By Ebou Gaye
You are opportunists, not patriots
You need a great deal of edification and enlightenment,
As you have lost your bearings and swerved to the wrong path
You have taken the tyrant as your lord in lieu of God the Almighty,
In your attempts to ingratiate yourself with him or gain his favour,
And expect everybody to prostrate and bow down for him in total submission as you do
You project the despot and yourselves as the only patriotic citizens of your country,
And brand others unpatriotic citizens who want to destroy the country
Your behaviour epitomizes opportunism, not patriotism
It is utterly wrong and absurd for you to judge others by yourselves,
As not everybody can be tempted by material resources or what you see as goodies to compromise his or her integrity and principles,
Pledge unalloyed allegiance to the dictator as you have done,
And dance to his tune as he wants everybody to do
You are opportunists, not patriots
You habitually eulogize the autocrat and scathingly criticize his rivals and perceived enemies,
Blindly defending him by justifying, denying or covering up his blunders and misdeeds,
Shifting the blame to the innocent,
With the aim of exonerating or absolving him from culpability,
As if he is infallible, impeccable and indispensable
I put it to you that you are wasting your energy,
As your goal is unrealistic and unachievable
You cannot silence or neutralize all his critics and opponents,
For most of them are determined in their acts as you are
No amount of praise-singing, denial, counter-criticism and cover-up can exculpate the tyrant,
As his record is there to speak for itself,
And will remain there for posterity to judge
You are opportunists, not patriots
You brutally torture, mutilate, maim and kill people for the sadist,
As a way of intimidating, gagging or eliminating his opponents and perceived enemies,
Turning deaf ears to the uproarious cries of human rights activists
You mercilessly frame, incriminate, convict and incarcerate decent citizens viewed as a threat to the interest of the tyrant,
Blatantly contravening the laws of the land and the golden rule “Do to others what you would like them to do to you”,
Thereby turning yourselves to public enemies and outcasts in the process,
And later dumped or eliminated by the despot when he feels the urge to get rid of you or realizes that you have outlived your usefulness to him,
As he does whimsically and capriciously with those who do nasty jobs or run dirty errands for him
You are opportunists, not patriots
You cite human rights violations and crimes perpetuated by people elsewhere,
And highlight the so-called achievements of the despot in terms of development,
When the tyrants is denounced for violating the rights of his own compatriots and committing atrocious crimes against them,
As though that gives him the licence to brutalize and butcher his people,
After taking an oath to protect them and serve their interest
I remind you of the sayings “Two wrongs cannot make a right” and “Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere”,
And the fact that development is meaningless where human lives are not valued,
As the latter is more important than the former
It is also worthy to note that the money invested to bring development is from donors and state coffers, not from the pocket of the dictator as you want to fool people into believing
You are opportunists, not patriots
You wittingly aid and abet the dictator to monopolize, personalize, plunder and squander state properties and resources,
Through his self-enrichment and self-aggrandizement schemes,
Thereby pauperizing his compatriots,
Transforming his country into a heavily-indebted, insolvent, begging nation,
Begging in the name of his impoverished, impecunious compatriots,
Only to misappropriate or embezzle huge chunks of the funds received from donors on their behalf
You are opportunists, not patriots
You willingly and eagerly rubber stamp bills in favour of the despot,
Arming him with sweeping powers,
Denying citizens their God-given rights,
Giving him undue advantage over all citizens,
And hence transform him into a demigod,
Ignoring the interest of the electorate you claim to represent at the National Assembly,
As if you owe him more obligation than you owe the electorate
This is the climax of insincerity, unfairness and unscrupulousness
You are opportunists, not patriots
Is the dictator the only one who can or should lead?
Is he superior to you and all your compatriots?
Is he the only one who deserves good in your country?
Does his personal interest supersede national interest?
Are you oblivious to the fact that you are strengthening the hands of the devil?
Are you not cognizant of the fact that you are placing your lives and the lives of your compatriots in jeopardy?
Do you think you can live comfortably and happily on earth with your monstrous, barbaric, beastly, odious and obnoxious acts?
How many people of your ilk have been disgraced or liquidated by tyrants, or brought to book through the efforts of democracy and human rights advocates?
Are you senseless, thoughtless, brainless, heartless or shameless?
You better wake up from your deep slumber and kick out your filthy habit before it is too late!
Ends