Government of Pseudo-elites

I read Bode George, a political heavyweight in our dear country recently say the PDP had set some kind of record by giving the country uninterrupted democracy for 14 years. I didn’t know whether to smile or cry. We got independence from the Brits in 1960 and a public figure comes out in public to say his party should be lauded for having given us our longest streak of democracy of just over a decade. Reading the article further shows the only sense the old man made and that was pointing out the flaws of the alternatives to the PDP. The ex-convict was dead right on that one. If PDP was likened to taking a stroll in the Sahara and the ills that come with it, then the ACN was sunbathing at the gates of hell and who knows, maybe the APC would be chilling out in the hot furnace of hell itself.

Bode Gorge

We saw recently the show of shame that went on at the Rivers State house of assembly. A man who is meant to be representing the people hit a heavy metal material on another’s head in full public spectacle. Taking a second to ponder on it, isn’t that attempted murder? I’ve seen enough CSI (both fictional and real) to know he deserves to be in jail for that, but hey, it’s Nigeria. And this Chidi Lloyd person, I can almost be assured he will not be brought to book. So I get asking, do these our so-called leaders have any sense of decency at all?

Transparency International currently rated Nigeria the 8^th most corrupt nation on earth. Honestly, the only surprise to me and probably many people is that there are 7 nations on the surface of this planet more corrupt than Nigeria. So , putting it all into context, we are corrupt, our leaders are literarily trying to kill each other in front of camera, our social amenities are non-existent, the state of Security is alarming, unemployment is almost becoming normal and a public political figure comes out laying claim to credit as giving us the best we’ve ever had. Folks, I think the problem is bigger than we thought! The problem isn’t our leaders doing wrong, it’s our leaders not recognizing wrong! Shouldn’t they all be hiding their faces in shame? Should they be giving press interviews?

We seem to be a country where the ones with little or no sense of decorum make up the elites of the society. A first lady who according to what I’ve read used to be a lecturer in an educational institution can’t speak English to get an extra kidney. A federal cabinet that claims things are getting better. A senate that have allowances probably bigger than every other one in the world. A police that is.. well… scarier than robbers. Public officers that are more interested in getting to office than looking after the people. And worst of all, we’re getting used to all these. I feel scared for my country. The only sense of consolation I get is that there are good Nigerians out there. Everyday people that have it in them to do what is right for the country. Living in diaspora and within the shores of Nigeria itself. A Nobel laureate, Hollywood actors, business giants, academic heavyweights and the likes. The smart ones are called common and the crass ones are called elites. I call them pseudo-elites. Unfortunately these pseudo-elites are the ones governing us.

Thatcher: Divisive icon?

I have a discussion session with some of the youngsters in my local church every Sunday. I was asking them this last Sunday what they thought of Margaret Thatcher and the overwhelming response I got was silence and the ‘who’s-that’ look on their faces. Now, while the current generation don’t exactly give two hoots who she is or what she stands for, older ones had little choice but to give more than a thousand hoots.

Mainstream media outlets have done the best they can to tell us she was a modern day lady of sacred hearts. CNN, BBC et al have tried to tell us all she was one of the best things to happen to mankind as far as political leaders are concerned in the 20^th century. I know enough however to know these corporations are being controlled behind the scene very likely by those who profited from the views and causes she championed. The rich!

Now, I was not around when she was the prime minister to be able to give an accurate opinion this way or that but I like to explore things from different perspectives.

We must resist the attempt by politicians like her and the commonplace media to give her credits she does not merit. If she was such a great leader, why would Britons rejoice and party over her death? Many celebrated that the leader they loved to hate had died. A Trade Union leader did not spare words in condemning the role she played in the politics of England. Chris Kitchen said: “We've been waiting for a long time to hear the news of Baroness Thatcher's demise and I can't say I'm sorry. I've got no sympathy for Margaret Thatcher and I will not be shedding a tear for her. She's done untold damage to the mining community. I don't think Margaret Thatcher had any sympathy for the mining communities she decimated, the people she threw on the dole and the state she left the country in. I honestly can't think of anything good I can say about Margaret Thatcher.”

Thatcher was until death the most divisive and controversial Prime Minister in British history. The ordinary British people, whose lives she shattered while at 10 Downing Street, hated her even in death. Nevertheless, those who benefited from her free market policies that enriched the rich and impoverished the poor and those who shared in her racist and oppressive ideology loved her until death.

Margaret Thatcher

Thatcher’s policies towards Africa, especially South Africa was imperialistic. I guess if she had her way she would not have minded recolonizing Africa. She was a staunch supporter of Apartheid that ravaged that country. At one point she had the audacity to call Nelson Mandela and all those fighting against white brutality, terrorists.

Notwithstanding the emotions surrounding her death, no one can take away from Thatcher the fact that she was one of iconic personalities of the 20th century and still remains the first and the only female British Prime Minister. Her death however reminds us of the mortality of man, no matter how powerful such a person is or was. People who find themselves in the corridors of power should use their position to engineer enduring social change and not to perpetrate special interests. The evil that men and women do lives with them and after them as we have seen with Thatcher’s death.