On Saturday, May 28, the search for Nigeria’s next president took off on a more definite note, with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) holding its presidential primary that day. After a purportedly keenly contested election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar emerged as the party’s flag bearer for the 2023 poll.
On the same day, in a city far away from Abuja, the venue of PDP’s primary, an event took place that claimed the lives of at least 31 people. They were Nigerians who went in search of life and livelihood, but tragically found death- or death found them. Those Nigerians who died in Port Harcourt responded to a general invitation that asked the hungry poor to come for free food and gifts. So instructive that Port Harcourt is one of the oil-rich capital cities in Africa’s largest economy, governed by one of the PDP presidential aspirants and the home state of one of the leading APC presidential hopefuls.
Like a tale of the “haves and haves not”, whilst political merchants were busy with their lucrative trades in Abuja in glamour and luxury, the masses who they claim to serve were trampling on each other in a survival-of-the-fittest struggle to collect free lunch from a non-governmental organisation, which seeks to feed hungry “voters”, whose fate is being determined by “overfed” delegates.
It’s a world of two extremes of a nation, without any correlation or connection. Even as it remains a rumour, many believe that the election was an auction, with the highest bidder winning at the close out of the “Bazaar”. After all, the son of a former vice president, who lost out his bid for a ticket to the legislative chamber requested that delegates return his money and even confirmed that it was an agreement reached by the party leaders for losers to get a refund from delegates.
So, whilst the political elites engaged in the game of thrones defined by the price tags on delegates, the hungry and destitute had thronged to an overcrowded venue of free food, where they were sadly trampled to death. They went in the hope of getting food so they could live, but unfortunately, they walked into the jaws of death.
We are yet to witness the mother of all presidential primaries, perhaps. In a few days’ time, it will be the turn of the ruling All Progressives Congress to showcase its galaxy of political juggernauts and heavyweights. APC’s presidential primary is billed for early next week and pundits say it may not be different from the episode of its main opposition, after all, many of the gladiators were formerly with the PDP, including the leadership of the party, so they understand the game. The ruling class continues to live in luxury, displaying glory and glamour at the expense of the ruled, who are busy constantly scouting for food to help them keep body and soul together.
The organisers lamented at the sight of the crowd, who trooped into the venue much earlier than the scheduled time, thus undermining the security arrangements and other logistics. They probably forgot that our dear nation is the world capital of poverty, with some 90 million people or over 45 per cent of the population living in abject poverty, more than the estimate for India and indeed worse than the statistics in war-ravaged countries of Afghanistan and Iraq. Unfortunately, many more Nigerians have been thrown into poverty by the elite politicians, with a complement from COVID-19.
With Nigerians queuing by Friday night in anticipation of free food to be shared on Saturday, how can one describe the sheer insensitivity of our so-called leaders, who feel comfortable at the grandeur of political rallies, conventions and primaries, where they display affluence and challenge each other, most times using the resources that belong to the poor, who are dying of hunger and curable diseases. Was it a mere coincidence that on the day PDP selected its presidential candidate, hunger was driving ordinary Nigerians to their untimely grave? So sad that human life, or perhaps I clarify, the life of the poor, has become so “meaningless” to the political gladiators that they really do not feel any real pulse, except when simulated for an “ungenuine” show of sympathy, in their cunny ways of hypnotising the poor – a strategy which many of the politicians have mastered in enslaving the unsuspecting innocent poor masses.
Nigerian polity has unfortunately lost public purpose, with even supposed professionals turning out to be worse when they clinch unto power. Sometimes people say there is a monster in power, but the reality is there is no monster anywhere – if there is any, it is “greed”. Few or no politician today has real sense of purpose and people just want to either sustain themselves in power or gain entry into the “club” because they want to have their share of the national cake. Unfortunately, the poor also fuel their ambitions and help to realise them through the same greed, with which politicians enslave the poor.
The poor will stop at nothing to get a politician into power once he gets paid or once he feels he will benefit from such a politician if he wins the election. It does not matter if he is the right candidate for the office or not; it is about alignment and selfish interest. This is why nothing gets done in the interest of the country. Today is really sad, but more worrisome is what becomes of the country tomorrow, if we continue on this path!
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