OF POISONED BEANS AND DEATH NUMBERS...
Nigeria is in a dire situation. Our leaders, both political and religious have brainwashed us to the point that we can no more differentiate between pranks and reality. Our politicians tell us that our problems are Northerners and Moslems; we swallow it wholesale even though it’s clear for all to see that the average Northerner is worse off than the average Southerner. (This is largely because southern women are freer to access education and participate in trading and industry thereby contributing immensely to the education of their children, an opportunity the average Northern woman lacks). So they tell us what the solution would be. A southern Christian President! We all swallowed it whole forgetting that each time a northerner had been in power, he had had the active participation and collaboration of, wait a minute, yes, Southern Christians!
The only difference between North and south, in my humble and myopic opinion is that while northern states, which have no petroleum resources, manage their lesser revenue allocation better and keep corruption at a manageable level, their southern counterparts, who have huge revenue allocation, go on a looting spree to the total neglect of their people.
Our problems are not the Moslem north nor the Christian south, however, this religious/sectional politics which is nothing but DIVIDE AND RULE has only one set of people who gain from it and it’s not the North or the South but the political elite, past and present.
According to the literary luminary Chinua Achebe “Since the war, Nigerians have been subjected to a clique of military and civilian adventurers and a political class that have exploited the ethnic divisions in Nigeria. This group, unfortunately, has been completely corrupted, spearheading the enormous transfer of the country’s wealth into private bank accounts, a wholesale theft of the national resources needed for all kinds of things - health, education, roads. The result has been that the nation’s infrastructure was left to disintegrate unleashing untold suffering on millions of innocent people.”
Aha, then comes those who should be leading the fight in the emancipation of Nigerians because of the huge follower-ship they command; OUR RELIGIOUS LEADERS! The level of brain-washing going on in these organisations is hugely responsible for us losing the ability to decipher the truth; we cannot draw a line between reality and fantasy. We are taught that the devil is the opposite of God so at any given time, God is in a battle with the devil over the possession of our lives even though the bible says that ONLY GOD HAS THE POWER OVER LIFE AND DEATH. They drum it into us that the devil is constantly after us but if we have faith, pray without ceasing, fast regularly, aha, then pay our tithes and give generous offerings, then occasionally, God would snatch a pyrrhic victory for us and then we give Testimonies!
This brain-twisting by our politicians and 'Men of God' have taken away from us the ability to reason rationally, else how can one believe that poisoned beans were making the rounds in Nigerian markets. We forget that traders who sell these food items all over the nation are mostly southerners. How do we think it will affect their income? Beans happen to be one of the cheapest sources of protein for average Nigerians. I can understand politicians and religious apologists misinforming us; they have everything to gain but what do we gain by forwarding such silly jokes as real and further adding to the misery of our people?
As if that was not enough, a death number, which was nothing but yesterdays date, was circulated yesterday. Have we lost all common sense to believe in such stupid pranks? Is it really true that Nigerians believe anything? Is that why we swallow whole, all the lies rolling out of Aso Rock and the various state houses across the nation? Is this why they can openly lie to us knowing that we can't tell the difference? What is wrong with us?
People, we must snap out of this downward spiral. I know that when people live in a nation where most things are shrouded in secrecy, they tend to make up their own stories. We are being punished and are suffering from misinformation from our elected and political leaders as well as the religious moguls, if we begin as a people, to misinform ourselves, we cannot of a necessity, fight off the shackles of bondage that these people have collectively put on us.
I would plead and suggest that when we receive such jokes, we must let people know that they are jokes or pranks. Let us be each others keeper by titling such jokes, “Just for Laughs”. After many years of political and religious abuse, many Nigerians no longer think rationally. God has made it possible that in this day and age, many things can be scientifically proven. This infers that if it does not make sense, it’s probably not true. Let’s help each other.
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