WATCHING the Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, on the television on Monday literally weep over the Lagos plane crash last Sunday, which claimed about 160 lives, reminded me of an act [a former minister], when she took a tour of the 'killer' Ore-Sagamu road. I was amused and bemused by what seems to me like crying over spilled milk. I couldn't comprehend our propensity to shedding crocodile tears and other forms of effusive emotion each time the insensitivity of a few egregious threw the country into a cul-de-sac.Maybe we need to get one thing clear, Nigerians today doubt the sincerity of their leaders in tackling the problems facing the country. there are several indices to butress the point.Otherwise, at a time like this, most Nigerians would want to console our weeping or sobbing leaders with the rhyme in that epic novel, Weep Not Child, by Ngugi wa Thiong'O, a Kenyan classic writer: 'Weep not Child, weep not may darling. With these kisses, let me remove your tears; the ravening clouds shall not be long not be victorious' they shall not long possess the sky.' Walt Whitman actually owns the patent in his work, On The Beach At Night. But those leaders now sulking over the Iju-Ishaga crash do not deserve our sympathy, because 13 years of democracy has all been motion and no movement. Their promise to turn stone into bread is still on the drawing board, while the people are constantly under a blanket of mourning, courtesy of broken promises. The people have become weary and tired of promises couched in hackneyed and repetitive expressions, dirges and singsongs. Definitely, this cannot be the kind of progress President Goodluck Jonathan claimed we are making in his national broadcast commemorating Democracy Day on May 29, 2012. This cannot be what the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election symbolised when ordinary Nigerians staked their lives by insisting on the sanctity of the poll. The rot in the aviation sector is deep. It was way back in 1993. The campaign for the presidential election was on feverish pitch, and I was attached to the campaign train of the eventual winner, late Chief MKO Abiola. It was an adventure that took many of colleagues and I to the nooks and crannies of the country for almost two months, with most of the trips made by air to state capitals, from where we connected the other major towns by road. But I can recall one incident that really shook us to the bone marrow during those flights. A noisy and shaky aircraft belonging to one of the airlines was conveying us to Lagos when it suddenly began to jerk viciously and later dropped by several metres in altitude. All of us screamed and tumbled only for the pilot to claim that the near mishap was caused by storm. For the rest of the flight, everyone had their heart in their mouth, and because of that singular experience, the only female reporter among us, now resident in the United States, vowed not to be part of the campaign train again. And she made good her threat. Yet, the authorities certified that 'coffins' fit to fly the Nigerian airspace. But as a reporter, I took pains to critically examine the exterior and interior of each of the aircraft anytime we embarked on those traumatising, rigorous and intensive campaign trips. I discovered that virtually all of them were indeed very old and like scraps, but repainted peradventure several times, to give them the semblance of superb grades. But in reality, there were nothing but Molue in the air, because of the imagery they conjured like the once ubiquitous rickety jumbo yellow commercial buses on Lagos roads. Molue is famous for a crowd of 99 passengers standing with 44 only sitting in a stuffy and polluted atmosphere. It was also famous for the sobriquet, osa straight [straight into the Lagos Lagoon], because molues were prone to mass deaths through fatal accidents arising from carelessness and the poor maintenance culture of their operators. The tragedy of last Sunday, which involved a Dana airliner eloquently, depicts that sorry state, which also manifests in other vital sectors of the nation's life. For instance, within a week, the country witnessed two avoidable disasters on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, where stubborn oil tanker drivers are kings. Fuel laden vehicles are parked indiscriminately, creating bottlenecks and anxiety for millions of other road users at strategic places on the highway Let our leaders stop shedding crocodile tears and do the necessary thing. Only the cry of the ordinary man on the street in Nigeria today is genuine and meaningful, because he alone appreciates where the shoe pinches. We compromise on international standards, pervert institutional values and tradition as well as promote corrupt practices without giving a thought for the consequence on the nation. Oderemi, 08023501874 (SMS only)ReactionsYou be thief, I no be thief: 'Kunle, your write up is another master piece. I can't but agree with you that this country is doomed forever, except we are delivered through a revolution. The impunity, at which our so-called leaders have looted the country, be it at the local, state or national level, cannot be quantified. Corruption has become part of us and the only solution is a revolution like what happened in Ghana.' Deacon Salami Olaito ''''''''''''''''''''' 'What type of proof of armed robbers in the National Assembly do you want from former President Olusegun Obasanjo if a member carts home between about N250 million andN300million physical cash annually and rides the most expensive cars at public expenses for doing nothing' Mind you, they allocate to themselves whatever amount they want, no appropriation. If a minister talks, they order his arrest. Fela's Vagabonds in Power!' Ade [08125330723]
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