Opinion Daddy, you are sitting on a time bomb

How are you doing and how is the family in Osun State? You are probably wondering why I am writing you a letter, since I could have just called you and we would have our usual lengthy talks about the situation in the state and the irony of the politics and how there's no hope in sight.

Well, the truth is, our conversation would have ended up the usual way - an admonition to continue to build up oneself so that one would not be a victim of our society's situation. I am sure you probably have not noticed the pattern. But I was not ready to have any of that concluding part, so I thought I would write a letter.

By the way, happy independence day. I am not sure any of you or your friends in the state are happy about anything Nigeria though, seeing you were just robbed of the opportunity to show to those wicked oppressors who have destroyed the future of generations to come that they do not deserve to remain in government.

Even if you had been able to show them by electing another party, it's not like the situation would have been any different considering that the closest candidate in the race for governorship too had no ideas of what the state was capable of, or what he planned to do except to dance away his sorrows which for most of the citizens residing in Osun, their sorrows were not going anywhere.

You already know that Education is the most essential ingredient in sustaining any civilized society and lifting people up from poverty. I would be preaching to the choir if I even try to expatiate on this. Your personal story is one that is a living testimony, as you and I would wonder where our family would be if grandpa had not invested in your education and then you investing and supporting the education of your siblings, your children and many others in our extended family.

Daddy, you are sitting on a time bomb.

You probably don't realize this but the wicked administration that ensured that Osun State now ranks lowest in the South West on WAEC rankings and sits amidst core northern states in the 30's have been re-elected.

I am sure you are following the political developments in Lagos with the incumbent and his godfather because of deviation from a supposed development plan. This wicked development agenda of theirs in Osun that ensures the poverty of the citizens is working perfectly according to their plan, and that's why the godfather now has his cousin as the governor of the state.

For the next four years, this 'bulldozing' of the future of the young people who live around you and in the state will continue. With a N146bn debt and another billions in debt owed to people that cannot be documented that was spent on election day, and the state in the hands of those who will do whatever it is that they please, you should expect that things will get worse.

The children of the poor who have attended their secondary education under this woeful administration, who cannot now pass the JAMB exams and have turned to yahoo boys will now increase and the girls too will start getting married to their okada rider boyfriends.

Because there is a cap on how much of white people they can defraud, you can expect the crime rates to increase. There are so many boys who reach out to me now on Whatsapp and have pictures of white ladies on their profiles posing to be ladies and praying to God to bless their hustles while asking me to send them anything just so they can eat.

So I am forced to ask because I am worried, when are you moving to Ghana?

…or even Togo or Benin. I am sure you would find Nigerian communities in these places. If not, I will be worried about your integration and how you plan to learn French or the local dialect. But that is even a minor issue.

What will happen to your siblings and their spouses and their children? Of course, you won't just assume they will take care of themselves? They have looked up to you for decades now. I am sure that was crystal clear from the horrible experience we all had when you were kidnapped just a few weeks ago. The family will not be the same without you for years. But will we continue to live in fear?

How long till the Armageddon begins? When will the young unemployed army mature and be ready to go full scale on crime with impunity - a consequence of the lack of action from those who currently lead the state and the country, who I must say belong to your generation?

How long till these consequences become unbearable for you and your few reasonable friends realize that you will have to create the hope that you want to see before you begin to take action?

HOPE! HOPE?

You would have probably asked what hope there is if this were a phone call. And I will be the first to admit that it is difficult to continue to emphasize on a message of hope in an almost hopeless situation like Nigeria. But more than any other time, it's times when we feel hopeless that we need to remember that more than any specie that exists on the face of the planet, human beings have the power, innate in them to change their own circumstances no matter how seemingly impossible, if they choose to act.

And we do not need to look so far back to history before we find examples or so far away. This is the testament of our founding fathers and those who demanded for our independence - a day we all are divided on whether it's worth celebrating or not today.

Against all odds, we can look at our situation and our surroundings and can agree that it is not what we want or who we are or what we stand for and change it. Once we have gotten to this point, what we must realize is that it will take the voice of not just one person or a few persons, but a committed few and the task we must begin to do today, even before we begin to talk about politics and how to elect the kind of leaders we want is the task of raising new voices.

If we are going to move away from the past to a much better future, then we cannot afford to depend on the old recycled leaders of our nation.

We must groom new faces, raise new voices and break the hold that these wicked ones have on us, our future and that of our kids. I am sure you have questions, lots of it that I most likely don't have answers for yet. But the time is ticking and ACT we must.

Happy Independence day, Dad

Your son.

JFK

Even though this is a letter written with my Dad in mind, I hope that every father and mother out there who has what it takes to provide for their kids can start thinking today about what the future holds and choose to take action, especially parents between the ages of 35 - 50. It is time to ACT!