There’s no legend in poverty

By Dr. Sunny Oby Maduka (DSM)

“A society that despises God Almighty, relegates human capital development, but prides on injustice that only elevates the rich is doomed.” — DSM.

Before I delve into the above topic, let me just pass a few words on those who have been defending the Edo State Gover­nor incomprehensible budget presentation.

I’m amused when learned Nigerians are defending or trying to cover the glaring de­ficiency of our leaders. This is the same defence mechanism we applied when PMB couldn’t even produce any certificate by saying that NEPA bill was acceptable. To­day, where are we as a people? Our problem was heightened during his regime.

It’s even so disheart­ening and foolish for anyone to compare the Chinese and English Languages as yardsticks for lead­ership prowess. Chinese leaders won’t speak English because it’s not their lingua franca. Chinese leaders speak Chinese that every citizen will understand because Chinese is a lingua franca. Our lingua franca in Nigeria is En­glish Language, and whosoever wants to lead us must speak for us to comprehend.

The intricacy of this global disaster was the ar­rest of the NTA Correspondent, who’s just an ordinary Nigerian. Unfortunately, the state appara­tus, such as the security agencies and courts have become more inclined towards protecting the rich while prosecuting the poor.

We have seen and read where a leader (Kawu Baraje… Business Day of August 2, 2022), asserted that in 2015, some Northern lead­ers brought in Fulani militias from Sierra Leone, Mali, Senegal, and other countries so as to win the presidential election. Up till date, no further investigations or prosecutions have been initi­ated by the security agencies, and the simple reason is that, those mentioned were in the category of the untouchable rich people. But the complicity of the dual nationality problem is when a poor journalist tries to investi­gate the allegations, you will dis­cover that the security agencies could wear red bands for his or her arrest.

Back to my topic today, and which I intend to start with a story, and please note that, I am not inferring to anyone’s identi­ty to my story. Nigeria of today has invented a new terminology referenced as ‘defamation or de­formation’ as a criminal offence, and bailable under a ridiculous lacuna, hence my caveat.

There was a country where two laws were operating simultaneously on the citizens and depending on the accused standing in the soci­ety. Two people were said to have committed two offences. The first one was against the country and the second was against a powerful citizen.

The one who committed a heinous crime to the state with over ₦800 billion allegations of fraud went to the office that po­litely requested for him to come and just make a statement about his criminal activity. On the day he first visited, he was asked to go home, because, he came without any information about his com­ing. He was escorted by the agen­cy that ought to arrest and detain him. The next time, the same man who was alleged to have defraud­ed the state was invited by the agency, and he went there with all sorts of funfair. Those who were supposed to arrest him joined in the euphoria and he was driven to be interrogated on a new SUV ve­hicle as an emperor.

The second citizen, who offended a powerful citizen was abducted from a state to another state. He was locked up without any iota of bail, but to be reprimanded to the prison for more than two weeks. Remem­ber, the case between two private citizens ought to be a civil matter, and on the day of arraignment, the man who offended the influen­tial personality was handcuffed to the court as if he was a murder­er. A clinical scenario of hailing our captors and while the person who is fighting for our liberation is being handcuffed and treated as a murderer.

Now, which of the two cases should have been of much importance to the coun­try? An allegation of over ₦800 billion fraud against a country, or a personality defamation case?

Just hold on to your answers and let’s explore certain attributes of a rich man and a poor man, in a society, where justice ought to be a balanced adjudication. The reality is that, ‘A Law is not necessarily a regulation for a balanced societal justice system, but a clever tool made by the rich as a stringent requirement to checkmate the poor.’

The soci­ety has been planned by the rich, and the essence is simply to pro­tect the rich. The rich are for the rich, while the poor are against the poor, especially in a society where richness is a god to the poor. The tragedy of a confused society is that, while the rich are protecting themselves and busi­nesses, the poor are busy with issues that inflict pains amongst themselves.

“When MONEY rules in a society, INJUSTICE becomes the Law” – DSM.

Let’s Go:

In the Nigeria context, espe­cially in the electoral process, it’s the rich that determines who’s a victor and who should be vanquished. This is the very reason why money has defined mankind. The rich and poor are most of the time, willing to sell their souls, kill for others and cut institutional enmity that can’t be traced to any personal reasons. First of all, let me clarify the ba­sic truth about poverty. It starts from the mind, and oftentimes, it’s an abnormal psychology trait. Nobody is born as a rich or a poor child, but a mindset that tends to remind you of the ugliness of your parents or your birthplace.

The truth about life is that we are all the evolution of nothingness, hence, nobody chose his or her parents or birthplace. In fact, no­body knew that he or she existed until a certain moment of his or her evolutionary histories. Yes, you may be the offspring of Dan­gote, Otedola or Maduka, but per­sonal discoveries are not about the comforts of your parents or birthplace, but your ability to ex­plore and exploit your inherent potentials.

If you can just take a few minutes to reflect about your life histories, you will probably discover that most of the wealthy, great and influential personali­ties that I mentioned above were not spoon fed as children of for­tune. I have seen great men of yesterday dusting the ground today, and equally, I have seen the worst scenario of poor men sitting in the highest places of authority, deciding the fate of the children of fortune. A case study is our president, Ahmed Bola Tinubu.

A mystery of a man without a clear cut birth­place or date background. It goes to show that a son of nobody can be a father of somebody. We may call him anything, but the truth is that, the president without much background histories has become a history himself. PBAT’s life should be a study pack, and such a pack narrative must have a point where a man can delib­erately orchestrate his earthly journeying process. PBAT has been consistent and committed to becoming a president despite all odds, and consciously, no Nige­ria history will be crafted without mentioning him as a president of Nigeria.

The rich don’t feel the pains of the poor, and unfortu­nately, even in the midst of the pains, the poor see themselves as victims, and at the end, the poor are made to hate themselves. The problem of the poor is not about finding faults in the rich enclave, but finding love that’s above emo­tional sentiments, especially when provoked by the rich peo­ple’s policies against the poor. The present Leadership in Nigeria is mainly 80% of people who were not from a rich background, and unfortunately, they have easily forgotten who they were. The authority in power has created a new profile image brand, and today, they are all power drunk.

They are the power brokers, the new godfathers, who have totally forgotten where God Almighty picked them up from. This is the mystery that mankind has refused to come to terms with, rather, we’re so obsessed with wealth, power and societal acco­lades while the love for humanity is wasted. Nigeria is at the thresh­old of the rich oppressive nature, and sadly, still, the rich remain insatiable to greed and wicked­ness.

Who would have believed that most of our leaders, who are products of God’s amazing grace will become more inclined to the destruction of the middle class citizens and poor masses? Who could have believed that a swearing in of a law enforcement officer or judge could overnight be for selfishness and allegiance to few citizens? The rich own the poor, especially in Nigeria of to­day. Justice and equity are mere words and can only work when the rich people are in the equa­tion. There’s no legend in poverty, and the simple truth is that, the rich have claimed the dignity of the poor. The oppressive policies that seem to be for the interest of the poor are mere deceitful thera­py. Don’t be deceived, beneath any good intention of a rich man lies in a blood sucking dragon trap.

As I conclude, let me remind us that, being a poor or rich man doesn’t make any human being less hu­man. The emphasis is beyond the script of poverty, but a personal soul searching obligation. Char­acter is everything, and hence, richness shouldn’t be the totality of mankind’s standard of living, rather, maintaining our forefa­thers epithelial inference of, ‘a good name is better than gold’. Remember that the heroes in us are greater than being a legend in certain abnormal circumstances or situations..

Oby Maduka (DSM), Public Commentor