By myself in calm rage, I was thinking about my fatherland, about those who treat us like slaves in our own fatherland. Maybe, just maybe, if the oath that those "power addicts" take when they are to assume office is changed, things might get better in this country. Although the oath in use now is not bad, I think it doesn't suit them. No, it does not match their profile. A secondary school student shouldn't dress like a soldier to school. That's why there's a school uniform.
For instance, in my fatherland, someone swearing an oath to assume an important office of authority or service in summary will say, "I do solemnly swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the Federal Republic, and that I will preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the Federal Republic, and that I will serve the people to the best of my ability, so help me God."
Of course, God will help those who need help and call Him for help. But, what's the point of asking for help when you don't need it? Surely you don't need God's help to embezzle public funds. You don't need help to own mansions all over the earth, private jets and countless flashy rides without having any known private business worth a thousandth of such worth. You don't need help to admire those long digits in each of your various bank accounts, or to dig deep soakaways not for the usual purpose, but to bury banknotes, or to store cash in warehouses like goods. Your salary itself is a jackpot, and your "creativity" fetches you even much more, so you earn infinite cash. Yet, you still manage to make the same people you've crashed support you to get another four years. Towards the end of your first tenure, a four-year dormancy, by constructing a distance of four-meter length very close to election period, by singing tenor during your campaign for another tenure, and by scattering some chicken feed in the air, you still get in there again. Why call for help then? Dike! Abeg, you're doing well!
I was thinking that the present oath format may be suitable for others, but not for those perverse power addicts. From their words and actions, we can clearly see the real reason for the power struggle; do or die. It is, "I want to serve you. I must serve you. I will kill you if you don't let me serve you."
Their craving for power has nothing to do with the oath. The oath is about promising to perform, to put in effort, to do one's best. No. We should dread their best, if indeed they can do better. Please, they've done too much to us already. They've been performing superhumanly. On the contrary, we need something that will hinder them from doing more of what they are doing, and what they've been doing.
I was thinking that the present oath has to be modified, if not completely changed. The oath contains good promises and then ends by asking God to help fulfill the promises made, but it doesn't mention what will happen if those promises are deliberately neglected. What if on assuming office, you begin to perform the perfect antonyms of your promises? What will happen to you if you decide to enslave the people to the best of your ability instead?
Those addicts need something stronger, dire, dreadful, I mean, something with clear consequences. While children take their pap, let adults eat solid food.
How about a president, a governor, a local government chairperson, or any other public office holder in my dear fatherland swearing instead, or in addition to the original oath taken at present, when the person is to assume office, "If I deliberately misuse the wealth and resources of this country, let an illness that has neither name nor cure seize and cease me. If I buy my private jet with public money, may I crash dead the very first time I fly in it. If I rob this nation to buy my car, may I get in a fatal road accident and not survive. If I serve myself instead of the people, may nothing but evil come to me, all the days of my life. My storing public funds for myself shall have the same effect as slaying myself with the sword, and my burying banknotes shall be asking for my own burial." No doubt, deafening responses of "amen!" as in a great religious crusade shall resound from the people.
The oath may not be professional but it will suit them because their conducts are not professional. Let them from their own mouths declare things that will cause them the sorrow they cause us. Let them know the exact taste of doom. Power they say is in the tongue. These things might just come to pass. When the wicked start dropping dead, this power that they are killing for now, they'll be running from it. Just like drug addicts, power addicts ought to be tamed, not famed. They've destroyed our democracy. They've brought shame to the name of this nation.
Perhaps drifting from the anger that had taken over me back to reason, it suddenly began to sound odd and unreasonable, like an illegal suggestion on fighting corruption. I reasoned for a little while longer and concluded, "No wahala sha. No one is perfect. Yet, not all are chronic thieves. We leave judgment and justice to He who will reward every one according to their deeds, while most of us here are still praying for that golden opportunity; the grace of a safe legal passage out of the country."