Saturday 11 January 2014

Politics of Their Belly


This bad song has been playing from a distance for so long a time, but today it is fully here with us: And so all of a sudden, as long as you are in the opposition, you are a progressive, but for so long as you are on the other side, you are a non-progressive element; you are corrupt, and you are the one to be booted out of office. This is politicking a la Nigeriana.
 
Now the ACN or its off shoot - the APC have always touted themselves as the progressives. And so anything that is not on this side of the opposition is condemned to the dust bin of non-progressives and a bunch of no-goods.  My disappointment is that politics in Nigeria and by extension, Nigerian politicians and their parties completely lack structure, and are also completely bereft of philosophy, and most importantly – ideological leanings of any sort.

It is rather befuddling to see the level of political ‘prostituting’ going on lately in the political landscape in the nation where politicians cross-carpet at will without the slightest remorse. It is indeed shameful and I dare say a huge betrayal of trust on the hapless electorates that voted these people into power. Why would somebody ‘win’ an election under a political platform only to cross over to another without being voted for; Why are we surprised at all that it is happening today, even unabatedly?  When this immoral phenomenon first reared its ugly head (just like in the case of Boko Haram) some decade or so ago in our ever ‘nascent’ democracy, nothing was done to check it, probably because it favoured those who were in power then, etc. I strongly think a law should be passed to make such behaviours illegal.

And so, for the APC to be constantly wooing members of the PDP to come join the party absolutely leaves a sour taste in the mouth. The PDP or its members that are supposedly ‘anti progressive, corrupt and, destroyers of the people’, are suddenly finding willing suitors in the blossoming APC! But this is nothing more than politics of the belly. These people are just after their own selfish gains – get power and of course wealth which ever way. It is all about them and not us. By the way, I am neither a fan of President Goodluck Jonathan nor the PDP because they have failed all of us. But for these so called progressives to even pay a visit to Obasanjo in his Otta farm settlement in the same bid to woo him to their side, leaves a lot to be desired.  I mean, if you are inviting everybody to join you, is it not the same as going to join everybody in the first place?

Like one columnist – Calistus Oke once asked recently – please I want to reiterate, “Where are the Nnamdi Azikiwes, Obafemi Awolowos, and the Ahmadu Bellos” of today; Is there nobody  out there with a vision, or a dream for the future generation? Like-minded patriots with vision must come together to rescue this nation. And I must remind us – like a wise man once said: “The evil persists because good people do nothing.


By: Morgan Nwanguma

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