The Saddest Independence At 60

AMB. EZEWELE ABIONANOJIE CYRIL

At 60, we have recorded nothing but anaemic progress that has relegated us as a nation to the wheel chair of ‘never well’.

At 60, many out there are still fighting and fueling ethnic supremacy at the detriment of having a united and a peaceful society. At 60, corruption has become the only known way out of the pit of lack to many who are victims of corrupt settings and have adopted corruption as a way of life. At 60, our security agents, chiefly the Police are under paid and not catered for, as we wait in vain to have them quell crimes and corruption while they remain victims of deprivations. At 60, proliferations of arms in the hands of hoodlums and unsocial imperialists who live in the bush with no traceable address and whose sole agenda is to conquer territories are on the rise while colonialists see it as a tool to keep us divided. At 60, religious bigotry and blind doctrines have blackened the minds of our elites, caging their senses of reasons within a circle of thoughts that see people of other Faiths as form of satanism.

At 60, over 60% of our youths survive through crimes and see nothing wrong with it while our leaders are busy looting public funds, causing havoc, fueling mayhems to secure political offices. At 60, prostitution in our land has gotten to cosmic proportion that many young girls (even below the age of 10) would sell their virginity for a plate of food). At 60, violence, buying of votes, the hijacking of ballot boxes and manipulated verdicts by unholy judges remain part of our elective process. At 60, decapitating and other forms of killing fellow humans have become a thing of norm and advert in media. At 60, threat and tyranny are still being employed by rulers to cage many who would dare to challenge any form of illegality and wrongdoings perpetrated by the king of the day. At 60, the labour of our heroes past and the wall that binds us together has being obliterated through tribalism, humanistic religious ideologies and bad governance. At 60, we have remained toddlers in the game of making progress, having laws without arms, pampering corruption and insurgency.

At 60, the sinners with the king are saints while the saints outside the king’s palace are tagged sinners. At 60, we still don’t know which way to the city, wondering in the river of distrust and lost in the desert of setbacks, birthed and buttressed by our political horrible honourables. At 60, our leadership seats have become more attractive to thieves as thievery has been unwittingly legalized in our political sea, where leaders could steal billions of naira and be elevated to honourable positions in the society, or in some cases blame lower animals of swallowing public funds. What a show of shame at 60!

We are still being ruled by outdated brains of 1960’s at 60. At 60, many have lost Faith in the leadership and in the unity of our country, as such, keep agitating for division in order to be free from the bad setting of ‘a tribe up and other tribes down’. At 60, we have not learnt the act of living together as brothers as we are being led by our leaders towards perishing together as fools. It is bad for the blind to lead the blind, but worse for the blind to lead the seeing at 60. At 60, farmers are scared of going to farms to avoid being raped, kidnapped or killed by herdsmen which is sky rocketing food prices, provoking inflation in every other sector and making living unbearable to our dear people (Esan people under siege by armed Fulanis). At 60, many have been raped of freedom of farming among many other inherent freedoms lost in the past together with freedom of speech that was murdered recently with hate speech bill. At 60, we keep experiencing a better yesterday instead of a better tomorrow. At 60, suicide is fast becoming an escape route from our man-made hellish society for many. We have lost the bond of camaraderie and every man to his tent at 60. At 60, we have become nothing but a tall fool.

The once globally celebrated glorious country called Nigeria at 60 is now being greeted with the SADDEST independence since the history of her existence.

At 60, many of us are helplessly, haplessly and hopelessly bleeding in our lonely hearts as we keep asking a very painful and heartbreaking question; who do us?

• Amb. Ezewele Abionanojie Cyril, the author of the book, ‘The Enemy Called Corruption’.