People Power

Change is one thing that people find difficult to accept. No matter what kind of change it is, good or bad, people will always kick against it, especially if it is a change that is necessary to better their lives. The reason though, is really simple.

People have a way of adapting to the circumstances that they find themselves in, and once they have gotten into that comfort zone, coming out of it is difficult. Any attempt to move people from that comfort zone will be resisted.

In most cases, it takes an event of almost seismic proportions before people are forced to accept changes for the better. Changes for the worse on the other hand tend to creep up on people and become a part of life. Such is the nature of man.

As an example, the elite of Europe had for centuries seen themselves as being put in charge of the people by God. For them it was the natural order of things that there must be masters, and serfs (or slaves) to be lorded over. When the French Revolution happened, things like equality were given lip service.

The truth however, remained that for more than a century afterwards the upper classes in Europe still considered themselves to be the Lord and Masters of all that they surveyed. Hence expressions such as 'old money' and 'new money'. Someone who was not born a 'gentleman' could not hope to aspire in his lifetime to respect and privilege. He could aspire to riches all right, but that was it. As long as he was 'new money', certain doors remained firmly shut in his face.

All that changed when The Great War happened. As had happened for centuries, the proletariat were herded off to the battlefields to fight and die for the whims and foibles of their masters. And as had happened for centuries, the proletariat went off to the die like sheep being led to the slaughter. But this war was different, and its outcome was different as well.

Maybe it was the scale of the slaughter this time around, but for the first time ever, whole armies (starting with the French) mutinied. Most of the mutinies were brought under control and the leading mutineers were shot. The only exception to this was the mutiny of the Russian Armies which snowballed into open revolution. By the time the Russian Revolution was completed, the Imperial Dynasty had been swept away.

It was the same in much of Europe as well. The Great War ended with many dynasties making the transition from absolute monarchies to ceremonial ones. King Edward in Britain no longer commanded the kind of authority Queen Victoria had, and in Germany, Der Kaiser was forced to abdicate his throne. That was the effect of people power. The people led by their armies had had enough.

Yesterday, for the first time in a very long time I felt proud to be a Nigerian.

The reason for my pride was the conduct of residents of the federal capital Abuja with regards the national team's World Cup qualifier against the national team of Mozambique. They refused to turn up at the stadium, and for the first time ever, Nigeria's national team played a home game in front of an almost empty stadium.

The fans felt that the rubbish had gone on for too long and that enough was enough. For too long we had put up with rubbish coming from our sports officials about patriotism and the role of both players and fans in the build up to games, officials who only see our football as a cash cow to be milked to death.

The game in September against Tunisia appears to have been the last straw. It was coming too. For three or four days prior to the Mozambique game, fans refused to turn up for national team training sessions, and that alerted officials at the Nigeria Football Federation. I was told by a friend living in Abuja that the few people who found themselves at the stadium on match-day were civil servants who had been coerced into attending. But even they expressed their displeasure from kick off.

The actions of the people of Abuja ought to drive a message home to our thieving elite who for too long have been behaving like Nigeria is their private fiefdom to loot, rape, maim, pillage and plunder. The people of Nigeria have for too long been willing to let petty differences divide them.

For too long we have been willing to climb the various obstacles put in place by those who ought to represent us and cater to our best interests. For too long we have been willing to accept that 'it is well' and 'God dey' and go back to our huts. For too long we have listened to exhortations of patriotism from the likes of Sani Lulu, Taiwo Ogunjobi and more recently Dora Akunyili. And for too long we have given them the benefit of the doubt.

Personally, I do not want Nigeria to qualify for the World Cup, but that is a story for another day, and yes, it has everything to do with the cesspit that football administration in this country has become. As Abuja yesterday showed, Nigerians may very well be getting close to the end of this very long tether. If things do not change in this country, then very soon the gases that have been entrapped in the cauldron would come bursting out. That day when people would come together irrespective of the tricks the elite play on us to keep us divided.

I think it is significant that the first throes of open rebellion may just have begun with the one thing that historically unites Nigerians, the Eagles. Up Eagles!!!