By Francis AbayomiPrevailing situation in Nigeria has not only become tragic, but also laced with some measure of hysterics! You are either moved to tears or left with no option than to simply laugh. It is indeed such a perilous time for the polity; an unusual era when so much attention is attached to less important distractions at the expense of serious issues that are trivialised beyond control.
The gravity of the confusion at hand is underscored by the reality of scary dimension of evil constituted by female bombers which seemed to have compounded the misfortune of mass abduction and continued seizure of Chibok school girls seven months after. As if Nigeria is a country of sadists, we are gradually being seized by the pettiness of attention-seeking diversionists amongst the political class in the midst of serious tragedy that confronts us as a people.
While no one is really sure how long the nightmare constituted by bombastic self-importance of our politicians would last, the shocking reality is that the situation in the country has become even more precarious with female bombers on the prowl. But, if we do not know who the female bombers are or could no longer fathom how dangerous politics and impunity of the past have led to the gory path of their evil, we at least know our politicians and could understand the antics of a characters like Obasanjo in our midst.
However, the fad among the enlightened is to revue in unrestrained ranting by politicians who love to demonstrate how important they are than the rest of the people. The diversionary antics of politicians effectively feature as ultimate comic relief which the masses relish with much satisfaction. It should therefore not be strange that people could be taken for a jolly ride through tomfooleries all in the name of change.
In the last one week former President Olusegun Obasanjo scaled up altercations with his estranged political protégé; President Goodluck Jonathan, whom he described as a failure, having adjudged his performance to be well below average. Before now, Obasanjo also impressed it on Nigerians that electricity ought to have improved tremendously but for the failure of his successors which Jonathan is the real culprit. It didn't matter that Obasanjo's verdict was not supported by any cogent or valid evaluation of Jonathan administration vis-à-vis comparison with records of achievements, as well as challenges of other administrations before now, including his eight year tenure as president, supporters and antagonists of Jonathan have renewed hostile politics by seeking to impressing it on us that either of the two is indeed the real failure in governance.
Indeed, someone from the Presidency really got us baffled with suggestion that Jonathan is the best president Nigeria ever had. It does not demonstrate sensibility on the part of whoever sought to impress it on us that Jonathan is the best we've so far had.
How does Jonathan, being Nigeria's best ever, address the leadership deficit that has become so noticeable under his command of the Armed Forces? Even when it is evident that the challenges of governance under the leadership of the president have become so unusually enormous and happening at an unusual era that is incomparable to what we have experienced in the past, it does not demonstrate seriousness on the part of anyone who thinks the most important thing was to impress such joke on us.
Indeed, Nigerians and not any of these actors in leadership could rightly determine where and how to place the leaders; past or present. While we can as well excuse Jonathan who has a date with history as Nigerian return a verdict on him in less than three months away, Obasanjo's antics however remain worrisome as some of his vituperations are futile attempts at tinkering with historical accounts that are still fresh as mint in our memories.
To begin to wonder what exactly Obasanjo want would amount to naivety pure and simple. To put it squarely, Obasanjo wants power and desperately too. He would do just anything or align with any forces to remain relevant in power through a proxy in Aso Rock. And little wonder why his jokes have become too glaring for the discerning to see through. That he followed up with another tale, at a gathering last week, when he insulted the sensibilities of Nigerians by reminding us that "management of democracy without resorting to brute force, and dictatorial tendencies must be cultivated".
While it is alarming, if not offensive, that Obasanjo could pretend to be teaching Nigerians anything about democracy, the real tragedy is that hypocrisy no longer appears a big deal in Nigeria, simply because, to the ruling class, the masses have no sense of history. But even if it would appear there is no pretence any longer that the masses have been emptied of their sense of history, but it would be fatal to carry on as though we could not relate candidly and accurately with events of that only unfolded yesterday; before our very eyes. Here is the same Obasanjo who, as president, aborted, through brutal force in broad day light, a simple democratic process for the traditional stool of his Owu Kingdom, where he was also an active participant.
As victims of lethal evil of female bombers are caught unaware, Nigerians are also potential victims of politicians who seek to deceitfully and perpetually take us on the same path of selfish political subjugation through shameful hypocrisy. For crying out loud, the lethality of lies, hypocrisy and deception of politicians come with much impunity than the anguish we could possibly imagine from terrorists in our midst.
Candidly, it is glaring that another election in 2015 is not all that is needed to free ourselves as a people. A friend often reminds me that we are a confused people pretending to be seeking genuine change in a country that is effectively nation-less. To this extent, the character of politics ought to be surgically fine-tuned by reassessing and reordering the polity in such a way that only serious minded people with genuine interest to serve would see business of governance as attractive. Therefore, that we are still at the level where leaders, who have demonstrated disdain and contempt for democracy, would readily flaunt leadership prescription, only shows how unprepared we are for the change we really desire.