SILENCE NOT GOLDEN

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Sometimes, when one writes about the anomalies and failure of leadership in Nigeria, some of my Nigerian friends tell me we should stop talking about our problems and act like all is well with us, they want us to be silent in the face of this unimaginable and incomprehensible decay and decadence. I reflect on their words occasionally, but at the end of the day, i become more convinced that the solution to our problems as a Nation is not keeping quiet at a time when failure of leadership poses the greatest threat to our existence as a Nation. The present charade and absurdity in the country is the biggest threat to us as a Nation since the Civi war. 

Yet, some of my friends want us to keep quite and act like all is well. They want us to keep quiet and share the type of blind optimism they share, they demand from us a kind of blind patriotism which gives a false belief that all is well. They want us to believe that bad leadership like we have today is not the primary reason for the near-failure of the Nigerian state. They want us to continue to demonstrate what late Fela Anikulapo described as "Suffering and Smiling".. A kind of situation where you are dying within you but you come out like all is well with you..

Silence never rewards in situation where moral requires we speak out and act like a people with a purpose, silence will never reward in a situation where some clueless men in pursuit of their personal greed and selfish aggrandisement continue to plunge a country of 170 million people into uncertainties, silence will not pay off in a situation where our country has no "today" come to talk of having a "future".. This rash "silence" they want us to maintain will haunt us all in the future when our children's children ask us "Grandpa how did things get this bad, what did you do when things were turning for the worse? Grandpa, did you just sit down and look?", just exactly the same way some of us are asking today that "how did things get this bad?"

This is the same "silence" the generation before us kept, and today, 54 years after Independence, our country is moving in a backward direction, all the hopes that came with our Independence in 1960 are dashed.  Today, we wallow in a low that no one could foresee Nigeria will be 50years ago. That beautiful and big future the whole world saw ahead of Nigeria is gone, and the very foundation and values that this country was supposed to be built on had been abandoned, the generation before us maintained silence. They had a blind faith and false hope that one day, in their perpetual silence, a miracle will happen and the Nigeria of our dreams will just come on a platter of gold, today, the cowardice silence those before us kept had led us to this despicable state we are. This is the same "silence" my young friends want us to keep.

I have no doubt that "silence" will take us nowhere except that it gives us a false impression that all is well, even when we all bear the burden and pains of a failed leadership. Those who want us to keep silent are either genuinely ignorant of the true state of the Nigerian Nation or they are some of the few who in one way or the other benefit from the system through any of the forms of abundant corruption prevalent in the system. As for those who continue to speak out, i can only encourage you to be firm, keep strong, spread the message and continue to awaken the consciousness of as many as possible around you on the need for a change of course for our beloved Fatherland. Remain optimistic and hopeful that one day, our faint voices will grow so strong and it's echo would be held all across Nigeria. 

Hypocrisy and silence should never be options at a critical and crucial time like this when our Nation expects us to dutifully take up a position, speak out and act purposefully for the course of a new and reformed Nation. Sit down and look should not be an option for any of us, silence should not be an option for any of us either, but i will understand the hypocrisy of some, those on the other side of the divide, those whose hypocrisy or silence is propelled by their stomach, greed and what they can illicitly benefit from a failed system like ours. People like that have always been a part of the human history, history already said so much about them and their antics, this is why it has always been between the good and the bad. Hence it is our collective responsibility to stop them and build a strong voice. 

The journey to rebuilding a Nation is always long and tortuous, standing on the side of truth itself is never an easy path, as hard as this is, this is what our Nation expects from each and every one of us. So find your voice today and speak out.. My unyielding faith is strongly rooted in the fact that, those who love their country can always rise up at critical times like we are today in Nigeria, to do the needful and salvage a Nation on the path of fatality.. Surrender not to the counsels of those who think silence is golden at defining moments like this. Add your voice today and let the message continue to ring across the land until our voices are heard and our Nation is returned to the path of honour, glory, abundance and prosperity. The same path we set out on 54years ago before greed and corruption took over the minds of men. 

A new Nigeria is possible, it begins with our voices growing stronger, it begins with you and I.

God bless Nigeria!

Olarewaju Precious Olaniyi
@olaniyiop on twitter

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