I sincerely congratulate the great and heroic people of Egypt on their determination andthe success of the recent revolution. Before Hosni Mubarak finally stepped down from the dais of power, the Egyptian people paid the supreme sacrifice. Over 300 people lost their lives. Lives were lost at different points and stages during the two weeks of the struggle against Mubarak and his establishment. Activists sustained irredeemable injuries at all epicenter of the struggles; some died during the clash with the paid supporters of the then President Mubarak, who came out shamelessly to demonstrate support for the sinking regime, some died during confrontation with the law enforcement agencies and the military while many would have died of exhaustion. On an occasion of the protest, I was shedding tears with indignation when one mad truck driver ran through the demonstrating activists and there were piles of dead. I salute the enduring courage of the people who insisted with one voice that they would not vacate the Liberation Square, until Hosni has stepped down. Hosni Mubarak stepped down while the government of Switzerland placed embargo on his bank account in that country. On February 13, 2011, the Supreme Military Council announced what could be described as the interim programme for returning the embattled nation to democracy That the legislature has been dissolved, that the constitution has been suspended; and that the fresh election would take place in September, 2011. This is not enough because all the members of the cabinet of Mubarak are still within the corridors of power as caretakers!The prime minister and all ministers should vacate their positions and go home for good because their outings with Mubarak were not in favour of the Egyptian humanity. The economy did not favour the humanity in Egypt and, according to the IMF, and the World Bank reports; over 40 per cent of the Egyptian population live in abject poverty and do not live well, as about, 13 million people live in slums.Since the days of the Gamal Abdel Nasser Military revolution in July, 1952, the nation of Egypt has remained firmly in the hands of the military establishment of Egypt. And today, Egypt has been ruled for six decades by the military. Nasser was originally the founder of the military intervention in 1952, but advanced the power to General Neguib, who was then seen as a weak ruler. Within two years Neguibs inefficiency became unacceptable to Nasser and he took power from him. Nasser nationalised the Aswan Dam, abolished the age of Pharaohs and monarchical system, which had lasted for about five thousand years, and gave lands to the landless Egyptians, Colonel Nasser faced the three-day war with Israel and after the defeat of Egypt he died of heart attack. That was the Yom Kippur War of 1973. There was President Anwar Sadat shortly after that, who was sprayed with bullets by a lieutenant at a public parade. Egypt is a very ancient country with long and chequered history, and by now it should obtain the objective conditions and proceed to join the modern world. The army by now should allow the people of Egypt to take their destiny in their hands.The present revolution is not the first attempt of the people of Egypt in their struggle to institute a system whereby all Egyptians, rich or poor, high or low, young ad old, man or woman and different religious persuasions, should participate fully in a different system which is able to provide for the needs of all the people. Before the 1952 revolution, there was the people-based uprising in Egypt busy searching for one strong and enduring system where all people would be free like the ocean waves to manage and promote their welfare and prosperity. Now, Egypt must make sure that the new methodology is upheld and never to be allowed to slip from their hands. The presence of the army in the search for the methodology and the implementation of the methodology are tactical blunders in terms of such a popular revolution. All the revolutionaries should go back to the drawing board and come with a strong decision and be the implementers of the decision because the decisions must have direct bearing on the the lives and destiny of the people of Egypt. This must be contemplated quickly without allowing an evil wind to blow over the gains of the revolution.Certainly, Egypt has the great duty to herself in ensuring that the spirit of a revolution is never allowed to go under as, there is always the likehood of history repeating itself again and again. Measures must be put in place to renew and strengthen the spirit of the revolution. There must be a particular ideology which the country and her people intend to follow. These ideology or philosophy must be defended while severe punishments must be given to the offenders of the ideology. What happened at the Liberation Square of Egypt was not a joke at all, as the young and old people of Egypt were ready to die at the square. Whenever the process is relaxed, there are always the gradual and systematic manipulations and interpolations. China, till today, is still using capital punishment to address the ideological crimes and less than two years; a Chinese minister was publicly executed for corruption while six Chinese were also executed for exporting fake goods to Nigeria. China itself went through about two thousand years of civil wars and frightening systematic human oppression and repression. Today, Egypt has a choice and that is to decide never to go all over again. It is pertinent to state here in the unambiguous term that what happened in Egypt is lesson to all the countries of Africa with evil politicians in virtually all countries. The raging wind of revolution is blowing across the Middle East and North Africa, and eventually it will blow across the whole of Africa. Mr Ben Alli was recently toppled in Algeria and the countrys capital, Algiers has been boiling even till now because the people are not satisfied with the arrangement on the ground through the military. I do not like the idea of the people to struggle and win and to hand over to the military to destabilise the gains. The army is the servant of the state and it si never historically trained to rule but to take orders from the civil authorities. The army is always to destroy, destabilise, maim, and kill. When in 1952 there was the military take over in Egypt, it eventually spread to many countries in Africa. In the event that the wind is blowing across the whole of Africa to wrestle power from Africas wicked and deadly political rulers, there must be sufficient intellectual work for such uprising and of necessity any uprising in any nation must be ideological because an ideology must explain the how, why, where, and when of the revolution. Enough of these wicked despots.Osunbote, the Managing Director of Pentagon Books Limited, wrote in from Ibadan
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