Similarities between Benin and Opobo, by Eric Teniola

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Stating the obvious
Politics or gossip is not my cup of tea and I have enough sense to stay away from religion but lately I do feel that rising above dirt doesn’t make one clean and for a change would like to state the obvious to the leaders who don’t seem to have a clue what leadership means! An emerging democracy takes time and it is true that Nigeria is a young one but youth and craziness are not mutually exclusive.
We are the village….
Not too long ago, we acted as a collective, where we acted as one and believed in the mutuality of the collective. After all, African coined the adage that;” it takes a village to raise a child”. So, where is this village, the collective when some of our vulnerable are suffering in silence and we turn our face and ignore their sufferings? How can we pretend to be religious and pious and yet perpetuate this heinous crime?
Nigerian history and the morbid obsession with national unity (8)
There is a deafening silence about the civil war in public discourse and we want to draw attention to it so that Nigerians can ascertain where the rain started beating them and take corrective measures to avoid being drenched by another downpour in future. Thus, in our analysis, you can replace ‘Igbo’ with the name of another ethnic nationality and ‘Northerners’ with ‘Southerners’ and my argument will still hold. The major point readers who might accuse me of unnecessary bias ought to bear in mind is that wickedness and injustice are morally reprehensible universally, and no genuine humanist should condone any of them no matter who the perpetrators and the victims were.
You deserve the insults of don’t give a damn government (2)
That we deserve Dr Ebele Jonathan and his Ministers is not in doubt. First, we voted for him in 2011, overwhelmingly, based on promises – mostly now unfulfilled. The “breath of fresh air” was one of those promises. If what we are watching, at the hearings in the National Assembly, turns our stomachs and is malodorous to our noses, blame not Jonathan; blame us. A man cannot act beyond his abilities. For any leader, the most important decisions concern human resource choices. The President’s fate, like those of Chief Executive Officers, CEOs, anywhere are determined by the people he invites to top office to assist in executing his programmes.
Waiting for implosion of APC
The All Progressives Congress seems to be having an owambe party all over Nigeria; from the North to the South and is getting all the media attention required. The party also appears to be mocking the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and celebrating the implosion of the ruling party.

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