Am I Not An Hypocrite?
Once in a while, you get to see posts from other lands by Nigerians of how elected or appointed government officials over there are living austere life of simplicity and anonymity like the ordinary man or woman on the street unlike what obtains in this clime.
Nigerians are always quick to use such examples of say, a prime minister or ministers riding bicycle or making use of public means of transportation to and from office on a daily basis and use such to vilify elected or appointed government officials as being unreasonable to the economic reality of our situation.
Yes, there is no doubt, that public officials who are insensitive to the economic reality of citizens by living large on the public resources needs to be taken on, in this critical time of economic challenges that calls for soberness.
But one's quarrel with people who come up with such comparison is that, why don't they also put up post of citizens patriotism and responsibility to fatherland that we see over there and make a comparison to our citizens attitude and conduct here also?
Why do we love to make a comparison of only government officials conduct in our country viz a viz the diaspora?
Are we saying that the conduct of the government officials in the diaspora is the opposite of the culture, attitude and character of their people which we also see in the ordinary citizens conduct on a regularly basis?
Can our government officials conduct be divorced from our societal attitude and character which we see and exhibit on a daily basis in our little corner?
One indisputable fact that life has taught one is that a man cannot be divorced from the milieu of his environment which reflects in his character and attitude no matter what position he occupies in the society, whether high up there or down low.
So when next, you rush to join them in pillorying persons occupying positions of responsibility, please take a second to ask yourself that, as am pointing a finger of accusation, are the remaining four fingers not pointing at me too? Am I not an hypocrite?
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria
Happy New Year
Nelson Ekujumi
nelekujumi@gmail.com
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