My Funny Countrymen

"Being a democracy and run by the people, we are the only nation that has to keep a government for four years no matter what it does." - Will Rogers

When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President. Now I’m beginning to believe it.
—Clarence Darrow

I have always enjoyed reading witty sayings and what is called quotable quotes. In fact, I have three exercise books of them that I collected while in secondary school. I can't say that I have a good reason for stopping to collect them after I got admission to the university because it obviously wasn't a time consuming hobby. And I have always liked using an appropriate witty saying to spice up my writings.

I have neglected this blog for quite a while now, and I have been even too lazy to finish up my travelogue series (which had already been written in longhand!), but thanks to the quotes above, I was finally inspired to pen down these few lines.

The first thing that came to my mind when I saw the quote by Will Rogers is, obviously Mr Rogers did not know anything about a West African country called Nigeria where the people not only leave the government intact in a "democracy" for four years no matter what murder the members of the government commit (and believe me, they commit more than we ever give them credit for), we in fact in spite of the murders and obvious incompetence and gargantuan non-performance, even bring them back for a second four years!

Nigerians are a very funny lot (if my laziness will permit, I plan to write very soon on the manifest contradictions of the Nigerian situation) and I'm guessing that accounts for why we were once voted to be the happiest people on earth. We complain about the government and our situation but given the chance to do something about it to make things right, what do we do? We suddenly remember that the ruiner in power is from the same State or region or of the same religion when in fact that did not make anything better for us in the first four years.

I would amend Clarence Darrow's quote above to read,when I was young I was told anyone could become a president, now I believe it. You only have to look at the criminals and jokes that occupy office as presidents these days to agree with me amendment of that quote. Now, we have people who had no shoes getting to the presidency with a determination to see that his people's legs are cut off! We have people who aspire to the presidency with no clue as to what the job of a president entails and only because of the power that come with being a president.

I would say may God help us but I'm beginning to think that may be our main problem in Nigeria. And please, make no mistake, I have great reverence for the Almighty, I may not be very religious in the sense that a lot of our people are, but I strive daily to let the fear of God be my guide. I however nevertheless feel that our leaving everything to God without playing our part to make things right is one of the major reasons why we have not got things right.