I don't know whether you feel the way I do this morning. In fact I have felt this way all week, and throughout last several months and for perhaps several years now.This is a country of the deaf and blind. It is also the country of the dumb, except for the fact that the dumbness is not in the sense of inability to talk. It is the dumbness of the daftest. The daftness of the elite. The elite in power. And some elite who, though possess multiple university degrees and even professorial chairs, are still very daft. Daft.Last week my wife and I and several members of the Family Club of Nigeria led by our National President, Professor Oluwole Osonubi were in the ancient city of Ondo to join Dr Molara Smith to bid her departed 101-year-old mother a befitting Farewell. Jeez! We encountered not less than 45 crudely constructed check-points mounted by some horribly looking, poorly clad beggarly police men who to all intents looked more like armed robbers than officers and men of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Most of these 'day guards' could hardly pronounce the names of the towns and villages along the route they are supposed to provide security for. They did not know the terrain, and yet they [were] are supposed to give chase to marauders along the route.You wonder for how long you need to repeat yourself that an Okiro cannot police Ikire or Ikirun. Nor would an Okpara be the best guard for Iperu or Ipara. Let every community be policed by products of the community. Let those who know and understand the peculiarities of a terrain provide security for the terrain. Nothing can be simpler. But the deaf and blind elite in the land have failed woefully to understand or appreciate this simple demand.And in any case, notorious check-points where police men daily harass and torment commercial vehicle drivers and their passengers are no solution to serious crimes on ground. Policing has advanced well beyond check-points. Policing is Intelligence- driven. Check-points that provide avenues to police men to expand their pot bellies are not going to drive armed robbers away.Now, our land is infested with dangerous criminality. Some gentlemen in their 70s returning from this same Ondo trip were ambushed on Ondo -Benin road in broad day light by armed robbers and severely and violently robbed. And each time a Nigerian is subjected to this kind of murderous attack the refrain from the authorities is 'We shall leave no stone unturned in our pursuit of these criminals and they shall face the full length of the law'. Sorry, the murderers of Ige and Williams and many more are yet to see even half an inch of the length of the law!Why should a country be peopled by 'human beings', if human beings they truly are, who will be so dumb to simple reasoning, blind to simple vision and deaf to very audible sound' It has been said on several occasions and by many well meaning individuals that this country called Nigeria is dying and measures to restore it to life are suggested, but the response as usually being numb.How many times are we supposed to say it that the basic problem of this country is mass unemployment' How many times are we supposed to cry out that we have over 10 million unemployed highly educated youths' How many times are we to warn that hundreds of thousands of our youths are exposed to bomb making technologies' And that we should not allow the devil to find work for idle hands'In the land of the deaf and blind, you are expected to cry yourself hoarse and perhaps create a new technology for touch before it could dawn on people that lack of electricity is the root cause of most of the woes that have piled up on this unfortunate country. We say it every day. Comedians joke about it. Singers create tune to bemoan this malady. And yet, those who are supposed to address the problem are toying with 16th Century approach to the solution. And of course, the bottom line is 'what's in it for me''We have more people queuing at the Visa desks of several Embassies in the land than obtains in any other country in the world. Day-in day-out hundreds of thousands are dying to escape from this unpalatable country. Even when our children or relations come home to bury their parents or grandparents they hurry back in a jiffy.And yet, it does not require rocket science to make things work here. We only need to have our eyes open; our ears open and keep common sense in operation. And be less selfish and self-centered.The Nation and the Resurrection of AbachaI did not believe that General Sani Abacha had risen from the dead until I read in the papers the following day that several policemen invaded The Nation's premises to intimidate the paper's editors and carted them away like in the tyrannical days of Abacha.I do not quarrel with a godson protecting a godfather's interest, but I think there are more civilized ways of doing so.The Nigerian Police should respect the laws of the land and should not bring Mr President into headlong collision with the media. Enough is sufficient for the wise.
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