Nigeria Jaga-Jaga!
Nigerian politics is truly FICKLE! There is absolutely no loyalty within our political space, just selfish individuals jumping from opportunity to opportunity with hope of getting their hands on our national wealth. Sadly, our politicians have come to understand that looting in Nigeria is easy pickings once elected to office and that we the electorate are simply glorified idiots who have absolutely no clue of what true politics entail.
In 2017, I wrote an article for the Sahara Reporters newspaper captioned Nigeria Jaga-jaga https://www.opinionnigeria.com/nigeria-jaga-jaga-by-charles-odimgbe/. In that article, I stated clearly how Nigeria was quickly spiraling to the bottom while we are all remain enablers and spectators to our own downfall. I pointed out how Boko Haram, IPOB, the Fulani Herdsman and now the unknown gunmen are creating all kind of havoc and atrocities which are slowly eating away at the fabrics of our very existence; and we, by our silence, ignorance and in some cases arrogance, are watching and praying while our lives and values degrade daily.
As we prepare for the 2023 elections, it is now obvious that our politicians have no loyalty to any ideologies or political beliefs whatsoever. These politicians are simply motivated by their infantile needs for affirmation and to massage their egos. These politicians all salivate at the prospects of gaining access to our national wealth and grabbing as much loot as they can while in office, and this is given our penchant to just observe and complain. Subsequently, it does not matter what political party one belongs, what matters is how the average politician actualizes those ambitions while stroking and massaging their egos. Sadly enough, even among the few politicians who say the right things, the ultimate remains their greedy impulses. Because of the end goal, there is absolutely no need to remain in a party or platform if these goals cannot be met. Hence the reason for this mad movement from one political platform to the other. So, my people do not be fooled, they are repeating the same playbook we have seen all along. What a shame!
To say that our political process is flawed is an understatement. I have never seen a process so flawed that you already know nothing good will ever come out of it. The most frustrating part is even when elected officials try to fix the system, it is nothing but a ploy to further skew the process to their advantage. A closer look at the last attempt at electoral reform will reveal that it was nothing but a purposefully exercise designed to alienate the voters - even the election and voting schedules leave little or no time for the average voter to effectively assess the value of any candidates. In essence, we have so little of time between presidential primaries and the actual election that an individual cannot effectively assess the performance or non-performance of any candidates, thereby making it difficult for anyone to truly vet these persons. The entire process is a sham and a charade simply designed to get the voter to endorse the will of our political elite.
In America, elections begin almost two years prior to the actual voting. The first year one provides opportunities for political parties to conduct primaries, giving party members time to properly vet and decide who they would like to represent them in a general election. Once selected, the party and their candidates will then embark on the process of selling their ideologies and approach to the entire nation as a way of differentiating themselves from the other political parties or contestants. With such a timeline, voters have enough time to carefully evaluate prospective candidates and be able to make informed decisions in the voting booth. Not Nigeria! Comparatively, in Nigeria where the entire electoral process is crammed into under one year, and then given our shenanigans by politicians, this timeline is even further reduced due to the ineptitudes of our political parties with INEC’s complicity, you tell me how the average Nigerian voter could make any good choices regarding elected officials? You be the judge.
We are barely seven months away from our general elections, and to date only PDP has selected their flag bearers for the various political offices. And by the time the rest of the political parties select and field their candidates, it will be voting time. So, when will the voters have time to properly evaluate these candidates? With the above scenario, there is not much left for the average voter to do but to vote their stomach, at least, they are getting something out of a flawed process. Yes, this may seem the absolute wrong approach to elections, but it is the only option that most Nigerians have, so why not take advantage. Truly, two wrongs will never make a right, but when all your options are wrong…what should one expect?
Once again it is the season for politics and all over Nigeria politicians are busy wheeling and dealing and doing their political dance. Money bags are hard at work flaunting their wealth and trying to bid out everyone and anyone in their way. Meanwhile, some of our youth with nothing to do are ganging up as unknown gunmen to terrorize their own communities. Yes, like I mentioned in one of my older articles Dumb and Dumber, Nigerian leaders are dumb, but we the Nigerian masses are even dumber!
As most of you are aware, this recent movement by politicians from one party to another is nothing but their way of finding a landing place to actualize their personal and selfish ambitions. It has nothing to do with any politician trying to improve the lot of the masses! Don’t misunderstand me, there is nothing wrong with personal ambitions, what is wrong is the story we tell about our motives. Be real to the people that you purport to want to lead by telling them the truth about why you are defecting, they will respect you for telling the truth. Nevertheless, the simple reason most of these folks are defecting to other political parties is because they believe that their chances of achieving their political objectives may not be a viable in their current party.
Nigeria jaga-jaga when it comes to politics. Let us be real, our current political structure is designed to work for only the few. By the few, I mean those individuals lucky enough to have been drafted in the current cabal set up. This system is so designed to allow no outsider, unless drafted for your wealth, connections or as a relative of a current member. This close-knit isolated community live in a bubble oblivious of what the average Nigerian goes through daily to survive. They plan together, work together, and execute together, hence the reason it is awful difficult to penetrate this group. Belonging to a different political party does not prevent you from participating in cabal business, provided you have what it takes to be a member, and willing to share the largess if allowed access to the nation’s wealth.
Nigerian political landscape is jaga-jaga because the electorate have no hand in selecting who will represent them at any level. This job is left solely to the political elite who negotiate among themselves and adopt as either through a consensus candidate or via a rigged and crooked primary process. This person will now be presented to the people as their only choice for an election. It does not matter which political party, the playbook is the same, and we stupidly find ways to justify and adopt this imposed candidate as our choice. But do we have any choice? Probably not! The process as it is currently structured does not allow for an effective primary process that may flush out impostors, just whatever is presented by the party machinery. But no, everything in Nigeria has a price and there is absolutely no room for idealism or true leadership to help salvage a failing country.
Nigerian politics is jaga-jaga because going by what just transpired in the PDP primaries, it is pretty evident that the game of politics is not for the faint of heart. How can someone compete with the current set up? It is bad enough that to simply to pick a presidential form, one must fork over approximately N50,000,000 to N100,000,000. This does not man have the nomination, just to get your name in the book that you intend to run for the office of the president. The above notwithstanding, you then must be ready to dish out no less than $10,000 to $15,000 per delegate to enable you buy their votes during the primaries – hence the only way for a candidate can emerge as the flagbearer for any position is to have lots of money to share with political peers. It is without saying that only money bags will be able to rule Nigeria regardless of your mental of physical capacity, acuity, or ideas. In our political landscape – only the rich and wealthy would survive and – that’s about all the qualification you will need to run for election in Nigeria. Might I add that successful businesspeople seldom make good politicians – look around the world and see for yourself.
As we await the choices of APC and these other political parties regarding who they intend to force upon us clueless voters, let us continue to work and hope that this scenario currently at play will eventually be replace by an election process that will give the average voter some semblance of control of their political landscape. Also, do not forget that all politics if local – if we could focus on our local politics, we may eventually through good choices control national elections.
Watch out for my next blog where I will be making my predictions regarding this next Presidential election!
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