THE FIRST STEP IN LIQUIDATING A PEOPLE IS “TO ERASE ITS MEMORY, DESTROY ITS BOOKS, ITS CULTURE, AND HISTORY
The first step in liquidating a people, writes Milan Hubl, is “to erase its memory, destroy its books, its culture, and its history. Before long, the Nation will begin to forget what it is and what it was.” Stretching this further, Arthur Schlesinger said, “When a nation loses its history, it becomes whatever people say it is, and usually, the loudest and angriest voices win”. No other postulations clearly define Nigeria as these two masterpieces. Few days back, an online poll was conducted among a large spectrum of Nigerians, drawn from different demographics. The question was, “what do you think can solve your present problems? Sixty-five percent of respondents selected the option, “give me a foreign passport”. What else can describe a nation at the precipice of cultural and identity extinction as this? When the citizens of a nation feel so disconnected and disenfranchised from opportunities and every ray of hope for success, but feel more assured of a future with a foreign passport, then brandishing that nation as a failure is an understatement. It is work of liquidators, and they are here again, buying N100m forms up and down!
And sadly, this Nation called Nigeria, with far reaching roots into very strong cultural heritages, expanse of beautiful landscapes, exceptionally inviting natural resources, and some of the most brilliant human beings on earth, has now been reduced to a caricature of its old self. This effectively validates Milan Hubl’s hypothesis, “The first step in liquidating a people is to erase its memory, destroy its books, its culture, and its history. Before long, the nation will begin to forget what it is and what it was”.
Historically, corrupt politicians and mindlessly incompetent leaders have reprogramed Nigerians, in their millions to accept abnormality as normality, poverty as prosperity, under-development as development, lies as truths and propaganda as realities, instruments that are extensively used by totalitarian states.
POVERTY IS ONE OF THE MOST LETHAL WEAPONS OF SUPPRESSION AND OPPRESSION
In fact, the latter is their most potent weapon, the use of propaganda, lies and gaslighting to demoralize, deceive and suppress youths and myriads of adults alike to continue with this cycle of pain, poverty, and perdition. Dr Erwin Lutzer once said, “Propaganda can change the direction of a nation.” Further, Edward Bernays in his book, “PROPAGANDA” defines propaganda as, “THE INTELLIGENT MANIPULATION OF THE PEOPLE. It now seems to be the easiest thing for any of these liquidators to manipulate Nigerians with lies upon lies. They now dip their hands into their vaults to purchase presidential application forms and other categories of electioneering opportunities with funds and wealth whose sources have never been commensurate with the values added to the society.
They are liquidators, and they are here again. Will you still vote dealers as leaders? Most of the people buying presidential forms up and down in Nigeria are doing so for one main purpose, to enrich their pockets and their political resumes. They are mostly coming in to scavenge and loot the nation. The strategy has not changed. It is a cycle of pain and poverty. The sad part of things is that the people are too weak to fight against these oppressors, fighting by speaking out and protesting against these perennial seasons of poverty and penury. Why? Poverty! Poverty is one of the most lethal weapons of suppression and oppression engaged by powerful liquidators to subdue the masses. Sadly, poverty always comes to town with its aunties and uncles, including for example, ignorance, timidity, fear, low self esteem and loss of human rights, among others
A NATION DOES NOT FAIL FROM LACK OF RESOURCES, NATIONS FAIL WHEN VALUES FAIL
A poor man is already self-defeated, self-subdued. For the most part, his predominant engagement is about how to overcome his poverty by crook or by hook. And in that state, any kind of leader, sorry – dealer, good or bad who throws a bait at him would be welcomed with open arms. Poverty essentially shuts down the brain. It locks a man out of the natural state of personal responsibility. It shuts down a man from the world of logic and critical thinking. This is why it seems as if Nigeria, as an example, continues to repackage, re-present, and recycle evil and wicked leaders, sorry – dealers. There seems to be no power or impetus from the people to break this cycle of evil, unlike their counterparts in other nations whose mass movements are potent enough to scare out of office any potential or existing liquidator. A nation does not fail from lack of resources. Nations fail when values fail. Nations fail when dealers replace leaders. And nothing triggers a value system collapse like poverty, because a hungry man is an angry man who is capable of anything to overcome his poverty.
POVERTY SHUTS DOWN THE ABILITY TO DISCERN BETWEEN TRUTH AND NONSENSE
Poverty shuts down the ability to discern between truth and nonsense. As Richard Terrell puts it, “When you create a critical mass of people who cannot discern between truth and nonsense, you will have a society ready to fall for any leader”. There is no short cut to remedying Nigeria, the people hold the ace. Neither America nor the United Nations, the imperialists who are equal beneficiaries and scavengers from the failure of this nation will help, or at least, want to help. It is either the country breaks up into different regional governments; restructures the existing dishonest structure and write a people-friendly constitution, break apart completely along ethnic or cultural lines or continue with the status quo.
INSANITY IS DOING THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER AGAIN AND EXPECTING A DIFFERENT RESULT
If I should speak from a religious and spiritual point of view, I would say that the status quo of one-Nigeria will never prosper Nigerians given the present level of wickedness and evil of the leaders, without a radical movement of national repentance from religious institutions and religious leaders, in particular. This should be coupled with some measures of unity among religious leaders. In an environment of national repentance and some degrees of unity, righteousness will begin to spread. Religion is both a weapon of destruction and transformation in Nigeria, depending on how it is used. Nigerians hold religious leaders with extreme level of respect, and the influence of religious leaders on the people is unprecedented. As righteousness begins to spread from our religious institutions, truth will begin to spread. As truth begins to spread, right leaders will begin to emerge who will be capable of strengthening institutions and reversing some of the damages in the land. If things continue the way they are, no re-writing of the constitution, no restructuring of the land, no breakup of the nation, and no repentance among religious leaders and religious institutions in the land, then the 65% of Nigerians who desire a foreign passport are on the right track, and should get one as soon as possible. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, “Albert Einstein.”
Ayo Akerele, is a leadership and system development strategist and minister of the word holds a doctorate degree in employee turnover and human capital development from the prestigious Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University, Scotland. He is also a public speaker with twelve books to his credit. He is based in Canada and can be reached at: ayoakerele2012@gmail.com
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