ATIKU MUST STOP DINING WITH SNAKE CHARMERS AND
PHARISEES
by D. Akinsanya Juliuson HonDBA, IOM
When one thing
starts to go wrong, it soon appears as if everything is problematic.
We start finding fault with situation we have previously been quite
happy about. We start lining up the factors and arrangements in our
lives, and accusing them all of being to blame for our difficulties.
Through this mechanism, we turn small troubles into big ones and
unpick perfectly good stitches from the tapestry of our existence.
Before we make major changes, in life, we must try to isolate the
issue that is unnerving or upsetting us. Once that is fixed it may all
be fine. However it’s not what we do; it is the way we do it. It’s not
what we’ve got. It is the way we make use of what we’ve got. It is not
what we don’t do; it is the reason why we don’t do it. It is not what
we haven’t got; it is the way we feel about not having it. We can be
surrounded by everything we might ever need, but if we don’t
understand what it is we really need, our opulence will bring us no
comfort. We can be in a terribly tight spot but as long as we seek
wisdom, we will always find a way out of it. A sense of perspective is
all Vice President Atiku need now. They say,’ you should learn to walk
before you can run! It is true. We should. Often though, we end up
feeling as if there just isn’t time to practice. So instead of walking
– or running – we just crawl as fast as we can and wear out our knees
in the process. Our Vice President is in a hurry now. He wants
something to happen as fast as possible. That’s understandable. But
regardless of the pressure he faces, he needs to remember that, five
minutes with a MAP, in a calm frame of mind, could save him hours of
wandering round in circles and end up no where. My advice for the Vice
President now is to be a poker player, if it’s not too late. By hiding
his fears and his feelings, by playing his cards, close to his chest.
If he doesn’t like the look of his hand, he needs to be cautious. When
you are in a hole, stop digging they say! We all know this is good
advice but often we say something seemingly helpful such as,” Here is
a much sharper spade” or” why don’t you try digging over there
instead?! Indeed, whenever we see someone starting to create a deep
hole, we all peer fascinatingly down, making it even harder for them
to stop. The Vice President must never mind how much pressure he faces
or how soft the earth below him seems now, he should stop digging, and
stop dining with snake charmers, canters and quacks. Atiku must never
trust those individuals who swear friendship to him over the cup of
drunkenness. He must beware lest the sweetened words of the hypocrite
and the deceiver betray him into danger. True friends are hard to find
he needs to be extremely careful. If they could betray someone very
close to him, imagine what the vultures from hell would do to the Vice
President himself and still feel cool about it, this to them is life
as they live it here. IBB, MKO, Abacha and even President Obasanjo had
been victims of these snake charmers and Holy Willies. Why then is it
very difficult for Atiku to learn from the very best before it’s too
late.
ATIKU NEED
TO REACH FOR COMPROMISE NOW NOT CONFRONTATION
There’s only
one way to win an argument, and that’s to avoid getting drawn into it
in the first place. As soon as we rise to the bait, we fall into the
trap. We lose our equilibrium. We compromise our objectivity. Our
impartiality goes out of the window. Even if we win we lose. Of
course, people rarely point that out to us. Most prefer to encourage
one another to remain in a state of conflict. After all the more
impassioned and irrational we all are, the easier it is to take
advantage of us. If we want to go further forward in this life of
ours, we must learn to stand further back. No one wins an argument by
shouting the loudest or being the one who sticks most rigidly to their
principles. Nor for that matter, do you lose by being outtalked – or
placed in a position from which you can exert no further influence.
You win by being willing to lose. You lose by being determined to win.
There may be kudos from succeeding in a competitive sport or race of
human conflict. I believe all disputes have something to feel ashamed
of. My strongest advice to our Vice President now is to reach for
compromise, not confrontation. Sometimes we desperately put ourselves
in awkward positions. We take on tasks that we know we are going to
find onerous. We allow relationships to develop even though we suspect
from the outset that they will be difficult. We may do this out of
bravado or we may just feel we have no other choice. It is interesting
how lack of choice so often seems to lead to more lack of choice. Of
course none of us is wise. If we aspire to wisdom with all our might
and all our hearts, we might just reach a point where we are wise
enough to recognise how unwise we really are. We all want to be clever
in life. We surely can be. All it requires is a willingness to accept
that we don’t know everything there is to know and we never will.
Therefore, there’s a limit to what we can foresee. If that’s true,
there must also be a limit to what we want to control. In which case,
we really might as well take it easy. We are who we are. We have every
right to be proud of this. But are we all that we can be? In what way
are we compromising the integrity of our own identity? Or selling
ourselves short – or doing we and our nation a disservice? What is it
that we are denying to ourselves? What is it that could easily help us
develop more talents and confidence? We must learn to be our own best
friend today. We must look at what it is that we really need and then
help ourselves to find a way to get it. In addition to honest,
selfless, courageous and reliable lawmakers, we need mature and
trustworthy governors and patriotic ambassadors. All we really require
now is more love, care, support and sense of security. If we are
thoughtful, selfless, caring, God-fearing and loyal, we will get them.
LAWMAKING
SHOULD UPHOLD THE RIGHTS FUNDAMENTAL TO DEMOCRATIC CITIZENSHIP
Democracy as
rule of the people, pre-suppose agreement on who constitutes what is
called “the people”. The grassroots level people. Such agreement must
necessarily distinguish between those who enjoy the rights of
citizenship and the parasites that see themselves as gods of the poor.
There should be mutual respect between the different communities or
identities that make up the nation; and all citizens must enjoy
effective equal rights under the law of the land. How Nigeria manages
the potential tensions between the requirements of equal citizenship
and the distinctiveness of its different communities and between
internal inclusiveness and external exclusivity is an important
indicator of the quality of Nigeria’s democracy. Of democratic
significance are Nigeria’s procedures for resolving disagreement about
its constitutional arrangements, and how inclusive these are. The idea
of the rule of law is a long standing one, predating the advent of
democracy. It expresses the powerful idea that law, not the arbitrary
will of particular people or region, whether in government or not,
should rule society. The idea of the rule of law surely comprises some
distinct elements including the following:
1. No one
should be punished without a specific charge and a fair hearing before
a duly-constituted court.
2. The
Nigerian judiciary should be institutionally and personally
independent of both the executive and the legislature, so that it can
interpret and enforce the law without fear or favour.
3. All
Nigerian law should be certain, and its provisions and penalties known
in advance.
4. No one
should be above the law, whatsoever on earth their position or social
standing, and everyone should be equal before it.
5. All
Nigerian public officials should be subject to the law, and act within
the terms of legally prescribed duties, powers and procedures.
6.
Parliamentary law making should itself conform to constitutionally
defined procedures and limits. It should uphold the rights fundamental
to democratic citizenship.
7. Nigerian
police should enforce the law effectively and fairly.
8. No one
should be denied the protection due them under the civil or criminal
law because they can’t afford the cost or because of gross delays in
the administration of justice.
9. Nigerian
government must understand that democracy can not work without
effective civil and political rights.
10. Nigerians
must be able to join together in associations and meet freely to
discuss “ONLY” their aspirations and needs, their concerns and
possible remedies.
11. Nigerians
must be able to express their views freely.
12. In
Nigeria, open government is essential underpinnings of these rights.
13. Serial
blackmailers, rogue journalists and jobless character assassins should
be put behind bars.
14. Moreover
minorities of all kinds must feel secure in their freedom to practise
their own religion and culture (Excluding heathens and Idol
worshippers). Otherwise there can be no political equality to ensure
that the needs and views of all sections of society are given voice
and taken into account.
15. Above
all, Nigerians must be free from intimidation, violence and the fear
and threat of violence.
These ideas
form the cornerstone of democratic government. However, we must learn
not to claim any more power than we have to take. We must not at the
same time give away any more power than we need to, in order to share.
Honesty, though, doesn’t always involve telling everyone everything.
Nor does it involve sharing every emotion no matter how transient or
trivial.
THERE’S A
BIG QUESTION MARK HANGING OVER EVERYONE’S FUTURE
There are certain things that
need not be said. If we want to be sure of getting our most important
message across, we should always avoid complicating it with extraneous
additional information. We must always resist the temptation to say
more than we need to or not say less than we need to either. But we
must be aware that sometimes, people hear what they want to hear, not
what is actually being communicated. “It’s not the winning that
counts, it’s the taking part”. That’s what they tell us when we are
losing. When we are winning they cheer us on loudly whilst secretly
wondering how long our luck is going to last and whether we are
starting to get too big for our boots. We live in a competitive
society, where snake charmers are prepared to tell us only what we
want to hear, yet success makes us lonely – and failure makes us
frustrated. Somehow, though, it fails to dawn on us that competition
is futile and facile. This life of ours is full of things that we
don’t especially want to think about or deal with. Indeed, life itself
is one of those things. We can’t look closely at the subject for very
long before we find ourselves having to acknowledge and remember that
it doesn’t last forever. There is a very big question mark hanging
over everyone’s future. None of us really want to think about that or
deal with this. Reality, though, doesn’t disappear when we ignore it.
The only way to overcome a fear is to face it. With courage and
honesty, we all can work miracles. However, by the time the future
arrives, the world will have changed. We will feel differently about
many matters that currently concern us. We won’t be quite the same
person we are now, nor will we be in quite the same situation. That’s
why there is rarely any point in worrying about tomorrow, because it
belongs to the Lord. When we let some fear of a forthcoming event get
the better of us, we bring it into the present. We cause it to hang
over our life like a dark cloud and experience unnecessary angst.
Right now, we must adopt the policy of “When we get there we will deal
with it, let’s just tackle today”. The Most High will surely bless
