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By Chris Odinaka Nwedo
Hypocrisy, disloyalty, falsehood, deceit and moral relativism are increasingly becoming part and parcel of official interpretation of politics and democracy in Nigeria. The functions of the opposition political party groups as checks on the party in power for productive politics and quality national development have become perverted. Opposition parties do their checks in opposite direction telling lies and maliciously misrepresenting facts, uncoordinated and puerile.
The political absolutism and unruliness among the elites are progressively suffocating measurable strides of Nigerian state to a long-term socio-political stability and sustainable economic development. In fact, an affirmative political culture seems increasingly impossible in Nigeria today because of a progressive acceptance of rebellious attitudes of our national political elites which are steadily sending bewildering ripples down the lines. Hypocrisy, disloyalty, falsehood, deceit and moral relativism are increasingly becoming part and parcel of official interpretation of politics and democracy in Nigeria. The functions of the opposition political party groups as checks on the party in power for productive politics and quality national development have become perverted. Opposition parties do their checks in opposite direction telling lies and maliciously misrepresenting facts, uncoordinated and puerile.
The situations are deplorably bad and have colossal negative impacts on the nation. Consequently, Nigeria is ravaged by corruption, insecurity and intolerable poverty. The party in power has scandalously demonstrated that it has nothing in stock as remedy to the catastrophically deteriorating situation, and it has continued to carry on, having fixed another endorsement. The conducts of the officials of the government are confirming that the inefficient government is never under any pressure to change tactics. The nation is on a slop racing down devoid of control. Ironically, the government that offered nothing to positive governance, no record of rectitude, clannish and inefficient repeated boasted that it has no challenge. This proposition was proved by the fact that the government is having its way in every situation unchallenged. A government with the lowest approval rating in the history of governance in Nigeria has continued to ‘win’ election with landslide. It is having its will imposed on Nigerians voluntarily or otherwise. All Progress Congress, (APC) brags about ruling Nigeria like a conquered territory because neither the uncoordinated opposition parties nor the increasingly vulnerable Nigerians have thought about mass action against the unprincipled politicians that ceased Nigeria. The frightening prospects of bleak future make some Nigerians feel they no longer have a country. Nigerians are becoming more desperate and angrier, but paradoxically, not strong-minded enough to confront the ordinary folks that are enslaving them, and are willing to leave no stone unturned to ensure that Nigeria is ruin for the sake of their sordid egos.
Nigerians are today cowed at home and despised and oppressed overseas and seemed to have no clue for cooperate effort to tear the ramparts of degradations at home. It beats imagination that Nigerians can be so humiliated at home by bunches of ungraceful dim-witted elites. This is intensely an embarrassing situation. It is ironical that Nigerians complain resentfully about Nigeria’s scandalously bad leadership, ravaging corruption, political rascality, and mismanagement of the resources yet they appeared to have no decisive action to take. Most discussions about Nigeria are heavily concentrated on the progressively deteriorating governance, chastising insecurity, exasperating economic and social situations but none of the discussions has translated to active decision to reverse the deplorable situation. This is contemptible.
Nigerians lament the plights of badly stained leadership, dishonourable politicians and treacherous religious elites but relent distinct actions on getting the ‘bullies’ out of the way. It is not controvertible that Nigerians display the characters of indomitability outside the shores. They are shrewd, hard to beat and they make waves positively and\or negatively everywhere they are, but, regrettably canon folders at home for their embarrassingly and dim-witted elites. Nigerians fell continually and inexpensively into the frolics of their traitorous despots, they even do power related battles on half of those who demean them.
At the end of every election, politicians who failed to win have always outmanoeuvred them and use them as proxies for hurtful fight against political enemies. An average Nigerian politician remembers the home base when the going gets tough, he uses imprudent rhetoric and relies on ethno-religious emotions to galvanise the gullible and the stupid to do the political battles. Masses of volunteer political machineries are ruined yearly before and elections without consequences. Most cities in the north are actively divided according to incompatible ethnic and religious lines. This trend may continue as long as an extensive number of Nigerian masses remain pliable to the malevolent tricks of inconsiderate politicians and religious elite collaborators.
It is regrettable that the vicious tirades that led to massive political violence that almost disintegrated Nigeria are yet to be toned-down. It is not polemical to declare that Divine interventions saved Nigeria from eclipsing in 2015. Nobody can predict with certitude that we have become free of 2019 elections because the politicians that were out-witted have not thrown-in the towel yet. Many of the politicians who were conspired against and contemptibly out-rigged are fuming with anger, and will never concede defeat until they discharge the tension on the society through chaotic protests that habitually end in preposterous heavy violence.
It is in the name of politics and democracy that Nigerians are killed, maimed, displaced from their homes and sheltered in ignoble refugee camps and finally forgotten. It was all over the media in April 2019 that children in Internally Displaced Persons, IDP, camp in Bauchi were forced to feed on onion leaves for survival due to intense hunger as a result of lack of food. According to the news, “reporters who visited the camp, located about two km from Rindebin community in Bauchi Local Government Area, noted that the children, between the ages of three and five, looked pitiful as they consume the leaves. Meanwhile, Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, lamented the pathetic situation in IDP camps in Bauchi and several others across the nation, saying that they show the level the ugly state the Nigerian human life has been degraded to”.2 It was noted that “some of the parents of the children interviewed said there were not enough food, as such, they had to ‘improvise’ ways of tackling hunger. They said they believed onion leaves were nutritious and would also protect their children from hunger and diseases. We defecate in the bush and the rainwater will soon wash our faeces back to the stream, where we source for water to drink”. 3
Remember that these abandoned and malnourished Nigerians in the IDPs are some of the direct victims of proxy political battles among the politicians. The IDP camps that dotted some states of Nigeria are some of the discernible negative implications of clinging to power with selfish love by the politicians and their collaborators. The politicians labour for their own advantages. Many of them are reprehensibly covetous and masochistic. They use and discard the gullible masses like badly stained and turn dross. This is the reason why with trillions of dollars from oil, stupendously rich agricultural resources, mining potentials and exceptional human resources Nigeria is incapable of reinventing herself.