Nigeria @54

In attendance were only General (rtd) Yakubu Gowon and Chief Ernest Shonekan- former head of the interim government that was shoved aside by the Abacha administration soon after it was installed as a stop- gap government in the aftermath of the annulled 1993 elections. The rest including former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who normally relishes attendance […]

In attendance were only General (rtd) Yakubu Gowon and Chief Ernest Shonekan- former head of the interim government that was shoved aside by the Abacha administration soon after it was installed as a stop- gap government in the aftermath of the annulled 1993 elections. The rest including former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who normally relishes attendance of occasion like this, stayed away.
Muhammadu Buhari chose to go to Ekiti State to join outgoing Governor Kayode Fayemi who turned the national day celebration into a ceremony to mark the end of his rule as governor of Ekiti State. As he sat down with Kayode Fayemi at the ceremony, Muhammadu Buhari could only have had one thing in mind –which was that Nigerians can read any meaning to his turning a cold shoulder to the grand occasion at Aso Rock and instead electing to grace the low key one at rural Ekiti. Kayode Fayemi, even in defeat has been adjudged to have done very well as governor. Could Muhammadu Buhari then have been acting out the saying that everyone loves a winner? Thus, going there to luxuriate in the celebration of Kayode Fayemi’s tenure, was the General’s way of showing his preference.  
Still on attendance of the cake cutting ceremony, both Generals (rtd) Ibrahim Babangida and Abubakar Abdulsalami were conspicuously absent. IBB was reported to be indisposed and had to go abroad, perhaps he may very well have attended had he been at home.  Abubakar Abdulsalami however chose to stay away. But why should attendance or non attendance of high state occasion be a subject of speculation?  Well, those of us far removed from the rarefied ambience of power satisfy our curiosity from what is gleaned from appearances. The point is that too many of our erstwhile rulers stayed away from the national day celebration and no one needs a political philosopher to tell him why. Surely, one reason was that with a shooting war going on against the rampaging insurgency they apparently did not think it was worthwhile to grace the occasion of the cake cutting ceremony.
Could the absentee former heads of State be saying that with the situation as it is any celebration should have been put off or shelved out-rightly? There are strong reasons that could be made for shelving the celebration; again the shooting war is a ready one. People die in war situations which makes any merrymaking or celebration quite difficult to understand and support. After all, the mere fact that there is a war on, indicates that the polity is a state of unease, which is a good enough reason to put on hold any kind of revelry, not to even talk of cake cutting.
Having said that, it should also be noted that compared with previous national day celebrations, the 2014 edition would go down as really subdued. President Goodluck Jonathan’s speech took a mere 20 minutes, a record for brevity in presidential speechmaking. Perhaps it was scaled down to reflect the unhappy period we are passing through as a nation. The low level of the celebration suggests that there must have been some intense debate and soul- searching about the 54th national day celebration and the dice fell on marking it but in a low key fashion. If so, it is just as well because not marking it would have amounted to breaking with tradition. A 54 year old tradition of speechmaking and military men on parade- all clad in their glittering ceremonial uniforms complete with horseback riding in formation which has long been the delight of the young and old alike, should not put aside just because of a temporary hiccup, as it were.  
The ones that would have been disappointed most had there not been a celebration were our starry eyed children with their school uniforms all starched up along with well matched shoes to put on display during the march past. So, it was alright the kids were not disappointed. After all, it is not their fault that there is a war on. A war brought about by the acts of commission or omission of the adults, whose responsibility it is to sort it out.
Still, it should not be forgotten that the essence of the national day is not merely for everyone to come on show, parading in their Sunday best or Friday best as the case may be, and making elaborate speeches whose details no one remembers once the show is ended. The national day occasion is for stock taking on how much has been achieved and how much socio- economic mileage has been covered. On their national days, many countries roll out their military and industrial hardware for display as a mark of military strength, economic growth and all round prosperity. For some of these countries very little speeches are made because the parade of sophisticated weapons and other manufactured goods are enough statements about their achievements and the direction they are headed. No speech can capture the power of a raft of military hardware produced locally being put on show as we have seen many industrialised countries do.
At 54, Nigeria is not among the league of countries capable of rolling out and putting on show common consumer goods, many of which are imported anyway, not to talk of military hardware, the production of which is an indication of a country’s economic strength. But even if not having achieved such a feat can be excused on account of lack of political will and commitment on the part of successive governments to bring that about, the continuing denigration and besmirching of Nigeria’s image both in the way the leadership conduct affairs and the all pervading odious attitude of Nigerians have combined to destroy whatever remains of the country worth in the eyes of the world.  
Not too long ago, President Robert Mugabe famously chose to highlight the corruption gaining ascendancy in Zimbabwe by noting that the malaise was as rife in his country as it is in Nigeria and he did so in the most insulting manner possible. His crude remarks stung many Nigerians to anger, making them call the old man names. Yet beyond the indignation and self righteous umbrage, we all knew the old man was right and his brutal frankness was calculated to make Nigeria come to grips with the issue of corruption. So far it has fallen on deaf ears, as the country has heedlessly mired itself the more in the morass. A case in point was the huge cash ostensibly meant for the purchase of weapon by Nigeria which was seized at an airport in South Africa. In an age of cashless transaction, why would a self respecting country officially ferry raw cash across borders to purchase a commodity needed? So far the nation is yet to get a credible explanation as an attempt to discuss it at the National Assembly was thwarted.   Yet, warts and all, at 54 solace should be taken in the continuing subsistence of the polity as the founding fathers fashioned it.  Barka da Sallah