One More Apology In A Season Of Anomie

I want to write an apology. With a twist. It will not be on my behalf.

Rather, it will be on behalf of whoever it is that should have been tasked with the responsibility to apologise to those who felt the need to be Defenders of the 16-Year-Rule. For ease of use, let us apply D16YR to the collective as an abbreviation.

It may be justified to clarify the need for this apology. And worth it to do so as well.

The cabal, in the purest form of that term, largely responsible for the period under review recently put forward two salient issues. One was an "unreserved apology" for mistakes it made during the period. Finger-pointing of witch-hunting was the other.

(I'd go as far as saying that by persisting in pointing fingers at the others as being causative of some or most of your problems is indicative of an obdurate insistence in not internalising the outward confession of guilt and ipso facto renders the desired absolution anaemic. But I digress).

Yes. Back to subject of apology.

It shouldn't be hastily concluded that the dramatis personae, who accepted that some form of acceptance of culpability was necessary, are admitting they are directly or indirectly responsible for the decrepit malfeasance that has taken this government so much time to get its acts together. HOW ON EARTH!!!!!!

Any such admission will reverse the ditzy ebbtide of blame-throwing for which their ebullient spokesman has become accustomed. Far be it from them that they allow that happenstance be.

Therefore, the apology wasn't to claim ownership of steering the Nigerian ship well-nigh the Rubicon. Lai lai. Rather, it was to assuage the bruised egos of aggrieved party members. It may have come to the cabal's notice that some of the latter, feeling hard done and dealt with an unfair hand, may have craftily engineered a counter campaign that led to the unprecedented triumph of the opposition.

As results are being overturned across the country, this motley assortment of strange bedfellows, united only by a resolve to consolidate on their distasteful and corruptly-enriched nests, have been jolted to action. In their meticulous stratagem, the initial port of call is an apology. It is, for all intents and purposes, brilliant.

But, honest? I'd not be as generous to inveigh that it is. It stops short. There are those who hold a standard for honest apology. It goes through all the acts of being sorry and exhibiting resolve to desist likewise in future. That isn't what this is about. This concerns accepting the consequences of your errors.

Merely apologising doesn't cut it.

That brings me back to the earlier point of my digression. There were deeply grievous ills to the nation state as a result of the mistakes the cabal is apologising for. The damage to the country's status within and outside the continent is immeasurable. The pile of filth runs through every fibre of governance, public and private. There were monies drained from the Commonwealth that may never be recovered. The economy haemorrhaged. And the worst? People died. They are still dying.

During all these we were sold the dummy of ratings. World class economists were at the helm so what could go wrong? The obscene morassy foulness was buried under a sheen of a resplendent agenda while peanuts were unevenly redistributed to keep a hungry but characteristically otiose army of Defenders at work.

And now, what? A bodacious attempt at salvation with a piteous attempt at apology. And a whining about not having to pay for recognisable mistakes.

Short of going into how one was accused of expressions of hate when pointing out a fraction of the mistakes being owned now by the cabal, it is enough of the frontispiece to clearly place the backdrop in stark relief - why I think as a result of all these, there is one more apology to write.

The apology-penners must of needs apologise to the Defenders of the 16 Year-Rule. These were Nigerians who were adamantly beholden to the defense of the misdeeds of that bloc even to their besotted detriment. By night and day, they stood resolute, defiantly at war, vocally and otherwise, with any informed or ignorant critic of the period under review. They stoutly argued that given our circumstances, we were having the best time of our lives. For them, the mistake of today was the best president the country could ask for. And it was the height of stupidity to think otherwise.

Why, now, is it thought that this admirable patriotic soldiers aren't worthy of an apology? With the unquantifiable efforts they invested in maintaining the illusion of good governance? That is ungodly. In its mildest terms, it is inhumanely ingratiating to not express some or any sort of apologia to them that clearly states the cabal's regret at the wild geese pursuit of the D16YR.

It is for the sake of this gross oversight that I have taken it upon myself to say these heartfelt words. It is no mean feat to bring myself to this but I think it behooves on responsible citizens to do responsible acts. I don't take those previous attacks on my person, by those to whom I tender this apology, to heart. You were doing what you considered best at the time with the information available to you. And don't think you don't deserve this apology, please. Don't belittle yourself. You, a D16YR, deserve more.

I AM SORRY. For you.