I know the voice of the commoner is never heard in this country. But as a bonafide Nigerian, I think I deserve the right to speak on issues as they affect the country.

All what we are experi­encing now started long ago; only, it is now made worse by the dragging, and ravaging poverty which I see as the aftermath of massive looting by our suc­cessive governments that were once in- charge of the affairs of the country, even if a good number of them are still very visible in gov­ernment, refusing to quit the stage for the younger generations, many of who are qualified but without job.

The political structure in the country is, like many have always said, rotten. And that explains why up till now we have not been able to make any headway politically, despite all the pretenses being made by our politicians.

Those were the out­pourings of Sir Chief Ok­wudike Ekwuabu.

Sir Chief Anthony Ok­wudikeEkwuabu in carry­ing out the anatomy on the country, said why he will be constantly be referring to Politics and politicians in this write-up is because they constitute 80 per cent of the problem facing the country today arising from their many inadequacies and poor representation from the institution called politics that introduced democratic leadership into the country, after many years of military domi­nance which formed the major thick-back of Nige­ria’s economic problem today.

Briefing journalists re­cently at his Onu-iyi resi­dence at Nsukka, Enugu State, the renowned archi­tect said it was unfortunate that those who ruined the country once blessed by God with enormous mineral resources are the ones who are opening their mouths wide today, without restrain, accusing those trying to make it (the country) look worthwhile. He said they brought the country’s once buoyant economy to its knees and made it look worthless before the eyes of other progressive nations of the world. Chief Okwudike Ekwuabu opined that cer­tain so-called elites in the country who everyday try to sing wrong tunes simply because the Buhari admin­istration is on their neck to get back all the stolen mon­ies carted away while they were in office, should be seen as saboteurs whose best place of domicile, for now, ought to have been the gulag, where they would be made to be till­ing the soil, and brushing the forest as punishment for soiling their hands by dipping them in the coffers of the country and stealing the money meant for its development.

He asked what it takes the leaders of the country to adjust from their greed, the quest to own the whole world at the expense and detriment of other less privileged in the society. He noted that it is because of the sectional animosities brewing up from different parts of the country that the issue of secessionist movements by different groups has become the order of the day. Because some parts of the country feel they are being margin­alized, they try to wriggle out of the hard grip of such marginalization by choos­ing to stay on their own.

Chief Okwudike Ekwua­bu lamenting the already visible danger the youths of the country is facing, espe­cially those who do not have those to help them, said the future of the youths is very bleak because none of the less privileged ones now have the hope of grabbing jobs as soon as they grad­uate unless such youths are destined to by God to get job without stress, or performed brilliantly and retained by the school he attended for his exceptional performance.

He told Friday Treat that his stomach usually churn with acrid hate each time people say we live in an egalitarian society and al­ways live on the wrong im­pression that we are all one, noting that in a situation where because a univer­sity that belongs to either a state or the federal govern­ment, for instance, sited in a community, is being monopolized by the host community in terms of recruitment of staff, admission of students and other of its activities, is to say the least, most unfortunate. He said it has been one of the major reasons why educa­tion is falling in the country. “Nowadays, every Dick and Harry now had different academic titles, high aca­demic titles as Doctor, and while a few others bear the highest academic crown, Prof, all prefixed before their names, asking members of the public why there should not be protest arising from people reaping from where they did not sow simply because the university, so being monopolized by the host community, is located in their domain.

“Now, you go to some of these host communities and see many academic misfits parading themselves as “Dr. This or Dr. That” those who cash in on having a univer­sity in their domain, buying academic titles they will never be able to defend, and worst still getting jobs on top of it to further cause higher academic HAZARDS to the already WOBBLING educational system.

Fathers and mothers who are supposed to have long left office still compete with their children, children of their children’s mate in hunting for jobs, political appointments, and what have you, lobbying the pow­ers-that-be to keep them relevant job-wise and politi­cally. Even those politicians who have stolen enough, still chase Governors, Sena­tors etc for appointments even when such appoint­ments given to them fall far-below the positions they once occupied.”

I was at a recent recruit­ment exercise that took place in Asaba, involving a newly established corps group. There at the recruit­ment ground, I met a young man who told me his father was also there at the recruit­ment ground.