'Buhari’s Nigeria reawakens War Against Indiscipline ... But Let Him Display Discipline First -

As far as cluelessness, myopia and lack of vision go, Buhari and his cohorts give these terms new definitions. They’ve marked it with the reawakening of war against indiscipline. However, this time, they named it “Change Begins with Me”. This new name is not only useless but also reeks of inanities.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, disclosed that this would instill public morality, social order, and civic responsibilities in Nigerians. Now, let’s analyse these beautiful phrases the president’s pet dog barked in his announcement.

First, to instill public morality means to impart principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behaviour. In other words, the public must be able to discern what is right. This is easily achieved when the set of people clamouring for discipline display an iota of this feature.

Has the poor Nigerian stolen from Nigerian coffers? Has the poor Nigerian promised what they can’t deliver? Or, has the poor Nigerian played with the devil and still claim to represent change? The principle of morality is missing; it can’t hold sway in the present scheme of things.

Second, any order requires the arrangement or disposition of people or things in relation to each other according to a particular sequence, pattern, or method. Therefore, things to be achieved must be planned for. The leader must see the future and work towards achieving a collective goal. To do this, he/she must first clean his house before advising the followers to do so. It seems the leader at this moment is suffering from dementia and can’t realise that the people learned their current dis-order from the ruling class—all man for himself ideology.

Third, civic responsibilities mean participating in service of the community, and recognizing that one can make a difference and have an impact on individuals in a particular society. Drawing from all the happenings going on in Nigeria, one can only conclude that the so-called leaders don’t understand the meaning of civic responsibilities. They only know how to use words to sound responsible and never act responsibly and that’s shameful.

Dr. Abari, the Director General of National Orientation Agency, said WAI would be repositioned in the current dispensation of the change mantra. Truly, does the goal of achieving change need to be fetched from an inglorious past?

I was told of the horrific and horrendous nature of the war against indiscipline in the early eighties in Nigeria: heads were whipped at the slightest instance, bones were cracked at any given day and eyes were punched for staring at a soldier. Is that really the change Nigerians deserve in 21^st century?

Buhari and his team, simply put, are not disciplined. They’ve lost focus. The only person that needs discipline is the president: he should be disciplined in meeting his promises and he must be disciplined enough to get the country back on economic track. Period.