Nigeria is a theatre of political absurdities. Nothing in Nigerian politics surprises me. Politics is not people-based. No, it is not. Nigerian politicians are not predictable. They changed political parties at will depending on where their personal interests are buttered, even when the constitution may have prohibited it. I think political parties in Nigeria are just associations of the same fellows in different vehicles. These politicians can abandon any of the vehicles and their fellows beings for the other vehicles just for their comforts and not the interests of the people.
I think we have no party and party discipline in Nigeria. The political parties we have are just parties in name. The political parties are just vehicles for misconduct. Nigerian politicians, except a few, have no respect for parties’ discipline. I think the best thing in the Nigerian political lexicon is prostitution.
Many Nigerian politicians have polygamous political platforms. They are not faithful to any political party. Politics of political fornication and waywardness has destroyed political maturity and principled politics founded on ideologies that better the lot of the people. Once a Nigerian politician senses that he or she is out of water of sharing of the national cake, he or she returns to the same dirty water condemned day before yesterday. Such is the brand of our democracy. That is why today, Nigerians are at the mercy of bad governance.
In Nigeria, many of the politicians are members of almost all political parties. These politicians have their hands and legs in almost all political parties’ activities, though dual membership of political parties is outlawed. You see politicians in one party canvassing for votes or promoting candidates of other parties, and nothing happens to them. There is political rascality openly professed and displayed by people who ought to show leadership. Nigeria is almost doomed. I weep for my country.
Most of these Nigerian politicians do such unlawful activities that one wonders why nothing is being done to curtail their misconduct and indiscipline. There is no party discipline in Nigeria. Virtually all politicians are just dishonest. I have no respect for these crooked politicians. Only a few Nigerian politicians are decent. The decent ones are almost frustrated by followerships that may even be worse than the leaders they follow.
Many of these Nigerian politicians are just political prostitutes. They engage in political sexual intercourse anyhow and anywhere so long as their selfish interests are buttered. No nation of good conscience should think twice before replacing many of those politicians and even most of those in the corridors of power. The performance of these crops of leadership has been too abysmal for continuity. But in Nigeria, those who performed abysmally very low always pride themselves as the best that Nigerians can get. Many Nigerians are not optimistic about anything better than what we have now. Nigerians have decided to look unto God for a miracle of good leadership.
Those who should be in prisons are not in prisons. In fact, they are the ones who may even send decent Nigerians to prison. People worship these crooked politicians. Many celebrate corruption and praise the promoters of crooks. Countries that promote, celebrate, worship, honour, and accord respect to only those with unexplained wealth but refuse to honour and celebrate those with impeccable honesty and integrity cannot be taken seriously in the eyes of right-thinking members of any reasonable society.
Nigeria seems to fall within the categories of these countries where, in most cases, some charlatans determine the fortunes of the best, while the best of the best are left to be wasted away. Sad, but that is the reality of our society. I am not a fan of those who celebrate the so-called philanthropists of our time, whose sources of wealth are of doubtful origin. Stealing the commonwealth of the people and pretending to be philanthropists is the worst heights of robbery and corruption. You can’t be a thief and pretend to be a philanthropist. No, you are just a thief.
Today, those who have no love of the people have started plotting how to continue to enslave Nigerians in the years ahead. Things are not getting better as it should be. Something must be done about political indiscipline and prostitution if our democracy must yield dividends for the good of the people. The brand of democracy today in Nigeria appears to fall within the family of political tyranny and terrorism, and only those who can endure such political terror and become slaves to a clean conscience hope to survive the primordial partisan tsunami.
The views expressed by contributors are strictly personal and not of Law & Society Magazine.
