[Life of Dr King]    [Nigeria Today]   [What hope for Nigeria]   What Hope for Nigeria? I certainly do not mean by raising this question to go to some fortune tellers or some marabous in French West Africa. Fortune telling has, admittedly, become big business, perhaps the largest service industry in the country. This in itself constitute a drain on our dwindling resources and a diversion from affairs of the state. Role of the military: the myth and the reality - For the best part of our nearly four decades of independence we have had the misfortune, as it were, of falling prey to military rule. We can now say with certainty that this incursion of military into politics has been the bane of our development, in fact, the greatest single misfortune yet. We must therefore ask, is there any future for this country under the military, even when they hurriedly remove their uniform, just to cling to power? What statutory role are the military suppose to play? Is it not to protect us from some external aggression? But all they have done has been to protect themselves at our expense. As if that was not bad enough, they have continued to harass us, violate our God-given rights, plunder our treasury and torment our psyche. Is this the price we have to pay for protection from external aggression? But can any external aggression be worse? Is it not time to say, ‘thanks, we don’t need this protection’? Are we not better off without it? Responsibility of Political Class - Admittedly the performance of politicians has not been dramatically different from the military, but the fact that they lend themselves to replacement either through elections or impeachment, continues to offer the society an opportunity for change. The worry, however, is in their conception of power and leadership, for here the politicians very much like their military colleagues see leadership not as responsibility but as an opportunity to plunder public treasury and make oneself, as well as kith and kin, rich overnight. Those of us living in Nigeria today should have no difficulty in seeing the sense in the statement of the Prophet of Islam that "We do not give leadership and authority to those who covet for them". For leadership and authority entails responsibility and great sacrifices. We remember our great leaders with nostalgia precisely because they have curtailed their greed and exhibited sacrifices. These leaders distinguished themselves among their peers not by the quantity of their loot but by the level of their sacrifices and the depth of their sense of responsibility. If there is to be any hope for this country we have got to produce a generation of leaders who are prepared to make sacrifices, for sacrifice is the stuff of which leaders are made and nations are built. Greed, gluttony and vanity can only destroy not only the individual but a whole nation. Fatalism - There is this pervading, if nauseating, theological argument, that because nothing can happen without God’s permission, so if we found ourselves saddled with bad and oppressive leaders, we must not blame the latter, rather we should blame God who either arranged it all or somehow allowed it. We must therefore, the argument continues, not make the mistake of challenging these leaders, for that would tantamount to challenging God, rather we must pray to God to guide them aright and make them better. I suppose the same logic ought to apply to a thief who breaks into your house, God must have either arranged it or somehow allowed it. We then ought to, according to this logic, allow the thief to go with his loot and in addition pray to God to guide him aright so that he does not steal again. I cannot claim to speak on behalf of other religions, but I can confidently say of Islam that the reverse is exactly the case. One is compelled to oppose the usurpation of and misuse of power just as he would oppose and fight a thief breaking into his house. In fact if he should die defending his honour, freedom or even property he is guaranteed paradise. So from where did Muslim scholars get this perverted idea of God and His Message? They owe us an explanation. To be fair this trick is not peculiar to our contemporary Nigeria, as Freire discovered: "Fatalism in the guise of docility is the fruit of an historical and sociological situation, not an essential characteristics of a people’s behaviour. It almost always is related to the power of destiny or fate or fortune - inevitable forces - or to a distorted view of God. ... the oppressed see their suffering, the fruit of exploitation, as the will of God - as if God were the creator of this "organised disorder". [9] Paulo Freire’s personal experience with the oppressed peasant of Latin America: "The peasant begins to get courage to overcome his dependence when he realises that he is dependent. Until then, he goes along with the boss and says "What can I do? I’m only a peasant." [10] Certainly our men of God here in Nigeria are contributing to this distorted view of God. To be sure it is peculiar to this generation of religious scholars, for barely two centuries ago we had religious scholars who championed a struggle to liberate the peasants from oppression and to establish justice. Their position on equity, justice and freedom has been explicit and unequivocal, as the abundant literature of the Sokoto Caliphate amply testify. Conclusion Martin Luther King had every reason to fight the in equity in the American system and champion the civil rights of the African American community. He led demonstrations, addressed rallies and occasionally was in and out of cells. He had a dream which he strove to realise, in the process of which he gave his life. He could not have regretted it, for he was convinced that, in his own words, "If a man hasn’t discovered something he will die for, he isn’t fit to live". Our situation in Nigeria today appear to be worse than that of King, in that, our freedom is diminishing with every passing day, our democratic space in constantly shrinking, especially as the transition comes to a close, Justice and equity is becoming more illusive with every new decree, our treasury is being plundered at a rate that will leave us with nothing too soon, our institutions, social, political and economic, have been supplanted to breaking points, indeed we are being pushed to a point where we must be asking, what is left in our lives that is worth living? It looks like we have to start a fresh struggle for independence, this time from an occupation army, who are not content to plunder our resources only, but also our very persons and our psyche. We need the broadest coalition ever, one that cuts across the religious, ethnic and regional lines, lines that have been employed by our oppressors to keep us divided and weak. We also need the greatest tenacity yet, not only because, as Charles Peguy would say, "Tyranny is always better organised than freedom", but also because this occupation army don’t have another land to go back to. Above all we have to pray to God, this time not for peace and stability, but for the fortitude to bear the pains and sacrifices that the change we anticipate and work for entails. References: 1. Melvin I. Urofsky (ed.), Basic Readings in U.S. Democracy, Washington, USIA, 1994. P. 240. 2. Speech in Detroit, June 23, 1963. In J. Bishop, The Days of Martin Luther King, 1971. ch. 4. 3. Melvin I. Urofsky (ed.) Op Cit P. 231 4. Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Penguin Books, 1993. P. 32. 5. Muhammad Bello, Usul al-Siyasa P. 16. 6. Paulo Freire, Op. Cit. P. 36. 7. Ibid. P. 41. 8. Erich Fromm, The Heart of Man, New York, 1966. P. 32. 9. Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, (trans. Myra Bergman Ramos) Penguin Books, 1993. Pp. 43-4 10. Ibid. P. 43.