There are ghost workers who do nothing and get paid at the end of the month. There are those who jump queues in banks and filling stations because they know the manager. There are those who cheat in exams and even register their children in miracle centres so they can pass. There are those who bribe to get admission into universities. Even, we have those who bribe others to get jobs. And there are those who make a deal to get a percentage of people’s salaries before they employ those people.

 

There are lecturers who sleep with women to pass them. There are workers who collect bribes before they sign papers. There are those who alter figures to favour them. There are drivers who empty car tanks and sell fuel and then tell their employers that it is exhausted. There are store keepers who move goods illegally into their own houses and sell them later. There are gatemen who collect bribes before they allow people to see the ‘Oga’. If you don’t give them something, they will simply tell you: ‘oga no dey around!’

 

There are electricity workers who disconnect people’s cables and then sell it, because those people can’t pay electricity bills. There are ladies who are decent and religious in church but who are ‘runs girls’ in the night. There are pastors who deceive worshippers to get money from them. There are women who expect their husbands to pay them before having sex. There are husbands who are not loyal and who even cheat on their wives. There are parents who can’t train their children well but who find it easy coming out to blame Buhari because the faucet in their kitchen couldn’t dispense water. Bastards!

 

We are insincere people! I can go on and on. Corruption is another name for Nigeria. Corruption has eaten so deeply into the fabrics of our souls that we even make enemies with those who refuse to be corrupt. It is so pathetic. We blame those who want to live uprightly and say they are not enlightened. I wrote this piece because a Nigerian provoked me by asking me how Nigerians, and not Buhari, are the problems of Nigeria. I hope you can now see? We are the makers and the fabricators of corruption. But we always find someone to blame.

 

An irresponsible father doesn’t see anything wrong in being irresponsible. But he can see something wrong in it if Buhari wakes up tomorrow and say some Nigerian youths are not employable. I am angry. I am angry because majority of Nigerians are stupid. We don’t know how to think. And that is why our country is backward. We always think we are intelligent. But our intelligence has never helped our country. Our intelligence can’t fix our country. Our elders are also stupid but they will never admit that they are stupid. If they were not stupid, they would have fixed our country.

 

I hope you can now see that Muhammadu Buhari is not the problem? We, Nigerians, are the problem. The government is not the problem. We, the citizens, are the problem. When we talk about the government, who are they? Are they not our people? Are they not our family members and relatives? Those who rule us are those who come out of us. They are our fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters. The corruption they exhibit is a reflection of the corruption in us.

 

Even those of us who are not in government can’t do some little things properly. We cheat others. We jump queues. We disobey traffic laws. We disturb our neighbours. We steal. We kill. We backbite. We lie. We don’t know how to maintain our personal belongings let alone government properties. But we keep blaming the government for everything. We are bastards. Shame on all of us. Before you blame Buhari for not doing things rightly, please check yourself. Are you upright?