“What is wrong with Nigeria”? This is a question that pops out of every Nigerian at one point or the other, especially when confronted by personal circumstances or otherwise, which defy logic, rhyme and reason, over why they occur. Developments within the past fortnight featured a few of such incidents which not only threw up valuable lessons, but also betray the visceral inclination of many elements in the country’s leadership community, to resist and if possible thwart the course of change for the better. ‘Rule your world’, seems to be the only gospel they know and honour.
Osun polls: echoes from the ‘inconclusive’ phase and beyond
One of such developments remains the complement of events that coalesced into the recent show of shame that was Osun State gubernatorial polls which was ‘concluded’ during the week. By now the winners and losers in the exercise would be reflecting on the circumstances that defined their respective dividends, and thinking of the way forward. And there is much to look forward to.
Primary is the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), which made it a do or die affair to ensure that governance in the state did not change hands even with the abysmally disappointing record of service of the out-going Governor Rauf Aregbesola. After what was widely and consistently reported as the reign of insensitivity which breached the lofty promises of the ruling APC, the polls results showed that the party’s candidate Alhaji Gbadebo Oyetola eventually won thereby raising the spectre of a continuation of the mis-governance of the state in the next dispensation. That is unless the incoming governor – if he will be the same Oyetola – the winner of the polls, or someone else decides to play the game of Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano State and his Akwa Ibom State counterpart Emmanuel Udom, by ditching the shadows of their predecessors in office and being their own men.
Incidentally the Osun governor elect Oyetola did not coast home in a regular manner. In fact he was trailing the PDP candidate Senator Ademola Adeleke before the INEC declared the polls inconclusive and ordered a re-scheduled polls to be held last Thursday, being five days later. All hell was let loose during the conclusion of the polls, as the demons of Nigerian politics took over and the INEC delivered a most controvertible victory to the APC. The real face of the travesty of the conclusion of the Osun polls was that even journalists were denied access to the polling areas, while opponents of the APC were brutalized with reports of at least one killing somewhere there.
In a world where even robbers have a code of conduct governing their operations – no matter how nefarious, it is remarkable that some of the key actors in the Osun polls ran without any pretensions to a respect for any code of conduct especially in the concluding phase. The full complement of the vilest of Nigeria’s electoral malpractices were on open display. There is even a post on Whatsapp currently making the rounds that clearly show the face of a political leader – a former Deputy Governor of the state, openly sharing crisp Naira notes of a high denomination, to voters going into the polling booth. One interesting feature of the post was that the bag of money was held for him by a man in police uniform. Where were INEC’s anti vote buying measures? Besides can a picture lie? Maybe so, in this ICT world.
An out of place strike
Another development that captures the reluctance to change by the status quo is the avoidable onset of a general workers’ strike across the country. In spite of a 14-day warning by labour to government over resolving a long contentious issue of minimum wage, tardiness in managing its role by the government led to the country slipping into another general strike at a most inauspicious time. As at the last count, the labour which had stuck its gun at N65.000.00 as minimum wage for the country had conceded to N45,000,000.00 even as the government team has been floundering with the Minister of Labour Chris Ngige hardly defining a credible way forward. Can any Nigerian leader in all honesty stand up and say that workers do not deserve a higher minimum wage. Why then the delay in responding to labour demands even if not fully?
PDP: What’s in a convention venue?
If it did not learn anything from its loss of power in 2015 general polls, the serial instances of misfortunes that have trailed its sojourn since then should have taught the main opposition party the PDP not to stretch its luck too far this time. Even if it has forgotten its long walk back at reinventing, it could not have had the same take on the Ekiti polls loss nor the most recent Osun palaver. It is therefore bemusing that in the face of the suffocating grip of the one party style government of the APC and its associated administrative slips across the country, even as Nigerians are looking up to the PDP to proffer a credible alternative, the party is allowing itself to be distracted by shenanigans such as where to its host its forthcoming national convention.
As an indigene of the Rivers State and an original ‘Port Harcourt Boy’ for that, this author would ordinarily feel honoured that his city and home state qualify to host the PDP National Convention which if well managed, would decide the return of the PDP to reckoning – as it would produce, ratify and launch candidates for electoral offices. Yet, just as the African proverb says that when what is bigger than a farm appears, you can sell the barn to resolve the situation, Port Harcourt as host or not for the convention should not raise feathers. True, the National Chairman of the PDP Prince Uche Secondus and the Governor of the Rivers State Nyesom Wike played a prominent role in bringing the party out of the doldrums during its trying days, they should see their restoration work in the party as inconclusive, until the PDP stands erect. In this era of free movement of party members across party boundaries without protocol, if hosting the Convention in Abuja will serve their cause better, so be it.
PMB’s Sleeping partners at the UN
Mischief makers are at it again Oh! Of all the photographs that should have been posted on the address by President Muhamadu Buhari at the 77th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York last Tuesday, it was that of a man who looked like Governor of Edo State Mr. Godwin Obaseki and some other officials on the Nigerian delegation, that is trending. Granted that they had been compromised by the stress of jet lag and other challenges of long distance air travel why did they not rent a crowd to represent the country better by being alert as the President was presenting Nigeria’s position on the world stage?
Clearly, in all of these instances and others not mentioned, things could have been better if only change is on the cards.
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