The Canonization Of Duplicity In Nigerian Politics (2)

That these are precarious times in our nation is no longer worthy of debate. Nigeria is presently experiencing a battle for political relevance and supremacy by contending forces within the ruling APC and in this fight for dominance nothing and no one is too sacred to be desecrated. All the APC feudalists are going for the jugular of their perceived adversaries. The National Assembly is the main turf for this combat but the battle rages far beyond the hallowed confines of the Assembly's chambers and extends to any and every rung of the APC power apparachik.

Not even the APC governors forum is spared the affliction of this debilitating canker worm. This became all too glaring as the APC governors addressed the media after a meeting they held with President Muhammadu Buhari on June 25th. The forum's chairman, Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo state was reeling out a synopsis of the discussion they held with the President when a cacophony of voices from behind him(his fellow APC governors) introduced their rejection of certain aspects of his briefing. It wasn't so much of what they said but the tactless and even needless interjection by them while their chairman was speaking. It was virtually a vote of no confidence on him, the dissent within their ranks was so inappropriately showcased to the entire world. Indeed, at some point, Okorocha had to sternly rebuke them by reminding the bellicose governors that he must speak for he is their chairman. That the objection was raised in such uncouth fashion belies the absence of trust and sense of unison among them. Even with all of our collective misgivings about the PDP, their governors never sang such discordant tunes before the media all at once.

The Presidency isn't faring any better. What we have witnessed is an avalanche of policy flip-flops and directional somersaults. It would appear that there's an undue hurry to make policy pronouncements to curry public favour even before due consultations have been concluded. How for example does one make sense of the announcement of an order for the removal of military checkpoints all over the country before later modifying the order to retain those in the Northeast and Southeast after the meeting with the governors? Does that mean that for a decision as sensitive as that and which affects the governors as the chief security officer's of their respective states they were not consulted? Even rudimentary sense suggests that with the subsisting fight against insurgency, this is the wrong time to embark on such a venture especially after the withdrawal of police checkpoints.

Now we have been told by our President that all the monies allegedly stolen by former President Jonathan and his cronies will be recovered in three months. This is exhilarating news, probably the best in ages. While we await the execution of this tall order for recovery of our stolen patrimony, it becomes pertinent to point out that such an exercise must be all-encompassing. The idea of starting any probe from the Jonathan era is not only repugnant but an assault on good conscience. Probing Jonathan's administration without a corresponding probe of the immediate past administrations is equivalent to arresting the forty thieves without Ali Baba.

One good derivative of the current leadership imbroglio within the National Assembly is that those who ever imagined that this whole 'change' struggle has anything to do with us, the citizens, have snapped out of their hallucinatory state. Clearly the exhibition of profound pugilist skills in the assembly's chambers holds no altruistic potentials. Like the late musical icon, Michael Jackson, sang in one if his famous songs, "they don't care about us". Anybody who postulates to the contrary is merely a candidate for utopian Eldorado.

When Nigerians voted for change as personified by then General Muhammadu Buhari, many believed that change had truly come. The APC itself didn't appear any different from the PDP, infact many of us believe(d) them to be worse due to their unprecedented capacity for mendacity. However, Buhari presented an essential redeeming feature that propped up the party as one capable of impacting positively on our affairs. Zebras are horses but their distinguishing features are stripes and the stripes of the APC which set(s) it apart is General Buhari.

Now because of a failed attempt by the President to excoriate the National Assembly leadership processes, there's a needless conundrum within the APC ranks. A leader may delegate functions but he should never outsource his core function of defining a direction. Sometimes it's better to take a wrong decision than to sit on the fence, followers are sometimes allowed the luxury of ambivalence and even oscillation but never a leader. There was a woeful failure at effectively analysing the variables of the National Assembly leadership recruitment exercise by the President which may become the party's archilles heel.

Unless something significant or indeed in the ilk of cataclysm occurs, those distinguishing stripes appear to be fading pretty fast. Nigeria was derisively alleged to be on autopilot during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, this time it appears there's even no cockpit at all. Let us pray that Nigeria doesn't share the fate of the ruling APC. 

Okey Joe Emenike