Category: Politics

Change, Politics

A Demonic Oppression Called Quota System

Jilomes

In my previous article, I talked about hope on the horizon regarding the rebirth of Nigeria and I got a fair tackle from some persons who have become desperately pessimistic about the prospects of Nigeria. But whereas I remain adamant that Nigeria is changing, I acknowledge that the change is seemingly too slow for many reliably disappointed Nigerians and that one of the chains unwilling to allow Nigeria to attain its full degrees of freedom is the famous quota system, which has become a principal demon fashioned against Nigeria.

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Politics

A State of Prepared Emergency

Jilomes

“If they explain Nigeria to you and you understand, they did not explain it well”

Unknown Sensei

In barely a month, Nigerians have seen an elected senator getting suspended for six months by other senators after making a sexual harassment allegation, and now, an elected governor and an entire set of state legislators getting suspended by an elected president. Is any of these suspensions legal or justifiable? The answer would depend on whether one subscribes to the constitution as an authoritative guide or the necessity of an authoritarian to maintain an asylum.

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Change, Politics

To Tax Nigerians with All Our Strength

Jilomes

If Uncle Jeremiah had been alive in this era, he may have had second thoughts about naming his second book as “Lamentations”. As an empathetic person, after seeing the torrent of complaints by Nigerians, maybe his own book would have been the Book of Less Worrisome Jewish Lamentations. But poor jokes asides, Nigerian social media spaces and even offline conversations these days tend to highlight a common pain point around taxes, just like the irreverent sapa, attempting to strangulate people.

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Politics, Randoms

A Nation’s Love for Untrue Numbers

Jilomes

Oh, yeah! The most populous black nation just marked 63 years of overt separation from colonial strangulation. Despite some overhanging sense of despair, independence, real or faux, is surely worth celebrating, especially considering that whereas Nigeria has failed to achieve its potentials, it has surely made significant progress standing without the Union Jack. So, we can say a hearty congratulations to Nigeria and continue to hope that our nation’s story can be rewritten for good; that we may build a nation that works for the generality of its people—a nation where peace and justice reign.

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Politics

Of National Development and Lying Numbers

Jilomes

Whereas every country likely has some aspects of its existence that is based on a fudged foundation, Nigeria deserves special credit for staying somewhat erect despite having a foundation underpinned by distorted facts, half-truths, and plain lies. While we joust a lot about some persons’ real names, real birth dates, real parentage, real educational history, etc., all these debates pale in consequence when compared to a fundamental question: “How many Nigerians are there in Nigeria?”  

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Politics

When the Rivers Stay Stagnant

Jilomes

How do you have so much potential, yet consistently fail to deliver? You go one step forward, then gladly take two steps backwards while smiling and beating your chest proudly. For a state called the Treasure Base of the Nation, and a capital city formerly known as the Garden City, Rivers State has disappointed on almost every developmental metric relative to the resources and potential available. Yet, just as Nigeria happily towers above its fellow underperforming African countries, Rivers State embraces the wrong peers to feel it is doing well.

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Politics

INEC and the Defenestration of Hope

Jilomes

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick…”

Proverbs 13:12a (NKJV)

There is something about broken dreams that impacts the totality of a person. Sometimes the impact is so strong that it transcends a mere emotional sink to lay hold on a person’s physical being as if the broken dream were a virus. The closest analogy that I can think of as being vile enough would be that of a couple who after waiting for two decades to have a baby, finally pool resources for an IVF trial that works, only to lose their baby in the labour room. The hopelessness that such a couple may feel is akin to how INEC has made many Nigerians feel.

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Politics

In Search of a Benevolent Dictator

Jilomes

“Since they hid their net for me without cause and without cause dug a pit for me, may ruin overtake them by surprise—may the net they hid entangle them, may they fall into the pit, to their ruin”

King David (Psalms 35:7-8 NIV)

I must confess that starting a political discourse with these two verses from the Book of Psalms may not seem normal, but then, what is normal in today’s world? This article could have been prefaced with the famous Golden Rule, but David’s outcry came to mind, and I think it suits perfectly.

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Politics

Lagos and the Burden of Cosmopolitanism

Jilomes

There is something really interesting (in a disappointing way) in engaging with people who somehow choose to elevate parochial thinking hinging on tribal superiority; who gladly broadcast their ignorance in the market square. Every five minutes, there is some debate, sometimes quite vitriolic, that suggests that anyone who lives in Lagos State but cannot legibly trace his or her roots to Oduduwa should be grateful at the magnanimity being enjoyed because benevolent hosts have allowed such a person to drink from Lagos’ cisterns in peace. Each time I hear such views expressed; I wonder if the espousers ever learned about symbiosis in school.

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Politics, Randoms

When Chinatown Lacks Chinese

Jilomes

Imagine walking into a place called Chinatown and needing a thick bifocal to see any person of Chinese descent. Except that town were Lilliputian in dimensions, while you were Brobdingnagian, it would be extremely weird, and you would be forgiven for thinking that being all righteous, the Chinese had been raptured. This seemingly implausible situation is currently playing out in Nigeria, where the Naira, the national currency, now competes with petrol in the Scarcity Championships.

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