Wishful thinking right?
A colleague who was robbed at gun point yester-night, narrated the entire experience to me.
It is one of those stories that touches the heart and at the same time shows you where this country is headed to - nowhere...
Yesterday on MBI (a television station) - there was a story of a CNN reporter (Jeff Konange) who was taken to the lair of the MEND forces (Movement for the Emancipation Of the Niger-Delta) and interviewed the second in command - who went about a speech and then abruptly ended the interview...
I was shown an image of "the Niger delta freedom fighters" holding a certain number of Filipino hostages at GUN POINT - maybe it was for the sake of the TV cameras (I don't know). I always say that there are two perspectives: The bravery that a gun holder feels when pointing a gun on someone or the terror of a hostage who has a gun trained on him/her...
It was one of those situations where you're forced to question everything you think you know about humanity...
Point:
It is an extremely lucrative business to kidnap foreign nationals within the Niger-delta region and hold them for a specified amount of money...
What the long term objectives are is truly beyond me....
On a broader level:
the 2007 polls are another source of entertainment. We are subjected to claims and counter claims emanating from all corners...
Allegations and counter allegations of bribery, corruption, strong-arm tactics and a host of other methods employed to harass and intimidate political opponents.
Recently the EFCC (Economic and Financial Crimes Commission) published a list of "corrupt" officials which was to be used a means to disqualify candidates...
I mean - this is Nigeria (the last time I checked), ranked as one of the top ten most corrupt nations on the planet... everyone's corrupt so the judgment of a commission to publish a "list" of corrupt officials is like telling us that the sky in not "blue" but somewhat "bluish".
As i had earlier predicted, the true test of democracy in Nigeria would be the 2007 elections - ( i hate it when I'm so right!)
I don't go around fooling myself on the merits of any other nation to Africa but when you consistently decry real development and eschew some kind of ethics in favor of short term gains and advantages - what do you expect but chaos...
We are a continent of survival...
Short term advantages have always been preferred to long term gains...
I can amass a fortune by stealing and committing fraudulent acts but how many life times do I have to actually spend the money?
In this day and age - the bottom line should be how to re-engineer, re-structure. We have seen that this is very possible and has proven successful in some sectors - why can't we do it for the long haul?
You can only push and toy around with people for so long. Put simply:
You can fool some people all the time
And most people some of the time,
and that's enough...
We need to break out of this dependency mentality - we need to make personal corrections to our lives and propagate those corrections to the on-coming generation.
In summary - I would prefer to be a slave of a caring master than to be a free born without any real choice, ruled by the whims of others.
There is no future that doesn't start from now...
