Why I Rejected Jonathan’s Friend Request on Facebook.
As I was going through my Facebook page I saw a friend
request from one Jonathan. I quickly rejected the offer of friendship
because of the simple reason that his name is Jonathan. I smiled at myself because
I know that my crazy thought has really nothing to do with the Jonathan that
sent me a friend request, but Jonathan our President. Don't get me wrong, I
don't personally dislike Mr President. I am just being critically objective
like any other average Nigerian woman who is heartbroken by his way of governance
and poor leadership scheme.
Let me brush a little on my biography, may be you would
understand my grievance with Mr President. I am a simple girl who was brought
up in a city of Bauchi. I was brought up with so much love by my parents who
were also relatively young when I was a child. I have witnessed how much effort
my mother put into me and my siblings’ upbringing. She was a disciplinarian who
made sure she instilled good values in us. We were her priority. I remember how
she used to spend her days taking care of our day today needs. She usually woke
up earlier than everyone in the house to make breakfast for us to eat and take
some to school. She never hesitated to proceed to do the other house chores
and other wifely types of obligations. Her responsibility didn’t stop at taking
care of us, the children, but also included taking care of our father, who she
jokingly proclaimed to be her eldest son. Apart from that, she also did
some side businesses ranging from trading, little factories to poultry farming.
My mother has always been full of strength, she is jack of all trade, and
master of non. She is one person I have known in my life that hates idleness.
My father, on the other hand, was a civil servant. He worked
with the state government. He is relatively an introvert. He doesn't like
talking too much and he is very calm and patient. Nothing disrupts or disturbs him.
You can never catch him losing his cool over anything. I always tell my friends
that I have got the coolest dad. In his own capacity, he tried and made sure we
had everything we needed ranging from toys to books in school, and enough
provisions when we were finally sent to boarding secondary schools. He was
indeed a strong provider.
When I was growing up, although I knew I needed not to work
hard being a woman, as I have seen or made to believe, men are bread winners of
the house and automatically, some day, I would be some man's responsibility;
but I have tried to be a little hardworking. Since I was privileged to go to
school, studying hard would definitely please my parents. So I studied hard, made
good grades and finally gained admission to the university where I was also
privileged to read law.
Although, even then, I used to hear the elders complain that
times were hard, but looking back at those days today, I wonder whether times
were really hard then. Perhaps, it wasn't just as bad as now. I am now in my thirties;
the chorus of Nigeria is still the same. The elders still say Nigeria was
better before and that in their time they had free education, free medical care,
in fact, almost everything in Nigeria was free. Life was splendid for both the
poor and the rich. But today, things have become unbearably challenging
for the poor and the middle class. What we used to see as our right has
obviously become a privilege only few Nigerians have got.
Why I am, in fact, more saddened by our present situation is
because, despite everything, I grew up with the strong positive believe that
someday things would get better, especially with the coming of democracy; but
to my greatest surprise the country’s situation only has the potentials of
getting terribly worse. Over the years, what we only witness is a drastic
decline of every sector of the economy.
A Mallam once told me that if we pray for our leaders they
get better and likewise do better. So I cultivated the habit of praying for
them, but yet they don't seem to have a turning point. The stories of scams and
corruption that we read in dailies make one wonder if our leaders are humans or
monsters.
In China, corruption is punished with death sentence, in
Nigeria corruption is no crime as it is a general practice that cuts across
every sector of the economy. It is, in fact, very acceptable to be corrupt if
you belong to the presidential team. In some situations, when you are caught
and obviously faced with charges or conviction, Mr president would
grant you presidential pardon and waive all your crimes. I am not exaggerating,
it has happened before and again in this country.
I agree that money is evil and can be destructive, especially
for those who started without shoes, and sometimes when you are in it you lose
all bearings. But our dear leaders, don't you have little concerns, what happened
to your moral values? At least, fight the evil a little and do some little
arithmetic. How much money do you and your family need to live comfortably? You
don't need billions because billions are public funds that you may not be able
to exhaust before angels of death catch up with you. The world is nothing but a
market place. No one is going to dwell in it forever. We come for specific
ordained period and leave when our time is due. No matter how healthy you are, you
can’t survive more than 100 plus years. If you must steal, at least, steal what
you would be able to spend during your life time. A couple of millions would do
the paradise kind life style you may want to lead while on earth. See the case
of the pension scams where few Nigerians stole so much money that is made for
pensioners. How on earth can one steal such a huge amount of money? Don’t they
lose sleep over such kind of looting of innocent Nigerians’ funds?
The last time I visited my home state, I drove around to
visit relatives and friends. But something caught my attention while driving: a
man was walking and seemed to be talking to himself. I pulled over and stopped,
although I was mindful not to interfere because I knew that could amount to
trespass of some sort, but I couldn't just hold myself; I could see worries written
all over his face. He was an elderly person and also looked responsible, but
something was driving him crazy. I couldn't help but ask him if he was ok. He
looked up at me; you could see the mixture of shock and surprise on his face,
but he answered after what seemed to be the longest pause I have seen ever. He
told me he has a wife and six kids, for the past 5 days he couldn't take even a
single grain home because his business has collapsed. I asked him what kind of
business he was into. He pointed at one table stand by the footpath of a busy
street. He said he used to sell little house hold things like screw drivers, bulbs,
padlock etc. on that stand, but lately the market got bad. He had eaten up the
little capital as well as the profit of the business as his family demand grew
a little bit higher than before. He has had nothing to sell for five days now,
and he was practically worried about his family’s wellbeing. He tried to get
some goods on credit from his suppliers but failed. I stamped my feet in anger
and silently said, “Screw the government”.
Looking around I can see a thousand of his type roaming the streets.
The truth is that everyman you see on the street has his life, his experiences
and peculiar problems. But looking at our economy, the poor man's problem in
Nigeria is how to even feed; it has become so difficult that other problems
don't seem like problems to them anymore. This man’s story is just one of sort.
Yet, we would see our so called leaders, who are on oath to be our keepers,
driving posh cars, getting drunk day and night, not caring how we survive
in this damn economy.
Going back to my dreams of being taken care of by a man, although
my Cinderella dream story might be still intact, but I fear, with the present
economic recess, it may no longer be possible. Times are hard. The present day
marriage is like the white man's marriage of shared responsibility. Scratch my
back I scratch yours.
The last time I visited the hospital in my home state I shed
tears, most of the patients I saw suffering were women and children. They were sitting
outside because there were no even bed facilities to admit them. You could see
a woman in labour, sitting outside in the sun and her husband is no where to be
found. I don't want to go into details, the situation is just pathetic. May God
keep seeing them through their hassles and ordeals!
I am still not married yet, but a little bit conservative.
Despite the country’s situation, I still wish for a handsome prince that can
take my absolute responsibility (just still hoping). It kind of gives one the
feeling of being a real woman.
If you are with me, I hope you know from which planet I am
coming and why I won't add that Jonathan to my Facebook friends even though he
is not the same as Mr President. I want Mr President to know that we are still
hoping for a new Nigeria, devoid of ills and social problems . I am
angry with him because it's just not happening. I used to worry for me, now I
worry for the future of my children. What a predicament!!!
by Binta
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