POLITICAL PROGRESSIVISM AMIDST ILLITERATE VOTERS: A POLITICAL HARA-KIRI? - Ekiti State, Nigeria, as a case study.

The world over, the government of a nation exists, to bring general good to the generality of the people. What may be argued, however, is whether this is true of every government. The veracity or not of that statement notwithstanding, it is expectedly known that every government exists for its citizens, whether good or bad. What remains debatable is the extent to which the government serves the people. This is undoubtedly, partly a function of the political awareness of the people.

Operationally, “political progressivism” here defines an ideological enclave that believes that the business of governance is the provision of basic amenities for the people, and they go to any extent to make these available to the people. “Illiterate voters” here are a group of politically ill-informed party loyalists, enthusiasts, supporters and sympathizers who cast their votes based on certain sentiments. To these, it does not matter who the party’s candidate is. By this definition therefore, the politically illiterate fellow may be well-read, maybe a Professor, but s/he lacks some requisite knowledge of the political indices of inter-governmental relationships and functionalities.

The Yorubas, of which Ekitis are a part, have one popular political slogan: “omo wa ni, e je o see.” This literally translates as “he’s our child, whether he qualifies or not, get him/her voted in.” Expectedly, such candidates got into positions and fumbled to the chagrin of all that voted them into power. After many such political errors, it seems that the other states in Yorubaland, the southwestern Nigeria, except Ekiti state, have learnt their lessons.

The progressive political experiment in Nigeria that began in Lagos state, the commercial nerve-center of the nation, in no time, engulfed other southwestern states, including Ekiti state. The rate of infrastructural development became overwhelming and so, like an angry harmattan inferno, the entire southwest was eaten up by the progressive flame.

Time ran past, and it was time for another election in Ekiti state. Lo and behold, the unexpected happened. Rubbishing the achievements of the erstwhile progressive governor, the candidate, considered by political watchers, as the least qualified was elected by the people, considered, to be the most well-read in the country, and therefore should embrace progressivism as a hobby. As if the gubernatorial election was a magic, the presidential and national assembly elections’ results were also overwhelmingly won by the party of this same candidate even when the people of the state knew that the whole country have decided to go the progressive way. The state’s House of Assembly election too was worst for the progressives in the state.

To this extent, the progressive group/party in the state is almost going into extinction. They are fast becoming a voiceless minority. Now, it’s as if progressivism is an endemic sin in the “Fountain of Knowledge.”

The baffling thing in this whole scenario is how the people of Ekiti would be happy to be in opposition in a federal system where the lives of the states depend on the Federal government. Other states in the southwestern Nigeria, namely, Osun, Oyo, Lagos, Ogun and Ondo, despite the perceived shortcomings of their progressive governors in governance, for example, Osun state civil servants are owed six months salary, still went ahead to re-vote their progressive governors and also gave all their votes to the progressives in both the national and state assembly elections.

Meanwhile, progressivism is nothing less than a plague, to be seriously avoided, and it is as good as dead in Ekiti state. What I discover now is that a good percentage of the voters don’t even want to hear anything about progressivism. It is as if the last progressive regime in Ekiti committed an unforgivable heinous crime, and thus, had exterminated and entombed the party with his exit because even when one is in the leftist party but has progressive ideas, such is quickly passed up.

What I seem to be missing, however, is the rationale behind my people’s political behaviour. I had expected that no one would vote a governorship aspirant, whom was the only one, among all, that had no manifesto. I had expected that the patronage would wane after he came in and declared that no physical project should be expected from him. What I seem to be missing is how a state that is predominantly a civil service state hope to survive without any federal backings, alleged huge debt profile – courtesy of the erstwhile progressive governor – and with no other resources aside the IGR.

With a leftist party in the state and a progressive at the center, and given all that transpired during the electioneering, what becomes of my state within the next four years is better imagined.

WE SING OF A CHANGE

 Since like a night in the grave

Our eyes rove

Even as our hands grope

And our bodies ache

So, we sing of a change.

Since we search and wait

And our eyes have travelled far

Far into their sockets

Like those of men of the other world

And we like watchmen

Wait eagerly but endlessly

For an elusive tomorrow

So, we sing of a change.

Since our treasured treasures

Have doth shamelessly transformed

Into private and personal estates

But of a few egocentric opportunists

So, we sing of a change.

Since the rain water

Falling on our land

Are quickly drained by siphons

Whose gullets are larger than the Euphrates’s

And since our land

Has become like the vampires

Drinking the blood of her children

So, we sing of a change.

Since we have now

But two countries in one

And the umbrella is too weak

To protect us from the vicious rain

Of Boko’s bullets which doth wet our bodies

And lay us peaceably on our land

Untimely though,

When supposed we are

To be up and running with vitality

From the milk and honey of our land

So, we sing of a change.

Yes, we sing of a change

Even when we know that

But for the king of our change kingdom

The other chiefs and kingmakers are saintly rogues

Scoundrels, dressed in untainted garbs

Still, we sing of a change.

Yes, we sing of a change

Even as vultures and eagles

Surround the only dove amongst them

Whom they push forward but as a sacrificial lamb

To be slaughtered on the altar

Of selfish crazy ambitions and corrupt brigandage

Still, we sing of a change.

Yes, we sing of a change

Even though we know

That there is no difference

Between six and half a dozen

For the new had been part of the old; they were alter egos

Still, we sing of a change.

The REAL CHANGE of which we sing

May not be this, and may be years away

For this change may be oblique

But the REAL CHANGE is like

A journey of a thousand miles

So, let’s start with this step

And continue . . .

. . . to sing of a change.

THIS SONG OF “CHANGE”

This song of change is sweet

And like a whirlwind

Has swept across the land

And roared like a lion in the jungle

Against the sacred cows of the land

Is so sweet to be heard; and most needed

In a land so belligerently desolate

Because of the greed of a few insatiable men

Who wouldn’t ever have enough

And like the grave, they crave for more

Even as their cups overflow

When many of their impoverished adherents

Have got none for themselves!

This song of change is sweet

But the sincerity of the symphony is doubtful

For the conductors and the drivers

Are but famously familiar faces

Men, who desecrated our land

Who drank our waters and drained

Our common treasure without care.

Past kings of clans and villages

Who desire to rule over an expanse

And become emperors over our kingdom

And over our common treasures.

This song of change is sweet

But, how our land, and indeed the choir

Stand to gain remains a puzzle

When the charioteers see

Their cry for change as an investment

That must come with an ROI

And therefore engage every foul means

To recoup their investment.

So, this song of change

Oh, this song change

And this song of change . . . .

BETWEEN THE BRAIN AND THE PAPER

Life is full of many ironies. The hilarious paradoxes of life brings into it, many dimensions that leave life nothing but a misery to ordinary, undiscerning minds. One of such is the old popular fabble of how little tortoise made the giant elephant fall into a deep pit and thereby killed it by simply playing a lofty trick on his victim by making him, the elephant, feel on-top-of-the-world. Such hilarious paradox has not seized to play out even in our polity now. Ours is a society that celebrates and honours certificated mediocrity at the expense of uncertificated excellence. Ours is a society that ululates and praises to high heavens, criminal and under-performing achievements even at the risk of relegating and denigrating obvious intelligensia sagacity. Our political atmosphere is charged. The volume of political electrons running in the veins of the major actors have escalated of late. Hence, the debate about the brain and the paper. The ruling party has presented Buhari, the opposition's presidential candidate, as a stack illiterate, or at best, a failed educated fellow who has been unable to produce, not even the least of his certificates as required by law(?) The hilarious part of it all is that the people have aptly compared Buhari and Jonathan, the sitting certificated President, in terms of performances, and the unanimous decision is that Buhari, the "illiterate" is better than our doctorate degree holder. The paradoxical element in this whole saga is that Buhari, the uncertificated BRAIN is cruising, while Jonathan, the celebrated PAPER is cringing politically as the campaigns proceed. If Buhari wins, that aspect of the constitution will have to be expunged to allow our uncerticated brains exhume this country from the dark doldrums into which the certificated papers have plunged it.

EKITI, THE SEARCH CONTINUES

The news of Michael Opeyemi Bamidele (MOB)'s defection (he was never a member of APC) to the All Progressives Congress, APC, yesterday at the party's presidential rally in Ado Ekiti came to many of us, his ardent followers, as a rude shock. It is very typical of the proverbial dog going back to its vomit. The acrimony generated in his bid to occupy the highest political seat in Ekiti is better left untold. The number of people who lost their lives or parts of their bodies as well as properties are myriads. It is only unfortunate that the people we sometimes stand to take a bullet for are actually the ones behind the trigger. It is a pity that MOB could be so terribly driven by ambition so as to throw morals in air without caution. That is why it is better that when coming into politics, it is ALWAYS better to come alone without being attached to anyone's apron. The fate that befell MOB is because of his long-standing relationship with Tinubu; but to think that he would swallow all he said before June 21, 2014, beats me. All political bigots and thugs should learn that the only way out is to be men and women of themselves, not depending on all these self-proclaimed leaders. I wish MOB all the best as he goes back to where he hitherto belong. However, he should know that he has betrayed the trust reposed in him by the ordinary people of Ekiti who saw him as their long-awaited light into political freedom and unnecessary external influence in their political affairs. We had thought it was time for SELF-DETERMINISM in Ekiti; but that is now a very unattainable distant mirage. While I don't regret ever working for him, even using my personal resources, my concern is how many Ekiti people will ever take him serious again for he has proved unworthy. Ekiti, the long search for a messiah continues!

2015 ELECTIONS: NIGERIANS BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP SEA

Democratic governance has as one of its beauties, the conferment of the right to choose who governs, on the people, and most often, even when the elections are rigged, they are skewed in the direction of the majority of the people. That position may be contestable, anyway.

December 2014 is running as fast as its legs could carry it to open the door for Year 2015, the year I called, year of great decision for Nigerians. The question as to whether we will get it right as a people hangs in the balance because even the “getting-it-right” is right now, a relatively personal issue. This is because the choice as to which is better between the two major contending parties, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) is, to every discerning mind, not better than a gamble.

Interestingly, I believe by a stroke of fate to prove my point above that the decision to choose any of PDP and APC in the coming general elections remains a gamble, the debate for local government financial and political autonomy resurfaced barely four months to the general elections. After the two chambers of the National Assembly had jointly passed the bill, it was transferred to the states for the constitutionally required 2/3 endorsement from the state Houses of Assembly.

Regrettably however, 23 states went against, killed and buried the bill. They are: Ondo, Ekiti, Osun, Borno, Yobe, Taraba, Bauchi, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, Kebbi, Katsina, Sokoto, Zamfara, Rivers, Cross-River, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Akwa-Ibom, Enugu and Imo states. Their flimsy reasons to stifle life out of the people they are eating (not serving) are anchored on the following: irregularities in the bill, lack of sustainability of the proposed autonomy and immaturity of the local governments to be left unchecked by the state legislature.

Interestingly, all the states mentioned above who voted against the people are divided between the two leading contending parties, PDP & APC. Meanwhile, a state like Anambra, controlled by a small party, All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, voted in favour of the bill.

For the avoidance of doubt, without local government autonomy, the rampaging poverty, infrastructural decay, rural-urban migration, unemployment and other societal problems would continue unabated. That is the matter in this case. These states’ governors and their Houses of Assembly members know these facts, but felt unconcerned since their own nests are being well-feathered from our collective till.

My concern is how I will go out in February 2015 to either re-vote a party, to whom my plight is nothing, or newly vote into power, a party, to whom my breakthrough must, at best, remain a mirage. Let me worthily mention it that all these state Houses of Assembly voted in favour of financial autonomy for the Houses of Assembly; meaning that they have more money for themselves, and they have it as at when due, directly from source without any undue interference from the governors. However, that part that would further and better acquaint the people with the dividends of democracy was not only vehemently, but also unanimously opposed.

Nigerians, behold your two messiahs. Choose for yourselves, whichever you preferred: the devil or the deep sea?

EKITI, OSUN ELECTIONS: A POST MORTEM

Like every election, these two elections did not fail to come with their own jitters of what would likely happen, in terms of violence and who would or would not win. The rate of violence that heralded the electioneering campaigns was a major headache to all well-meaning citizens. Accusations and counter-accusations flew freely. Negative propaganda was rife with different rumours emanating from different camps against their most perceived electoral enemies. Personality and character assassinations became the other of the day with many hitherto angels and heroes becoming the devil and the villains just because of their political leanings, ideologies and colourations.

The razzmatazz of the Principal actors and their supporters was ebulliently enjoyed while it lasted. A few millionaires were made silently, especially in the entertainment world and amongst top politicians who knew their ways. Some artisans who were well connected also got their fingers oily in the event of things. Events unfolded, but are now folded back. The frenzy and flurry of the die-hard supporters that made them unnecessarily step on toes are now gone, and as it is said in some quarters, “their eyes don clear.”

In the ensuing event of things, many friends became enemies and vice versa, just because of their conflicting personal political interests. Many broken bridges were mended while many very healthy bridges cracked, and some, broken beyond repairs.  The axiom that “there are no permanent friends or enemies in politics” became frequentative as major players gullibly and frenziedly embraced the new political course, introduced right from the national assembly, jumpology, which describes the sudden and unusual defections as well as secret alliances amongst principal political actors. The question of whether these alliances were made in good faith with the downtrodden millions at heart is furiously begging for answers. How long the said alliances would stand is yet another matter altogether as some of the Jumping Masters have found that their known devils were far better than their new-found angels. Where all these leave their hopeless sheep is best known to God; not the masters, not the following sheep.

Before these two elections which were frantically fought for by the two principal parties, the PDP and APC, there was no gainsaying that most people, especially the opposition at the center were nervous as to what the electoral umpire, INEC, was up to. They accused the body of bias even before the exercises, thus predicting the gender of the chicken even before the egg was hatched. This undoubtedly heated up the polity as many types of rubbish were written on social media and the print media. When the Ekiti election came and it fell to the lot of the party at the center, Nigerians were treated to the best of what I know is the exclusive best asset of the APC, unrivalled intelligence, as a new English was added to our dictionary, photochromic and photochromism. While many battled within themselves to crack the meaning of this new political vocabulary, many of us with curious minds fled to our dictionaries. When we found it not, we took to Wikipedia; many thanks to Wikipedia that delivered us from the brain-cracking grammar of APC. Now, we know what that means!

Interestingly and as providence would have it, the election in Osun turned out to favour the opposition, and the margin between the parties was cognate with what we had in Ekiti. Many have now started asking the question as to whether the electoral umpire accused of having photochromically rigged the Ekiti election for the ruling party at the center has done same for the opposition party in Osun. To me, I strongly believe that this shows the end of human cogitations in the dynamics of God’s workings.

To be continued . . . .