“Come back and tell Nigerians how they place priority on self and other primordial sentiments against laws, institutions and the state. That in Nigeria, patriotism is seen as mystical phenomenon that is impracticable.”
ACHEBE, a lot has happened since you left us in this bramble forest called Nigeria. Now a new type of government called Extremiscracy – that is, a government whose leadership is determined by religious sentiments, but not based on any religious principles – has been introduced into Nigeria. The rate at which religious bigotry determines the affairs of leadership in Nigeria today is alarming. Being facetious, religion is eclectically utilised for manipulations in Nigeria. It’s so obvious that, while its core principle is to promote morality and love, nothing promotes immorality and hatred as religion does – I mean all religions. No wonder it’s said that “there is no lie as religion, and no threat to human coexistence as religion.
Now, Achebe, Nigeria has come to its end. There is a country called Nigeria only because, when a river dries the name stays. But the valley is being filled up in every passing minute. Like Biafra, very soon we may only remember that ‘there was a country’ called Nigeria. Nigeria has been struggling to live on, but do you think it can survive Extremiscracy in its current fragile state? Answer me, trustworthy Achebe. You alone can answer this question sincerely; other Nigerians would lie to me if I asked them.
“My dear Achebe, considering how divided Nigeria is, and how seemingly inseparable its people are from their self-imprecated fatiferous dispositions, and how thinking of any solutions for the horrendous crux has become a quandary, some critical thinkers are now suggesting that it would be far better if Nigeria divides into more countries. The country has literally become a hell where the biblical Satan lives and leads.”
You wrote some time ago about the poor choice of using ‘Unity and Faith’ as the central message of the Nigerian Coat-of-Arms. As you feared, a group of people have ‘United’ in one ‘Faith’ and have hijacked the country. And it’s never a new story to keep reminding you about the unequivocal level of social injustice in the country.
Achebe, I don’t need to tell you about the just concluded elections. Oh! I’m not even sure if they have been concluded yet. You said 40 years ago that the country is impeccably unfortunate in its leadership, when you wrote that the trouble with Nigerian leadership “is the seminal absence of intellectual rigour in the political thought of our founding fathers”. Achebe, it is more than unfortunate that our founding fathers were politically intelligent than the leaders we have today. Nigerian leaders today, in addition to total lack of intellectual rigour in leadership, are proclived “to pious materialistic wooliness and self-centered pedestrianism”. They have succeeded in sowing the worst and irretrievable discord in the country.
You said that Nigerians are not “particularly evil or wicked”. However, it’s arguably not true that Nigerians are not “particularly evil or wicked”. Now our forests are no longer used for hunting of wild animals or for game reserve. They’re now used as human zoos by kidnappers. The leaders in Nigeria sent barbarians into our forests to terrorize the poor and kidnap them; they have made farmers handicap so much that they live like castaways in their own communities. Kidnapping is now the most payable job in the country.
Achebe, you wrote that “The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to responsibility”. Of course, Nigerian leaders are not responsible leaders. However, it’s not because they are not only willing to, but because they do not have the ability to be responsible. Somewhat, Nigerian leaders lack progressive spirit which is the hallmark of development. Irresponsibility is a natural disposition akin to Nigerians – here indiscipline and corruption are accepted as a virtue of smartness.
Achebe, as you saw before you left, Nigeria keeps decaying every day. And it seems the problems are destined to compound every day. Recall that you wrote that Nigerians are not famous with “mental rigour”. It’s so very true. There are no people in Nigeria to confront the problems. Organisations that are supposed to confront the problems keep acting like hungry dogs, instead of being people whose actions are engendered by anger over social failures and injustices. The leaders of such organisations seem to only speak or bark whenever they are hungry for their own share of the national cake. Once a crumb is thrown to them, they share it among themselves and go back to their kennel until they become hungry again.
“We need you to come and remind Nigerians that they dearly promote sectarianism, false image of themselves, lack patriotism, lack discipline, lack social justice, and have a leadership style that naturally promote corruption and mediocrity. Please, we want you here to tell us that we have a system that is a direct opposite of the style of leaderships that promote development, social harmony and peace.”
My dear Achebe, considering how divided Nigeria is, and how seemingly inseparable its people are from their self-imprecated fatiferous dispositions, and how thinking of any solutions for the horrendous crux has become a quandary, some critical thinkers are now suggesting that it would be far better if Nigeria divides into more countries. The country has literally become a hell where the biblical Satan lives and leads.
Achebe, the hero of Patriots, we want you to come back and tell Nigerians with the words of David Cameron that Nigeria is a fantastically corrupt country; come back and tell Nigerians with the words of Lord Alfred Denise that, in Nigeria, bribery and graft are accepted and stealing is a virtue; code of morals is abandoned in public places. Morals are only remembered and accepted when in the church or mosque, but rejected elsewhere. Come back and tell Nigerians how they place priority on self and other primordial sentiments against laws, institutions and the state. That in Nigeria, patriotism is seen as mystical phenomenon that is impracticable.
We need you to come and remind Nigerians that they dearly promote sectarianism, false image of themselves, lack patriotism, lack discipline, lack social justice, and have a leadership style that naturally promote corruption and mediocrity. Please, we want you here to tell us that we have a system that is a direct opposite of the style of leaderships that promote development, social harmony and peace.
Oh, Achebe, We Miss You!
Olohy, a social critic, writes from Nasarawa State.
