A time for restraint and principled behaviour
Admittedly these aren’t the best of times for the nation. However, it does no harm to every once-in-a-while remind ourselves that the whole country isn’t in up flames, and the majority of Nigerians aren’t either politicians or armed marauders. There are good Nigerians like Joe Blankson who lost his life rescuing people from a boat […]
Admittedly these aren’t the best of times for the nation. However, it does no harm to every once-in-a-while remind ourselves that the whole country isn’t in up flames, and the majority of Nigerians aren’t either politicians or armed marauders. There are good Nigerians like Joe Blankson who lost his life rescuing people from a boat mishap at Bakana, Rivers State after having already saved the lives of 13. The lack of recognition or empathy for his family from political leaders is only to be expected. It’s the same reason why the public never knows the names of gallant police officers and soldiers killed on a regular basis while in patriotic service to the nation. It’s simply unimportant to our leaders. Instead, in the name of electioneering, every four years they and the Nigerian “politics industry” fill the media space with malicious and defamatory character assassinations of political opponents.
Nigerian leaders equate opposition with enmity and indeed, the only people who say worse things about politicians than opinion-writers are politicians themselves. The current spate of decamping, silly threats and abusive language isn’t about the national interest, it’s about the personal prospects of the main actors. Filled with their own self-importance they forget that the most important political office in the land is that of the private citizen. Nigerians regularly complain about arrogant, soulless politicians, but where do they think these people come from? They certainly don’t fall out of the sky. They come from Nigerian homes and backgrounds. The question which should be on everyone’s lips is; “are these people really the best the nation has to offer or are they simply what a defective political system which encourages selfish and ignorant aspirants produces?” As for the electorate itself it’s been postulated that the majority of them are poorly educated and have never read a newspaper, and also that the majority have never voted in a Presidential election.
The real problem is that the two majority aren’t the same people. Apparently the majority of those who vote comprise the same majority who don’t read newspapers and who can be swayed by politics without ideology. The apathy of the majority who don’t vote is understandable because most Nigerians don’t look for controversy in their lives, and aren’t really political people. Although Nigerians are compassionate people who care about human rights and the dignity of labour, paradoxically Nigerian politics has become a mass of lies, evasions, folly and hatred.
Nigerians are tired of unnecessary political posturing and want to judge leaders by their achievements for the public good, and not simply their hypocritical and inconsistent utterances and posturing. Shamelessness is on the rampage in Nigerian politics as tragically, the actions and utterances of political leaders’ leaves a lot to be desired. They concern themselves with politicking rather than the national interest and as a result governance is now on hold until after the 2019 elections. If and government is to successfully rebuild opportunity for future generations, elected politicians must accept that their responsibility lies not with their political party, but rather with the Nigerian people that they supposedly represent. They must accept that tolerance, diversity and inclusion aren’t political opinions, they are non-negotiable human rights.
Politicians don’t have to agree on every issue, but they must learn to respect their differences and one another. As long as anger, paranoia and misinformation drive their statements they are encouraging those who will feel justified in turning to violence. At this point in time restraint and moderation of language is required from both government and opposition spokespersons. There really is no reason why the electorate should be loyal to any person who has held previously power. Their collective performances have been so poor that the current joke is that within less than five years there would be a shortage of sand in the Sahara Desert if a Nigerian politician was put in charge of it! Voters must learn to elect good people who want to do something for society, irrespective of the political party they belong to.
To err is human, but to blame someone else is politics. The blame game is the bane of Nigerian politics. The nation has been in a race against the consequences of successive government’s blaming their predecessors rather than their own bankrupt policies or unprincipled politics. Now the race appears to have been lost and the chickens of unprincipled politics appear to be coming home to roost. An apt quote for Nigeria’s current predicament is one by Former US President Ronald Reagan who famously quipped; “it has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first!” He must have had Nigeria in mind!