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Governors and their cross
DAN ONWUKWE
POLITICS, for
all that matters, can be used for good, and/or for bad. It all depends on what
the practitioner wants to do with the power and influence that go with the
office he occupies. In any case, some use the power so acquired (and there are
legion of cases in our land) to enrich themselves, at the expense of public
purse.
Yet few others see politics as a life time
chance, a holiness of sort, not to be used to line one’s pocket, but a golden
opportunity to make lasting impression for public good. In that case, the
occupier of a political office, be he a councillor, a chairman, a governor or
president, needs to recognise the fact that he, or she, holds the office in
trust, and it behoves him to keep the power in reserve, and when necessary, use
it wisely, not to abuse it.
It is a sobering lesson but all the same,
the humdrum truth which is lost on many public office holders in Nigeria. It
therefore flows from this fact that politics can, indeed, be a veritable,
platform not to misappropriate funds or outright stealing, but to serve. That’s
why in times of grave danger, when every other thing else fails and the citizens
in despair, society still looks up to politicians to bail it out and restore
confidence.
In such trying times, the politician is
expected to be the beckon of hope, it is like Nero offering a brilliant water
and sewage plan for Rome in the midst of the fire. That’s exactly what the
electorate is always looking out for each time they take the pains to vote.
That’s why events define politics as well
as define the direction politicians go. It’s no wonder then when asked several
years ago, what tests a politician most, ex-British Prime Minister and elder
statesman Harold Macmillan said, "Events, dear boy, events. It is also because,
how the king chooses to organise his coronation may be thwarted by hinged
events, things he didn’t expect.
All said, in our land, there is this
sickening reality inside everything Nigeria and what politicians make of the
mandate they ‘steal’ or freely given by the electorate. That Nigeria and its
politicians are less trusted by their counterparts elsewhere, and that the
country is repeatedly put on the top bracket of most corrupt nations, of
the world has to do largely as a result of this absolute sickening mistrust.
Therefore, for many of us, few things
exist that government do to contribute to the sum of human happiness. If there
is a general rule that seem to have become notorious among politicians, it is
the unwritten acceptance that the more important a politician becomes in a
position, the less likely it is for him to admit his own weaknesses or an
acknowledgment that he has done wrong, even in the face of overwhelming
evidence.
But again, there is the flip side to this
- that is, where evidence is not what it should - hard, incontrovertible fact,
but a witch-hunt to nail political opponents. That, indeed, is the ugly nature
of politics for which Nigeria is noted for.
Events in the last few weeks have been
wrenchingly painful for at least seven governors cut across the three main
political parties. All of them are under a blanket of suspicion, ranging from
the nebulous, to serious abuse of office, of siphoning their states’ fund into
private accounts.
Rattled and embarrassed by these
allegations are Governors Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia), Ahmed Sani (Zamfara), Bola
Tinubu (Lagos), Umaru Yar’Adua (Katsina), James Ibori (Delta) and Joshua Dariye,
suspended governor of Plateau State.
For a few of them - Kalu, Tinubu and Ibori,
all sorts of problems, great and small, have been festering unresolved. For Kalu
and Ibori already embattled, with an ex-conviction label still hanging for which
only the court can resolve, the latest accusation is a double distraction. For
all these governors afore-mentioned, it’s all proving that unlike in sport,
where half-time gives weary athletes a welcome breather, politics and its
quirks, are proving a spooky affair that leaves no room for break.
According to the Sun Newspaper of
July 29, owned by Gov. Kalu, all the accused governors are listed among those
currently being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC),
as well as the anti-graft commission.
These allegations have been on for some
time now, especially against Kalu, Dariye and DSP Alamieyeseigha, and to a
lesser extent, Ahmed Sani. But each time it disappears and resurfaces like a
malignant tumour. As a result, it becomes difficult to know whether it is a
visceral hatred, a political witch-hunt or a reality.
Nobody is really arguing with what the
EFCC or the ICPC wants to do with the accused governors, but not everyone,
except their political opponents are applauding the move. That is not to say the
governors are clean, or guilty as suspected, because symbolic doesn’t
necessarily mean inconsequential. But these facts are clear: Ahmed Sani of
Zamfara is the man who made Nigeria to change suddenly on October 27, 2000, by
declaring Sharia in the north! By that, he became the steadfast keeper of
the Islamic flame. In our collective conscience, he is an orator of Islamic
faith, a source of front page news, for good, or for ill. And that makes him a
target as well. He has two opponents - himself and reality, the former a tougher
one to overcome.
For Orji Kalu, the same applies, each
time, he looks ever too vulnerable, too smooth, too eager for his own good. Some
say he lacks forward observation that serves every politician well, that he
doesn’t have the assets of grace and clear thinking. But take it or leave it,
Kalu is a stellar performer. He has shown that in everything he is involved in,
for instance, sport, is genuine, his purest passion and happiest refuge. It is
in the nature of our politics to regard such a man as a fading force, a
contradiction of style and substance. Whether he’s what he is accused of,
diversion of student scholarship fund, etc; only him and God can tell. Same
applies for Ibori whose supreme self confidence and courage under pressure may
bring to him a political star quality if he eventually wins his present legal
battle. For Tinubu, his own troubles are well known, even with the authorities,
over creation of new councils and the withholding of funds accruable to them,
has placed him as a political warrior of sort.
This is not a case to absolve them of the blame (as one
doesn’t have any evidence), but it is a case of when politics becomes a matter
of warfare, something to sneeze at, something that stinks, the rest of the
society for whom politics should provide a hope for the future, all those who
hold the levers of power should be careful. Successful politics doesn’t require
all sorts of creative roguery for which many have harvested from.
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