By Bala Ibrahim.
I was on the phone yesterday with an old secondary school mate of mine, who, although my junior in school, but today, my senior in financial standing. We got talking about many things, including the political decay bedevilling Nigeria, which we all agreed is caused by the failure of our politicians to adhere to political principles, the result of which is the incessant cross carpeting, or change from one party to another.
While he is of the opinion that the situation would not get better unless the trend is reversed, I was insistent on the fact that in Nigeria today, there is no clear difference in the policy declarations and aims of all the political parties, especially as issued by contesting candidates before the election. What matters I think, is to check the concealed credibility in the character of the candidate.
Virtually all the politicians are the same and so are the political parties. The distinction in the manifestos of the political parties is not clearly manifest, as such, in the search for power, politicians only see the political parties as special purpose vehicles, to be used for travel to their desired destinations.
Whenever they feel disadvantaged, or the circumstances turn unfavourable to their desire, especially in the countdown to an election, they would quickly change side and comfortably change sign.
Friedrich Nietzsche, the German philosopher and cultural critic said, “There are men who desire power simply for the sake of the happiness it will bring; these belong chiefly to political parties”.
My former junior in school was quick to ask if I had seen the platitude he sent to me in the build up to the APC convention, captioned, BUHARI SPENT 7 YEARS BUILDING THIS FINAL APC EXCO OF PDP BRANCH. I said I did, and obviously there is nothing new about it. Its truism.
The cliché goes thus:
1. Sen. Abdullahi Adamu, Chairman, PDP
2. Sen. Ken Nnamani, Deputy Chairman (South), PDP
3. Sen. Iyiola Omisore, National Secretary, PDP.
4. Hon Victor Gaidom, Vice Chairman (South-South), PDP.
5. Osita Medener, Vice Chairman (South East), PDP
6. Once GEJ accept to contest now, the team becomes complete, PDP.
The question is, after the APC National Convention and PDP elements have taken over leadership of the party, will they still tell Nigerians that PDP is bad? Just asking ni o.
From the concluding query, one can guess the ethnic background of the author, which I don’t have any quarrel with.
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But shortly after our lengthy conversation on the phone, thank God he was the one that called, as such the bill is his, another cliché appeared on the social media, with a counter query, viz:
“So what is the difference? Its not about the party, its the people.
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Iyorchia Ayu — National Chairman, (APC decampee)
Taofeek Arapaja — Deputy National Chairman South, (APC decampee).
Umar Damagum — Deputy National Chairman North, (APC decampee).
Samuel Anyanwu — National Secretary, (APC decampee).
Ahmad Mohammed — National Treasurer, (APC decampee).
Umar Bature — National Organising Secretary, (APC decampee).
Kamaldeen Ajibade, National Legal Adviser, (APC decampee).
Ibrahim Abdullahi, Deputy National Publicity Secretary, (APC decampee).
Hajara Wanka, Deputy National Women Leader, (APC decampee).
Yours sincerely,
Citizen Agba Jalingo”.
I know Agba Jalingo, but we lost touch after I left Lagos, and I don’t have any quarrel with his ethnic background also. What matters is the ideology.
In social studies, a political ideology is a certain set of ethical ideals, principles, doctrines and myths of a social movement, that explains how society should work and offers some political and cultural blueprint for a certain social order.
Also in mathematics, which I failed with honours, there is a magic they do when adding or subtracting a value from one side of the equation, which requires you to apply the opposite value to the other side. When you change the side, you must change the sign. A negative on the left, automatically becomes positive when moved to the right.
I think in politics, there is a similar acceptable ambition.
I can recall my late mentor, Dr. Bala Mohammed, a man that spent his time brokering peace and championing the cause of social justice in Nigeria, saying, in politics, there is nothing wrong with changing side and changing sign, because politics is a game, where there are no permanent enemies, and no permanent friends, only permanent interests.
I am glad to hear that PMB had borrowed a leaf from that and absolved Abdullahi Adamu of blame, as a repented member of the PDP in the APC, wondering whether it was no more scriptural for sinners who repent and change their ways to be forgiven.
“What the (APC) Convention made clear was how the media has been peddling fake news of division, when the hard reality of unity, cohesion, and indeed personal warmth between members of the party’s leaders – incoming and outgoing – was evident for all to see. When their fake news of disunity was undone by the facts, some in the opposition could not help themselves but took to the newspapers and the airwaves to find another way to shore up their reputations. That some of the APC’s new leadership were once in the opposition was the new line to take to the media, somehow suggesting that those who have left one party should not hold positions in another”-PMB.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the American politician and attorney said, “A radical is a man with both feet firmly planted in the air. A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs, who, however, has never learned to walk forward. A reactionary is a somnambulist walking backwards. A liberal is a man who uses his legs and hands at the behest of his head”.
Methinks, by the concealed credibility of their characters, the likes of Abdullahi Adamu belong to the liberals.
