Politics: No one masters it
WEven if we have security challenges, he can still appear e can no longer afford to be bystanders in the affairs of our country. When there are issues with the ruling party, we are affected in one way or the other. When we think we are too remote to be affected, when we believe we are too clean to be involved, when we pretend not to be involved, when we hope matters will sort themselves out, when we say we are neutral, when we look the other way, when we indulge in the familiar elitist escapism, believing others will do something while we day-dream, we consciously invest in sorrow, but more importantly, we cannot afford to turn around to complain when things tragically go wrong.
It is in this context that I, a bonafide Nigerian, better known and addressed as a freeborn Nigerian, throw my hat into the ring. In so doing, I am acutely conscious of the fact that I will draw fire, but I do not care how bloody it gets, so long it is fought with canon pens and news print, if I might paraphrase Malam A.B. Ahmed, former Editor of the Sunday New Nigerian and of blessed memory.
Secondly, I do not have to be a card-carrying member of APC to qualify to comment about what goes on in the party. My interest as a Nigerian, which is affected by how APC rules or misrules, is enough.
My interest in what goes on in APC is further deepened by my sense of history. In those heady days of the First Republic, when one faulty step led to the next, until we had a full crisis in the West, and subsequently, the whole country, bystanders were not spared. If anything, they were the cannon fodder that fed the bowel of the violence. Crisis is so contagious that often times, it is better not to have it at all than hope to stop it once it starts.
It is in furtherance of this that I, at the risk of repetition, heretofore join the fray to save APC from itself and by extension, the country from combusting because of the acts of commission or omission by elements within or without the ruling party. I have given enough justification for this patriotic duty! Those who would rather allow the party steam in its juice are as equally entitled to this right or feeling, for come to think of it, when a ruling party begins to waltz into a tailspin, the opposition, like James Hadley Chase’ Vulture, waits!
Now back to the real issue, from the North to the South, East to the West, the party is convulsing. There are fissures everywhere spewing lava. The Tinubu reconciliation committee .... with so much debris strewn in its path, it’s difficult to say where it has gone or its last known address. Sometimes, the lion, king of the jungle, rests its hindquarters in the sparse shade of the shriveled savannah sapling.
The internal battles, nay, wars in the party are so frightening it is beginning to look like there are no frontlines, no rears, and no rules. All we have is a bloody dirty war to which everything gets thrown in at the same time. If this sounds too dramatic or hyperbolic a description of the situation, then to what do we compare it? A marriage? Yes, but it would be a marriage without honeymoon, for from day one when some members of the National Assembly did their little coup, there has been small sleep, retractable forgiveness, no peace. Even when it looked like the Code of Conduct Tribunal had mercifully provided a credible fire escape, the Executive went on an appeal and appears set to exact its pound of flesh, or so it seems, in clear disregard to the time-honoured Chinese credo that those who seek vengeance, should dig two graves (the first for themselves, and the second for their quarry).
Is it also comparable to a brawl in the motor park? Yes. They carry sledge hammers, cross bars and Molotov. It ends as quickly as it starts but it never really finishes as long as the dough keeps rolling in. To what else should we compare this fight? PDP under Jonathan in his twilight days? Once again, yes! But with the PDP of yore, you knew the old guard, and the young Turks. With this APC
He should just keep on ignoring them. No need for the IGP to appear before the thing, it is difficult to say who the bad guys are, that is if there are any good ones left standing. Your best friend could be the one undermining you. Your erstwhile confidant could be the one informing on you. Your erstwhile ally could be the one turning you in. There is always something in it.
The optimists, however say, election years are like that. People want to test the waters, stake here and there. Losing is as good as winning as settlement comes swiftly, pre and post election. Dr John Kayode Fayemi, Minister of Mineral Resources, a diplomat-cum strategist per excellence has just set up an electioneering committee comprising his opponents whom he defeated at the Ekiti governorship primaries. Smart guy!
Some die-hard do not even think anything of what is happening. They are emboldened by the phenomenon known as buharimania. It is a whirlwind, a tsunami. Nothing stands in its way. If in doubt, watch the video clips of his visits to Nasarawa and Jigawa states. Everything will be fine again once the wind blows. All the squabbles will come to an end. (Never mind those folks chuckling in the corner that the conditions precedent for the Eagle to re-invent itself before it strikes again are harrowingly painful. The Eagle goes into hiding, smashes or breaks its beak, forcefully removes its feathers in the most painful way. Everything grows back anew before the Eagle reappears, ready to soar and strike in a storm.)
However the self-propelling gale of protests, and if you don’t mind, violence after the APC congresses seems to cast some pall on the initial feeling of invincibility and makes compelling the need to have a Turn-Around Master at the helm of the party.
The party needs a proactive, firm but charismatic leader with a sense of justice, courage to do justice and a track record of performance and discipline. I do believe Adams Oshiomhole, mni, the immediate past Governor of Edo State has these credentials. He also has uncommon negotiation skills, Bello Usman Shehu necessary ingredients for putting out fires before they become roaring flames. A party leader must of necessity learn to negotiate. It is the second law of politics. Do not ask me what the first law is if you are not aspiring to be one. Most of these raging fires today were no more than flickers yesterday.
The APC needs a master craftsman, a turn-around maintenance engineer, a welder, a bridge builder, a salesman, an organiser, a mobilliser, a long-distance runner and a guy who could talk his way through anything.
But APC does have a choice. To go into extinction. Ordinarily, when a ruling party fragments or squanders its goodwill, it is given a royal burial by friends and foes. It gives way to others. This grows and strengthens democracy. It happened to PDP that promised to rule for sixty years. It has happened in Ghana again and again and that has earned them respect from the international community, even if it has not exactly put food on the table.
In the present case of Nigeria, beyond partisan passion, this is a plausible option. The only challenge here for the time being is the absence of the flag bearer in the opposition camp...the flag bearer around whom believers and non-believers, hatchet men, assassins, fixers, pimps, minstrels, and pall bearers and their mobs will gather. When you seize power without the flag man, it vapourises with each person clutching to what they have. This is extremely dangerous. And make no mistake about this, strategic support from within and without the country will place a lot of premium on this.
Given the centrifugal forces that have been at play, only few would desire this option, any way. But politicians do not care about tomorrow. After all, tomorrow belongs to the future. Neither do they remember yesterday. It has gone. Politics! No one masters it.