I am currently staring at a newspaper published by the competition. I can see a photograph which President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) took with the governors. There are several faces. In the process, memories keep flooding in. I am looking at a particular fellow, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) governor who crossed from Labour and whose victory was legally catalysed by the then Action Congress of Nigeria. I remember him for the way in which he treated his deputy. The said deputy, probably aping his boss, decided to do his own defection from PDP to APC. And promptly, his impeachment was arranged. Do not talk about double standards here. There is really no morality in Nigerian politics – only self-interest.
There are others in the picture too. The labour leader whose initial aim was to join the PDP, and who ultimately birthed in the ACN, which, as you know, metamorphosed into the brand new APC – change! Somewhere in the picture is also our famous Ogbeni, smiling – the poster boy of the defaulting governors whose forte is the numbing issue of unpaid salaries. And I am saying poster-boy if only because Ogbeni is not alone in this game. By the latest count, there are at least 10 other governors in this category.
One cannot but wonder at this anomaly. Is Nigeria at war? No. But on second thoughts, the answer could well be yes. The war is really between the ruler and the ruled. In terms of specifics, the former has indeed declared war on the latter. For, how else can we understand what is happening in Osun and other states? This is because, as we speak, and if newspaper revelations are anything to go by, while civil servants remain unpaid in these states, security allowance for the governors continues to be drawn, heartlessly.
Apparently, there is a lack of amnesia about the fact that inherent in security is the idea of human security. It is this issue of Human Security which comes to mind as I read another headline on the kidnapping of a regent in Ondo State. The mind goes back again. What initially started as an activity with all the trappings of a Robin Hood has since become a national industry. Indeed, it is an industry with no sacred cows.
Yet, it could be said that we had it coming. This is because, if truth must be told, and in figurative terms, over time, our politicians, governors and all, have successfully kidnapped the Nigerian treasury in Abuja and in virtually all the state capitals. It is therefore arguable that the impunity in the kidnapping of the treasury has led to the usual and orthodox kidnappings. Therefore, it is little wonder that the main headline in this particular newspaper says it all. And so, I quote: “Buhari blows hot, vows to recover all stolen funds”. And in a way that seems to indicate that we have never had it so bad, PMB contends that even the free-loaders of the Second Republic were not as venal as the immediate past administration. One can only hope here that the new government of PMB will not live up to this perverse billing.
Even then, the gloom and despair on the self-same page continues. This becomes obvious from the uproar in the Senate and House of Representatives over leadership positions. Again a number of negative dimensions come to mind here. So it is all about the struggle for leadership positions while the nation bleeds away economically. The struggle is completely divorced from the masses out there who supposedly voted in these thugs –sorry, legislators.
Meanwhile, the despair has been deepened by another teaser on the front page. This time around, dear reader, come with me to the South-East. In this particular context, there was the heart-rending revelation that “Businesses close shop over abandoned Aba-Ikot Ekpene Road”. Details of this depressing report as revealed in the inner pages indicate that this highway used to host 46 filling stations, 15 mechanic workshops, seven hotels, eight schools, 32 palm beaches, three farm settlements and four manufacturing companies. Sad. Even the accompanying picture says it all. The pictured road looks like something out of Somalia.
The endless despair is also vivid in the untimely death of Emman Ezeazu, whose passage was highlighted in the front page courtesy of a write-up by Ogoga Ifewodo. What, if any, is the relationship between Ezeazu and the various indices of despair in this piece? Ezeazu in his lifetime was at the barricades in the quest for a better Nigeria. This means that the ranks of those who stood for a wholesome Nigeria has been reduced. As I scanned these various headlines in the Vanguard newspaper of June 24, 2015, I sighed. Despair settles in. I remember that famous work, ‘Bound to Violence’ by Yambo Ouloguem, the Malian writer. Under the rather depressing circumstances, the mind reformulates that title to read: Bound to Despair.
Kayode Soremekun
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