REVOLUTION is borne out of nationalism, vision and undiluted passion for the fatherland; not a section (North or South, Christian or Muslim or ethnic nationality) of it. Not for self. It is also about sacrifice, blood and sweat.

Nigeria is in dire strait. Beside what one reads in the dailies, I have travelled East, West, North and South of Nigeria in the last year. Nothing new, I am quite familiar with the Nigerian landscape. Poverty and squalor are rife everywhere.

Frustration and despondency are quite palpable, except for the blind and deaf. Same for fear of insecurity. Nigeria can be likened to a stupendously wealthy and flamboyant father whose children are miserably malnourished.

Frustration and desperation for survival have compelled many Nigerians to become pre-disposed to conflict, violence, human trafficking, prostitution and several other social vices that were uncommon in not-too-distant past, all due to monumental corruption and greed in a supposedly most religious country in the world.

Unless she was misquoted, one of the icons of our generation, Prof. Dora Akunyili was reported to have said that: “I am shocked that a Nigerian is saying that the biggest democracy in Africa, the largest populated African country is not a brand.

If Nigeria is not a brand, then what is a brand? We are a brand, but unfortunately, we are a corruption brand, a brand where nothing works, and a brand where there is confusion”.

Going by the above, Nigeria is ripe, very ripe for a revolution. As  young student activists in the mid 1970s, we yearned for it. As it has turned out, that era can easily pass for the golden age of Nigeria. My apologies to General Yakubu Gowon (I have done so in the past).

I do not, subscribe to a violent or bloody revolution in Nigeria . Rather than solve Nigerian’s problems, it will compound them and create new ones. It will be manipulated and distorted by enemies of Nigeria. It will set off a chain of events beyond the imagination of anybody and inflict wounds that may never heal in a century.

The vampires (some of whom masquerade as leaders) who inflicted these pains on Nigerians will deploy their stupendous but ill- gotten wealth for their self and group preservation.

They will feed the hapless citizens (those who are in dire need of liberation and freedom from their stranglehold) with falsehood. They will use imaginary, primordial and ordinarily innocuous differences as religion (Muslims versus Christians), region (North versus South, zoning and no zoning), fear, uncertainty, suspicion, violence, etc.

The hunter will become the hunted. Through their corruption, greed and poor leadership, they have millions of canisters, ammunitions, fireballs and canon folders (almajiris, area boys, cultists and jobless youths and adults) at their beck and call.

Remember, that they are also amongst the great merchants of death (drugs) -Indian hemp, cocaine, heroine, madras, etc, which they can give out very generously.

As usual, they will flee to their opulent homes in some of the most exotic places on earth. The innocent ones will be left to bear the brunt. And Nigeria may not be the same again.

Nigeria, as a geo-political entity, remains very fragile, many thumbs down for these vampires. Yet I do not agree with those who refer to her as a mere geographical expression.

Reference to the amalgamation of 1914 as “the mistake of 1914” irritates my sensitivities. Same with those who refer to any part of Nigeria as parasites or liabilities. Same goes for those who delude themselves as “born to rule”.

The literary icon Prof. Wole Soyinka once expressed regret that his was a wasted generation.

The statement is even more apt with generations after him to which I belong. As an individual, I feel betrayed as a Nigerian, who dreamt of Nigeria as the hope of the Black race.

In spite of all her short-comings, wobbling and fumbling, there is hope for Nigeria. Not necessarily through a bloody or violent revolution. Reformation will do.

By Victor Osarenren