Is it more to say the brand we seek is not that which we exhibit as individuals and as a nation? This may be an assumed statement, but it’s been more right than wrong. Defining the stuff we are made of actually gives us a brand? My wonderful friend and brother the Independent one gave a most detailed explanation of what a brand is since I heard the word of the first time, I couldn’t agree more because the details are there, all in white and black. I bet we’ve all heard the gospel of rebranding Nigeria over and over again on different media from that lady that traded dignity for a shinier crown, selling her soul on the line of duty and still feigning sanity, steadfastness and good radiance all along the way.
We sure are peaceful but far from united; I stand to say Lagos is the only part of Naija where unity is a verb and not a noun. Yes we are a good people and a great nation, we need not be told or scream it out to anyone, all we need to do is show the world we are. Rebranding Nigeria that is as simple as placing a bomb in your underpants became a national project that has gulped billions of naira, and we are still spending more.
Need I say more; that actions speak louder than words? Need I say it again, maybe in French “l’action parle plus forte que des mot”. The act of genius of one man and his forever hidden allies gave Nigeria a new brand name overnight “Terrorists”, a task that is taking a whole council of elders, ministries and a nation as a whole to achieve with months of campaign and lame blame games. The leadership are obviously not making the branding exercise much easier, brandishing the northern agenda in the face of emptiness in the sit of power, afraid to concede power duly, knowing who they are and showing they’ve never had anything good to offer and terrorizing the nation from deep within it walls in the process. They stab their own rebranding cry in the heart, right there in the presence of the world with their actions and reactions, and still they play a different tune, a different song thinking the world would listen and believe their lies… they profess they’ve turned a new leaf but all we see is still the same old skin inside and outside. The voice of Jacob but still the skin of Esau, what they preach is “do what I say” but the real world in reality sees interprets and say what they do in their plain insanity.
Obviously, Umar Mutallab acted from precedence, he’s seen is father and mentors murder thousands at once with their actions and inaction, he has seen hundreds of lives butchered just to see him smile and comfortable, he’s seen enough on the altar of religion and politics, so he felt it was natural to blow it up and probably get more than a virgin in the end in Hades, his case personally is that of total confusion and probably a mental condition that needs attention, thank God he survived his suicide attempt. Small wonder he pleaded not guilty, citing lack of parental care but not bothering about the ill wealth and blood money that gave him the freedom to roam and plan to wreck more evil, the little he was able to learn is how not to value life just for his own pleasure. The brand they teach, brand we detest, he was more of confusion that sanity, no sane young Nigerian of his age that I know will gladly blow of His balls on the altar of anything.
Sure we want a full rebranding; low and behold we got it in Mutallab explosively, we wanted to look sane in the eyes of the world and still we confirm our unrefined insanity with illicit, unimaginable acts at all level of leadership and followership. The federal characters hides our president and still they refuse to concede power to whom it is due, they muddle things up with different interpretations of the constitution, making everything look incorrigible and worn, more deception, more digression but in the face of all of this I say change is still inevitable. Nigeria can be changed, yes things are changing at diverse echelon of the society, the Nigerian brand we carry now can be changed and the green passport a 3D access to anywhere in the world and not a 3D scan criteria plus+ full body massage at various ports of the world.
Yesterday was the celebration of the birth of a great man Martin Luther King Jr., a man whose principles were inspired by another legend who branded and rebranded his world with not just his words, but his daily living, “be the change you want to see” was his watchword, and truly he was the change that changed the whole of India in his days with ripples still caressing the world he left behind till this day, Mahatma Gandhi, a brand a legacy. Luther King Jr. was a revolution without violence, with dreams that opened the heavens and the today, his legacies live on and his dreams are alive and kicking. We Felaberate in his memory, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, a rebel he was but the vision he saw and decried are the realities we live and face today in this country that as been tagged ominous to the rest of the world.
All it took to build our existing odious profile were many corrupt men, and all it took to give us a brand new brand was one man. What will it take to turn it round? It is not far fetched; our new brand lays latent in every Nigerian, whom it will take to redeem and renew us in the heart of the right thinking world is you alone, the recipe is in you, the ingredient is you and the master chef is your action which will bring back the good taste the tongues of the world can tell. It is your genius that the world awaits; it is your action that will change Nigeria forever and your reaction that will rebrand her in the hearts of men. There is more crime and abuse in South Africa, but the brand Mandela brings to heart forgiveness and renewal, for Ghana it was Jerry Rollins, and the country is still a work in progress even when he’s stepped aside from the scene, for India M. Gandhi, for the blacks in America Luther King Jr., for Nigeria Abidemi Oderinlo and for the world as a whole, it was the manger boy Jesus Christ who rebranded us with the father. Where do you stand, what would you do to keep our passport green and desirable because even if the colour changes and we don’t the world will notice.
I stand as an ambassador of the brand Nigeria, I am a problem solver, I be real Naija Boy. Even if Mutallab as rebranded us with more foul cries from the western world, lending a hand to save him will definitely show the lee way to saving our skin from the crawling nails of the real terrorist. I know the new brand begins with me, arise Nigerians, arise oh! Compatriots and be the change you want to see, Let’s save the MUTALLAB, let’s save Nigeria.
