Special to USAfrica magazine (Houston) and USAfricaonline.com, first African-owned, US-based newspaper published on the Internet.
Dr. Felix Orji, OSB, is the Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of All Nations, a Diocese in the Anglican Church in North America province. He is based in Houston, Texas.
Nigerian politics is a sham, for sure. It is very corrupt and ethnocentric because millions of Nigerians act in such ways. But fascism isn’t a word that I would use to describe Nigerians or it’s leaders or politicians at this stage in our history. So I find it quite disappointing that Professor Wole Soyinka would describe Peter Obi or Dr Datti as Fascists or accuse them of promoting fascism, if I heard correctly because if he did, he is wrong. Fascism can be defined as “a way of organizing a society in which a government ruled by a dictator controls the lives of the people and in which people are not allowed to disagree with the government.” If that’s what fascism means, then Peter Obi and Dr Datti are not fascist by any stretch of the imagination.
The fundamental problems of Nigerians are our proclivity to individual and systemic corruption, dishonesty, tribalism, ethnocentrism, fraudulence, unwillingness to follow the Law, and failure of the rule of Law which many Nigerians not only practice at home but also export and practice wherever they live outside the country. As a people we love to pass the blame and sidestep the truth for personal gain and ambition. Selfishness and desire for power and position are so endemic that we are culpably blind to the truth. Sadly, these vices have invaded the religious and spiritual dimensions of Nigerian society as well.
So while we may rightly disagree with others when they are wrong we each need to examine ourselves as well and address our individual and tribal contributions to national decadence, the omnipresent derelictions of duty, and the socio-moral devastation of Nigeria.
May God help Nigeria!
