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| Buhari's Change begins with you |
My 6 years old son and I went to Peckham in South London to buy some African food stuff. I barely packed my car when he made an observation. He said Papa; there are lots of Africans here. I said yes. He asked why? Well, because they like it here. After some silence, he quipped; and the whole place is dirty.
Rye lane in Peckham, London, is a market place that you can easily mistake for a certain Idumota market that’s situated in Lagos, Nigeria.
All you see in Rye lane is black faces with Nigerians constituting about 90% of its inhabitants. In fact, few years back some Nigerians argued that Peckham should be renamed ‘little Lagos’ to recognise the large population of Nigerians living there.
Hence, seeing a white face there will amount to picking a needle in a haystack. Even the Asians that own most of the shops in Peckham speak Yoruba language to you at first sight. And so, Peckham is truly home to Nigerians.
Beyond doubt, Rye lane is dirty. The place is littered with all kinds of debris including used soft drink cans, snacks and food wraps and etc. the place stinks. But, at the end of Rye lane, which is under a mile drive, is Dulwich. The ambience will tell you that you have left Peckham.
However, in Dulwich you will start seeing more white faces and fewer black faces. The litters, in addition, will disappear. In fact, immediately you cross over to Dulwich, there’s a big pack, just at the end of Rye lane, where some people jog while others relax under trees, etc. You have once more returned to civilisation.
But why is Peckham so dirty while Dulwich, its neighbour, so clean? My wife tried to suggest that perhaps the Council has neglected Peckham because of its ‘Nigerianess’. Well, I don’t blame the Council if that’s the case. Nigerians teleported Lagos to Peckham; they have refused to CHANGE from their Lagos ways of life.
It’s unbelievable that the Nigerians you see in Peckham actually live in London. Just visualise a daily activity in any Nigerian market – that defines Peckham. They shout on top of their voices and talk rudely to shop owners, etc. In a nutshell, they act very uncivilised.
My intention here is not to insult Nigerians living in Peckham. I am only highlighting how difficult it is for Nigerians to change from their brusquely ways. If they cannot CHANGE and accept civilisation in London where there’s rule of law, I doubt they will ever change in any other environment including Nigeria.
And so, by saying that the CHANGE he promised Nigerians begins with Nigerians, President Buhari is invariably saying that if Nigerians don’t change, they should forget about the CHANGE he promised them during the presidential election. This is Mr President’s calculated attempt to renege on his promise.
That reminds me of a Nollywood movie called ‘Living in Bondage’. Andy, the main character, was introduced to a ‘Secret Society’ by his friend – Paul O. Afterwards, the ghost of Andy’s wife who he sacrificed to get rich started tormenting him.
Andy ran back to his friend – Paul O and the ‘Society’ to reverse the sacrifice. They told Andy it cannot be overturned. Andy cried aloud to them, you people didn’t explain the whole thing very well to me. This movie was a fiction.
Unfortunately, this movie is playing out for real in Nigeria. Nigerians are presently living in bondage because they sacrificed their beautiful bride – President Jonathan, in order to gain the CHANGE promised by Mr Buhari.
And just like the movie, the situation cannot reverse until 2019 when there will be another presidential election. To make matter worse, those Paul Os (Obasanjo, Tinubu, Wole Soyinka, etc) that advised Nigerians to sacrifice Mr Jonathan have gone deaf and dumb.
Anyway, I totally agree with President Buhari that his promised CHANGE should begin with every Nigerian. And since Buhari is the NO.1 Nigerian, the change should ultimately begin with him.
- Buhari should reverse those appointments he skewed towards his Fulani ethnic group including those he selected based on his Islamic religion.
- Buhari should follow the rule of law by releasing Mr Dasuki who is being held in prison without charges.
- Buhari should sell the 10 jets in the Presidential fleet. The money realised will cushion the effect of Nigeria’s present economic recession and save the country over 5 billion Naira, which was used to service the aircraft in the last 15 months.
- If Buhari can do the above he would have signalled that his CHANGE mantra has started with him – the head.
After Buhari, the National Assembly should stop stealing billions of Naira from Nigerians in the name of Constituency projects – whatever that means.
Then the state Governors should stop stealing their respective states dry in the name of Security votes – whatever that means. For instance, I heard that security vote in Abia State is 1 billion Naira a month.
Besides, Gov Oshomole of Edo State takes a monthly 500 million Naira security vote from his State’s coffers. Meanwhile the governor acknowledged that he owes pensioners 4 years arrears. And he expects these pensioners to agree that Buhari’s CHANGE begins with them. BIG JOKE!
In fact, the list of people that need to change in Nigeria is endless. They know they have to change for Nigeria to work but lack the will to do so.
And president Buhari knows that Nigerians will never change and in order to mask his inability to fulfil his CHANGE promise, he added a caveat – you have to change to see my change. In other words, if Nigerians don’t change, they should forget about the CHANGE Buhari promised them.