When words speaks louder than action

By Ilobi Austin In Nigeria’s political circle, words and not action is of the utmost importance; it is of the essence and the politicians knows this too well and has not failed to deploy it either to launder their poor performance by insisting loudly through the media, against evidence on the ground, that they have performed creditably well or, to decimate the achievements of their opponents. The truth of this is highlighted by recent happenings in the country where debate has largely focused on the 2011 elections and the ambition of the president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. Ordinarily, his actions as it relates to the elections would have been enough to prove his disinterest in the exercise, but no. He has not added a statement, to either confirm the stories making the rounds that he is interested in contesting the presidential lection nor refute them categorically in other to throw the contest open to all shades and quality of aspirants; instead, he has engaged in the nerve-racking double speak that promotes or fuels the speculations. For a commander-in-chief who, if and whenever he decides to throw his hat into the ring would be doing so against an extant zoning agreement amongst leaders of the country within his party, the PDP, that has largely defined political relationship in the country since the return to democratic order in 1999, one would have expected him to have done the reverse of what he has done so far, in relation to the elections, of next year. Professor Iwu, the man who had the misfortune of presiding over the INEC when Gen. Obasanjo had already consolidated his hold on the apparatus of governance and was introducing his personal philosophy of leadership into the polity which meant a compromised of the personal integrity of some of the operators including Iwu, got the sack from him, in the form of a mandatory leave, even before the expiration of his tenure; rather than retain him for dirty job of result fixing for which he seems too easily amenable—the writer came to this conclusion after he, Iwu failed to conduct a respectable council election in small FCT of all places, recently. The election is not Jonathan’s to lose, however his good work. He will need an Iwu—a pliant fellow— and not the incorrigible professor to whom he has given the job. At the same INEC, commissioners whose tenure of office had ended and with whom he could have negotiated his victory by way of extension of their stay, as was the case in the recent past, were all relieved of their positions. Even those amongst the replacements who were discovered to be card-carrying members of his party were immediately substituted. Before the “reforms” at INEC, he had sent the unedited copy of the Uwaise electoral reform committee report to the national assembly, for deliberations; against the earlier thinking of government that saw the removal of certain aspects of the report. Though it can be argued that he has appointed the commission’s chairman against the wish of some stakeholders, who wants the power of appointing the chairman domiciled elsewhere. At the party level, he has rid the party of its erstwhile national chairman, Prince Ogbulafor who has been accused of stealing some millions of naira while he was working for the Obasanjo’s regime. He has not stopped there as he seems set or determined to go through the party’s hierarchy with a fine tooth-comb to rid it of men of questionable character and purchasable beliefs and therefore, amenable to change. The deputy national chairman is already keeping a date with the EFCC and is doing all in his power to placate him—so far, he seems to have earned a delay of his sack, through his efforts. In Ogbulafor’s stead is a man, Dr. Okwy Nwodo, who might likely go with the pro-zoning arrangement group having being one of the people in the know, as at when it was put together; his recent, zoning is dead statement notwithstanding. As for party stalwarts and votes merchants of the era just gone by, life has not has not been anything near what it used to be as he has harassed the day light out of some of the state leaders like Ibori who has ran the race of his life since the assumption of office of Goodluck Jonathan. He has allowed names that used to evoke fears and respect in the past, from the people, to be roundly demystified through elections and by-elections in which he determinedly refused to lift a hand—mobilize federal support in the form of police and other security agencies and even distribution of result sheets — to help “win” the votes. From our experience from the recent past, we know that when those at the helms of affairs gets interested in retaining their positions against formidable oppositions, they go all out with all the powers at their disposal to ensure victory. That is not the case with Goodluck’s rumoured presidential interest. Yet, all his actions have refused to speak louder than words, in the ears of both the pro and anti, zoning groups; and that is why I am always hesitant about some idiomatic expressions when applying them to events in Nigeria; particularly when their sources are said to be foreign and of the agricultural age era. Take the one about things that goes up coming down. We are witnesses to how China—the infamous home of the money guzzling Chinese phones— of all nations launched a satellite on our behalf which neither performed as promised nor come down to us, in any form— spy/ double agent or heap of scrap metals. It went up and went further up into a celestial packing lot—just hopes some aliens won’t be asking for payment over accumulated packing fees, someday. Ilobi Austin, an author with the www.nigeriavilagesqaure.com sent this piece via thinkingaustin@gmail.com and is also available @ www.facebook.com and www.twitter.com