By Sam Amadi
Yesterday Nigeria celebrated 50 years of independence. It was low profiled but the significance is not lost. Nigeria is entering a new level. It is morning on creation day.

It is jubilee for Nigeria. Nigeria is entering into her liberty. It is no more the days of failure. A new dawn has broken upon Nigeria.

A few days before the 50th year anniversary President Obasanjo, a man who more than any other persons has presided over the affairs of the country, spoke as a special lecturer at the convocation of the Redeemer’s University of Nigeria (RUN), Ede.

President Obasanjo argued that the problems of Nigeria derive from its foundation.

He blamed the founding fathers of the republic, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, as responsible for the problems of bad governance afflicting the nation. He accused them of failing to mobilize Nigerians beyond the colonial ethnic identities. It is this failure that has chained Nigeria to years of failures and retardation. President Obasanjo called on the younger generation to get past the legacy of the past and reinvent the present and the future.

At the same time that President Obasanjo was railing against the founding fathers of the Nigerian republic, one of his famed technocrats, Malam Nasir EL-rufai was dressing down military rulers who had held Nigeria down. He blasted former Presidents Ibrahim Babangida and Muhammed Buhari for daring to run for presidency after leaving office many years ago.

He wondered how these former rulers who were in power when he was just 25 years would want to come back to power now that he is 50 years. He thumbed them down and pointed the way for fresh beginning for Nigeria under the leadership of a younger person.

The statements of President Obasanjo and Malam El-rufai point to the need for a new beginning for Nigeria. Today, I feel like a prophet. I want to prophesy concerning the future of Nigeria. I see a new Nigeria coming from heaven. The old Nigeria is dead and buried.

As Nigerians celebrated the jubilee they proclaimed an end to the old Nigeria. They have interred the remains of the misdeeds of the founding fathers of the republic.

They have interred the corruption that began in 1904 with the unification of the different protectorates to serve the interests of colonial commercial interests.
Ever since that evil unification the journey of Nigeria has been reckless and senseless.

The colonialists set us on a voyage that does not result in the formation of a strong modern democracy. The error that we bury in the ground as we celebrate jubilee is the failure of the post-colonial leaders of Nigeria to reform the Nigerian state. This is a typical mistake of African post-colonial leaders.

The great African anthropologist at Columbia University, Mahmood Mamdani in his classic study of postcolonial political institutions in Africa titled, Citizens and Subject: the Legacy of Late Colonialism, argue that African postcolonial leaders reinforced the decentralization of disempowerment of colonial rule.

Professors Ann and Bob Seidman, renowned scholars of law and development in Africa, have passionately argued that African development crisis arises from failure to reform colonial institutions upon attainment of independence. These institutions entrenched disempowerment and elitism and prevented the formation of the culture and practice of engaged citizenship.

So, as we mark jubilee we turn back on the errors of the past. As President Obasanjo counseled the midnight children will wave good bye to the past, to the error of Lord Lugard and the misdeeds of Azikiwe, Awolowo and Balewa.   I prophesy that a new Nigeria has begun.

I prophesy that no longer will a citizen be killed in Zagon-Kataf or in Abeokuta or Owerri and the state do nothing to bring the culprits to book. I prophesy that in the new Nigeria anyone who raises arms against a citizen in the name of religion will be severely punished.

Every citizen will be respected and his life, property and dignity strictly protected by the state. I prophesy that no longer will a Nigerian be victimized or killed in a foreign country and Nigerian officials look the other way.

I see a new Nigeria. I see a country founded on truth and justice; a country where tribes and tongues will no longer be celebrated rather citizenship will be entrenched and become the benchmark of accessing rights and privileges.

I see a new Nigeria where the country will not introduce divisions and weaken the national spirit in the guise of national character or zoning. I see a country where people will be judged according to the content of their character and their ability instead of their paternity.

I see a new Nigeria where no one will be discriminated against in civil service employment just because a Senator or a Minister has sent a candidate to the employing authority. I see a new Nigeria where judges will fearlessly defend the rights and welfare of the poor and oppressed instead of accepting bribes from the high and might. Nigeria will be great. We are destined to be a great country.

The abundance God has given us has been abused. But this is time to pursue and recover. As we enter into jubilee God will raise champions of change who will cremate the remains of the old. As we enter into jubilee the carpenters will be anointed to destroy the horns of the enemies of the country.

I decree that every enemy of Nigeria will not see the jubilee. Those who have build castles on the ruins of God’s people will not enter jubilee. Those who have swallowed the wealth of the nation and has belched the fumes of oppression; those who decree disasters for the poor of the land, will not enter jubilee.

Welcome to jubilee. I see a new Nigeria.