Is it right to admit that politics is the art of postponing decisions until they are no longer relevant? Is it also right to quip, like Wendell Mayes, that indecision is a virus that can run through an army and destroy its will to win or even to survive? Whether or not we answer these questions in the affirmative, the apparent truth discerning readers would concede is that much of the politics we play in this part of the world often substantiates that we are accustomed to postponing and ignoring critical issues, either by our acts of omission or commission, until we begin to come to grips with the unimaginable effects of such actions or inactions.
Postponement and indecision are close cousins. In fact, it is indecision that fuels postponement or procrastination. I have chosen to cuddle the word “indecision” owing to my unfettered conviction that what has been happening in Old Aguata, comprising the new Aguata, Orumba North and Orumba South Local Government Areas in Anambra State, borders much on the inability of some supposedly intelligent and astute leaders to take a stand on issues bordering on the future of the once pride area of the state. Indecision could not have had more glaring meaning than inability to take a stand, stand your ground and refuse to be wavered by the vagaries and vicissitudes of selfish politics common in our climes. What is more to say than the fact that the end product of indecision is often regression, a direct opposite of what I choose to tag “progression” or simply “progress”.
Many in the Old Aguata had been regaled with excitement, including those who have more than peripheral interest there, when it was revealed that a crucial meeting would be held in the home of a respected politician, Ben Oranusi, at Umunze, on Sunday, February 17, 2013. Many thought, “At last, Old Aguata heavyweights have decided to come together and forge a common front for the upcoming gubernatorial battle scheduled to take place on November 16 in Anambra State.” They possibly entertained this thought owing to their conviction, through the empirically proven numerical strength of the area, that if the people would simply look themselves in the mirror, they would understand that if they ever teamed up and supported one of their own, they would forever live to enjoy the dividends often associated with unity.
People waited with bated breath to hear what they had nursed in their minds: Old Aguata now believes that unity transcends party issues and now wants to support one of their own. But they were disappointed and baffled. The issue that dominated the discourse was the need to rally support for a candidate from Anambra Central who has ruled the state before. The people who summoned the meeting had worked for the candidate in previous gubernatorial elections and now have their minds fixed on rallying as much support as they can to the aspirant.
Ironically, others who were privy to the meeting and who also were part of the meeting noticed that those who supported the aspirant were mostly people who could not even win ward elections in their immediate constituencies due to the fact that when they had the opportunity of affecting Old Aguata people’s lives, they opted for the opposite. Perhaps, well-meaning political wise men who attended the meeting did what only few brave men do in such a situation: rise up, dismiss the meeting with a wave of the hand and go home. This was exactly how these wise men expressed their displeasure over that.
In all honesty, there is no harm in an Old Aguata person supporting an aspirant who is not from the area in the forthcoming gubernatorial election. People have their interests spread and they also take decisions on the basis of familiar and unfamiliar factors. But when politicians cannot stand their grounds on decisions they have tacitly or openly supported, understand the times, or when they simply rally support for the sake of what they will gain individually now, rather than what a people will gain later, then something is amiss. Once you set aside the will of a people and place your personal ambitions over that, then there is a problem. Inordinate personal ambitions are often why the area has always had to kowtow to successive state governments just to make them build a kilometre of road or bring home something that is worthwhile.
Worse still, far from being blindly nepotic, what aggravates the pains of concerned persons, especially political stalwarts in Orumba North and Orumba South, is when few persons decide to drag others into their plans in the name of re-organising and coordinating activities for a candidate who may not hold much political water in Old Aguata. Hence the summary of concerned political heavyweights in Old Aguata is that they will no longer support a candidate who will turn a blind eye to their problems when voted into power, only to re-surface to seek their votes and galvanise support from them during elections. That is regression; backwardness, rather than progress.
Finally, Oprah Winfrey, an American media proprietor, talk show host and actress, once said, “Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want (need) is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.” Concerned Old Aguata citizens insist that those who have ruled the state before should give way for a fresh, articulate and development-minded person who will take the state to a greater level.
