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Fallacy Number One: Of course, it is easy to countermand such scoffers by asking them in return: "Why has God not changed Nigeria despite your prayers and the religious fervor of Nigerians? Despite endless prayers, fasting, retreats, revivals and million-man jamborees, why do Nigerian telephones and power supply constantly fail? Most Japanese care nothing about the Bible or the Koran but their telephones work, as do their railway system and other public utilities. By contrast, why are Nigerian post offices, passport and immigration offices, educational institutions and public utilities in such state of chaos and dysfunction? Does God not love Nigeria? Can the omnipotent God not cure the problems of NEPA in an instant? Why do preventable diseases like meningitis, cholera, typhoid, malaria and malnutrition continue to denigrate the lives our people to a fragment of hell? Does God not care? Is He not able to save? The answers are simple: God cares; He is able to save. But we, Nigerians, deceive ourselves when we parade religious dogma as authentic spirituality. In today's Nigeria, the name of Jesus has been reduced to a magical mantra invoked like a metaphysical abracadabra by those who are doctrinally too erroneous, intellectually too lazy, politically too obtuse, socially too reactionary and ideologically too confused. Because they are also spiritually too undiscerning, attitudinally too miserly, physically too undisciplined and psychologically too detached, they are of little use to God or man! For Moses, Joshua, Nehemiah, Esther, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Nahum, Obadiah, Micah, Habakkuk, John the Baptist and yes, Jesus Christ, faith was not a fatalistic resignation in the face of challenges. Indeed, even in the most supernal of tasks, that of saving of a soul, the Apostle Paul says, "we are laborers together with God" (1 Corinthians 3: 9). God loves Nigeria and will use Nigerians to rescue Nigeria from its rut. Those who use God's holy name as canopy for their inaction and dereliction of civic duty forget that the essence of true religion lies not in sanctimonious creed but in sanctified deed. It is true that the Bible says that the just shall live by faith (Habakkuk 4: 2). However, faith without works is metaphysical hogwash. Indeed, the Apostle James bluntly calls it "dead religion." Fallacy Number Two: Such people should be reminded that God was alive when Mussolini, Josef Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Idi Amin, Mobutu Sesesoko, Ibrahim Babangida, Sani Abacha and other despots ascended to power. The point here is not that Obasanjo belongs to this phylum of despots. Rather, one is debunking the fallacy of ascribing all events in history to God. My Evangelical Christian faith is comfortable with the notion of God's permissive will enabling Obasanjo to become our President. However, Christians know that sometimes, the permissive will of God is completely different from His directive will. The election of Chief Obasanjo as the President of Nigeria was directed not by God but by a survivalist, self-serving cabal of current and retired Generals. On at least two occasions, I published articles about Obasanjo's antecedents showing why he would be a very bad President at this momentous pass of Nigeria's history. Of course, the view of one person, no matter how considered, need not prevail. Flawed as the electoral process was, Chief Obasanjo emerged as President and deserved the support of all Nigerians. In accordance with the finest tradition of democratic liberalism, I immediately not only offered President Obasanjo my congratulations, I pledged to him my daily prayers and whatever support I can render to ensure his success. Hence, despite the personal discomfort of the exercise, I published a scathing article in six Nigerian newspapers taking the leadership of the AD and Afenifere to task over their objection to Chief Ige serving in the Obasanjo cabinet. Unfortunately, it is now obvious that all Nigeria will get from President Obasanjo is administrative tinkering. A federalism gone asunder is the albatross strangling Nigeria's neck. Obasanjo has no intention to free us from this Draconian octopus with its suffocating tentacles. In any case, in the name of national unity, it was Obasanjo's earlier regime that buried voracious termites beneath the wood of Nigerian federalism. Nigeria will never know peace or prosperity for as long as we adhere to the current overbearing, centralist system in which the Federal Government has the audacity to fix the salaries of state functionaries. Is it imaginable that the US Federal Government would establish a salary structure that binds the States of California, New York, Mississippi, Texas and Minnesota? In what other federal system in the world are taxes collected from one state and dispersed to others? The fundamental defects in the structure of Nigerian Federation will still be with us after Obasanjo leaves office. Unchanging changes: forbacky dance indeed! Why are Delta region states not given the control of the resources within their territory? Does the United States Federal Government control the oil of Texas, Oklahoma or Louisiana? Why should only the Federal Government have a police force? Some have argued that because regional police forces had sometimes been used as instruments of victimization in the past, they should remain disbanded. By that very logic, the Nigerian Police Force and the entire Nigerian Military should be disbanded. Certainly, they too have been used on too many occasions as instruments of oppression. Were we not eyewitnesses to the use of the Nigerian Police Force to subvert the electoral wishes of the people in many parts of Nigeria during the 1983 election? Was the apparatus of the federal police and the military not used to terrorize the Nigerian people during the dark days of Babangida and Abacha? Should they too be disbanded? As military dictator, Obasanjo's regime was the first in Nigerian history to assign military officers as governors of states from where they did not originate. The fixation on unity, as if it is an end unto itself, was the pernicious foundation for the internal colonialism of the Babangida-Abacha years. As military dictator, Obasanjo's regime was the first to forcibly either ban or acquire the ownership of private newspapers. Today, we still do not have any constitutional guarantees against such acquisition. As military dictator, Obasanjo's regime was the first in Nigerian history to sack Nigerian workers en masse without established due process. The Nigerian civil service, once among the best in the world, collapsed under the weight of misguided passion for so-called national discipline because sober judgment and due process were recklessly trampled. Twenty-five years later, among Obasanjo's first acts as President was the sacking of workers who, again, were denied due process. As military dictator, Obasanjo's regime was the first in Nigerian history to forcibly acquire state properties and institutions without any compensation. Twenty-five years later, Obasanjo has given us no indication that he now understands the deleterious consequences of this malignant centralism. As military dictator, Obasanjo's government eroded the autonomy of state-owned television and radio stations by imposing so-called national programs. As a consequence, those stations asphyxiated under the burden of intemperate centralism. For example, Western Nigerian Television, once the best in Africa, became a caricature of itself. Indeed, Obasanjo prepared the ground for the use of those stations in furthering the satanic ambitions of more heinous despots that later ascended to power. As military dictator, Obasanjo's regime was allergic to open discourse and criticism. Obarogie Ohanbamu, Edwin Ikechukwu Madunagu, Areoye Oyebola, Gbolabo Ogunsanwo and many other illustrious Nigerians were forced to lose their jobs when they dared criticize Obasanjo. Twenty-five years later, in Atlanta Georgia, when a Nigerian expressed the concerns of his people, our supposedly democratic President lashed out in an autocratic outburst: "Go to hell!" Without doubt, Nigeria needs good governance. However, there is no indication that Obasanjo now has what it takes to provide the visionary leadership that this moment demands. In any case, even if by some miracle Obasanjo were able to provide good governance, what happens when he leaves office? Wisdom dictates to us all that this simple question be given our urgent and grave attention. We desperately need a better structure, a new political arrangement in which the Presidency does not suffocate our lives by its omnipotence and omnipresence. Fallacy Number Three: Today, the Federation of Nigeria is a fatally flawed structural abnormality. The inordinate concentration of power in the central government is a mockery of federalism. For too long, by dishonestly touting unity as an end unto itself, survivalist dictators have created Federal monsters that gobbled at our innate diversity as if our God-created diversity is, of itself, an evil! It is now certain that President Obasanjo can never lead us out of this political silliness and intellectual dishonesty. An African does NOT cease to be human simply because he is African; a Nigerian does not cease to be African simply because of being a Nigerian. For heaven's sake, the diversity of our nationalities as Tiv, Jukum, Ijaw, Ibiobio, Hausa, Igbo, Ogoni, Fulani, Yoruba or what have you, in no way detracts from Nigerian patriotism. In any case, our checkered history leaves us with absolutely irrefutable evidence that the harmonious coexistence of Nigerian nationalities will not be erected on the foundation of a coercive, centralist structure that discountenances our diversity. Moreover, contemporary events in many parts of the world clearly reveal that the issue of nationality is not one to be buried under the carpet of mere pretense and coerced relationship. Ask the people of Bosnia and of Yugoslavia. Ask the people of our former colonial masters, the so-called "United Kingdom" of Great Britain where the Scottish, Welsh and Irish now assert their nationalities after centuries of rigmarole. Recently, I read a brilliant and most evocative article entitled "Stop the bus" by Orok Edem. Edem likened Nigeria to a bus that perennially travels in the wrong direction. He opined that Nigerian Minority ethnic groups will be better by getting off the Nigerian bus. One wishes that the Nigerian experiment will succeed and the Nigerian bus will commence traveling in the right direction. Without question, a big size confers some advantages to a nation. But if our size and heterogeneity remain a hindrance to our prosperity, all of us will be better served by getting off the Nigerian bus. The legacies of Chief Obafemi Awolowo in Western Nigeria bear witness that even without oil resources, the Yorubas will be far better off the Nigerian bus. Awolowo demonstrated that with Spartan discipline and judicious husbandry of limited resources, quantum leaps of progress are possible even if a people have no oil. Likewise, the Hausa-Fulani would be better off the Nigerian bus where they can resume the tremendous multi-faceted development that took place under the leadership of the Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello. Needless to say, the legacies of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Dr. Michael Okpara resoundingly prove that the Igbos would have been far better off had they not been forced back into the Nigerian bus. Needless to say, the Nigerian Minorities such as those in the Delta region or the Middlebelt would have done far better on their own. What is the logic or morality of this fixation on unity? Let us stay united if and only if being "united" will foster peace, liberty and prosperity for our people. Otherwise, let us convoke around a mahogany table and discuss the terms of our parting of ways. What we call unity today is nothing but coerced co-existence in which all of us are equal opportunity victims of distrust and concomitant marginalization. Fallacy Number Four: This myth is echoed daily across Nigeria. In sad reality, Nigeria has been reduced to a fragment of hell, from Port Harcourt to Kaura Namoda and from Lagos to Nguru. Today, a Yoruba is the President in Nigeria. But how has that preferentially benefited the workers of Osun State whose salaries are rarely paid on time? We must not discountenance the ethnocentric undercurrents of Nigerian politics. But we must not allow corrupt leaders to exploit the concern about marginalization for their self-serving purposes. In any case, when a Nigerian politician decries the marginalization of his people, his primary concern is often for himself not the people; he is craving more opportunities for graft and embezzlement. If a Yoruba Stealator enriches himself by inflating the cost of procuring computers, does that make Yorubas less marginalized than their Ibiobio compatriots? Our elite, regardless of ethnic origin, are plundering Nigeria's treasury while sentencing the masses of all ethnic groups to marginal existence. How many of our senators or ministers are concerned that after 30 years of service, the total gratuity of a professor, engineer, lawyer, surveyor, teacher or civil servant is less than the furniture allowance of a senator or minister? What is needed is a united front by the marginalized masses of Nigeria against adventurers in power and career opportunists who have turned public service into looting service. Fallacy Number Five: Their experience and ours epitomize the great gulf between greatness and potential greatness. Those who enjoy the thrill of watching a buffoon making a fool of himself may deceptively call us the "Giant of Africa" but we must not be hoodwinked by such frivolity. Of course, the antics of a buffoon in the market square is a comic relief but those who enjoy and laugh at such antics never wish to have a buffoon for a child. The whole world has become a global village in which being "the giant of Africa" while remaining a "dwarf of the world" is nothing to sing about. The pandemics of grinding poverty, preventable diseases, ridiculous superstitions cloaked as religion, environmental degradation and technological backwardness, all sprawling across Nigeria are not indicators of greatness. Do we talk of greatness about a country where educational institutions have broken down, transportation services are backward, physical infrastructures are decrepit, and agricultural technology is primitive? Can we describe as great a nation where medical services are extremely poor, water supply is episodic, and power supply is epileptic? These variegated but all-too-familiar woes inflict economic asphyxiation and physical debilitation on our people. Yet, we talk about greatness! Likewise, how can we say that Nigeria is rich when there is more wealth in this city, Dallas Texas, than the entire country of Nigeria? Sure, Nigeria has the potential to be rich. As we speak, there are many individuals in this room today who have the potential to be rich. But unless they develop that potential, they will never be rich. Likewise, the wealth of nations is not created by wishful thinking or bloated ego. Rather, it is created and sustained by the concerted application of human ingenuity and discipline in the exploitation of natural resources. Whither the Nigerian Bus? Ladies and Gentlemen, it is clear by now that I have not come here to paint for you a rosy picture about Nigeria's future. I have long disqualified myself from the membership of OFN (Operation Fool the Nation). Problems are not solved when we shy away from them. The perennial recurrence of our woes is sufficient proof that problems do not disappear just by being neglected. The Nigerian bus is badly damaged. Together, we can repair it. Every bus needs headlights. Nigeria will not prosper until we embrace a collective vision of justice for all. If unity is our goal, justice must be our guiding light. When a nation sows the seed of injustice, it inevitably reaps disunity. Together, we must fight injustice in every part of our land. Every bus needs a roof, windscreens and a protective frame. For the Nigerian bus, the Rule of Law together with an unflagging adherence to universal human rights must be our roof and windscreen. Nigeria will not prosper until the winds of tyranny and the disregard for due process are structurally disabled from ever assaulting our human rights and civic liberties. These liberties are our God-given unalienable rights. Any government attempting to infringe upon these liberties must be resisted by any means necessary. Every bus needs a steering wheel. For the Nigerian bus, the steering wheel must be discipline. And by discipline, I speak not of the regimentation of our lives by military or civilian autocrats. Rather, national discipline is the singular focus on noble goals and the rational process for achieving them. It is not about morbid centralism; it is about the resolute choices of a free people in moral pursuit of progress. Every bus needs brakes, and seatbelts. For the Nigerian bus, our brakes and seatbelts must be constitutional checks and balances that safeguard our nation against governmental excesses. Of course, every bus needs an engine, a battery, tires, wheels accelerators etc. I have no doubt that together, we can provide the Nigerian bus needs. However, Ladies and Gentlemen, the issue is not what we can do together; it is what we shall do together. The options before us are limited- only three. First, we may leave the bus unattended and continue our journey of harrowing woes. Needless to say, it is suicidal for anyone to knowingly travel in a bus that is in a state of disrepair. Sooner or later, such a bus will crash. Ask the Soviet Union, India, Pakistan, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia all of whom imploded under the weight of internal stress. We must reject this option. Second, we may repair the bus and take a ride to peace and prosperity. Examples abound in history about nations that rebuilt from disrepair. Third, we may disembark the bus and let the passengers get unto new ones according to their sovereign and free wishes. That was what happened when Denmark peacefully broke into Sweden and Denmark; Sweden later peacefully broke into Norway and Sweden. That was what happened when Czechoslovakia peacefully broke into Czech and Slovakia. Quite frankly, I am completely comfortable either with joining to repair the Nigerian bus or helping to peacefully dismantle it so that we all can be spared the agonizing but inescapable destiny of riding a damaged bus to our collective perdition. And so, to that infinite Source of vision, wisdom, courage and grace, the Supreme One we call Allah, Chineke, Obong, Oghene, Olodumare, Ooundu, Osalobua etc., I say: So Help us God to either repair soon or peacefully and quickly dismantle our hapless bus!
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