THE NIGERIAN POLITICS AND THE CHANGE CONUNDRUM: DE-MYTHICIZING THE MYTH OF CHANGE If there is ever anything beautiful about the period of political campaign and electioneering, it is the way it transforms candidates from mere men who can hardly convince themselves about their ideologies into masters of rhetoric convincing many other people. Many political observers have noticed the upsurge in press releases from different political parties, political candidates, political godfathers and a host of other politically related nomenclatures. However, the bane of all the political brouhaha, most especially to the Nigerian citizenry is the need for change. Before we go on, it is essential to state that the interest of this article is neither to uphold the interest of any political party or any political candidate. The intention is for Nigerians to take an analytical view on the concept of change. To do this three questions come to mind 1. What we really mean by change? 2. What we want in change? 3. How realistic is the view of change in relation to the parties and their respective candidates? Bearing the three questions in mind, Kwara states political setting and that of the federal political setting will be incisively discussed. But let us take a momentary pause from Kwara state and the federal political setting while we examine change in Lagos state. This particular state has been ruled, for not less than 16years, under the canopy of parties which are not PDP. Tinubu(AD, 8years), Fashola(AC,ACN and APC. Spanning another 8years). Interestingly the governor who ruled Lagos state under the defunct party, AD, is now the national chairman of APC. Simply put, the political setting in Lagos only bears a change in the name of the political parties which are related in many ways. Of course, the outgoing governor of the state, Raji Fashola has received so much accolades for his performance in the state, many even wanted him as the Vice President. Now to the question of change. While in the bus in Lagos one day, a passenger said if we want to follow what change means then we should vote PDPor any other party. The fellow is right by common logic(judging by the denotative meaning of change) but it is more logical to vote according to performance. That in itself made many other passengers who recognize the achievement of the outgoing governor to say APC through Fashola has done a tremendous job and therefore, will win in Lagos state again. From this simple argument in the bus it is easy to notice that the word change means nothing so far the ideology of performance stands. Hence, change is shifting its ground for performance. From this example let us try to go back and answer the there questions that this article seems to address, can we start to answer some of those questions? Back to the main matter of Kwara state state and the federa government, that is, APC vs PDP in Kwara and APC vs PDP in the presidential election. It is no hidden fact that the Sasrakian dynasty in Kwara is having some concern. The demise of the godfather- Olusola Saraki, and the subsequent defection of the son or godson as the case maybe- Bukola Saraki, state governor- Ahmed Abdulfatah and other loyalists to the Sarakian dynasty to the APC has made the situation more interesting. Many Kwarans have been held under the bondage of the aforementioned dynasty for a while under the umbrella of PDP. They want a change but unfortunately, cross carpeting has APC a no go area, except if they want to continue their wild romance with the almighty Sarakians. Now the option is either to vote PDP(again, what about change?) or any other party. If PDP is the option let us consider the candidate who is touted to bear the flag of the party for the gubernatorial election. He is the former chairman of The Federal Character Commission and a former vice-chancellor of the university of Ilorin, Prof. Oba Abdulraheem. Within his own bounds as a leader, he aptly represents one of the finest dictators in Nigeria if not in Africa. As a VC in the university of Ilorin, he ensured that he defied the intervention committee set up by the then president, Olusegun Obasanjo in 2001 on the case of the seizure of students certificates. The then students, Adeola Akinremi and Rasheedat Adeshina. Their offense was their participation in the anti-abacha rally led by Gani Fawehinmi on the 5th of June, 1998 and the students protest against poor welfare on the campus which took place on the 4th of June. The students were initially to be expelled but a court order stopped the Oba Abdulraheem led university. The certificate of these student activists were seized and only in this year did the Supreme Court order the release of their certificate after the school battled so hard to keep it in its coffers. The then students could not get their certificates for 15 and12 years respectively. As if that was not enough, in 2001 the same man sacked 49 lecturers from the school. Remember the Taiwo Oloruntoba-Oju led Union? The reason for their sack was because they participated in the activities of their union. Sadly, some of the lecturers died during the period of the sack. This two situations are few of what can be mentioned during his reign in the school. The point here is simple, this one man, Oba Abdulraheem did not allow any form of activism and limited the freedom of speech. That is a potent sign of a scared leader and a fine dictator. Unfortunately, his legacy lives on in the university, albeit mildly. The tear out your tongue strategy snares the face of activists in the school. Although the erstwhile VC tendered an apology about tha sack of the 49 recently, but as we stated in the beginning, political campaign can change anybody, even a dictator can become pertinent. Then again we ask and judging by the predicament in that, those not blinded by petty allegiances to political parties and candidates mentioned above, what really is the way out, is it still change? Where is the change coming from, APC and the Sarakian dynasty that has almost turned the state to a family heritage or the PDP and Oba Abdulraheem? Moving on to a broader perspective, something of uttermost concern to the whole nation, the presidential election. Recently, I saw a prayer point while reading through the debates between Buhari and Jonathans supporters. A person said I pray God rules your family and yourself the wat Goodluck Jonathan is ruling Nigeria. From that prayer comes this question of how many people will say amen. If you can say amen then there is nothing more to say but if you cannot(you probably see it as a curse),we have a big issue to iron out. The list is growing, from the issue of the Nigerias governors forum where arithemetic logic of greater than and less than becomes a problem for the president to the flight of several funds and then a disgraceful disagreement with a state governor over the oil well legitimately belonging to the state, the painful and saddening disappearance of the chibok girls and the bombings that has exposed the security frailties of the nation, the long ASUU strike, the use of the police against oppositions in such a way that the fascist leader, Benito Mussolini of Italy would have been proud of, and so on. The list is gory. Well,some of the above mentioned may not be particularly blamed on the president but the way he comes out to address issues with no alacrity and more of cluelessness baffles Nigerians. All of this culminate to the reason why many want a change. Also not forgetting the fact that PDP has ruled this nation for 15years with tales of corruption and bad leadership littering the whole airwaves. Hence, Nigerians demand a change in political party and political candidate. Thus General Buhari comes in the guise of the other option. General Buhari himself is not without areas that should scare every citizen of the nation. We should cast our minds back and remember how he and Tunde Idiagbon clamped down on any discussion of the nation returning to civilian and democratic rule. The imprisonment of Tai Solarin in this vein becomes a key example. His only offence was to be courageous enough to distribute leaflets and educate the people on the need for democracy and civilian rule. The same military leader who imprisoned someone because of his constant protestation on the need for democracy now ironically becomes the one who is to champion the change in a democratic setting? Furthermore, it becomes a thing of amazement why Shehu Shagari would be kept in a house detention in Ikoyi, Lagos while his deputy, Alex Ekwueme, was locked in the kirikiri prisons, on the brighter side kirikiri is also in Lagos. Another case is that of Adekunle Ajasin who was not found guilty of any offense at the tribunal and was acquitted only to be indefinitely detained on the orders of General Buhari. These few and many more were recurrent during General Buharis regime. It is important for Nigerians to read more into the history of the military dictator/ democratic general. To read beyond the fine linen ironed out of the wrinkles of his past. One last thing about him is the outright rejection of the Oputa Panel of Enquiry when he was invited for questioning on allegations of his administration and violation of human rights of citizens. On this note, let us try to forget all the perspectives change may seem to appeal. Let us face the more realistic situation of the nation. From here on let us provide answers to the three questions given above. 1. What we want in change is a government that will provide solutions to some key problems(no single government can solve all Nigerias problem) in the nation. 2. What we should mean by change should be void of party politics or having any political party in mind as a way out. Rather it should be tied to the candidates with better reputation, progressive ideologies and probable good performance in office irrespective of the political party. Good examples were when Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo was under Labour Party and Rochas Okorocha was under APGA. 3. The realism in change is however, tied to the entire citizenry.the reason behind this is because some of what we clamour for in change are things that we ourselves neglect. Not until every individual starts to see himself or herself as an integral part of the process of change no positive change will happen. We cannot continue to fold our arms and fast and pray that change will happen in this nation. Nobody waters the soil without planting a seed and expects bountiful harvests. Buhari or Jonathan or any other person, make your choice but know that none is equally proportionate to a better Nigeria, we are all involved. Therefore, brace yourselves and prepare for whatever happens in 2015 and beyond, GOOD OR BAD.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 05:29:49 +0000
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