Maneuver

shown the way out. Now Buhari who the same vicious gang picked up from the dungeon of disfavor, packaged and promoted as the best thing that could ever happen to Nigeria, has derailed from the line and is being asked to exit. Unlike the case with Jonathan when public sentiment against him was largely procured and contrived in a grand study of collective conspiracy against an incumbent, the mood about Buhari is truly and deeply fouled so much so that his undeclared second term ambition is already considered an affront to the sensibilities of millions of Nigerians suffering untold hardship under his government.

It has thus become very convenient for Obasanjo and his co-puppeteers to point the way forward without as much as taking responsibility and apologizing to Nigerians for afflicting the country with an unprepared and incompetent administration. The ‘Coalition for Nigeria’ which he vigorously prescribes as antidote to the Buhari fiasco may be interpreted as an unspoken recompense for leading the country to the current bind. But let us even give him the benefit of the doubt and say that is the case; a couple of questions would arise. What is the coalition about? Who are the persons in it and how are they different from the lot that has held the country hostage all these years? Why shouldn’t we be looking at strengthening existing political parties – 68 of them at the last count – instead of further littering the space with platforms for seeking offices? How is this so-called third force different from what theAPC promised when it stormed the polity in 2014 and tore the already shrunk umbrella of the PDP into shreds? In any case, why can we not push to have independent candidates who would stand on the honour of their names and proven integrity instead of lumping together with strange bird fellows?Already, there is so much noise about the ‘third force’ such that it is sounding more cacophonous and confusing unlike the clarity and freshness that should be expected from a supposedly new breed political movement. This demands an appropriate call to action, which would be for a thorough interrogation of the individual faces and names being clustered together in this ‘third force’ contraption.

We must avert a situation whereby at the end of the day, Nigerians would have been put through a blind dance orchestra with little or nothing to show for the excitement and energies generated and dissipated. Like we have seen with the current dramatis personae, the new kids on the block (as they then were) initially spoke the right language and struck the right chords to endow a sense of gratification in the masses which were romanticized in orgasmic campaigns of disguised lies and false promises.As weeks turned to months and the years rolled by, the lies have been exposed and gaping inadequacies unveiled; promises which have been not only out rightly cancelled, but have been moderated mid-way in rather unscrupulous fashion. The brutal conclusion is that citizens have once again been taken for a ride, mesmerized and dumped in the lurch by a cold-conscience political class united in their self-aggrandizing mission. They have come again seeking to ingratiate themselves to the masses and masquerade about as the messiah that would clean theAegean’s stable and make the land green again. Nigerians are tired of repeating the same circle of deceit, frustration and ingratiation that has left the country eons behind among its peers in the international community. The third force thing is a nebulous subterfuge being promoted by the real estate owners of Nigeria.