Since 1960 we have perfected one national habit, blaming the President. Every government in power is declared the worst in our history, and every government that leaves suddenly becomes the hero we wish we had kept. The blame has never stopped, it only changes its target.
We said Obasanjo must forget third term and leave so Nigeria could be better. We said Yar'Adua was too sick and weak and should give way to a healthy Jonathan to fix Nigeria. We said Jonathan was clueless and we needed change. We said Buhari was a mistake and we would die if he did not leave. Now it is Tinubu, and the complaints are louder than at any time since 1960. The script is the same, only the names change.
Yet in this same country we say is finished, our cities are expanding. Highrise buildings are replacing the old ones we attended. New markets are emerging, farmlands close to the city are giving way to estates, more billionaires are emerging from among us, and the country's GDP continues to grow. Are the Nigerians who complain every day responsible for this growth, or is there a different category of Nigerians quietly doing the work?
The uncomfortable truth is that incompetence and corruption are not imported from the top. They are elevated from bottom up. From among us, the clerk who demands money to move a file, the trader who inflates prices, the official who collects to pass a student, all complain of corruption in high places while practising it in small places. We want a clean roof while the foundation is still dirty.
What could possibly stop these unending complaints? It will not be a new President. Give me the privilege to make Obi president for one year, and you will watch Nigerians roast him for incompetence and cluelessness and clamour for a quick and safe return of Tinubu, even Buhari. We seem programmed to be more comfortable with every past than with our present.
And I can assure you, Tinubu will be celebrated as better than the one who comes after him. A nation does not change because we changed the man at the top, it changes when the people at the bottom decide to take responsibility for their own obligations.
Batified Obidients Coordinator for persons with disabilities.
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