The dissonance between what Nigerian politicians profess before the public and in front of the cameras and what they believe or admit to close aides and friends in the closet are worlds apart. And this goes to show the quality of leadership the country parades and why it is retrogressing despite its promise and the amount of resources available to it.
Rotimi Amaechi, minister of Transport and director-general of the Buhari-Osinbajo Presidential Campaign Organisation, was caught on tape decrying the dismal failure of the Buhari administration while characterising the president as one who does not read and is not moved by criticisms and complaints. He also dismissed the country as hopeless, helpless, and up to no good.
While the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has been celebrating the release of the tape, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) or, more appropriately, media aides of the president, while not denying that the voice in the tape was Ameachi’s, maintain that it was doctored to present both Amaechi and the president in bad light.
On his part, the minister has refused to either confirm or deny the authenticity of the tape, a time-tested strategy of waiting for the storm to blow over.
Regardless, the leaked tapes offer rich insights into the thinking and hypocrisy of the average Nigerian politician who puts up the appearance of being the most patriotic Nigerian with the zeal to transform the country but inwardly, does not believe in the viability of the country and is prepared to sell the country for a mess of pottage.
“Three years of Buhari o, everybody is crying: pressmen are crying, farmers are crying, workers are crying, politicians are crying, students are crying, three years o! The rate of poverty is very high. The people are hungry. Nigeria will never change,” Amaechi was caught on tape saying.
He was, however, careful to warn his listeners that what he was saying was only meant for their ears alone and must not make it to the public space.
“These are not things you publish o. If you publish them, you will never sit with me any day,” he said in the tape that has gone viral on social media.
In another of the leaked tapes, Amaechi went personal, offering an insight into the president’s character.
“The president does not listen to anybody. He doesn’t care. You can write what you want to write. The president doesn’t care. Does he read? He will read, he will laugh. He will say, ‘Come, come and see, they are abusing me here.’ In fact, there was one case of somebody in Onitsha, a trader in Onitsha who couldn’t sell his goats during Sallah. And I was with Oga on the plane and the man was busy abusing Buhari. He said, ‘Amaechi, come, what is my business with Onitsha goat seller?’” the minister was heard saying.
Finally, and most telling of all, Amaechi dismissed the country as a failure and a lost cause.
“This country can never change, I swear. The only way this country can change is if everybody is killed. This country is going nowhere, I swear,” he said.
“Even if you divide the country into 10, it will still not change. I’m not joking o. When Magnus (Abe) was my SSG, I told him that this country is hopeless and helpless. He said, ‘Oga, stop it now. Coming from a governor, don’t be saying that.’ But two months in Abuja, Magnus said this country is hopeless and helpless. I said, ‘Why?’ He said, ‘You are right, the only thing they do in Abuja is share money, they don’t work.’” He was further heard saying.
Yet, in public, the same Amaechi will regale Nigerians with the good works of the Buhari presidency, assuring the youths that Buhari will secure their future.
“I only have a simple but candid advice to Nigerian youths and that is: come 2019 elections, they should vote for Buhari because their future is at stake,” Amaechi said at the 2018 Future Awards in Lagos.
This brings to mind the revelation by Eghosa Osaghae, vice chancellor of Igbinedion University, at the 2017 Platform, of his discussion with an unnamed American ambassador to Nigeria, who, as the professor narrated, challenged him to name any Nigerian, dead or alive, that truly believes in the country and has its interest at heart.
Osagahe said the ambassador pointedly told him that all Nigerians he had met before and while serving in the country were prepared to sell off the country for their private gains.
A Nigerian on Twitter, Collins, captured Amaechi’s hypocrisy succinctly when he queried, “You do not believe the country can get better unless everybody is killed, yet you receive taxpayers’ money every month as salary to do what you don’t believe in.”
That explains why, despite the effusive claim to patriotism by leaders and politicians, Nigeria still remains a backwater country with broken education, health, and other critical infrastructure necessary to help Nigerians lead meaningful lives, while the leaders ensure they and their families have access to these facilities in the developed countries of the world.
Perhaps, Vladimir Putin, the strongman of Russia, had Nigeria in mind when was said to have described Africa as nothing but a cemetery for Africans.
“When an African becomes rich, his bank accounts are in Switzerland. He travels to France for medical treatment. He invests in Germany. He buys from Dubai. He consumes Chinese. He prays in Rome and Mecca. His children study in Europe. He travels to Canada, USA, Europe for tourism. If he dies, he will be buried in his country of Africa. Africa is just a cemetery for Africans. How could a cemetery be developed?” Putin was quoted to have said.
Unsurprisingly, in a fourth Amaechi tape, Thursday night, the minister was again heard boasting that all his children live abroad and his salary as a minister cannot cater for their expenses.
“My salary is N960,000. APC takes N100,000. How much will remain? It won’t pay; all my kids are overseas, all. My first son is in Dublin, my second son is in Canada, and my third son is in Britain. It won’t pay any of their fees,” he was heard saying.
Going by Amaechi’s claim of not earning enough to pay his children’s fees abroad, the rational step of action was for him to decline public office and go into private business to be able to raise enough money to cater for his family abroad.
But no, he still remains in politics and government in Nigeria because politics, in the words of Claude Ake, Africa’s foremost political economist, “is now the established way to wealth”. So, those who win state power “can have all the wealth they want even without working, while those who lose the struggle for state power cannot have security in the wealth they have made even by hard work”. Predictably, therefore, the struggle for the capture of state power “inevitably becomes a matter of life and death”.
It is also why Nigeria’s political terrain is devoid of ideology, principles, and morals. It is all about personalities, interests, and the spoils of power. Consequently, political parties that should serve the important functions of bringing together those with the same ideological persuasions have been turned to mere vehicles for capturing power.
Therefore, there is no distinction between the parties and politicians hop from one party to another in desperate quest for platforms on which they will ride to power – and ultimately, wealth. As the saying goes, there is no permanent friend or enemy but interest.
That is why Kaduna State Governor Nasir El Rufai, for instance, in 2010 described Buhari as old, expired, and “perpetually unelectable”, when their interest did not align, but turned round in 2015 to urge Nigerians to vote for the same Buhari because only he possesses the ability to solve Nigeria’s existential problems.
This type of hypocrisy is the norm among Nigerian political leaders, starting from the president, who projected the image of an ascetic, disciplined, incorruptible ex-general who would break from the practice of political leaders living a luxurious life while the people they claim to serve live in abject poverty.
No sooner had he ascended to power than he jettisoned all his promises during the campaigns. He has led the way in public officials seeking medical treatment overseas for even minor ailments. His children are also studying abroad.
So, the next time you hear a Nigerian politician mouthing patriotic slogans, go beyond the spoken words and look at what he does, where his family lives, where his children go to school, where they access healthcare, go for vacation, and so on.
Christopher Akor
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