Icheoku says so many of us were still bed-wetting way back in the seventies when Olusegun Obasanjo first stepped unto power and forty long years later, the same Olusegun Obasanjo is still a factor in Nigeria's power equation? Bamangar Tukur was governor of now defunct Gongola State in the seventies and forty years later, the same grandpa is still holding forte in Nigeria as chairman of Nigeria Railway Corporation? Edwin Clark was a minister way back in the sixties and almost fifty years later, the same man is still having a say on how Nigeria is governed? Ditto Alex Ekwueme, Samuel Ogbomudia, Jim Nwobodo, Ebenezar Babatope, Balarabe Musa and so many other dinosaurs of Nigerian political landscape, who have refused to yield the space and move away to make way for the new generation to try their luck? Now Nigerians are once again being burdened with another one of this very old breed personality named Muhammadu Buhari.
Icheoku says it is one heck of an eyesore and a testament of a stunted growth of a society that this bred of tired but not retired odd fellows and archival politicians, are still holding sway and wielding so much power in Nigeria, so many several decades after their first debut on the Nigerian political firmament. It therefore should be a cause for serious great concern to every Nigerian, who is positively vested in the future of the country, that these people still dictate what goes on, up and down in the country after five decades of independence. Admitted that as bona fide citizens of the country that they reserve the right like any other Nigerian to participate in the politics of the country; but a thriving polity would have since told them thank you, enough, not anymore; as we need to try new hands while continually training other future leaders of the country.
But unfortunately, a society under the spell of perpetual dependency; a captive society with deranged psyche which has been additional traumatized by repeated military dictatorships and very uncaring leaderships, found itself always genuflecting and trembling before these "council of elders" and at the pain of being branded "disrespectful" to elders? Icheoku queries when shall our people ever be finally freed of some of these apparent hold-backs, some of which have seen nineteen century solution being applied to twenty first century problems? Therefore, given that these old breeds have refused to yield the floor or even die off, the question then becomes, when would the opportunity ever finally present itself for those Nigerians who were young when these guys first came to power, but who are gradually getting old themselves, to take over the mantle of leadership and infuse some new ideas into the staled way of doing things by these political Methuselahs? How then can the young ever grow in Nigeria when the old has refused to yield space?
So anyone still wondering why Nigeria has remained the ever all motion and no movement, revolving door to nowhere, it has been since independence, should wonder no further but take a look at the man the APC is trying to force upon Nigeria as president in this new millennium 2015. A man who first ruled Nigeria in the eighties when Ronald Reagan held forte in the United States; Margret Thatcher ruled Britain; Soviet Union was still in existence; Nelson Mandela was still locked away to rot in Robben Island prison; Czechoslovakia was still one country; Yugoslavia was still intact and under the firm grip of Father Tito and of course President Obama was still hustling on the streets of Hawaii? This is the man now being pushed by some Nigerians with the help of their foreign sponsors to again mount the saddle of leadership in Nigeria; a matter made worse because some Nigerians are even seriously considering that proposition? Icheoku says any Nigerian who does not see anything wrong with this picture is possibly part of the problem afflicting Nigeria. It suggests that the school of political pupillage in Nigeria has never graduated any person all these past three decades plus since 1983; and then query, what future awaits a country so patently deprived of grooming its future leaders?
Icheoku asks, are these entrenched political dinosaurs never ashamed that President Barack Obama of the United States of America not too long ago just turned fifty years old? Are these people not ashamed that in the United Kingdom, a man who they know when he was in diapers, David Cameron, is leading that country? Are these elders not ashamed that in Mexico, President Enrique Pena Nieto was born in 1966 when Edwin Clark was already a serving minister in Nigeria? When these people travel to meet these youthful leaders of other more progressive countries, how do they feel about their own deprived youths at home and generally being protocoled? Icheoku says these people are bleeding Nigeria and very heavily too and it is about time they retire or are retired for good. Their stale ideas and archaic way of doing things no longer works nor has any value-added place in this new millennium. It is about time the app-generation is allowed access to power so that they can introduce virtual knowledge to problem solving in order to keep moving the country forward. These stone-aged politicians' stale understanding of micro-economics and other basic intricacies of governance is no longer what drives the modern world and they all need to be retired and NOW.
These people are bereft of fresh ideas that effortlessly turn the wheel of international camaraderie and cooperation between nations. Internally, the result is nearly the same as they expect everyone to bow and genuflect to their grandpa and should respectfully not air an opinion or become a contrarian just because 'grandpa' has already ruled on it and so should it be? Query, when was the last time 'grandpa' googled or researched what is the latest new trend in Singapore or Malaysia or any other countries; and what are other countries of the world doing to reposition themselves and then emulate their template. When was the last time 'grandpa' secured a golf-playing retreat with a United States president or Japanese Prime Minister so that he can smooch them into looking the way of Nigeria with their foreign assistance programs? Does grandpa understand the language of modern foreign relations well enough that what he needs for Nigeria from these foreign leaders, he knows how to speak it and get result? Unfortunately, their processors are not such that a reboot or patch could easily fix, rather it needs a complete and total replacement. This is the fork in the road with the current madness driving the clamor by some Nigerians for a Buhari presidency and you ask yourself which planet did these Nigerians inhabit?
But a culture that still defers to this sort of controlling anomaly is yet to deem it fit to tell these council of elders that their rightful place is their retirement country homes but not the seat of power. These elders should be minded to move away from seat of power or forced to do so; to make way for the young and restless, who are more energetic, to competitively take on their global colleagues from other countries and make Nigeria sizzle. So, as you go into the voting booth on March 28, ask yourself are you going to remain part of the problem or would you rather become part of the solution. Would you vote to sustain this riveting control or would you vote to permanently sever it and retire these band of elders willy-nilly? Your hatred for Jonathan or unsatisfactoriness with his performance so far should not be your only deciding factor as you make your decision to vote. Think about the statement you would be making by voting for a 72 years old Muhammadu Buhari, that Nigeria is a stunted society populated by very strange people, who prefer gulag to freedom; and who rewards unrepentant murderers with positions of authority including their country's presidency? So vote wisely and circumspectly not to help sustain this aberration; vote to permanently retire these disused permanent fixtures from the Nigerian power scene; vote for the more youthful man, VOTE GEJ.
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