with destiny, Nigerians. You must not blow it. It is your last chance.
Ayo Akerele, a leadership and system development strategist, and minister of the word, writes from Canada and can be reached through [email protected].