Thursday, 1 March 2018

After the general elections of 2015 were won & lost, emerged a resistance movement..


*Ibie Galileo*

Firstly, & as a carry over from the campaigns leading up to the elections, they spun an "islamization agenda where PMB was falsely accused of wanting to Islamize the nation.. Somehow that lost its potency.. Then they sponsored & promoted the IPOB crisis.. After that failed, they jumped on restructuring & regionalism.. That too lost steam.. Then came the unusually "stealthy" & commando-like Fulani herdsmen (who somehow attacked communities with precision techniques, escaping quickly  in formations, one wonders how easy that can be with the usually slow cattle herds in tow). That too is fast losing its potency.. Also there emerged many other resistance schemes like the cry of marginalization, & the likes.. Somehow, they all faded out in phases... Now there's the remake of the 2014 Chibok card, the Dapchi abductions (which is quite frankly sad & shocking, & one can only empathize with the girls & their families at this time).. Somehow, & to the consternation of many hoping to benefit from the tragedy, the govt is reacting honestly, accepting responsibility & taking different courses of actions.. Hopefully, the girls are found quickly &, that too looses its potency..

But in all of these, one can certainly recognize entrenched interests behind the scenes.. And such desperation to undermine the govt & return to those "years of the locusts" must be resisted.. PMB might not the most ideal, or most intelligent president.., but he's no crook. He means well, & he's looking to end those years of impunity & stone-aged looting of our commonwealth.., & if for nothing else, that alone is enough to support him.. Because of for decades we've all agreed that taming the menace of corruption was a foremost national survival priority., then we must as well support this Spartan president of ours..

Only wish the state govts & LGAs can key into the anti corruption fight to make it total., cos as it is, mindless & unaccountable mismanagement of public funds still take place in many states & LGAs., unfortunately the constitutional separation of powers makes it difficult for PMB to do something about those.. But hopefully they (the states & LGAs) see the benefits of schemes like the TSA & the plugging loopholes & leakage to govt funds like PMB is achieving at the national level.. Maybe then, they might be able to pay salaries in many of the states, unlike the case is currently..

Resistance to the national govt must be identified for what it is.., & using national tragedies & sometimes outright falsehoods to achieve those aims must also be isolated.. It really troubles one, the extent of the desperation some elements are willing to go to return to power., including the very foul & most obnoxious of means.. That, Nigerians must come to terms with., hopefully.. Ideally, periods of national disasters should have ordinarily been occasions for the nation to bond together in unity & solidarity to face those challenges.. Unfortunately in our climes, they're opportunities to achieve political, sectional or religious advantages.., not minding the costs to the nation, those directly affected or the generality of Nigerians..

Our unique variant of political resistance is unfit for purpose, destructive to national interests, & not innocent or credible enough to produce a desired alternative to the national govt in place.. The resistance is perhaps in greater need of self correction & upgrade than those they hope to overhaul..