Yahaya Bello, Dasuki, in the land of strange things

Humour tends to mitigate our national tragedies better than reality frontally forces us to confront our demons. A favourite of mine is the story of a man who went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem with his family and a mother-in-law he absolutely loathes. At the end of their trip, the mother in law suffers a heart […]

Humour tends to mitigate our national tragedies better than reality frontally forces us to confront our demons. A favourite of mine is the story of a man who went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem with his family and a mother-in-law he absolutely loathes. At the end of their trip, the mother in law suffers a heart attack and dies. At the hospital the man was given two options – bury her in the Holy Land for $100 or return her to America for a hundred times the amount. Without wincing, the man opted for the latter and when asked why – he recalled an event 2,000 years earlier, in which a man who was crucified and left for dead later resurrected. He wasn’t taking chances.
The political buzzword legal pundits are trying to define is the word “inconclusive”. It’s a simple adjective but views like a buried corpse in a shallow grave with its leg hanging in a holy cemetery susceptible to resurrection propensities. This is why one does not know whether to congratulate Yahaya Bello the first governor to be coronated on account of supplementary votes that is left than a quarter of the total votes cast or to wish APC, the people of Kogi and home grown democracy – good luck with patience.
Except he succeeds in getting James Faleke to renounce his claim to the mandate and settle down to his position as deputy, there is fire on the rooftop and nobody should sleep soundly.  The ethno-religious balance in Kogi is a volatile time bomb. The eastern flank is seething with rage hanging on conspiracy theories as to how Audu died. That death threw a lot of spanners in the works with political theories and half-baked punditry, the most ridiculous being the one that sought to make Audu’s son the inheritor of his late father’s ‘inconclusive’ mandate. Faleke was desperately opportunistic enough to pick the boy as running mate, while the boy is unconscionable enough to accept; but APC panacea to resolving the imbroglio is as incongruous as its unabashed decision in fielding a candidate with a huge corruption charge hanging on his neck. If that is change, tell me what is the real deal!
How the courts interpret the shindig would shed light on the concept of running mates. Bringing Bello from the reserve bench tantamount to substituting a wounded relay runner with one from the bench at the final lap. In the interest of democracy, let’s hope that this goes through the whole judicial process and enrich constitutional law and development. Audu’s death, sad as it is has naturally resolved the much-touted call for power shift that some have incongruously argued to be behind the underdevelopment or lopsided development of Kogi.
If control of political power is a catalyst for development, the north ought to be better than Dubai with its politicians politically in charge for most of post-independence Naija. In the case of Kogi, Mopa ought to be the most developed after Igalaland; it has produced two deputy governors, a speaker and several political bigwigs but what developmental mileage has that added to the growth of the town is left to conjecture.
We must advocate for politics of development over and above parochial interests if we are to build the nation of our dreams. We cannot be taking the citizenship of other countries while entrenching parochialism at home. To reach political El Dorado, we must banish parochialism from the political process. For now, Bello’s victory is like the death of our American friend’s mother-in-law, it is not settled until the issues that threw him up are settled. It is however gratifying to note that things have remained peaceful in the confluence of diverse tongues and volatilities.
On the national level, the circus surrounding revelations from the administrative panel on arms procurements is quite intriguing. Is Sambo Dasuki paying for his role in the overthrow of Buhari 30 years ago or is he just at the wrong side at the wrong time? Was it a mere coincidence that he was picked as NSA before the fractious 2015 presidential elections or was it just pure happenstance? The answer is as critical as the shame of alleged mismanagement of funds meant to kit soldiers who died or were court-marshaled as the nation’s security and cohesion is compromised. To wailers and hailers alike, answering that question determines how they weigh the impact of these unsubstantiated revelations.
National interest bows to political expediency and obfuscate rationality in our clime. Elections may have been won and lost, but the opposition always thinks that the incumbent is on a witch-hunt and the culpability of shame does not obliterate that. This roiling of the political waters makes the shouting of hosanna impossible until alleged malfeasance leads to prosecutions in the courts of law. We’ve watched this circus before and our laws presume suspects to be innocent until proven guilty. Simply put strange things have happened and are happening in our land!