While sauntering away from the church auditorium on Tuesday evening after quite an inspiring and spiritually transforming period in the house of God, a well respected member of my church sighted me and after the usual exchange of pleasantries and banters he, surprisingly, accosted me and accused me in the presence of the Pastor of being a Buhari’s supporter! Naturally, one would expect the church to be the last place on earth for such political attacks! I was thus taken aback, mostly and quite frankly because, I had never before then imagined I would have to defend my views or “non-views” to anyone let alone in a place such as a Church. Be that as it may, a three party mini-debate ensued between me, the said church member and the Pastor. While Pastor tried as much as possible to be a neutral umpire as he expressed his views, the said church member became unduly very vociferous in his attacks on what he perceived as my support for Buhari’s candidature which according to him is clearly obvious from my Face-Book posts! I engaged him no doubt as counter-vociferously as I could but then the incident left me with an unquenchable thirst to unequivocally express my take on the Buhari versus Jonathan brouhaha!
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The prelude to the 2015 general elections has no doubt been characterized by a lot of furore and controversies in many quarters, and it’s no gainsaying that no other elections has ever generated as much “loudness” in the history of Nigeria, the famed 1993 elections inclusive. The reasons for this are multi-faceted, but largely this is because of what I describe as the general and collective restlessness of a people; the critical disenchantment of the masses over the state of affairs in a country which by all standards should be setting the pace and leading other African countries economically, politically and socially but does not.
To most Nigerians, the time for a difference, nay a positive difference which is long overdue is now! This feeling and desire for a difference is acute in some and latent in others but present in all. Sadly but yet so, to another section of Nigerians there is already a difference sufficient enough for Nigerians to live with. To this latter class of Nigerians it should be business as usual; to them the country need not bother about enforcing and establishing a difference now (perhaps never); to them the country should keep going at the current snail-speed pace; to them a difference could only come by gradualism! Fortunately, this latter class of Nigerians is in the minority but unfortunately they are the very few who constitute the ruling class and holds the socio-economic cum political jugular of this country in a stranglehold. They have been described as; “the over-recycled set of individuals perpetuating themselves in power and privileges as their private pockets continue to constantly and continuously progresses, on the one hand while they perpetuate Nigeria in constant and continuous retrogression, on the other hand”. These numerically insignificant set of people obviously, as indicated, benefit immensely from the rot in the Nigerian system therefore their desire to maintain the status quo and cycle of corruption-impunity-underdevelopment to their advantage is understandable albeit not condonable. It is thus disheartening to realize that “these people” have to a serious extent succeeded in infecting other well-meaning and unsuspecting Nigerians, like my church member, with their ill-guided mantras so much so that a man who lives in abject poverty and wallows in calamitous penury or a woman who has never benefited any tangible thing from the government (and even has no hope of so doing) can boastfully claim that we need no difference in this country or that we should settle for gradualism and refrain from demanding or advocating for a difference that, with determination and dedication, can be had and gotten now! How appalling!
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Let me take a moment’s pause and reflect, won’t the foregoing obviously and without much ado pitch me in the camp of the “change” seeking Buharians? Well, not necessarily so. The advocacy for a change in Nigeria in the real sense is the inclusive responsibility of every well-meaning and honest Nigerian. It is not the exclusive preserve of the Buharians! Now one may be justified to ask, what is wrong with being on the side of the Buharians especially where one is not a Jonathanian? After all, neutrality is anathema in situations like this. As the quote originally attributed to Dante Alighieri goes; “The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral, political or social crisis, maintain their neutrality”.
There may be nothing wrong for people to choose between the two opposing camps, after all there is freedom of expression in this country, but as for me and any sincere and true change seeker who desires the best for our dear country Nigeria, it is a taboo to be in any of these camps, mere sympathies notwithstanding!
To the Buharians, so many things are wrong with their strongly held beliefs. Starting with the antecedents of Buhari, it is obvious that the man has one case too many to answer. Granted that he is now a reformed/transformed democrat as he claimed and that the “sins” of his past can be classified as the youthful exuberances of a misguided military man and thus forgiven what about the company he keeps? The APC is, unarguably, largely a pot-pourri of disgruntled PDP elements and to argue otherwise is tantamount to trying to contradict the plain and obvious. Only a simpleton would dare attempt that. We all know what the PDP is; a party of highly corrupt and greedy individuals that are hell bent on stifling life out of the masses of this country if given the chance. So what then do you expect from another party which shoots out from such a party? Can you plant an Orange and expect to harvest Mangoes? Not in the wildest of imaginations! The most appalling thing about those former PDP members who are now in APC and clamouring for change is that they left PDP not because of any difference or disagreement based on principles, ideas or policies but merely for selfish interests. It is particularly nauseating to find a former PDP member who committed several atrocities and had stolen this country blind while in PDP to now move to APC merely because he/she was denied PDP’s ticket and now without any sense of shame or decorum but with crass irresponsibility, dishonesty and a calculated sinister agenda claim that people should vote for him/her because APC is better than PDP and because APC represents change. What arrant nonsense! Even the elements coming from the erstwhile ACN and CPC are no better; they are as corrupt and sinister as their counterparts coming from the PDP. That is the company that Buhari keeps! Supposedly smart individuals are wont to claim that they are voting Buhari as a person and not for his political party, interesting as that argument may sound every intelligent person would recognize it as very shallow. Can an individual single handedly run Nigeria under a democratic dispensation? Your guess is as good as mine! On Buhari, the list is endless…
To the Jonathanians, their case is worse! Not because they are less intelligent or less worthy but simply because their man is currently in power and their man’s failure and emptiness is so glaring for all Nigerians to see on a daily basis for the past six years! Therefore, it is pointless to harp on Jonathan. For res ipsa loquitur!
What or who then is to be? Is it Jonathan or Buhari? Therein lay our bane! We have consistently and ignorantly as Nigerians limited our choices over the years. Our choices have always been like one akin to the choice between the devil and the deep blue sea! We have always constrained ourselves to a place between a rock and a hard place. This should not be so. We have another choice and an alternative open to us as Nigerians!
Neither Jonathan nor Buhari represents a true alternative nay solution to the myriad of Nigeria’s problems. Our real choice lies in a total and comprehensive overhaul of the Nigerian system! There is need for the removal of the stranglehold of the ruling class, the political jobbers, careerists and parasites from the economic, social and political jugular of our dear country. This can only come about by a total abolishment of the status quo. There is need for we the masses to move into the arena of power and take same by force. It has happened elsewhere before and even not so long ago on the African continent. In a parlance it is known as the Arab spring. When shall we have our Nigerian spring?
The time is NOW!
Dotun Ilori, Esq.,
Uyo, Nigeria
25th March, 2015
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