Nigerians have been in celebration mood since last night in commemoration of the independence given to the country by its colonial master – Britain – on the 1st day of October 1960. The c
Facially, Nigeria is independent of Britain but unfortunately dependent on numerous problems that question the validity and quality of our so-called independence.
Factly, Nigeria is not truly and fully independent until when we are able to remove the shackles that render us unable to walk to our freedom, prosperity, and greatness.
True independence should be an atmosphere that provides peace, prosperity, tranquillity, and sanity to the nation and these basics are conspicuously lacking in the current state of affairs in Nigeria.
Therefore, I urge all Nigerians to evaluate the validity and quality of our independence by putting the following realities into holistic consideration.
I may be right if I consider it ludicrous to celebrate independence when kidnapping, banditry, insurgency and general insecurity are becoming the order of the day while nothing is done to eliminate them.
It may look self-deceptive if we celebrate independence when hunger, malnutrition, curable diseases, abject poverty, and destitution are conveying us to our early graves.
It may not sound reasonable to celebrate independence when corruption, looting of public funds, embezzlement, bribery, unemployment and youth restiveness are moving to the much-publicized and exaggerated next level with us.
We have no justification to celebrate independence when our youths become prostitutes, internet fraudsters and armed-robbers due to joblessness and bad governance.
Do we merit celebration of independence when road accidents claim more lives than HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis combined?
What are we celebrating when nepotism, cronyism, favoritism, 10 percentism, ethnicism, religious chauvinism, and sectionalism prevail while competence, expertise, and experience take a back seat?
Truth be told, it is traumatizing to imagine Nigerians celebrating independence when Value Added Tax (VAT) is increased on the masses despite the agonizing economic reality that pushes innumerable Nigerians to insanity, high blood pressure, stroke and other terminal conditions.
It is blankly insulting to celebrate independence when the international communities and organizations relocated the poverty capital of the world to our country. This is our most excruciating, humiliating, and disfiguring milestone achieved in the last four years.
We are still lacking in grounds to celebrate independence when qualitative education still remains a privilege for some few while the majority languish in ignorance and illiteracy.
Please my compatriots, what’s worth celebrating when dictators in the cloaks of democrats still rule us mercilessly?
Do you think we should celebrate independence when the number of school dropouts outnumbers
It is totally frivolous to celebrate independence when your background matters more than what’s at the back of your brain, i.e. what you know doesn’t matter but whom you know.
It is abnormal to celebrate independence when the government compels citizens to obey the law while the same government disobeys the law through noncompliance with court rulings. You can visit the topical cases of Sowore, Elzakzaky, and Dasuki to verify my assertion.
No reasonable person would regard Nigeria or Nigerians as independent in this system that gives room for the highest bidders to buy judgments from judges while the one who is supposed to sanitize the system is busy traveling in the air while his country is on fire.
A country that is fully and truly independent is not in the habit of taking foreign loans on a monthly basis while pretending to be prudent in spending.
My patriotic compatriots, do you think we deserve celebrating independence when our elections are marred by electoral riggings and other forms of malpractice and our electioneering are characterized by violence, hate speech, and religious jingoism?
It is synonymous with an illusion to celebrate independence when national unity and peace remain a mirage.
It is a tangible fraud than can cause insomnia to celebrate independence in a nation that simple protest is termed a treasonable felony and treated as such.
It is tantamount to intoxication to celebrate independence when the security of lives and properties are not guaranteed by the ruling tyrants.
Although they call themselves leaders, we have reasons to call them foolers and looters. If you doubt the veracity of my revelation, try to know the billions of naira that are siphoned from the public coffers on a monthly basis at all levels of government in Nigeria.
Nigerians have no justification to celebrate independence when some of our constitutional local government areas are still ruled by the technically defeated forces of Boko Haram.
Is it not an affront on our sensibility to celebrate independence in a country that the tenures of Military Service Chiefs had expired but elongated without limit despite their glaring failures, incompetence, and corrupt tendencies?
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My brothers and sisters, don’t you think it is a symptom of dementia to celebrate independence for a nation that the majority of its citizens cannot afford three square meals in a day?
It is betrayal and backstabbing to logic and reasoning to celebrate independence for a nation that more than half of its population is still massively dying of malaria and typhoid while the government fails persistently to curb the menaces.
My compatriots, do not allow your psyche to be brainwashed or bamboozled into believing that our country is independent and we should celebrate that independence. It is a scam and deception that deserve rejection and condemnation by all discerning minds.
As a nation, we should be mourning for our tremendous failures rather than celebrating fake independence which the masses never benefitted from.
By Comrade Muhammed Ishaq
