Issues
Mechanism Of Social Pollution And Corruption
This write-up is necessited by current events taking place in Nigeria, for the purpose of making the average person understand that behind every event, there are usually causal factors. Moreover, an accurate understanding of visible experiences and factors which account for them, can pave the way for a better and stress-free future. Obviously, what we experience today can be described as matters arising from what we had put together yesterday. Similarly, what we put together today would constitute what we are going to experience and harvest in the future.
No amount of quibbling and prevarication would diminish or annul the fact that every wrong activity revenges and avenges itself upon the perpetrators for the purpose of correcting imbalances. Such correction or atonement for imbalances come about through sad and unpleasant experiences which are meant to facilitate a rethinking and possible reformation of individuals. This process is a grace provided for human transformation, neither does a doctrine of vicarious atonement hold any water.
It is also noteworthy that the inner qualities or status of human beings manifest in different and varied standards or qualities. Different human beings, therefore, represent different life qualities, in such a way that deeds, utterances, life styles and actions express and represent the standings of individuals. By deeds we may judge but not without errors.
In observing and passing judgement on events and the deeds of humans, there is a need to keep aside personal bias and prejudices, which is not quite easy to do. Yet, events and deeds often bear the badge and signature of their origin, thus providing opportunities for a bias-free assessment to be made. Sound observation, analysis and discernment can be made, not on individuals personally, but on the message which events and deeds convey. Obviously, not everybody is capable of developing such hypodermic ability of perception and analysis of events and experiences.
Mechanism of influx of inferior souls
Definite inequalities and variations exist among human beings, not only in physically observable and quantifiable endowments and abilities, but also in the life-qualities represented. In this course of natural history, evolution of the inner life and strivings of human beings have not taken any uniform pace. Wide variations and differences exist, arising from the degree of individual exertions and diligence. With the gift of a freewill, everybody chooses and determines what path to take and what line of strivings and activities to engage in. Everyone learns through this process, especially as personal experiences become our best teachers.
It is obvious that there are recalcitrant and wayward human beings who, despite every admonition, help and guidance, choose wrong paths, perhaps till Nemesis hits and changes them the hard way. So, there are souls that are definitely inferior in terms of quality for noble volition and activities. What is referred to earlier as homogeneous affinities make it imperative that souls of various qualities, noble and ignoble ones, flock together like birds of same feather. They flow at definite quality-waves.
Souls of the dead and living beings on earth are linked through several affinities and mechanism, of which personal volition, value orientation and lifestyle provide platforms from contacts. Women in particular, provide the bridge by which incarnating souls strive for earthly birth, according to peculiar orientation and quality of the mothers giving birth to them.
In the world beyond invisible to living human beings, there are millions of souls longing and scrambling to be born as babies, for the purposes of attaining certain goals. One of such goals is the opportunity to atone for some personal imbalances and guilts. There are also the desires to gratify various material longings, all of which the earth provides through particular roots and environments. Just as we have aggressive and ruthless hustlers on earth who can bulldoze their way and get what they want, so also are there souls desperate to incarnate on earth at all costs.
Just as decent and noble human beings would shun and stay away from areas where “hoodlums” and miscreants predominate, so also souls of noble qualities would shun hostile environments as the platform for their incarnation. We can observe such environments which noble and decent souls would not want to be born into. We can also observe homes and mothers that noble and decent souls would not want to provide the platform for their birth. Souls flow to where they fit in, quality wise!
We can also find situations where decent and noble parents can have a “black sheep” as an offspring who, in adulthood, becomes a blot or shame to good parents. The mechanism involved in such enigma has to do with the kind of company which an expectant mother keeps. There is no art to find the mind’s construction on the face, but life qualities incline where they find affinities, and in the births mothers serve as the attracting pole.
Demoralising era and experiences in Nigeria.
A common idiom that water flows to link with its level and source of affinity is valid and applicable in the incarnation of souls to definite homes and societies. Similarly, wherever particular propensities and peculiarities predominate as lifestyles, souls that long for such environment for the gratification of their mission, would incarnate in large numbers. In the case of Nigeria, those endowed with a hypodermic vision would say that 1966 marked a demoralizing era and experience for the nation. It is not usually what happens that is a calamity, but more of how a demoralizing situation is handled. Events of 1966 became demoralizing calamities because of the handling.
Everybody may not subscribe to the theory, but Nigeria is paying the price of past lapses of which the upheavals of 1966 became a culminating point. Considering the large number of sudden and agonising deaths unleashed between 1966 and 1970, it would not be hard to conclude that the effects of that demoralising era and experiences are visiting us today. For one thing, there were curses and invocations from dying persons whose humanity was dehumanized.
Is it rational to underrate and overlook the power and implications of the dying declarations and invocations of people tormented to death in cold blood by hoodlums? Can the imprecations of an old woman who saw her pregnant daughter raped and disemboweled by a gang of hoodlums go without the vengeance of the gods? Is there any immunity for those who evade human laws?
Curses and invocations from dying persons who see their death and sad experiences as the result of miscarriage of justice, constitute psychic pollutants which are infectious. Accumulation of such psychic pollutants form centres which spread harrow and corruption in societies where nobility and purity are in short supply. When a nation is encircled by such dark energies, women in particular are more likely to absorb such influences. Similarly the state of the purity of women determines the quality of children which populate the nation. It is not outward piety which determines the purity of any woman.
Recent events taking place in Nigeria, especially with reference to brutality, abuse of power and prevarication to evade justice, are reminiscent of what happened in 1966 and thereafter. Cover-up antics of state agencies of law enforcement as well as the culture of brigandage and impunity are not new in Nigeria. Rather there are abundant evidence that practitioners of acts of lawlessness and impunity end up with an altered state of consciousness which predisposes them more and more to the absorption of psychic pollutants. They part ways with normalcy!
The mechanism of self-destruction takes various guises, one of which is the use of hollow excuses to hide away personal deficiencies even in the face of serious national threats. The saying that those whom the gods would destroy they first make mad, is a part of the mechanism of social pollution and decay. Social corruption goes along with misplacement of priorities.
The fact that acts of brutality, brigandage and impunity by some personnel of law enforcement agencies continued unaddressed, until there arose mass protests, is an indication of social pollution. Someone reported that after acts of lawlessness, perpetrators of such acts usually resort to “drinking merrily”. Such allegation, whether true or false, is a part of the mechanism of social pollution and corruption. Taking of alcohol and narcotic substances after acts of lawlessness usually deaden the conscience and good judgement. The result is that repeated engagement in such activities raise little moral compunction and consequently to growing decay in society.
There is a significant relationship between growing acts of lawlessness and the consumption of narcotic substances. Something can be said between social decay and diminution of a sense of personal responsibility. In an environment where position-holders are alive to their roles and personal responsibilities, there are hardly excuses for failures or prevarication as a means to explain away non-performance. Public office holders who show no feeling of shame about what they do, say or the image they leave behind after office, contribute towards a society in corrupt state.
Law enforcement mechanism contributes a great deal in the degree of confidence which the populace have in a nation’s system of reward and punishment. Many Nigerians would doubt if this system is fair and just. The result is that patriotism would diminish where people do not have confidence in a nation’s reward system.
Redressing Social anomalies
Setting up of Commissions of Inquiry to look into cases of brutality and abuse of power by various law enforcement agencies would hardly be enough to transform the situations in Nigeria. Social Pollution and corruption can also be described as failures of the social system. Complaints and protests about police brutality and abuse of power can be said to be one little fragment of the complaint which Nigerian citizens have about “the system” that the country operates. Ranging from abuse of power, to the adoption of a true federalism, Nigerians have everything to complain about, especially wealth distribution.
Therefore, more fundamental and comprehensive solutions should be sought in order to reposition the country and avoid other protests in the future. Since actions and deeds are products of mindset, the task of redressing anomalies in Nigeria should be a long-lasting transformation process. If no one has done any serious research in this direction, let it be said here that a major anomaly in Nigeria is the state of the nation’s political economy. Police brutality is a mere symptom, not the substance.
A former state governor was quoted as saying that Nigerians are cowards, just like Nigerian youths were alleged to be lazy. The impression created is that the masses are being short-changed by those who think that they are smart and clever. This awareness is growing fast! The masses are being short-changed deliberately! Niger Delta people in particular. Thanks to military strategists!
Dr Amirize is a retired lecturer from the Rivers State University, Port Harcourt.
This is an open letter to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Chief Nyesom Wike.
Your Excellency,
Sir, ordinarily, I would not be writing an open letter to you, but like a wise man once said, “Silence would be Treason.” So I prefer to stay alive than face the consequences of silence in the face of crime. With each passing day, and as the socio-political tides continue to turn, it has become more pertinent that more people speak up in a concerted MANNER to prevent the death of our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as we appear to be, in the words of W. B. Yeats, “turning and turning in the widening gyre” heading for an end where the falcon will no longer hear the falconer
It is unfortunate that since losing control of the Federal Government, with the loss of President Goodluck Jonathan at the poll in 2015, our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has continued on a downward spiral. It is much more painful, that where it is expected that leaders within the party should rise to the challenge and put an end to this decline of our great party, some have instead taken up roles as its undertaker.
It will be hypocritical to claim aloofness to what I believe is your grouse with the PDP and I am not a hypocrite. It will be uncharitable on my part to discountenance the role you have played in strengthening the PDP from 2015 up until the last Presidential primaries of the party. It is my belief that your grouse against certain members of the party who you perceived worked against the party and abandoned it in 2015 and then came around much later to take control of the party, is justified. Also know that your decision to remain in the Party and stifle its progress on the other hand, as a sort of payback, stands condemned. For a man of your pedigree and stature, it is a dishonorable act, highly dishonorable and stands as testimony against all you claim to stand for.
At least, it can be argued that those who you hold this grudge against, abandoned the party completely and did not sit back while actively working to destroy it from within. But what then can be the argument on your own part, seeing that those you are currently working with against your party are the same people who set in motion, and executed surgically, the plans that not only ended our Party’s leadership at the centre, but ended up dislodging the first Niger Deltan to occupy Aso Rock as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. Is this not akin to “cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face?” That will be worse than folly. Let us not throw away the baby with the bath water because we do not like the soap used in bathing the baby. It will be a grave mistake.
Honourable Minister, sir, it is rather unfortunate that of all people, you have also decided to play the role of an undertaker not only for our party, but for our dear Rivers State.
I will like to take you down memory lane a little. Let me remind you of your emergence as Guber candidate of the PDP in Rivers State, against all fairness and justice in 2014. You will remember that despite the reality being that you as an Ikwerre man was poised to replace a fellow Ikwerre man in Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi in our multiethnic state, Rivers people overwhelmingly stood by you and pushed for your emergence as Executive Governor of Rivers State in 2015. I dare say that your popularity in the entire Niger Delta region was at an all-time high at this point.
I want you to understand why you were loved across board leading to your eventual emergence as Governor of Rivers State in 2015; it was because when it looked like all were against the second term ambitions of the first Niger Delta man to emerge as President of Nigeria, you became not just a pillar but a beacon of resistance by standing for Goodluck Jonathan. Rivers people, as grateful and rewarding as they can be, paid you back by ensuring your electoral victory against the incumbent All Progressives Congress (APC) led by your predecessor. On your emergence, where there were second term Governors in the region, you, a first term Governor, was seen by the people as not just the leader of the PDP, but the leader of the entire Niger Delta region. You earned it, and no one could dispute it.
In 2019, when your re-election bid was being challenged ferociously, Rivers people once again stood solidly behind you. Many were killed in the process of defending your votes. Do you remember Dr. Ferry Gberegbe that was shot and killed while trying to protect your votes in Khana Local Government Area? There are many more unnamed and unrecognised sons and daughters of Rivers State who sacrificed their lives so that you could emerge as a second term Governor of Rivers State.
In 2022/23, Honourable Minister, you oversaw a party primary across board that saw some candidates imprisoned and internal party democracy jettisoned for your wishes, leading to the emergence of flag bearers of our party all singlehandedly picked by you. You have on more than one occasion publicly stated that you paid for all their forms. Even those shortchanged in this process licked their wounds and continued to play their roles as party members to ensure the success of the party at all levels. In what will go down as one of the most keenly contested elections in recent Rivers history, with formidable candidates like Senator Magnus Abe of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Mr Tonye Cole of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the vibrant youth driven Labour Party (LP), PDP emerged victorious across board except for Phalga Constituency 1 that was lost to the Labour Party. (Not that you did not loose in some other LGA’s but let’s stick to the official figures declared by INEC).
It begs the question, why then do you want to burn down Rivers State, when everyone who now holds political office emerged through a process designed and endorsed by you? Is it that you do not care about Rivers people and you are all about yourself? If so, I am forced to believe that those around you are not telling you the truth. The truth being that in a state where your words were law; where houses and businesses could be demolished or closed down without any recourse to legalities, where Executive Orders could be deployed to stifle the opposition, that your popularity is now at an all-time low. Probably because they are afraid of you, or of losing the benefits they gain from you, they fail to tell you that what you might perceive as a battle against your successor, has slowly but gradually degenerating into a battle against Rivers State and Rivers people. You know, there is a popular saying that, a man can cook for the community and the community will finish the food, but when a community decides to cook for one man, the reverse is the case.
LEAVE FUBARA ALONE
You have gone on and on about being betrayed by Governor Siminalayi Fubara. You point fingers forgetting that some of those same fingers quick to spot betrayals point straight back at you. It is not Governor Fubara that has betrayed the PDP by working against it in the just concluded General Election, and working with the opposition at the State and Federal level to destabilise the party. It is you, Honourable Minister. It is not Governor Fubara that betrayed Rivers people by instigating a political crisis with propensity to escalate ethnic tensions in Rivers State. It is you Honourable Minister. It is not Governor Fubara that has declared himself God over all in Rivers State and has no qualms with burning the state to the ground to prove a point. It is you Honourable Minister. It is you Honourable Minister who told the world that the APC was a cancer and you can never support a cancerous party. It is you Honourable Minister who ended up facilitating the emergence of the same “cancerous” APC that has accelerated the economic decline of this country and further impoverished our people with no remorse. All so you can be a Minister of the Federal Capital Territory? The lack of self awareness is gobsmacking.
Some days back I came across a video where you talked about death and how you do not cry when you hear about the death of some people because you have no idea what might have caused it considering many a politician swear “over dead bodies” and still go back on their words. Those words made me think, and I could see the reason behind them. You see, in chosing to be God in the affairs of Rivers people, you have closed your eyes and ears to reason; you see nothing and hear nothing that can cause you to rethink on the path you have chosen. In your quest to “show Fubara” you have unwittingly united a vast majority of Rivers people behind him, so much that even those who despised him because of you, now like or love him, because of you too. In your scheming, I will advise you not to forget that “the voice of the people is the voice of God”.
Note that the war which you have or are waging against Governor Fubara, has gone beyond being merely political as you might see in your minds eye. It is now one that, fortunately for some and unfortunately for others, has evolved into a war against Rivers people. It is good to point out that no one has taken a stand against Rivers people and won. No one has gone against God and won. In your defiant characteristic manner, it will be unfortunate if you believe your own hubris and that of those around you on the possibility of you being the first to successfully go against Rivers people. It will be a needless gamble; one where if you win you create more enemies for yourself than you can withstand on your political journey, and if you lose, your legacy becomes an inglorious and irredeemable one in Rivers State, the Niger Delta, and Nigeria at large. For your sake as regards posterity, it is my greatest wish that you have a moment of sobriety and a deep reflection and introspection on this path you have chosen.
Honourable Minister, sir, what is left of your legacy is on the brink of being completely desecrated and relegated to the dustbin of our political history, and it will be a sad end to what I will say has been a wonderful political career that many can only dream of. The ball is in your court, and may God Almighty have mercy on us all and forgive us for our shortcomings.
Gabriel Baritulem Pidomson
Dr Pidomson is former Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt and former member, Rivers State House of Assembly.
In 2015, I made a conscious decision to invest my financial resources, my time, and energy into supporting Nyesom Wike’s gubernatorial campaign. I poured my heart and soul into ensuring Nyesom Wike emerged victorious even at the risk of my personal safety.
Again in 2019, I doubled down on my commitment. I invested a significant amount of money to procure campaign outfits for all twenty-three Local Governments Areas of Rivers State. I spared no expense in supplementing Wike’s election efforts in my own local government, and once again putting myself at great risk to safeguard the fairness and transparency of the electoral process.
However, despite my unwavering loyalty and sacrifices, I found myself abandoned and forgotten by Wike. Throughout his eight-year tenure, he failed to acknowledge my contributions or fulfill his promises and agreements. Even as a former Deputy Governor, Wike denied me my severance benefit.
My investment in Wike’s governorship was not just financial – it was a commitment of passion, dedication, and belief in a better future for Rivers State. Yet, his leadership style of dishonesty, greed, drunkenness and rash abuse of senior citizens brought me nothing but disappointment, misery and losses.
By the grace of God, today I speak not as a victim, but as a hero. I have accepted my losses, and I have moved on. And as I reflect on my experience, I cannot help but urge Wike to do the same and allow peace and development to reign in Rivers State.
Nyesom Wike, when you speak of investing in Governor Sim Fubara’s election, remember those like me who also invested in you. Remember the sacrifices I made, the risks I took, and the promises and agreements you left unfulfilled.
It is time for you, Wike, to let go of the past and allow Governor Sim Fubara the breathing space he needs to lead Rivers State forward. Allow him to focus on the challenges of good governance and the aspirations of the people. Spare him these unwarranted and ill-conceived political manoeuvrings founded on personal agenda and not for general good of Rivers State and her people.
I may have lost my investment on Wike, but I have not lost hope in the future of Rivers State. And together, we will continue to strive for a brighter tomorrow.
Long Live the Governor to Rivers State, Sir Siminialayi Fubara!
Long Live the Good People of Rivers State!!
Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!!!
Engr Ikuru is former Deputy Governor of Rivers State.
Tele Ikuru
