The Nigerians of old had a zeal to fight for what they felt was the solution to our far cries and injustice during the colonial era. They did it all together; the Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba did it all together. The course was won and life was given to the birth of a country called Nigeria. Pardon my sincerity today, If we have to go by our national anthem and pledge, it is either the wrong people are singing the right anthem or the right people are singing the wrong anthem. There is nothing in the National anthem that don’t sound like a lie to us. No wonder most of the leaders can’t recite the course which the country stands for.
Arise, O compatriots
Nigeria’s call obey
To serve our fatherland
With love and strength and faith
The labour of our heroes past
Shall never be in vain
To serve with heart and might
One nation bound in freedom
Peace and unity.
The second stanza of the national anthem says “… To build a nation where peace And justice shall reign” which shows that our past heroes got their course right, they were not distracted when the dream to acquire freedom and keep up the freedom burns in their heart. Where are the Nigerians? From the first word to the last word of the national anthem bears a question mark that we all need to say on each passing day.
A country with three strong pillars of different values; Hausa with the provision of our daily needs, the Yoruba with the intelligence of organization, the Igbos with the value of industrialization and commerce, all now seem to be distracted and looking for power in the wrong places. History says at a time one Naira was equal to one Dollar, that the poorest man in the country could afford a left over that befits a king, we had no problem with choosing a career, our basic social amenities were not topping the list of the country’s problem.
We all have our share in the outcome of the country. A president who still believed in some words written in the national anthem lies down in illness and we forget his course, we pursue after power again, going back to the same mistakes. The Igbos threatens to leave and we are not trying to make peace. Is the country now dead? Or are we all on exile?
If it was possible to build a country from the scratch then, it is possible to renovate it now. We should not give up. This is a call for those who still believe in the National anthem, those who still wake up with the passion for Nigeria, those who believed int he course of the past heroes’ labour and for those who want to grow old with no worries that generations to come have nothing to worry about if they follow the right part.
But as of today, as of this minute, we are not Nigerians!
God bless NIGERIA!
