One of the banes of political development of Nigeria and the advancement
of the Nigerian youths is the circulation of the political elites in the political
space in Nigeria. The politicians are so engrossed in their own design and
selfishness to the extent that they see themselves as only the most competent
cliché that are endowed to rule. A concept called ‘anointed candidates’ is a
derogatory concept been coined to perpetrate their cliché in power. For the
purpose of clarity, an anointed candidate is a political contestant who has
been designed and regimented to win an election at all cost as long as he
aligned with the dictates of the political godfathers irrespective of the
result of the Electoral management Body or the collective will of the people.
The godfathers become indirect rulers upon the victory of their anointed
candidates. This is the ROOT-cause and course of elite circulation in Nigerian
politics. This pejorative pathway informs the directionless and cosmetic
decamping of politicians who hop from one political party to the other seeking
for the benevolence of godfathers to win elections and perpetuate the political
dynasty without any ideological persuasions or convictions.
History is replete with Nigerian politicians who had recycled
themselves in the nation’s political stage. This recycling may be borne out of
personal fortune or by circumstantial design. But those who have established
and perpetrated a political dynasty by deliberate design of fraud having
scuttled the opportunities of those who may have been more instrumental in the
building of this nation have committed political atrocity.
In 1976, after the gruesome assassination of General Murtala
Mohammed, General Olusegun Obasanjo became the Head of state. He handed over
willingly to a civilian government in 1979. Twenty years after, he was elected
the president of the nation and characteristically handed over to his successor
in 2007, though after a struggle with a third-term bid. General Muhammadu
Buhari became the military Head of State after a successful coup d’état against
the government of Alhaji Shehu Aliu Shagari on the 31st of December,
1983. He was elected as the executive president of the country after thirty-one
years. These are rare circumstances that fell into place in Nigeria’s political
space. Be that as it may, deliberate political schemers have infiltrated the
scenario to create a dynasty for themselves by turning the political space into
a hereditary.
The trending event is the deadly scheming of some politicians
to perpetually shuttle between the government Houses at all the levels. If they
are feeling expired and corrosively irrelevant, they would plant their
relations, surrogates or their anointed candidates. They basically relish this
political iniquity because of the attendant benefits and several dishes of
political pots of soups they foister for themselves in these offices. Some former
governors do all they can to retain their political relevance by taking
centre-stage in politics. Some of these governors are currently serving as
senators and Ministers of the federal republic. For purpose of emphasis on the
insatiable greed for perpetual relevance of some of our politicians, it is
instructive to note that the longest serving Senator from the Eastern part of the
country and the former convener of the Association for Better Nigeria, ABN, (which
was instrumental to the annulment of the June 12, 1993 general elections), Uche
Chukwumerije is still in the service of the nation at the Upper legislature of
the National Assembly. Ike Ikweremadu has been in the senate for quite a long
time now and has almost transmuted to a household name in the Senate. The former
Governor of Osun State, Chief Isiaka Adeleke, who died recently was also a
serving Senator and it was even rumoured that he wanted to contest for
governorship elections again before his sudden demise. This is the circle of
political elites and the mess Nigerian politics has dangerously subjected to, consequently
barring the youths from ever been hopeful of gaining access to the political
terrain.
On the platform of the old and circulating politicians
monopolizing the political terrain, the hopelessness of the youths is becoming
uncomfortably glaring. This spurned the former President, Chief Olusegun
Obasanjo to urge the youths to take their political destinies in their hands
and wrestle power from these sit-tight and progressively irrelevant political
schemers. It was not surprising therefore to be treated to a protest tagged #NotTooYoungToRule#staged
recently organized and executed at Abuja by a group of concerned youths. This move
has ‘forced’ the Senate House to propose a bill which reduces the age of
contestants for elections to political positions in the country. The youths
must tighten their noose against all intents of the elites to plunge the
political terrain into family or clannish heritage. The politics in Kwara State
is a pointer to the fact that some politicians in Nigeria are ready to castrate
the youths or the under-privileged by holding the entire nation in the jugular,
as they are ready to die in politics ‘serving’ their fatherland.
Recently, The Social-Economic Rights and Accountability
Project (SERAP) one of the civil society organizations which is a pincer on the
testicles of these politicians has revealed how ex-governors, including the
current serving Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, been receiving pensions as
a former Governor. Senator Bukola has allegedly stopped and even returned the pensions
he has collected from the coffers of Kwara State where he was the governor for
eight years. This is an embarrassment. Would such a honourable man claim his unawareness
that he was been paid pensions as a former Governor and now a serving Senator
in the Federal Republic of Nigeria? Would he have ordered a stoppage of such
shameful act if SERAP had not blown out the alarm? If he claimed innocence,
what action did he take to deal with those who attempted to besmear his public image
and political career by surreptitiously filling up his accounts without his own
prior permission every month? While commending him for taking a honourable path
to own up such misdeeds and stopping the act, I personally felt that just stopping
or returning the loot is not enough. Such an act of greediness is a
misplacement of public trust, an act of corruption, deception, and deliberate or
permissive stealing. Under a normal clime, the Senate President who heads a
national legislature should have resigned and submits himself for prosecution
after rigorous public apology. It is a shameful action unbecoming of a man of
such a high profile especially as a man who is serving under a government fighting
corruption as one of its cardinal programmes. Collecting double salaries or
pensions is evil because some senior citizens who had meritoriously served this
country for thirty-five years receive #5000 (five thousand Naira only) as their
monthly pensions, while the monthly allowances for domestic pets of these
senators and Ministers can change the entire generations of the pauperized
retirees.
(concluding part tomorrow)
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