“He is a confirmed DRUG LORD. He is a CONFIRMED Drug User… Everything about him is fake, unreal and criminal… And I can never work with or for him.” Heavy and weighty… Were those words just politics or grave allegations? Heavy on the character of someone, do we entirely dismiss them as reckless politics? Those were huge issues in every respect, never trashed or resolved, with the Alleger never retracting or recanting them, with the spurned never calling for ‘truth’, or were the words true? What do I know? I may not know much, but I am certain that the entire spectacle not only being murky is reckless. How will the witness of the Alleger now turncoat, weigh? How much of a credible witness will he be? What character will be attached to his person and brief? How seriously will he be considered? But ours is a reckless nation where nothing counts and everything is politics. Sad.
Even more reckless is the fact that the turncoat Alleger will soon become the face of the nation somewhere, as the cycle of the reckless, the inane and the insane continue unbroken. What we say now may not matter to Politricktians, after all the Senate is lame-duck and rubber-stamp, they will pass, approve and validate whatever comes from the President BUT will that change the fact that the world will hold the Alleger and the Country he represents in derision? Will an emissary of a ‘Drug’ Lord and ‘a confirmed DRUG USER’ not be seen as one? I just don’t understand how we sunk so low and how reckless we have all become, it now bothers on insanity, come to think of it a garrulous and loquacious double-mouth whose words mean nothing to him an envoy of our country, isn’t the insanity absolute? Again what do I know?
Where the First Lady of the nation breaks protocol, undermining the authority of the State Governor in public whilst threatening to put off the microphone except the Governor heeds her reprimand, speaks not only to the temperament of this Presidency BUT unveils the sign of things to come. I’m not a hater, I am a Nigerian concerned about the optics and about the message it holds BUT aren’t we absolutely reckless and absolutely insane? Quite a chunk of commentators lacking in scruples have struggled to make light that shameful spectacle that underscores the wholesale descent to impunity and lawlessness where the Wife of the President (a role not known to the Constitution) walks up to the Governor in public instructing compliance to her whims, we’ve got interesting times ahead, this is absolutely beyond politics, and defending that action of the First Lady whether Governor Adeleke dances or sings too much bothers on insanity. But again, what really do I know?
What about hurrying to Benin Republic to restore ‘democracy’ whereas we are unable to guarantee the safety of lives and property at home? Is it some kind of joke or hypocrisy, or have we become the new first-son of France in West Africa? Have we elected to be more Francophone than those who speak French in Africa? What about the argument on national Sovereignty that the protagonists of Government bandy against President Trump’s threat to come against terrorists in Nigeria ditto the allegation of genocide against Christians, is Benin Republic not a Sovereign nation? How does restoring a bludgeoning dictatorship in Benin count more than protecting Nigerian lives? Does defending and applauding Nigeria’s invasion of Benin whilst lampooning calls for effective military collaboration with the US against terror, insurgency and banditry not define absolute recklessness and absolute insanity, if it doesn’t, what on earth does? How does defending ‘democracy’ in the name of our Foreign Policy Programmatic come before protecting Nigerian lives? And by the way what is democratic about the Despot in Benin Republic?
And regarding COUPS and COUP making, much as I vehemently oppose the undemocratic take over of Power anywhere in the world, we must be careful to educate our children rightly. That unresearched cliche about ”the worst civilian government or is it ‘democracy’ being better than the best military government” must be trounced and pulled down. Folks, it is incontrovertible historicity that those who plunged the world into the most brutal wars ever fought did not get to power through COUPS, they were elected, they got to power through the Ballot. Adolf Hitler and Benito Musilini will tell you that they were elected (so is the man in Benin Republic, so is Paul Biya, so is Faure Eyadema, so is the man that just got a 4th Term in Cote’Dvoire Alassane Quattara, and so is President Bola Tinubu who must get a Second Term by hook or by crook. Conversely some of the Most dynamic leaders of the last century and counting were largely Military-men Lee Kuan Yew, Jerry Rawlings, Thomas Sankara etc. If democracy turns dictatorial, despotic and authoritarian it cannot morally and legally be better than a Military Government because it obviously ceases to be democratic. I repeat, whilst not making any defense for Military Takeover of Power anywhere, I simply think that COUPS (Cessation Of Underperforming Political Systems) will continue as long as Political Office Holders cater to selfish and individualistic interests against working for the common good.
It is today believed that Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Niger are doing better in terms of rebuilding their nations than the so-called democracies are. The People appear unperturbed by the brashness of Military Rule and are apparently unanimous in supporting the reforms of the ‘revolutionaries’, brashness whether by Civilian Despots or Military Rulers is reprehensible, and this must be stated profoundly. However, the ONLY way to make coups unattractive is good governance NOT strong words or Military Action. You cannot defend democracy by obliging Dictators and Despots SIMPLY because they ‘won’ elections.
Before I break my commitment to keeping my pieces relatively short and reader friendly, let me conclude by calling on Nigerians and government to hasten the end of this drift to absolute recklessness and insanity, and the trump-card I must say is TRUTH, FORTHRIGHTNESS and SERVICE delivery, anything else shall amount to the Wait for Godot.
May Nigeria Be Great Again.
Chris Mustapha Nwaokobia Jnr.
Convener COUNTRYFIRST MOVEMENT. A Good Governance Advocacy Group.
