Unfortunately Nigeria’s value system places personal benefit above doing what is right hence why we have the current APC and PDP presidential line-ups

Ayo Akinfe 

[1] In this picture are Jan Żabiński and Antonina Żabińska, a Polish couple who ran the Warsaw Zoo during World War Two. After the Nazi occupation in 1939, the hid Jews in the zoo to prevent them being sent to concentration camps 

[2] During the war, Jan and Antonina hid about 300 Jews whose lives were saved. Jan Zabinski, a lieutenant in the Polish resistance, was the zoo’s director and sheltered the Jews in underground pathways connecting the animal cages. He also used the zoo to store arms for the resistance

[3] For their heroics, the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem honoured  both Zabinskis with the title Righteous Among the Nations in 1965

[4] Jan Żabiński was a zoologist and zootechnician by profession, a scientist and organiser and director of the renowned Warsaw Zoo before the war.  He became director of the zoo before the outbreak of war and during the occupation of Poland also held a prestigious function of the Superintendent of the city's public parks between 1939 and 1945

[5] Given his status, Jan could easily have cozied up to the Nazi occupiers and be given a cushy position but no, the man believed in doing what is right 

[6] People of conviction and conscience are not swayed by immediate gains or personal benefits. They are prepared to suffer penalties for doing what is right 

[7] Nigeria has a gentleman’s agreement that the presidency should rotate between the north and the south. However, Atiku Abubakar has torn that agreements to shreds just for personal gain 

[8] Nigeria also has an unwritten agreement that the presidential ticket will be split between Muslims and Christians. However, Bola Tinubu has torn this agreement to shreds in search of power 

[9] When I look at the way Adolf Hitler tore up the Treaty of Versailles and seeing how it led to World War Two, I shudder at what awaits Nigeria. Nine times out of 10, when you tear up carefully constructed agreements designed to ensure balance, the results tend to be catastrophic 

[10] I will not, however, lay all the blame on Tinubu and Atiku here though, as the Nigerian people are complicit in their crimes. Why did the PDP delegates vote for Atiku and why did the APC delegates not tell Tinubu that they would only vote for him if he committed to picking a northern Christian running mate?