You are not patrotric...

You are not patrotric...
Screamed the Inspector General of Police IGP at the site of the explosion incindented on the 26th of December, by people scooping fuel from a vandalised NNPC pipeline in Abule-egba a suburb of Lagos.
His pronouncement was worrisome and I wondered if he knew what patriotism really meant.

Scooping fuel from a bust pipeline is bad in itself, but the act only brings to the fore the deplorable state of the people and the real issue at hand here is not patriotism.

NIGERIANS are poor though NIGERIA is rich.

Many in this country can not afford necessities as basic as a roof over their heads, 3 square meals a day, and clothes on their back….

This people read and hear of the several billions of naira that is squandered by the leadership of the nation.

This impoverished people see those they have entrusted with their destinies rob them of their future in the prime of day.
They watch haplessly as what belongs to them and their children is confiscated by a few others for themselves and their children.
That fateful morning, they saw an opportunity to take back part of what was theirs.

They are hungry people and not necessarily greedy people as they have been made to look, trying to make the best of an opportunity they believed was god sent.

When and if the issue of patriotism arises, people like the Inspector General of Police (in my opinion) do not have moral grounds to blame anybody for he is as guilty of the crime as anybody else. If not, then where are the killers of Eng. Funso Williams and those who murdered the home-boy of Ekiti-Dr. Ayo Daramola.

Why are the men and officers of the NPF who had promised under the leadership of Mr IG to serve with Integrity still demanding N20 bribes from commercial transport operators?
Or is it an act of patrotism to create charges and offences on the spot in a bid to demand some form of settlement from ignorant motorists as done regularly by the men and officers of the NPF corruptly led by Mr. Ehidero.

I honestly think the sad occurrence of the “pipe-line fire” has once again brought to the fore the perennial problem of neglect of the people by the leadership they have so trusted.

The incident has shown clearly that the masses are hungry.

And an hungry man may not be patriotic.
So if Mr. IGP wants Nigerians to be patriotic then he should start with his men. – some example will be good sir.