For whatever and every choice. Right or wrong; good, bad or ugly. There are consequences. You choose your choice. The option is at your absolute discretion. Not anybody’s but yours.
Arguably. Consequences are in various shapes and shades. They are in differed categories. Some are dire. Others may be dear. Some others are quite dreaded. Yet, many more are deadly. Ultimately, the choice is yours.
One obvious fact is given. And remains constant. The consequence of a choice chosen today may be eternal, everlasting. Not only that. It may make or mar you. Just as the pendulum decides to swing or switch.
So be it with our choice 2023. It’s no exception. Glaringly. The consequences of that choice are blowing out. In the last 16 months or so. And it’s deafening.
The direction is quite frightening and frightful. We are cascading and descending at equal alarming speed. The manner is baffling and puzzling.
These started manifesting their monstrous heads early enough. In fact, one such happened to us instantly. The very first minutes President Bola Tinubu took the mantle from where former president Muhammadu Buhari carelessly dropped it.
Remember the bravado manner Tinubu yanked off fuel subsidy? Even when he had not stepped into the Office of the President. He practically crashed our lives. And he arrogantly prided it as “courage.” Rubbing it on us.
His entire family followed suit. And unleashed their pangs on us all. Our offence? We made a lifetime choice. We chose one of them, Bola Ahmed, as President.
His children simply went to works, berserk. Banging and smashing whatever, whoever was cursed to cross their paths. Seyi and Yinka being the most vicious. They have turned us to mere subjects of their newfound fiefdom.
They run it like monarchies of the Stone Age. Disorderliness is their order. Lawlessness is law. And abnormality is their new normal. That way, they rule, reign and ruin us with audacious impunity.
We’re speedily inching towards the precipice. Going the way of the days of old. Almost ceaselessly. Days of savagery, primitiveness, viciousness and barbarity are approaching. When kings, emperors, sheiks ruled, reigned and ruined. All the way.
They derived their naked strengths from raw power. In that Dark Age, princes were law unto the people; dreaded and feared. Tinubu’s children are wearing that toga fittingly.
In those ages of brazen cruelty. Princes followed the deadly footsteps of their tyrant fathers. In some instances, they even did more than their fathers. They ruined their helpless and hapless subjects.
Our “crown princes” are not in anyway different. As it was in the dark ages past. Whatever they wanted they got. At the twinkling of an eye. They were insatiable in all facets of life.
They cared less. Whose ox was gored, brushed. Or brutally crushed. Their singsong: Let our will be done. At all times. All the time!
These enfant terrible princes were pampered and spoilt. The reason they became loose. And lost to excessive lust of power. We are dwindling towards that Stone Age. Those years of yore are knocking back hard, at our door. Our monarchical era has come. It is here with us.
Home and abroad, they’re forcing themselves down our throats. Occupying our precious space. Constituting irritants and giving us irritations. This is nauseating. We have never had it so bad. Not even from a “first family.” All members of the ruling family have descended on us. They are feasting on us with great relish.
We thought the March 2024 Doha, Qatar, episode was the height of it. And it would end there. How woefully we goofed! To our chagrin, they have upped the game. Seyi and Yinka have grown wings in leaps and bounds. Showcasing notoriety without restraint.
They have moved past the Qatar show of reckless insolence. Qatar is nothing compared to their on going exploits. They are exploring the world of the unknown indiscreetly. They believe they have the whole world in their fleshy palms. And this will last till eternity. That they own tomorrow, if at all it comes.
They remain deviant and defiant. They keep on showing up in strictly official events as private citizens. With no clear roles assigned. Yet, sycophants, bootlickers, hailers, praise-singers, unduly accord them “official” recognition. Worst still, far and above constituted authorities. SAD!
This is the same family flaunting its stinking riches and wealth. So, they would not need our money for anything. That they are not seeking power to loot or destroy. But to build; as they “built Lagos” the other time.
When they confessed without prompting. We clapped our fragile hands. We jumped for exceeding joy. We danced. That this President would use our money only for the good of us all.
We thought they were honest, sincere. And faithful to our course and aspirations. We forever erred. We missed it in all its entirety. We were naïve not to read their lips appropriately.
They faulted the dubious claim by themselves. They meant the exact opposite of what they vomited. The reverse has been the case ever since. And there’s no stopping them pretty soon. It’s the heavy cross we have to carry. At least for now. So, God help us.
Their inbuilt greed, covetousness will not let us be. We have a monumental problem at hand. We have a ferocious ruling family to contend with. And they are not pretending it a hoot.
Nothing lasts forever. Never. Whatever has a beginning has an end. And that is where our consolation lies. Their tenure is not everlasting. It must cease one day. We won’t give them the luxury of tenure elongation.
As they happened to us unannounced. So their exit shall be. We can’t wait to witness their extinct. The earliest they become bygones, the best for us. May these “crown princes” never happen to us again. Not even their remotest semblance.
Then, what other best time to reflect! And weigh in our choices and their consequences. Sure. No other time than now! Tinubu’s speech at independence celebrations is it! It showcased the consequences of choice 2023. They need to be catechised and quizzed.
This is what Tinubu told us on October 1, 2024. Trust him. He wanted us to swallow it hook, line and sinker. But we detest biting it for a taste. And you won’t blame us:
“We inherited a reserve of over $33 billion 16 months ago. Since then, we have paid back the inherited FOREX backlog of $7 billion. We have cleared the ways and means debt of over N30 trillion.
“We have reduced the debt service ratio from 97 per cent to 68 per cent. Despite all these, we have managed to keep our foreign reserve at $37 billion. Thanks to the reforms, our country attracted foreign direct investments worth more than $30 billion in the last year.”
How? We wondered aloud! He opted to leave it unexplained. His intention: We would ponder into the thin air endlessly. He thought that would keep us busy, guessing.
We shocked him. We chose to disappoint him real good. We elected to interrogate his bogus claim. And it paid off. We found out it was a monumental falsehood.
Opatola Victor, a lawyer, did show up for us. He confirmed our findings. He dared the President. He would not allow these dubious assertions slip away unchallenged. He actually did justice to that.
He rubbished that averment and took Tinubu to the cleaners: “How can President Tinubu come out to say that his government has cleared ways and means debt? This is deliberate, wicked and outright bare-face lie.
“I was the lawyer that handled the lawsuit against Federal Government, CBN, Debt Management Office, Ministry of Finance and others asking the court to declare the accumulated ways and means and securitisation as illegal.
“I know as a matter of fact that this government never for once cleared that debt. It only securitised that debt, by so doing converted trillions of Naira worth of Federal Government debt to Nigeria’s debt.
“This means a debt that the Federal Government was supposed to pay; a debt that the National Assembly (NASS) elected by the people never approved it borrowing; a debt that NASS couldn’t even determined how it was spent; a debt that the Nigeria people couldn’t manage or determine how it was spent. It is such debt that has now been converted into a public debt that Nigeria and Nigerians must pay.”
His submission was emphatic and meticulous: “So, the N30 trillion that Tinubu mentioned in his Independence Day speech that it cleared, was definitely a lie. It was an intentional technical language used to hoodwink Nigerians into believing that a N30 trillion debt was actually cleared.
“It definitely wasn’t paid. The Federal Government in a desperate bid to be seen as an efficient and performing government should cease and desist from making bare-face lies to its citizens. It must stop.” It has to. Even now!
A colleague in the office offered these profound remarks. It was a backup to Opatola’s. You wouldn’t risk faulting him:
“It’s hard to prove the debt has been paid. It’s merely scrubbed off our ‘political ledger’ and not in real accounting terms. We will pay for it. It’s part of sovereign debt.
“Again, we already know that this administration has always preferred knee-jerk, spontaneous and politically-sauced solutions to economic crisis. The more they claim the economy is improving, the more the reality on the ground punctures these lies.
“Your economy can’t be growing and more citizens are being flushed into multi-dimensional poverty everyday. Propaganda has an expiry date and the Tinubu administration should know this.” They know. They’re quite aware.
That’s how we’re bountifully reaping the sour fruits of our bizarre choice. The consequences are in legion. They are overwhelming. They can’t be easily exhausted. Search, you’ll find them around. They’re not far-fetched.
Very unpleasant, starring us in the face. The stark realities of our decision we “decided” last year. Our choices have been taken over in the course of time. Particularly at electioneering. The choices are heavily laced with the duo landmines: Ethnicity and religion, in that strict order.
We have been ruined and rubbished by the twin evils several times over. The two atrocities blatantly inform our jaundiced decisions always. Yet, we stick to our deadly guns. Politicians usually take maximum advantage of that weakness to their greatest benefit.
They see huge strengths in ethnicity and religion. They delight in their potency to turn elections around. With that, they have changed the course of our chequered history. The reason we are where we are today.
Mind you. More of these repercussions are still booting. They are everywhere. No state is spared. Not even the Federal Government, being the greatest culprit. No sector is excluded. They will soon come into the open. They must rear their reeking, awful heads.
What do we make out of all these shenanigans? The truth is farthest from being honestly told us. There will be nothing hidden from our preying eyes. We stoutly promise them.
Neither can these weird characters run from us for too long. Whatever they maliciously cook secretly in the dark. And with ultimate ulterior motives MUST come into the open. And very soon too!
They have to explain. Indeed, they must. What they cooked that got the house burnt. They would have to decipher to tell us. They would be compelled to account for every of their deeds and words. And quickly too!
Time is running out fast, ticking dangerously. We have lost the patience. We’re eagerly awaiting our utmost comfort.
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