We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers” – Carl Sagan.
“Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton was the one who asked why.” -Bernard Baruch.
“Questions provide the key to unlocking our unlimited potential.” – Anthony Robbins.
“Who questions much, shall learn much, and retain much.” – Francis Bacon.
“The art and science of asking questions is the source of all knowledge.” – Thomas Berger.
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” – Matthew 7: 7 – 8
1) Does each Nigerian realize that he/she has the same stake in the Nigerian project just as everyone else, or perhaps much more than the president who does not give a damn, or the militant whose candidate must win an election, or the politician who continually takes care of himself via the resources of the state?
2) Why have most of our past and present leaders, appointed or elected, always taken us for granted?
3) Is the Nigerian problem that of leadership or followership?
4) Why is it that despite the many churches and mosques that dot our landscape, there is so much indiscipline, corruption and impunity in the land?
5) Why do the citizens disobey traffic lights, disregard highway codes and generally shunt queues or rush in a disorganized and a disorderly manner at most times?
6) Why can’t INEC hold all elections in one day in 2015, if clearly this is the perfect antidote to electoral manipulation at all levels? Simultaneity, anonymity and absence of bandwagon effect are the hallmarks of credible elections. If a professor of political science cannot see that the benefits of same-day elections far outweigh the disadvantages of staggered elections, and cannot come out forth with a workable procedure, is his competence not called into question therefore?
7) Why should someone’s geopolitical zone, a pure historical accident, be the over-riding factor in the determination of electoral choice, over and above competence, merit and track records of previous performance? Is the past not the best predictor of the future?
8) Why is the politics of sentiments – religious and ethnic, on the ascendancy? In 1993, the Kano people voted overwhelmingly for their son’s opponent in the presidential elections. Ditto the Abeokuta people in 1999.
9) Why is someone who has lived all his life in Lagos or Kano, but whose parents hail from Onitsha, deemed to be a foreigner or a non-citizen, who can vote but not be voted for?
10) Why is there no room yet for independent candidacy?
11) Why are there no eyebrows raised when people live beyond their means?
12) Who are the consciences of the nation? Who will replace late Gani, the ageing Soyinka and Balarabe Musa and the tired Falana? Being the conscience of the nation is a divine calling. Proverbs 31: 8-9 says, “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy”.
13) Why did Gov Fashola deport other Nigerians from Lagos?
14) How will the upcoming National Conference be different and more purposeful than the previous Constitutional and Political Conferences?
15) Who would engage the services of pilots or surgeons on the basis of tribal affiliation, rather than on the basis of competence/ track record of performance? Why shouldn’t the choice of candidates for electoral positions therefore be on the same basis of competence / track record?
16) Are the obvious successes of Super Eagles not attributable to good team selection, based on the current form and tactical discipline of the players? If tribal affiliation is not the basis of the team selection, why should it be the pre-dominant basis for the leadership choice?
17) Why is Governor Rotimi Chibuike neither a Yoruba nor Ibo? Why is Senator Bukola a Fulani? Why is Deputy Governor Yomi not a Yoruba? Why is Publisher Dele officially from South-south?
18) Why is it that deputy governors or Vice-Presidents are usually frustrated from succeeding their bosses?
19) Why has tribalism / ethnicity pre-dominated nationalism in our body politics?
20) Why have the proponents of secession not learnt from the events in South Sudan (which seceded from Sudan) or Eritrea (which seceded from Ethiopia) and Ukraine (which seceded from USSR), that after secession, the new minorities will also seek secession?
21) How much is actually earned by each category of National Assembly members?
22) How much is actually earned by the President, Vice-President, ministers, governors, deputy-governors and commissioners?
23) How much is collected as security votes by the President and the state Governors and why are they not usually accounted for?
24) Why are there 42 cabinet ministers in GEJ’s cabinet as compared to the United States cabinet of just 15 members and UK cabinet of just 22 members?
25) Why should ministers and commissioners be congratulated on newspaper pages upon their nominations? Is this not the confirmation that the opportunity to serve is usually converted to an opportunity to loot?
26) Why is there so much electricity blackout in the land in this day and age, even much more than in war-ravaged Syria and Iraq, and as against regular provision in our smaller neighbouring countries, Benin, Togo and Ghana?
27) Why was FG quick to suspend Sanusi and Salami, but foot-dragged over Oduah and Orubebe, still retains Diezani and Ngozi, and pardoned Alamieyeseigha and Bulama? Suppose Alamieyeseigha is voted in a senator in 2015, is it not ironic for him to head the Senate Committee on Drugs, Narcotics, Financial Crimes and Anti-Corruption?
28) Where is the missing $20 billion not remitted by NNPC? Why is it not accounted for up till now, according to Dr Mrs Okonjo-Iweala?
29) Why are general election years in recent times preceded by scandals – fuel subsidy scam (2010), NNPC unremitted funds (2013).
30) If the NGF election conducted between 35 governors did not produce an undisputed winner between Amaechi and Jang, why would
anyone rationally think the 2015 general elections will not be manipulated?
31) Why did GEJ accord recognition to the Jang’s NGF faction, which obviously lost to Amaechi’s faction, as evidenced by the video evidence and subsequent attendances at both factions meetings?
32) Why would GEJ repeatedly state that corruption is not Nigeria’s greatest problem?
33) Why is there no observable success in the fight against Boko Haram and why was its original leader, Yusuf, killed extra-judicially?
34) Why are the political opponents of the FG conveniently labelled the supporters of Boko Haram?
35) Can a government that cannot solve security challenges actually resolve the socio-economic challenges in the economy?
36) If GEJ publicly declared his assets as a Vice-President, why is he reluctant to do so as a President? What has changed significantly from the amounts earlier declared?
37) The First Lady, at a thanksgiving service early last year, stated that, “I know that some people somehow leaked the information that I was dead. They are people that I trust and rely on. To them, I was dead and I would never return to the country alive. Some of them even sold my things off. I won’t say everything here.” So how and to whom were those things sold? In whose names were they originally bought? Could they have been sold if they were not bought in these friends names? Why were these things in friends’ custodies, apparently without oga’s knowledge?
38) Why are the local governments not functioning as originally designed?
39) Why do the ruling parties in every state always win all the local government chairmen and councillorship seats?
40) Why is there no state police in a federal set up?
41) Why do political parties and many organisations in Nigeria ultimately become factionalised?
42) Why do Nigerians outrageously spend so much on ceremonies – funerals, remembrances, wedding and naming? Why do people “spray” money at these ceremonies?
43) Why are the children of the middle-class and above mostly fluent only in English language and hardly in the local languages?
44) Why do we import refined petroleum products and export crude oil?
45) Why are militants employed to secure pipelines which are then routinely vandalized? Is it truly possible that the oil thieves are unknown?
46) How much products are our refineries currently producing locally?
47) Why are we not fighting corruption and official impunity with the same zeal and vigour as we are condemning gays and lesbians and championing anti-gay legislation?
48) Why did the Igbos hold Chief Obafemi Awolowo responsible for the failure of the Biafran war and the measly £20 post-war payments, rather than his boss and the Head of State, Yakubu Gowon?
49) Why did Gowon state that to spend money was the problem in the 1970’s, and not the availability of money?
50) Why is it that each time Obasanjo criticizes a serving government, regime change follows?
51) Why did Nigeria let go of the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon?
52) What happened to the $12 billion Gulf War oil windfall?
53) Where are the repatriated funds earlier looted by Abacha?
54) Why did 5 political parties nominate the same person, Abacha, as their presidential candidate?
55) Why did Daniel Kanu organize 1-million man march and what did he achieve?
56) Why did Prof Wole Soyinka describe PDP as a nest of killers?
57) Why did APC welcome with fanfare the decampees from PDP, a party it had already called unprintable names?
58) Why did OBJ declare 2007 general elections as do-or-die?
59) Why would Supreme Court Justices, in a 4-3 split decision, declare 2007 presidential elections substantially free and fair, even when the ballot papers were not serialized, and the winner, Yar’Adua, had acknowledged a fraudulent election?
60) Why were the recommendations of the Uwais panel not adopted by the National Assembly?
61) How come the voter turnouts in all the South-South and South-East states range from 80% to 95% in 2011 presidential elections, as against a national average of 65%? Is this statistically possible?
62) Why did the Delta State Government apply to collect the controversial $15 billion Ibori bribe money?
63) Why has the public school education system collapsed and what are the short-term and long-term solutions?
64) Can any public official, past and present, come out and boldly declare that he/she did not abuse public office via looting, nepotism, or illegal conversion of public resources into private uses etc?
65) Why was UNILAG initially renamed MAULAG without following the due process?
66) How did Justice Marcel Awokulehin quash all the 177-counts of corruption against the former Delta State Governor, James Ibori?
67) How come James Ibori escaped convicted in Nigeria but got convicted in the UK?
68) Why is the law enforcement and judicial system so slow, ineffective and unreliable such that some people unfortunately have resorted to mob / jungle justice?
69) How did Chief Iyiola Omisore and Chief Theodore Orji each file applications to contest senatorial and gubernatorial seats in 2003 and 2007 respectively from the prison, since high court affidavits depositions demanded physical presence?
70) Why do the federal and state governments give the most support to football while other sports comparatively suffer utter neglect? Why do the federal and state governments lavish outrageous cash rewards on medal-winning footballers and athletes, rather than fashion out long-term development plans for these sportsmen and women?
71) Why does the FG enter into agreements (with ASUU, ASUP, etc) that it never intends to honour? Ditto for state governments?
72) Why do the NTA and FRCN broadcast only government-friendly news items?
73) Why do most policemen at checkpoints ask for bribes?
74) Why do police ask people to pay for bail, which is supposed to be free?
75) Why do some parents and teachers encourage examination malpractices?
76) Why are Nigerians renowned all over the world for scamming?
77) Why are the political leaders always junketing all over the world for foreign investments attraction without the availability of the basic infrastructural facilities?
78) Why are pensions not paid regularly to retirees at both state and federal levels?
79) Why are there little or no scholarship programmes or students’ loans schemes for indigent students?
80) Why is there a thriving federal character policy and a quota system?
81) Why are there siren-blazing convoys on our roads in this day and age?
82) Why are the foreign debts growing again after the pay down on foreign debts during Obasanjo’s regime, co-ordinated by Dr. Mrs Okonjo-Iweala?
83) Why are vehicle licensing and driver licensing exercises being handled by federal authorities?
84) Why are kidnappings and payments of ransome still continuing unabated in many parts of the country?
85) Why have the NURTW touts continued to make daily collections from taxi and okada drivers in the cities?
86) Why are Nollywood movies themes characterised by witchcraft, marriage, sprawling mansions, comic gatemen and unchanged environment in decades?
87) Would “Andrew” be described as a patriot in the modern-day Nigeria if he insisted on not “checking-out”?
88) Why are there so many unresolved murders and crimes?
89) Who killed Dele Giwa and why?
90) Who killed Alhaja Kudirat Abiola and why?
91) Who killed Chief Alfred Rewane and why
92) Who killed Chief Bola Ige and why?
93) Who killed Marshall Harry and why?
94) Who killed A. K. Dikibo and why?
95) Who killed Funsho Williams and why?
96) Who killed Dipo Dina and why?
97) Who killed Barnabas Igwe and his wife, Amaka Igwe, and why?
98) Who killed Madam Bisoye Tejuoso and why?
99) Who attempted to kill Chief Abraham Adesanya and why?
100) Who attempted to kill Chief Alex Ibru and why?
“If you don’t ask, you don’t get.” – Mahatma Gandhi.
“He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; he who does not ask a question remains a fool forever.” – Chinese proverb.
“The wise man doesn’t give the right answers, he poses the right questions” – Claude Levi-Strauss.
“It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.” – Decouvertes.
“I am a person who believes in asking questions, in not conforming for the sake of conforming. I am deeply dissatisfied – about so many things, about injustice, about the way the world works – and in some ways, my dissatisfaction drives my storytelling.” – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” – 2 Chronicles 7:14.
Dipo Dosumu
(@asunnydos)
Lagos
The post Dipo Dosumu: A Hundred Questions For A Hundred-Year-Old Post Amalgamation Nigeria appeared first on Ekekeee.