By Prof. Chris Nwokobia
I listened first to Mr Tope Fasua a Presidential Adviser on the Economy attempting a near impossible task of blaming the victims of the Food Stampede in Ibadan, Abuja and Okija. He struggled to shift the blame from pervasive hunger and poverty to the dead; he struggled to shift the blame from a dysfunctional economic policy to the Organizers; he struggled to shift the blame from economic reforms that have multiplied poverty to those in desperate need of supplies to get by; he struggled to shift the blame to the Philanthropists who until the present tragedy have always reached out yearly to the needy without Stampedes. Hard as he tried, the Truth is that the quantum of hungry Nigerians have quadrupled. Mayday!
In the Stampedes, the Universe chose to put a lie to the lies of an administration that lies about everything and anything. Unfortunately, it came at very huge mortal cost. I mourn with the families of the departed, and promise that we shall constructively in the new year engage leadership until we have Thinkers and Fixers on our political stage. Mayday!
Whilst trying to grapple with the degree of insensitivity of governmental operators, boom Mr President comes on board with the First Media Chat of his Tenure. Saddled with a flair of Messaiac arrogance President Bola Ahmed Tinubu scores himself EXCELLENT. Mope Ogun-Yusuf of Channels TV made my evening when she asked Mr President if he should be the one scoring himself or the People.
The President blamed the victims of the Food/Hunger Stampedes. He blamed the Organizers. He blamed the Crowd Control mechanism. He argued that he has for 25 years doled out Palliatives without a Stampede. Everyone but the President and his Presidency is blameworthy. Mayday!
And I must say to Mr President… Sir, Nigerians have never been as hungry as they are under your watch. Sir, Nigeria has never had such a deluge and a Crowd of desperately hungry citizens. Sir, through the 25 years that you have doled out your palliatives, Nigerians were not as hungry as they are today. Your watch has made Nigerians poorer than they have ever been. You owe the Dead an apology, and you owe the Philanthropists some humility.
Dateline The Presidential Media Chat… Since Mr. President and his Economic Team and Minders are infallible, since there is nothing to regret, and since there are no part of his policies to rejig, we are obviously a nation on a long thing. I listened to Mr. President, I heard him loud and clear, and I observed his body language, his court-jesters and kitchen cabinet must have conferred on him the Titles of All-knowing King Solomon, Plato’s Man Of Gold, and the Philosopher King, little wonder he has no regrets whatsoever for policies that have multiplied poverty such that Nigerians are dying in Food/Hunger Stampedes. We are clearly in trouble, Folks. Mayday!
I saw helplessness and hopelessness in the faces of the 7 man Media Team that Interviewed Mr. President in the Media Chat aired yesterday the 23rd Day of December, 2024. In fact our All Knowing President ‘schooled’ them on why we must endure the pains of his infallible policies and programs, he schooled them on how poverty is everywhere in the world, forgetting that since the Civil War Nigeria has never been through the kind of hunger and food induced deaths and stampedes like we have seen under his watch.
I have cried MAYDAY! MAYDAY! in 7 uninterrupted series, I pray that we aren’t involved in a dialogue of the deaf. I pray that we have a President and a Presidency that is not removed from the real issues that bother the Nigerian people. Knowing that we have a Yuletide stained with blood, I hope that the Minders of this Presidency understand the urgency of now, I hope that they know that hunger and anger are siamese twins. I hope that they rise beyond mere platitudes and promises to attend the serious task of governance.
As I conclude the Mayday series, I am compelled to begin a new series in the new year, FOLKS, LET’S GET THE JOB DONE. I challenge y’all to proactive action knowing that eternal vigilance is the price of freedom.
Folks, having cried MAYDAY, let’s rise up, knowing in the words of Martin Luther King Jr. that “true compassion is not in tossing a coin at a beggar but in ensuring that the edifice that produces beggars is reworked.” We must therefore organize rather than agonize, and pull together to birth and berth the nation of our dreams.
God Bless Nigeria.
Prof Chris Mustapha Nwaokobia Jnr.
Convener COUNTRYFIRST MOVT. A Good Governance Advocacy Group.
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