On the Anniversary of the EndSars Protests, here are 5 hard truths and 3 action items we must embrace to make Peace and Progress a reality in Nigeria.
Excerpts below:
5 HARD TRUTHS WE MUST ADDRESS IN NIGERIA
… Time they say heals all wounds, but the passage of 1,000 years will not turn a falsehood into a truth. In like manner, failure will not turn to success by itself after several decades just as a lie will never become a truth because centuries have passed.
HARD TRUTH 1. There must be no doubt that the nation we inherited at independence was wired with the forces of its own disintegration and destruction by a deliberate design. The inspired notes of the liberation fathers speak clearly about these arcane implants that were crafted to keep us ever failing without falling.
HARD TRUTH 2.
Knowing that everything rises and falls with leadership, we were impregnated with a fractured leadership selection device to ensure that mediocrity would forever rule over competence.
This has been with us right from independence till date and is the reason why our core problems were never addressed. In this wise the tail replaces the head while the head is demoted to serve the tail.
HARD TRUTH 3.
In this sense, every Nigerian is a victim of history because the leadership structures that put an electrician to do the job of a doctor, and an engineer to serve as a Carpenter. is primarily responsible for the mess we are in today.
Wherever humanity is devalued and degraded, all other forms of corruption will be multiplied with impunity, as we are now experiencing.
It should be no surprise therefore that we are a Country that has sent its youths to the stream with baskets and sieves to fetch water.
Faced with a future that lacks promise, the youth have turned to the past to seek for hope even though the digital generation knows that the best future is always a function of creative thought, innovation and disciplined execution.
HARD TRUTH 4.
Today, the greatest threat to the existence of Nigeria is the globally documented resurgence of religious extremism and its merciless hydra warheads.
It wears a cloak of religion, but is actually a supremacist agenda with a shape-shifting ability.
The Boko Haram, Fulani militants and ISWAP mercenaries are all skins that it wears and sheds in the pursuit of its evil objectives.
Using terrorism with clinical efficiency, this hydra has studied every weakness in our national structure and it has exploited all our fault lines to establish a predator-prey setting.
It has invested in media as a force multiplier, and used suicide bombers, kidnaps and soft targets to weaken our national morale. It’s an unrelenting adversary that can not be wished away.
HARD TRUTH 5.
Finally, it has to be established clearly that another democratic election on this present platform will not bring us salvation because the terror-hydra has already deployed the bait of ambition and greed to neutralize and capture the political class.
Another election by itself will not stop the bloodshed and confiscation of our territories.
Clearly, this hydra is already well positioned to collapse Nigeria from within. It uses moles in high places and sympathizers in strategic establishments.
To restore hope, revive our dreams and create the ideal future, we must as a matter of urgency use the weakness of the hydra of terrorism to end its Nigerian campaign.
3 ACTION POINTS TO SALVAGE OUR NATION – ALL HANDS ON DECK TO ACHIEVE INTERDEPENDENCE.
ACTION PLAN 1: ISOLATE, IDENTIFY & NEUTRALIZE THE ENEMY WITHIN
… We must remember that we are 210 million strong, and all the terrorists at the core of our troubles are less than 100,000 in number.
We must focus all our energies on identifying, isolating and neutralizing this irredeemable minority so that our children may live.
Nothing less than a total mobilization of the whole Country will work plus the united voice of all patriots in the diaspora, and our foreign allies.
We must take note that moles in high places are difficult to dislodge unless we are united and well-coordinated.
ACTION PLAN 2:
INVESTIGATE THE PAST BUT INVEST IN THE FUTURE
… On a second note, securing the future of our youths must become a national priority rather than the preservation of ancient sentinels.
On their part, the youths must work to identity the selfish dinosaurs who will never plant an oak seed because they will not be around to sit under the shade of the oak tree when the future arrives.
We must focus all our energies on identifying, isolating and neutralizing this irredeemable minority so that our children may live.
Nothing less than a total mobilization of the whole Country will work plus the united voice of all patriots in the diaspora, and our foreign allies.
We must take note that moles in high places are difficult to dislodge unless we are united and well-coordinated.
Across all borders, and with one voice, our youths must work together, using the digital advantage to expel the influence of such toxic elders from national leadership positions.
ACTION PLAN 3: ZERO TOLERANCE TO ELECTION BLOODSHED & SACRIFICE
… Our third actionable position is to pursue Non-Violent Communication (NVC) as the national standard for all political discussions.
Using the African version of NVC, we must revisit and put closure to all the old narratives which are still producing hate, strife and bloodshed from generation to generation.
To transit from the independence narrative to profitable interdependence we must come to a place where elections are governed by NVC principles and a zero tolerance to violence and bloodshed.
We must give ourselves no rest till any political ‘victory’ obtained by a single drop of the blood of a Nigerian is rejected and annulled.
Signed:
Ladi Peter Thompson
Alhaji Majeed Dahiru
Dr. Sam Amadi
Rev Joseph Hayab
Dr. Otivie Igbuzor
Abraham Sam Aiyedogbon