WELCOME TO THE REVOLUTION

CONSTITUENCY PROJECT WAHALA

“I don't think much of a man

Who is not wiser than he was

Yesterday.” ~ Abraham Lincoln

In our last discourse I made reference to the definition of madness as doing the same thing over and over again but expecting to get a different result. We continue to express apathy, we fold our arms, and we complain, we curse, we swear and on the positive side, we pray but we take no concrete step to make change happen. By May 29, 2015 our current democratic experiment will be sixteen years old, what have we achieved? Which sector of our economy can proudly say, we have perfected? We all must go beyond the cursing, the swearing, the complaining and the apathy and do something.

The Late Afro Beat King Fela Anikulapo Kuti in a conversation with Carlos Moore said “A Nigerian Senator just told me “If even 5000 Nigerians started imitating Fela, it would soon be very chaotic here!” Fela replied him “No, It would be a revolution” If I were to ask you, what can be done to salvage our beloved Country? Many who do not even know what a Revolution is, will say A Revolution. Well this is a call to a Revolution of the kind The Late Fela Kuti propagates. In his own non violent way, the late legend confronted Military and Civilian administrations and was incarcerated many times for his audacity to question the status quo. All we are asking Nigerians to do is simply ask your Senator and the Member Representing you #wherearetheconstituencyprojects? Is that asking too much?

A wise man once said “All of Life’s Treasures are guarded by fear and self-doubt” how true? Fela Anikulapo Kuti wrote;

“My people self dey fear too much

Dem fear for the thing we no see

Dem fear for the air around us

We fear to fight for freedom

We fear to fight for liberty

We fear to fight for justice

We fear to fight for happiness

We always get reason to fear

We no want die

We no want quench** **(destroy)

Mama dey for house

Papa dey for house

I get one wife

I get one car

I get one house

I just build house

I wan enjoy

So policeman go slap your face

You no go talk

Army man go whip your yansh** **(ass)

You go dey look like donkey” ~ Suffering and Smiling (1978)

See why he is celebrated even in death?  And we know that until we are free of fear, we are not free to live. There are only two kinds of fear we are born with; the fear of falling and the fear of loud sound, all others fears we learned and what one learns he can unlearn. A firefighter was trying to help a woman get out of a building that was burning. She always took the elevator to her floor because she had a petrifying fear of stairwells, yet this was the only way down. She said “I can't do it. I’m too scared!” He said “Ma'am, I know you're scared. That’s OK. Do it scared.” She said “I don’t know if I can do it!” He said “I know you don't, but do it anyway and let’s find out. I'll be with you every step!” He took her by the arm and, one terrifying step at a time; they got down the stairwell to safety

I want to take your hand and together from one constituency to another we shall be asking our Senators and Representatives to give us details of all constituency projects executed till date (some of them had been there since 1999), the amount for each project, where the projects are sited and we shall take pictures of such projects. Is that difficult to do? If the revolution of asking questions is too much, what else can you do?

“It was when I was in a Police cell at the C.I.D headquarters in Lagos; the cell I was in was named “Kalakuta Republic” by the prisoners. I found out when I went to East Africa that “Kalakuta” is a Swahili word that means “rascal” So if rascality is going to get us what we want, we will use it; because we are dealing with corrupt people, we have to be rascally with them.” ~ Fela Anikulapo Kuti

If Fela were alive to see the bogus pay our legislators take home Monthly and knowing that the little allocated to put smiles on the faces of the already suffering masses is still cornered by these bunch of "Rogues and Armed Robbers" – not my words, those are OBJ’s, what will he do?

For many of us we feel and we are convinced that we cannot make a difference, you talk and nothing happens, “To resign to oneself, is to be crippled fast” that your voice was not heard yesterday does not mean it won't be heard today. As Margaret Mead noted “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has”

It is the failure of followership to exercise the power we possess over our leaders, especially Electorate Power, according to Scranton and Chadwick that makes "Leaders most often assume that they have the legitimacy to engage in political criminality and irregularities.” if our leaders know that questions will be asked by our Royal Fathers, Our Leaders of Thoughts, Elders, Women and Youths, they will conduct their affairs with some discretion and the stealing will be drastically reduced. “To solve any problem, (even the problem of corruption) here are three questions to ask yourself; First: what could I do? Second: what could I read? And third, who could I ask? ~ Jim Rohn.

What could you do? Ask Where are the Constituency Projects?

What could you read? The Freedom of Information Act. 2011

Who could you ask? Your Senator and the Member representing you in the House of Representatives

Are you ready for the revolution? ask #wherearetheconstituencyprojects? Go to their Constituency offices, if there is any, send mails, and use the hashtag #wherearetheconstituencyprojects? Get others involved. A truly Peaceful, Prosperous and Developed Nigeria is Possible, it begins with you.