By Dr. Tonye Clinton Jaja
In this write-up, my major argument is that Nigeria is witnessing the gradual decline of itself as a corporate entity!!!
My argument is that the major sign of this gradual decline is hidden in plain sight for all who are discerning to see!!!
The disintegration of the family unit is the most visible sign that provides evidence of the gradual decline of Nigeria as a corporate entity!!!
My thesis is that the brand of politics that we play in Nigeria, which is politics without morals or ethical considerations is the root cause of the destruction of the cherished value we used to place on marriage and family life. This in turn is resulting in the gradual decline of Nigeria as a corporate entity.
As evidence, I will submit three instance wherein politicians and the politics that they play, has shown no regard for family life or the institution of marriage.
The first example is when during the month of February 2025, the mother of the popular singer, Tuface Idibia, issued a public statement and video to plead with Nigerian women to beg Hon. Natasha of the Edo State House of Assembly to release her son from the “love spell” that she cast upon him.
Hon. Natasha is a politician that displayed no respect for the institution of marriage considering that Tuface Idibia was still a married man at the time.
Out of the over 200,000,000 (two hundred million) Nigerian men, that she could choose from for a romantic relationship, she chose the one man that was married and despite all the entreaties of the mother of Tuface Idibia, she went ahead to cause the divorce of the said couple!!!
Another evidence of how Nigerian politicians are showing disregard for the institution of marriage and family life is when both Senator Natasha and her husband issued public statements to allege that Senate President Godswill Obot Akpabio-GOA was sexually harassing Senator Natasha.
The husband of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan wrote and issued a public statement that confirmed that he had privately spoken to the Senate President whom he regarded as a friend to cease-and-desist from further acts of sexual harassment of his wife.
Instead of the wife of the Senate President to show respect for a fellow married woman who was the victim of alleged sexual harassment and seek an amicable resolution, she added fuel to the fire by instituting lawsuits against Senator Natasha!!!
The whole episode shows that the brand of politics that we play in Nigeria is devoid of the cherished value of respect for the institution of marriage and family life because out of over 200,000,000 (two hundred million) Nigerian women why should anyone insist on a married woman as the target of his libido!!!
Finally, it was recently on 29th March 2025 reported that politicians had without respect for the wife and family life of Dr. George Nwaeke, former Head of Service of Rivers State Government, allegedly abducted him from Port Harcourt to Abuja, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and kept him in incommunicado away from his family.
Below is the report as follows:
“Days after the resignation of her husband, Florence Nwaeke, the wife of a former Head of Service in Rivers State, George Nwaeke, has raised the alarm over his whereabouts, alleging that her husband was held under duress to lie against the suspended state Governor Siminalayi Fubara. “This morning people started calling to tell me that my husband granted an interview,” Mrs Nwaeke told journalists on Friday. “So when I saw the interview online, I sent him a message and asked if he was under duress or was kidnapped. He didn’t reply to me. His numbers are not going through. Nigerians help me, my husband is in trouble.”
To conclude this write-up, I will draw a parallel between what is happening in Nigeria of today with what resulted in the collapse of the Roman Empire which ruled the world as a world power for one thousand years.
“The Roman Empire thrived when its citizens valued marriage and family. It fell when the family stopped being cherished.
The Modern Romans, a booklet produced in 1975 by Ambassador College, stated the following (emphasis mine throughout):
Largely forgotten today is the fact that the home is the basic foundation of any society. It is the most influential element in national character. It lays the first groundwork for learning individual character, values, goals, morality, self-control and loyalty. The early Romans basically understood this, and it was a force that helped Rome grow in power and stature. In the book Rome, Its Rise and Fall, the author Philip Van Ness Meyers notes: “First at the bottom, as it were, of Roman society in forming its ultimate unit, was the family. … The most important feature or element of this family group was the authority of the father.”
