“Nigerians major problem is not lack of intellectual discourse, programmes or hindsights, but our docile and foolish nature, especially, when we are to put into actions, those our well written intellectual conversations.” — DSM.
Last week, when I captioned my article as, ‘Nigeria Is Bleeding As Elders Are Sucking Their Children’s Blood.’, I got a lot of people asking me why should I talk about an incident that happened in the North while South East is equally having its own ugly share of insecurity. These set of tribalists are so dumbed to still see Nigeria as segments of tribes, and probably, religions. These individuals, clinging to tribalistic viewpoints, demonstrate a limited understanding of Nigeria’s complex reality, perceiving it solely through the lens of tribal and religious divisions. They fail to acknowledge the historical trajectory of banditry and terrorism within the nation. This narrow perspective prevents them from grasping the interconnectedness of events and the broader implications for the country as a whole. Equally, they have refused to take a look at the history of terrorism in Nigeria. What started with the then – Zamfaraß State Governor, Ahmed Sani Yerima, in 1999, declaration of Sharia law in Nigeria. The law took effect on January 27, 2000, after it was signed on October 27, 1999. This move made Zamfara the first state in Nigeria to adopt Sharia law as its legal system, paving the way for other Muslim-majority states to follow suit. This new trajectory of bringing in religion into our legal system was not decisively handled, rather, it met with complacency by then-President Olusegun Obasanjo, who mistakenly believed the movement would dissipate on its own. This miscalculation allowed the initial flames of extremism to spread, engulfing much of Northern Nigeria. This created a hub of some Muslim Extremists, and the like of Mohammed Yusuf, who in 2002 founded Boko Haram in Maiduguri, Borno State. This terrorist group that started as a localised agitation against western education snowballed into other deadly terrorists groups, and today, every part of Nigeria is on the edge. Nobody is free as the atrocities of both terrorists, bandits, herdsmen, kidnappers and ritualists are on the scale of unprecedented balance. The initial ideological opposition to Western influence has been hijacked by criminal elements, evolving into a complex web of violence and instability that are no longer confined to a specific region or ideology, the threat of terrorism and banditry now looms large across Nigeria. The consequences are dire, with kidnapping becoming rampant and impacting every corner of the nation. The pervasiveness of these criminal activities has created an unprecedented level of insecurity, eroding the sense of safety and freedom for all citizens in all parts of Nigeria. The Basis of Our Docility and Foolishness: Nigerians, a people known for their intellectual prowess and inherent resilience, find themselves grappling with the heavy burdens of global reproach and pervasive internal insecurity and poverty. Nigerians docility, often mistaken for passivity, is a complex characteristic that intertwines with their intelligence, creating a paradoxical situation. While docility can be a virtue, signifying a peaceful and accommodating nature, it becomes a dangerous liability when coupled with the foolishness of injustice and hardship acceptance. In the Nigerian context, this docility transcends mere submissiveness; it morphs into a normalized state of foolish existence, where citizens inadvertently perpetuate their own suffering. They take pride in their ability to endure hardship, almost celebrating their foolish resilience in the face of adversity, while simultaneously failing to challenge the systems that oppress them. This creates a vicious cycle where poverty and hardship become ingrained in the fabric of a foolish society. The line between docility and sanity blurs in the Nigerian narrative. While sanity implies a sound mind and rational judgment, the continued acceptance of oppressive conditions, leaders without known backgrounds, certificates or morality values raises questions about the collective mental psyche of an average Nigerian. Nigerians are not merely docile; they are trapped in a complex web of socio-political and economic factors that hinder their ability to exercise their rights and demand for a better governance compliance system. They dance with their poverty, finding solace in fleeting moments of joy and celebration, seemingly oblivious to the underlying causes of their suffering. They foolishly sing praises to their unempathetic leaders, often those responsible for their plight, demonstrating a disconnect between their lived realities and their political, religious and tribal sentiments. The concept of citizenship becomes distorted in this environment. Most average Nigerians struggle to find their place within a system that consistently denies them their basic rights and opportunities. Nigerians are, in essence, prisoners in their own nation, confined by the invisible bars of corruption, inequality, nepotism and systemic dysfunction. The “siddon look” mentality, a colloquial term for passive observation and inaction, further reinforces this sense of self-imprisonment. Nigerians are not docile, they are very much intelligent, especially, when the national calamities are far away from their door steps. They are so quick to pass judgment on victims of misrule without looking at their miserable situations. We, Nigerians can only show solidarity and compassion when the ugly incidents are right with us, staring at our collective well-being. We are always thinking about other victims calamities, and so stupid to assume that what happened to our victimised neighbours are miles away from our household. It’s all about ‘self first’, and any other person can go to blazes. We are so short sighted that we have forgotten that this tormenting insecurity situation in Nigeria started as a ‘dot’ in a few villages in the North, and today, it’s spreading like a wildlife, and yet, our ‘siddon look’ mentality has not shown us any sign of it getting closer to our neighborhood or even to our families? This ‘I don’t care attitude’ is what is leading us into a perceived threat in a global dimension. We have this erroneous belief that once an ugly incident didn’t affect us, we are good and fine. Unfortunately, we seal our senses without knowing that no one is safe, especially in an unchecked insecurity situation. We’ve forgotten that Nigeria is like a body system, and whatsoever affects one part of the body will definitely emerge as FIRST painful experience in the entire body system. It’s time to appraise our docile and foolish nature, and accurately understand that, it can only take a crazy society to confront it’s crazy gangsters in leadership, and hence, my advocacy today is that, we have dwell so long on our docility and stupidity by assuming that the change we are all clamouring to happen in our country will only start from our already compromised high level of intelligence. “Intelligence without any value to the society is probably acquired illegally, and the result is that, those assumed to be highly intelligent will sell the exalted values of their certificates to a group of gangsters, hence today, Nigeria is bleeding from corrupt infested politicians that were hoisted by its own esteemed professors of intellectual intelligence.”- DSM. Naturally, a system remains static where everyone doesn’t make a decision to either make a move beyond a recycling blame game or sitting on the fence. Nigeria is gradually sinking, and unfortunately, those who are intelligent are not only showcasing certain signs of psychiatric diagnosis, but they are still queuing up, eager to serve their gangster masters today and tomorrow without any iota of remorse or empathy for the generations unborn. This is the tragedy of a nation, where intellectualism is no longer a priceless honour, but a ‘trade by barter’ medals of moral and conscience deadness… hence I come in PEACE.
Dr. Sunny Oby Maduka (DSM), is an Author, Resource Personality, Management Consultant/ Trainer, Chartered/Certified – A u d i t o r / A c c o u n t a n t , Financial Compliance Expert, Economic/Political Analyst Strategist, Marine Expert and Motivationist)