By Ilobi Austin
The average politician in Nigeria
Their actions and utterances scarcely stems from their personal conviction
or reasons. They are the only group that can hold a personal or divergent
opinion, for as long as it is locked up within the confines of their heart or
shared with just a soul, their wives.
In private, nothing is too sacred for the entertainment of the
master. They can offer their wives or even order the evasion and demolition of
their village should the big man make any uncomplimentary remark about either
the people or the environment.
In public, they can do nothing or say anything but echo the opinion
of the man of the moment or that which they imagined conduce to his personal
interest, even if such interest conflicts with that of the entire country. There
is nothing that is known to man that scares them like holding a contrary view,
publicly, to that of the big daddy of the moment, even if those of the reigning
king of the moment are merely speculative. For them, any thing that proves
their fleeting loyalty to the one at the top is okay for as long as it
guarantees them access to governmental patronage and freedom from arrest and
prosecution, for their illegal conduct that bothers on kleptomania.
Today in the country, debates have largely been centred on the
speculated interest of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan in contesting next year presidential
election, against an extant agreement amongst senior members of his party that
the political offices in the land be zoned and at the federal level, on a North
and South basis.
While Obasanjo had completed the term of the south and dutifully
handed-over handed power to the North—forget his so-called third term— whereas
the recipient, late Yar’Adua, for reasons of poor health, could not complete
the term of his region, the man who inherited the office, Goodluck who
ordinarily should have concerned himself with conducting the best election ever
in the country as an un-biased umpire has now be drawn by, first, ethnic jingoist
and then “constitutional experts” flip-flopping on the issue of whether to
contest or contest which should not have arisen, in the first instance.
Some of the persons who actually were present when the agreement was
reached and who vehemently insisted on its implementation when any other action
would have threatened the position of the then uncle Sege have turned around
today consultants on the constitution and political dynamism. They have
suddenly realised that the word, zoning is not in the constitution and that
merit should be the order od the day. Dubious intelligence!
Some of these characters with seasonal principles have even gone to
the extent of taking us back to 1999 and 2003 and the fact that some Northerners
actually ran for the top job against the agreement. But they have not told us
how much of grass-root support those northern actually got from the mobilizers
at that level who kept faith with the arrangement. It obviously would have been
a disservice to the country and the jobless youths if such irritant and “notice
me” contestant with the money to spare had not entered the race.
The hullabaloo about Goodluck interest would not have arisen if his
principal had been alive. Neither would it have mattered to any body if he was
declaring either openly or otherwise, as the incumbent governor of Bayelsa
state, for the job of the president of the federal republic of Nigeria or even
as an independent candidate. His candidacy is been discussed because he is the
president with all that goes with it.
I don’t know what the situation would have been like if Yar'Adua was
to be alive and had only dropped Goodluck as his running mate for the 2011 election
and he had decide to run against him claiming all the anti-zoning crowd are
currently selling to the public as their beliefs— unconstitutionality,
promotion of mediocrity and all what not. I doubt if the national chairman of
the party would have mouthed, zoning is dead or the Police Minister, Waziri
would have called zoning a south-east arrangement deliver to the country
through Dr. Alex Ekwueme, as he did recently in an interview or they would have
speedily suspended Goodluck or de-register him for disloyalty to the party and
subjected him to probe.
Goodluck beware! What you have around you are largely pick pockets, When
thy pick you dry, they will move tothe next victim. Your achievements alone
cannot earn you the presidency against a standing agreement that, though within
your party, is now a national accord. These
so-called achievements of yours that they are amplifying all over the place as
reasons you should continue are more of smoke than fire; In which case, they
blind more than they give light.
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