Presidency vs APC: Politics of Grandstanding By Osuagwu Kingsley, Abuja For beneficiaries of hulla-balloo-brand of politics in the camp of the individual actors, the recent horse-trading between President Goodluck Jonathan through his Spokesman, Reuben Abati, and Chief Bisi Akande, interim Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), marks of a healthy democracy. The proponents of this ideal no doubt sees such mouth-running, decorum-lacking degradation of individuals and sacred offices as opportunities to make themselves relevant in the system. Apparently, it is at moments like this that politicians with fast dwindling political relevance or diversionary intentions mount the saddle and rise to the occasion of putting themselves in public light. From the world go when the idea of a merger between the various regional cleavages that today makeup the parties in the APC was made public, not a few observers expected friction among the big-wigs; that is in relation to the fact that these cleavages without apologies to any were the empires of ‘Tin-gods’ who unabashedly operated as feudal Lords. Take for instance the onerous truth that former All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) was almost if not single-handedly managed and financed by strong man of Borno politics and former governor, Ali Modu Sherif. The Action Congress of Nigeria on its own was tied to the apron string of Lagos and south-west present day political Csar, Bola Ahmed Tinubu while the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) took its directives from its only ‘General’ who doubles as Nigeria’s veteran presidential aspirant, Gen. (rtd) Muhammadu Buhari. With these linings and against the background of the near-absence of internal democracies in these former ethnic/regional cleavages, the nearest logical deduction made by observer was that these feudal Lords will not for any reason mortgage their individual interest for the betterment of the party. In fact it is this understanding that literally gave the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) some respite. This respite was recently amplified when Reuben Abati, spokesman of President Goodluck Jonathan once again hinted on the probable cloak that will be wedged in APC’s wheel by nobody else but the party’s bigwigs. Abati who was responding to popularly condemned vituperations of the APC interim national chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, against the president excavated what many out of fear and not reverence to reality, relegated to the recesses of their minds. As he reacted on the behest of the president to Akande’s “what the country needs is a thinking leaders not a kindergarten president with no solution to the problems plaguing the nation;” Abati reminded Nigerians that “it is clear that APC is seeking to bait the president to respond to it to achieve two purposes. The first is to get their names into the press and gain name recognition for their party... the second and more important reason is to divert the attention of the public from the festering feud between Muhammadu Buhari and Bola Tinubu over the overriding ambition of the two men, which is threatening to tear the new contraption...” Since this rather shameful and un-statesmanly hauling of diatribes began, with Akande on the offensive, Nigerians have increasingly watched not with scepticism this time, but with their heads bowed in shame, at the level of uncouth bestiality that supposed opinion makers (and for want of an appropriate word, elders) could subscribe to in making themselves fleetingly relevant. It is without gainsaying that oppositions are necessary ingredients in democratic movements in order to ensure that at the end of the day, it is the electorate (the people and the system) that is the better for it. In fact, Adamu Illiya who has invested more than 20 years (more than two decades) in legal practice starting from Kaduna to Abuja expressed uttermost shock at what he described as “unbecoming loose-talks.” For him, “the choice of language by the APC chairman is unbecoming of his age and status. For a former governor of Osun State, one should have expected much from him; after all he understands the burden of power and responsibilities.” Illiya says that “when I read Bisi Akande’s remarks about President Jonathan, I was deeply sorry for Akande. I think age is beginning to play a fast one on him. Maybe he is so desperate for relevance; to let the people in government know that he is still around.” But Tunde Ajayi, a journalist with a national daily in Abuja sees it from another angle. For him, “I don’t see anything wrong in Akande’s remarks. In fact, his remarks sort of make the players from the two parties wake up to the realization that they own Nigerians a lot. At least with such remarks, Mr President and his management team will standup to the occasion of delivering good governance for the people. It suggests the trappings of a virile democracy.” But that is for Tunde. Sir Luke Obi, a current affairs analyst based in Owerri, Imo State, sees the exchange of diatribes especially as coming from the APC interim chairman as “a confirmation of the time tested fact that age is not a mark of wisdom.” According to him, “there are a lot of young men and women who are far younger than Akande who will not denigrate the office and person of the president regardless of what strong feelings they may harbour against the leadership style of the incumbent.” In any case, time and again the argument by many is that politics in the country should revolve around issues and not personalities. That is even though in many instances it may be excruciatingly difficult to separate the chaff from the wheat. Otherwise how do you differentiate a presidency that has repeatedly been fingered in various anathemas like the River Assembly debacle, not to talk of the lies surrounding the where about of the First Lady when she was smuggled abroad for medical reasons? Or how do you relate effectiveness and actualizing electoral promises to the inability of President Jonathan to fight corruption head-long; improve electricity generation, supply and distribution in the country; and improve the living standard of Nigerians? Aren’t Nigerians living witnesses to the shameful handling of the oil subsidy in which culprits and indicted oil companies and lawmakers are having a field-day still scooping wealth from the country’s coffers in the name of legislative allowances and salaries; or in the name of contracts from the federal government to import petroleum into the country. It is on record on the part of impartial observers who access the government of the day not from the prism of political mischief, but on the strength of a desire for the betterment of the lot of the average Nigerian, that in the life of this administration, corruption, low standard of living, and an ‘unemployable-growing-economy’ has been on the order of the day. In fact, minus the ravaging case of insecurity in some part of the country, especially the north, Nigerians are worse-off in this government. Granted that criminality is an integral part of all societies, in recent times and in the life of the President Goodluck Jonathan led administration heinous crimes like the emergence and growth of baby factories in some parts of the country; parent (s) selling their children for money, unprecedented corruption, arming of civilians in the Niger Delta to guard the nation’s territorial waterways; jungle justice by the Civilian-Joint Task Force (Civilian JTF) in Borno State, just to list a few, are very much becoming an everyday news in the country. Needless to say, except where it is hinged on cultural convictions or more extreme phenomenon like hunger or absurdity, no parent will sell the child for money. In the case of Nigeria it is evident that the phenomenon is hinged on lack and deprivation clustered by excruciating hunger on the hapless and helpless population. Simply put, it is fallout of the poverty of many amidst the grandiose living of a few. In the light of this and given that in democracies where it is truly practiced, the people who theoretically are masters, should and can write to their representatives at the wards, local governments, states and national levels and get response to their concerns. In saner climes and among sane politicians, allegations of witch hunting are a serious cause of concern. That this was alleged by the leader of an opposition party should have provoked President Goodluck Jonathan to for once show his opponents that unlike them, he does not as it were, play their brand of politics-of-the-pocket where they malign others not for the good of the country but to meet their individual self-bloated interests. What would it have cost the ‘so-protected-presidency’ to respond to the two letters allegedly written by Chief Bisi Akande? The vituperations and uncouth language of Chief Bisi Akande notwithstanding, the important question as directed to the presidency by APC Spokesman, Lai Mohammed, is cogent so that Nigerians and the guilty politicians can channel the energy of this infamous exchange to the right direction. The question been that; “...where is the presidency’s response to Chief Akande’s assertion... if indeed this president is working tirelessly, we need to ask who he is working for, because Nigerians have yet to feel the impact of his administration?” In all sincerity; that is bearing in mind the role of the opposition, the PDP and in fact the presidency may need to sit up having at the back of their mind the onerous truth that the entire democratic process in Africa’s largest black democracy does not contain in its entirety alone, a sacrosanct dependency on a few misguided persons who see themselves as elites. As more Nigerians join the chorus to condemn the unchecked choice of language by Akande, truth is, if Akande was wrong in his choice of language what about Abati; why did he toll the path of Akande in the use of dirty expressions vis a vis media and social-stability considerations that borders on public decency especially given that Abati was a media practitioner before his compensatory appointment as Special Assistant on Media (SA Media) to the president. Do you run naked after “a mad man” who took your under wears from the door of your country home bathroom while you are taking your bath just to prove to onlookers that indeed the under wears belong to you? In any case, the facts remain as Nigerians would have them. Whether Abati and Akande decides to grow up, or one of the two is truly experiencing diminishing marginal returns in his capacity for seasoned reasoning is left for Nigerians to decide. In fact, if Akande’s recent remarks are designed to hoodwinked the public and divert their attention from the impending doom that awaits the APC as Gen. Buhari makes a 360 degree turn to recently state that he “must” contest the 2015 Presidential elections against earlier arrangements reached before the merger that Bola Tinubu of former ACN and himself of former CPC will take passenger seats in order to allow the party to function effectively; then there is more to this Macabre show than meet the eyes. This trend may call for caution and evaluation by those sympathetic to the APC course so that Abati’s prediction viz “to the discerning, it is only a matter of time before ambition sinks the APC boat. It is only 2013 and already the big masquerades in the part are using undemocratic words like ‘must,’ ‘nobody can stop’ and other military terms in discussing their presidential ticket,” can be checked. In all however, the entire episode is an open check for Nigerians to take a stand for or against any of the party and/or individuals involved in this show of spite. More on BluePrint Newspapers @ blueprintng
Posted on: Tue, 13 Aug 2013 15:14:20 +0000
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