Politicians are like fathers who have lost control over their families

A lad accompanied his father to his place of work, his father being a farmer. While the lad was on a farm close to the one his father was tilling, twice, he raised false alarms, deceiving his father that a lion wanted to devour him, but later, when a lion truly showed up, he called for a real help, but his father thought he was still raising a false, playing pranks with him, so he ended up being devoured. This is why it is not right to tell lies.

When a liar is saying the truth, people will still think he or she is lying. I have listened to many television and radio shows, on people being confused why about 90% of Nigerians still do not believe what their political leaders are saying to them on covid-19. It is very simple. They have become so used to lies from the corridors of power to the extent that when even politicians are saying the truth, they will still not believe them. 50 years away from now, Nigerians will still not believe everything that comes out of the mouths of our politicians!

We have failed to build a true prosperous country. When statistics were flying everywhere that most of our people are extremely poor, our politicians played politics with it, sweeping it under the carpet. Now, nothing can be covered again. Everything is now in the open. Our people are clearly poor.“NBS” just told that world that 82.9% of our people are poor! Any politician that comes out to debunk this is a prevaricator!

Also, we cannot truly take a good care of our people.And because we cannot take a good care of our people, there is nothing we tell them that they will obey. How many children obey irresponsible fathers? Our politicians are as fathers who have lost control over their families. The major reason people listen and follow leaders is because they truly care for them. Nigerians can see clearly that no one cares for them.

When the governor of Lagos State, Mr. Sanwo-Olu reeled out last week the rules that Lagosians would need to follow today being the first day that some Lagosians would go out after being on lockdown for weeks, I knew he was just talking as a father who is a father by mere title, not a father indeed. When a father by title speaks, his children will not follow what he says. Move everywhere in Lagos, you will see what I am saying. There are too far many people without facemasks and buses are defiantly carrying over 100% seating capacity with conductors and drivers not wearing face masks! Lagosians are discounting the rule of social distancing and motor parks are void of hand-washing facilities and hand sanitizers are nowhere to be found.  With what is happening in Lagos right now, it shows that we are not serious as a people. And it is our not being serious that has brought us to where we are today.

If the rules reeled out by governor Babajide are not enforced, it means we deliberately want to kill our people. Nothing works without being enforced in Lagos and Nigeria as a whole. From the greatest to the smallest of us, we aren’t law abiding people. If our politicians are lawless, then it is a waste of time expecting the common man to be law-abiding. I do know where in a democracy, but the truth is, the days we are in are abnormal ones and to survive, we cannot afford to be normal. To survive these crazy times, we need our soldiers to enforce the rules of facemasks and hand-sanitizers, because our policemen are mere daily collectors on our roads! If we do not quickly do this while we are re-opening our economy, we will regret it real soon. Remember, we cannot afford to let covid-19 break-out beyond what we can contain. A word they say is enough for the wise.

Those who have fallen do not fear being pushed. Poor people do not fear death, only rich people do. How many responsible fathers will sit at home for weeks—with wives and children—without money and food?Those who go on radio and television stations, saying that lockdown should be extended by two months more are just being selfish, heartless and mischievous.When the whole bubble bursts, even the rich will not be able to sleep at home. As an effect of insecurity, I know people who have not slept at home overnight since we started locking our people in their varied homes. The poor are beginning to consume the rich!

Lockdown can never work in a 3^rd world nation like ours—where the problem of hunger is yet to be solved. The system of lockdown can only work in developed countries where people are truly valued and taken care of. I am yet to read about any sane nation that locked its people at home without properly taking a good care of them as human beings. It is only in Nigeria we have been locking people at home for weeks without truly giving them either money or food. Some rice and beans were brought to a community and when I saw what ten (10) houses were to share, I shook my head for my country of birth. We treat our people like animals, but weexpect them to behave as human beings!

Once again, Covid-19 has revealed how disorganized we are as a nation. It has also revealed that we are data-less people. We really do not know how many we are in Nigeria. And if we do not truly know the population of Nigeria, then how are we going to provide for our people?Also, how many of our people are poor? We do not know!And Nigeria does pride itself as the giant of Africa. This is a huge shame in 2020!

Lastly, on the condition that we have not learned anything as a nation since the advent of covid-19, then Nigeria should be scrapped neat. It means we do not deserve to exist as a nation. If after relegating covid-19 to the background and our value and values do not change, then our coming together to form Nigeria is a waste of time. If after covid-19 is no longer pandemic in Nigeria and we still do not litter Nigeria with world-class hospitals, then it is safe to call Nigeria a failed experiment. And if after the dust of covid-19 settles down and we still continue to steal what even 10^th generation after we are long gone won’t need, then Nigeria is beyond redemption!