As we bash Buhari…

We have 67 political parties in the country. Each of them came into being for one grand purpose – to win power (if we must be polite) or to capture power (if we must tell it as it is). The well-oiled doctrine of political pluralism, the badge of democracy, allows each of them to seek […]

We have 67 political parties in the country. Each of them came into being for one grand purpose – to win power (if we must be polite) or to capture power (if we must tell it as it is). The well-oiled doctrine of political pluralism, the badge of democracy, allows each of them to seek or force the consent of the people to govern them at the three tiers of government – federal, state and local government; and in the 38 legislatures. 

We are invariably led to believe that political parties exist solely for the purposes of winning or capturing power. But political parties are much more than naked instruments for winning or capturing power. The more fundamental reason for their existence is to promote peace and provide the country with a pragmatic road map for its progress and development. In other words, to lead. Think of this airy possibility: if each of our 67 political parties puts forward an idea or two about how we can move forward as a nation in the calm environment of peace sans crimes of the gun, the knife and the pen, don’t you think we could more easily pick our way through the plethora of crises that plague us? Good governance is a product of ideas, even foolish ideas. The solution to national problems is also product of good ideas.

The problem is that given the nature of party politics, parties out of power do not feel morally bound to assist parties in power for the simple and selfish reason that the success of the party in power is the death knell of the party out of power. All the politicians know that our country is in crises, burdened with unbelievable insecurity problems. It is now divided as never before. Yet, it seems to me that these leaders of the people think less of our peace and unity and more of their personal ambition for power. It seems to me that it does not occur to them that they too bear a huge moral and legal responsibility for what we make of our country’s present and its future. It is a thousand pities if this escapes them in their blind pursuit of power.

I do not see them showing the kind of concern they should for the country and its people in its current dire hours of need. I see that they believe that the worse the country becomes, the easier it would be for those of them in power to either remain in power or for those  of them not in power to reap the rich dividends from the failure of the party or parties in power. 

Given this scenario, it should surprise no one that Buhari bashing is now the favourite political pastime in the country. It is the way the political wind blows. And we are only warming up. It could only get worse, much worse, in the months ahead as the politicians engage in the process that would take them closer to power. Know ye that we have heard the whistle of the electoral umpire alerting us to the need to begin to prepare for 2019; the crucial year that would end power for some and bring the luck of power for others in the fun musical chair through which democracy makes mortals of gods and gods of mortals. 

The bashing of political leaders has a delicious feel to it because it gives us the power, however temporary it may be, as small men and women to make our leaders look foolish, inept and uncaring. It scares the hell out of our leaders, you know. Don’t laugh. The more bashing a president or a governor receives, the less is his confidence in himself. History is littered with the ghosts of political leaders driven out of power by the power of the people’s bashing. There is an unmistakeable people’s power in bashing. I suspect that in retirement all our former presidents and heads of state would look on the assault of the powerless on them while in power with either suppressed anger or bemusement. 

We bashed President Goodluck Jonathan. And we bashed all those, in agbada or khaki, who had ruled us before him. Someone once referred to this as the pull down syndrome. Politics is a merciless game. Those who manage to climb up the ladder cannot count on the eternal support and sympathy of even those with whom they plotted the strategy for power for long, unless of course they remain at the high table while others pick up the crumbs.

Still, I believe it is possible for us to look beyond bashing as an end in itself. In other words, it is possible to manage bashing towards the end of justice and the national good. I try to convince myself that among our politicians, the survival of our country counts more than politics and political power. No one need be told that we have reached a fork in our march to one nation, one destiny, such that bashing for its own sake would clearly have a deleterious effect on our national progress and development. Given what we face and given the fact that our politicians cannot resist the temptation to seek to benefit from the misery of the nation and its people, it may be difficult for them to convince themselves that this is not about President Buhari. It is more critically about our nation and the challenges confronting it from virtually every corner of the country. 

My take is that the political parties and their leaders must recognise their sacred role in pulling us back from the brink. This country has had the poor luck of being unable to consistently deliver on the sweet promises of its independence some 57 years ago. As former President Ibrahim Babangida once put it, our progress has been characterised by moving up only to fall to the ground. We have the power as a nation to change that unhelpful paradigm. That power rests with Buhari.

I urge him to convene a national security meeting of the leaders of the 67 political parties to help him find some way out of our crippling and destructive national challenges. Neither he nor his government has all the answers to all the questions raised and not raised. If we do not feel safe in our homes and everywhere in our country, it would be asking too much to expect us to have faith in the capacity of our nation to protect us and meet our basic needs as human beings. As we bash the president as a political sport, let us not forget that we owe ourselves the moral duty to make Nigeria a nation of peace and unity in which violence is not a way of life and corruption is an aberration rather than the national ethos. The success of one president in this admittedly tough struggle is the success of the nation itself.