Electorate: Mystery of a permanent fool
It is usually chalked up as a coincidence when one is bitten by same snake at the same time in the same spot. The third time it happens at same scenario, one is undoubtedly a fool. No mistake. That is the irony of the Nigerian masses, electorates to be precise.
For all that has been said and done, Nigeria’s political melodrama merits a place in the book of comic history. This is not to say that it might not sire a place in the Guinness Book of Records, it is even beyond such honour. Since the colonial and military regimes characterized by several juntas gave way to the enthronement of democracy, the players under such system have played, and continue to play a number of roles. They are the three musketeers; politicians, political parties and the electorates. Make no mistake all parties must interplay in the democratic settings to sustain the country’s infant democracy.
You may decide to question the justification of the permanent fool, or if there is any, among the aforementioned triple players of democracy. And with the trend of political prostitution (please pardon my manners), where crosscarpeting from one party to the other by politicians at the slightest opening, propaganda ploys masterminded by parties and politicians, politicization of every issue on the news circus and all that is common place; I cannot fault you for attempting to establish the permanent fool. In fact, it is the right thing to do as you swim across this piece.
In x-raying the yardstick for picking out the permanent fool, one need not be very brave, or slightly less, to know that Nigerian politicians irrespective of their affiliations on the grounds of region, tribe, religion, class and ideologies, sire the enthusiasm for the gratification of a common goal: self-interest! Yet, because pretence is maybe a distinct feature of the electorates, they pretend to need a pat on their head to understand this. Same old snake; lies, propaganda, deceit, which had bitten our forefathers, is biting us, and is destined to sting posterity!
If they cross-carpet at every window of opportunity to one party or cohort, what makes one think the interest of the electorates is assigned any atom of relevance by politicians and political parties? If electorates continue to see feeding on leftovers meant for dogs and cats of their lifetime, how can they not merit every letter of the word ‘fool’?
Being a fool, or a permanent one stands for two things viz; repetition of same mistakes during the polls over and over again, and, making a right decision at the polls but failing short to exercise patience to reap the fruits of a hard fought struggle. Either ways, both remain fools. And if we are yet to realise how foolish we’ve been, it’s because our foolishness has reached menopause. And oh, a fool at forty is said to be a fool forever. I need a calculator to know whether or not we’ve reached or eclipsed the 40 years mark since our first shot at democracy!
Suhailat Abdullahi, Communication Dept., IBB Lapai Niger State. Mass University,