REVOLUTION IS THE LAST HOPE NOT CHANGE
Revolution
is that point in time when the governed in a particular organization/state get
tired of the government or political system in power and forcibly overthrow the
“power house” for the benefits of all
in the society. The thesaurus dictionary defined revolution as the overthrow or
repudiation of a regime or political system by the governed while Karl Max or
the Marxists see revolution as the violent and historically necessary
transition from one system of production in a society to the next, as from
feudalism to capitalism. Revolution in essence means change from what is
considered unacceptable to what is generally favorable to the majority. I will
say that in a way, democracy has failed in Nigeria or rather Nigeria practice what
I refer to as theoretical democracy which in practical terms does not exist.
Nigeria claims to practice democracy since the new beginning in 1999 when the
government of Abdulsalami’s transition to civil rule program became a reality.
Since 1999 till date, Nigeria has been regarded as a democratic state. But the
question remains, is Nigeria really a democratic state as they claimed?
Well
the answer is NO! Nigeria as a democratic state is a constitutional article
which in practice is deceptive and unreliable. If at all we must regard Nigeria
as a democratic state, we should not also forget to address it as a dictatorial
democracy.
It
is true that Nigeria does not have a sit-tight autocrat. But “Does the absence
of a sit-tight leader mean that Nigeria has no dictatorship?” The Merriam
Webster dictionary defines dictatorship as “autocratic rule, control or
leadership” or as “a form of government in which absolute power is concentrated
in a dictator or a small clique”. In the definition above, it can be deduced that
you need not be a military personnel to rule by autocracy. In other words, dictatorship varies dependent
on how and when an action is taken and cause of the action. Nigeria autocracy
is been covered under the name of democracy which makes people believe that the
law is prevalent in all actions and that every action is taken by the majority.
Let
us not be fooled by our bogus democracy where the people (party faithful) have
no say in the determination of delegates to their party convention and by
extension, their party’s flag bearers, who usually are the candidates that dish
out the largest amount of foreign currency. In Nigeria, the state is equivalent
to the ruling party and the ruling party is synonymous with the Nigerian state.
There is no clear distinction. The cohort have absolute control over all arms
of government, including the judiciary, all state apparatus, institutions and parastatals including INEC, EFCC, the
Federal Police and the NNPC. They can effectively deploy the resources of the
EFCC for example to intimidate political opponents while simultaneously milking
the resources of the NNPC to procure political patronage. Typical Examples of
such can be traced to when the federal government dragged the likes of Ike
Ekweremmadu and some judges who we know judged a case against APC or the party
affiliated personnel to court accusing them of being corrupt and some other
uncalled for sort of accusations.
THE NEED FOR REVOLUTION IN NIGERIA
Nigerians
have lingered too long in vain in the hope that the leopard will change her
spots. Going back to memory lane, the most dispassionate observer must be moved
to read of the condition of the first generations who worked in the mines and
mills of England, America, France and Germany. Living in surroundings of intense
squalor and ugliness, these men, women and children were called upon to work up
to and in many cases beyond the capacity of human endurance. Nigerian workers
have not fared better in terms of equitable reward.
Revolution
is a concept that has been used and practiced in so many states. This concept
had always produced a positive result. The reason for revolution is to bring in
a new state that is less corrupt, a new state that will give the majority equal
participation in the running of the state and for some other reasons but the
utmost aim of every revolutionists is to achieve a greater result than what is
in existence already. The republic of Cuba some years ago experienced a great
revolution carried out by Fidel Castro and his colleagues, his ultimate aim was
to overthrow the then military and autocratic leadership of Batista and to
restore the fundamental rights of Cuban citizens and actualize a new state where everyone will live well, he
wanted a classless society where everyone is seen as being equal, where the
rule of law is effective and efficient, where some people don’t have to live in
luxury while others has nothing to eat. Where the law is made for everybody.
The revolution of Fidel Castro created a new state, Cuban therefore went from
being a capitalist state to being a socialist state thereby creating rooms for
“a world for all” in Cuba.
Nigeria
is faced with a nonviolent change in the social and political structure of our
society. The new Nigeria should embark on a systematic departure from an
insolent Status Quo whose difficult disastrous control on the society at large
seems unbeatable. When discontented groups in the society have been unable to
improve their circumstances by peaceful and legal means, they have sometimes
been driven to the extremity
