June 12 And The Current Political Comedy Of Errors (By Anthony Ubani)..Opinion

By Anthony Ubani

With the 2015 elections still, at least, a year and a half away, the Nigerian political milieu has surprisingly become animated, boisterous and for the most part vigorous. So much so that Senate President David Mark recently cautioned politicians to stop over heating the polity with all sorts of incendiary public statements and actions. And as if to corroborate the concerns of the Senate President, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) also came out, just few days ago, to warn politicians to halt all partisan posturing forthwith in accordance with the dictates of the nation’s electoral laws. In just a few weeks, so much has happened on the political turf that has commanded daily front page media attention. Short of demoralizing readers with a recap of some of these recent political drama, I thought it better to rather attempt a satirical flashback. So let’s push the replay button!

ACT 1

Nigerians  awoke to the news of the court mandated dissolution of the Ake led PDP State Working Committee in Rivers State and the swearing in of Felix Obuah as the new PDP State Chairman. In a twinkle of an eye, the Rivers State House of Assembly unleashed a surprising suspension on Mr. Timothy Nsirim as Chairman of the Obio/Akpor Local Government Area council. Events are still unfolding in this fast moving story.

ACT 2

While Nigerians were still trying to make sense of political events in Rivers State, a contemporary comedy of errors that is now the infamous Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) election for a new Chairman began to play out in Abuja. By some uncanny logic that is only possible in Nigeria, the election rather than produce one Chairman and one vice-chairman actually produced two chairmen and two vice-chairmen. Before you could say Chibuike, one set of Governors had reassembled at another location and commenced the display of a sacred document which had the signatures of 19 Governors who had pledged support for Governor Jang before the election. Determined not to be outdone, the other group of Governors supporting Governor Amaechi, released a blockbuster NGF election phone-video for the whole country to watch. That video is now topping the chart as the most watched video, far beyond anything from Nollywood.

ACT 3

As if the NGF comedy of errors which was produced, directed and acted by 35 Governors was not enough excitement for Nigerians, the PDP decided to add another interesting twist to the plot by suspending Governor Amaechi from the party. But trust Amaechi, he won’t have any of that. So he quickly assembles a crack team of 17 white haired SANs and off they march straight to court to seek legal redress.

ACT 4

Flashback to Abuja and there you have Governor Jang who within days had secured a new secretariat for the NGF, fully furnished and for added effect, appointed a sole administrator for the new NGF secretariat. With the media in tow, Jang and his supporters declared open the new secretariat. But Governor Amaechi again refused to take that sitting down. So pronto, he flies into Abuja on - I think a commercial flight. Remember his private jet had been grounded even before they started auditioning for this comedy of errors. On arrival at the original NGF secretariat, he assured the DG and staff that there is no shaking and that their salaries will be paid regularly and business will continue as usual

Act 5

Not satisfied with all the action evolving without him, Governor Yuguda decides to enter the fray more prominently. He threatens never to attend the Northern State Governors Forum (NSGF) again. But majority of the Northern Governors felt there was no need to make threats when they could actually take immediate action. So without much ado, they boycotted the already scheduled NSGF meeting.

ACT 6

Now, with all the back and forth going on in the political arena, somebody had to step in to proffer some solution that could diffuse all the tension. So, in comes the godfather himself, Chief Tony Anenih. In his typical frank and open style he declares to his brethren at the PDP family dinner that he is a politician and therefore he was going to proffer a political solution. And that is exactly what he did. The godfather boldly recommended a free ticket from the party to all those who are found to be loyal to the party and have discharged their official responsibilities to Nigerians very well. The storms are still gathering as a consequence of that recommendation which some have dared to disrespectfully label unconstitutional.

ACT 7

Suspecting that the suspension of Amaechi from the south might be misconstrued as tribalism, the PDP which is forever thinking of equity, fairness and justice decided to move proactively to suspend Governor Wamakko of Sokoto State.. So now the suspension equation is balanced between the north and the south. One scapegoat from the south and one scapegoat from the north and so everybody can now live happily ever after.

ACT 8

With Wamakko suspended, Nigerians breathed a sigh of relief believing that its finally all over. How wrong they were. Some cheeky politicians went all the way to the UK and mobilized some hapless black skinned individuals purported to be Nigerians living in the UK. And what do we have. Scenes of placard carrying people claiming to be protesting the dictatorial tendencies of our own dear President Jonathan. Now this is really something! The same President Jonathan that they have spent the last two years accusing of being too weak, too humble and too quiet. Now that is the same man that has, according to them, suddenly morphed into a modern day Idi Amin type dictator. Welcome to Nigeria.

ACT 9

With all the high wire political drama unfolding in the country, the yet to be registered APC felt left out of all the fun. And you are damn right, they will have none of that. So before you could say Asiwaju, they have gathered their principal men for a meeting to select interim leaders for their unregistered APC. But that was not to be. Like a tale foretold, the noise coming out of the meetings speak more of disagreements, disenchantment, disapproval and dissatisfaction. Who will decide who gets what in APC? And so the confusion continues. On the backdrop of this developing comedy of errors is the simmering rage, amongst the leading voices in the APC merger, over statements credited to Buhari which indicated that the declaration of a state of emergency in three states of the North was anti-North. The last have not been heard of this unfolding APC headache!

ACT 10

Thankfully there is as yet no Act 10. Now on a more serious note, what is the significance of the above satire. Keeping in mind that today is June 12, a day which for most Nigerians remains a sacred symbol of the very successful but botched election in 1993 which could have heralded democracy in Nigeria with Bashorun MKO Abiola as President. Have we learnt anything at all from the events of June 12. The struggle. The suffering. The lives and properties lost. The near decent into civil war.

Apparently not. Today, we see politicians on all sides strutting around the political landscape with careless desperation. No one seems bothered about the wellbeing of Nigerians or Nigeria. After 14 years of unbroken democratic civilian rule, this is no way to behave. Our politicians can and should behave better. They cannot claim they are still learning. It is about time that our political leaders commit to providing visionary leadership and serve with purpose and integrity. The present confusion in the political arena is neither complimentary nor reassuring. Nigerians are clearly disappointed with the bad behaviour politicians are exhibiting publicly. What is needed at this time is a large dose of discipline, maturity, compromise and patriotism. We can clearly do better than the present chaos. Terrorism. Religious bigotry. Ethnic and tribal causes are now publicly promoted with passion. Accusing fingers pointing back and forth have become the other of the day. And while all these are going on, common sense, reason, peace and development have taken flight.

Our political leaders will do well to pull back from the brink and skilfully steer the Nigerian ship to the beautiful banks of peace, unity, growth and development. That is the best way, indeed the only way to honour the memories of Bashorun Abiola and all the other great Nigerians who paid the highest price so that we can have and enjoy democracy, development and liberty.

Dr Anthony Ubani was the former DG of PDP Abuja and Deputy Pro Chancellor African Business School

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