The lingering crisis of the PDP has no sign of ending soon. The soul of the party is still being dragged about as its spirit is residing in two camps. Early last week, the board of trustees of the party had directed that the Ahmed Makarfi-led faction should organise a fresh convention in Abuja to accommodate the Ali Modu Sheriff group. It also directed that the Makarfi faction should cave in to some of the conditions earlier given by Sheriff for peace to reign. But it appears that Sheriff holds the key to whatever happens to that party from this moment. It is difficult to fathom where the Borno State-born former governor is drawing his power from, but from all indications, he appears to be like a tsetse fly perching on a bulging elephantiasis of the scrotum that demands absolute carefulness to deal with. If you hit hard you cause a mortal pain but if allowed to suck, it is also to the detriment of the patient.
Last Tuesday, Sheriff advised Makarfi to go back to his position as member of BoT, a suggestion that has been described by some party bigwigs as a huge insult. He also insists that he must co-chair any PDP convention. The way Sherriff is vibrating, it appears there must be something beating a gong for him, the rhythm of which he is dancing to, otherwise, why would a single individual who has no “power” unlike the governors of the states under the party be tossing all the “big men” in the umbrella party around?
Well, someone said: “You don’t eat your cake and still have it”. At an hour of desperation, the PDP governors whole-heartedly handed the party to Sheriff to run it and do whatever he wanted to do with it. They thought since the man has a lot of money, he would gladly run the party without their input from the states. And true to their expectations, Sheriff did just that by paying off backlog of salaries of workers at the national secretariat, among other raging infernos he single-handedly quenched. Now, from nowhere, all those who had willingly handed over the mantle of leadership to him, turned around to say, ‘oh we made a mistake, please leave the office”. That’s the crux of the matter. It appears they are now stewing in their own juice.
Insensitive!
Most times it is difficult to understand the ways of so-called Nigerian leaders. When they are expected to put on sackcloth and other mourning apparels and make a loud lamentation, they dress themselves in flowing gowns and carnival attires, and revel in excessive merriment and clink glasses in celebration, but when they are supposed to be in celebration mood, they wear long faces. The attitude of the nation’s leaders last Wednesday after their Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting (that has become a mere fulfilment of righteousness) left many Nigerians tongue-tied.
The information about the sad reality on ground released by the madam finance minister should have sobered the leaders to a point of declaring a national mourning and prayer and fasting session to seek divine intervention, but no, what did they do? As soon as they stepped out of the meeting they began to laugh heartily and posing for some photo ops. They were in such a celebration mood as if they were told at the meeting that naira had appreciated to N1 to a dollar or that the price of oil has gone back to $150 per barrel.
These were a people, who just got the worst news of the year. “Economic recession worse than expected and that Nigeria is in for a terrible time ahead”. Yet, they were frivolous and chatty. Here is advising our so-called leaders to always gauge the mood of the hour and behave in such a manner that does not raise question as to what breed of human beings they are. Over the years, the only time you see government officials grieve is when Nigerians appear happy. As soon as they notice that there is an element of happiness among the poor folks, they quickly plug the hole and destroy the reason for that nice feeling, and that’s why celebration is always momentary among the masses.
For instance, if they notice that power supply has become stable for one week, and Nigerians are celebrating, they quickly follow up with impossible tariff; if they find out Nigerians are happy with a certain policy, they say, “Oh, it was a mistake after all,” they quickly change it to one that will draw tears.
For why would any minister that worth his or her salt, begin to laugh and gyrate heartily after he or she had been told that the long-suffering Nigerians are going to be plunged deeper into the mire of hopelessness as a result of lack of vision of their so-called leaders? If I were in their shoes, I would have dodged the lens of any camera or if I had the courage to pose for a shot at all, I would have allowed some tear balls to be dropping, even if it is on acting basis.
Weep, beloved countryman
Is Nigeria under the control of undertakers? Are we nearing the Armageddon? What is really happening? We looked for change but we are getting challenges; we looked for breath of fresh air, but we are breathing the most polluted of air. Those who gave us confidence before the election; those who told us all would be well just after May 29, those who said that Nigeria would be an Eldorado and that the APC was the messiah, the only hope, and by their smooth oratorical prowess we fell flat; those who led us to the polling centres and cajoled us to cast our vote for a broom, promising that the sweeping gadget would wipe away, in a jiffy, our poverty, misery, insecurity, hopelessness, unemployment and every negative thing that had beset our lives before the presidential election day; they told us to ignore a leaking huge umbrella that has so torn that it no longer provides the needed shade for even those holding it. All these people who were shouting out words and manufacturing adjectives to describe every adverse situation in the immediate past administration, it appears they have all lost their voices. They are no longer saying anything, may be, they have cautioned themselves that if it is not gentlemanly to continue dishing out lies; because they have discovered that fixing road, having constant electricity, creating jobs, bringing back the Chibok girls, halting insurgency in the North East, subduing the Niger Delta militants, moving the economy forward, etc, etc are now all ‘Rocket Science’?
Instead of mending, they are rending the more. Under their watch, they have plunged (or about to plunged) the ship of the nation. They had tried in vain to cover a bulging outgrowth on their waist region like a man with an elephantiasis of the scrotum would do but in vain; they said we were not in recession, with the same breath they reverted themselves, playing ‘kalukalu’ with all our lives. But we did not bargain for all these. There are too many laws that empowered Mr. President to wake a dying or even resurrect a dead economy, yet he wants every SAN and all those that have “legal” minds to gather and endorse a set of fresh laws before he could perform the magic. But this is a country where the president has no regard for the private sector and they believe in voodoo economy. There appears to be no clue as to jolt the economy into life. There are contorted faces all over the country. It has never been so bad. Weep, beloved country.
Deception!
Pray, how many times would Shekau die? Who is the military trying to deceive by the way? They keep on announcing the killing of Abubakar Shekau as if the man has nine lives! Since last year, Shekau has been reportedly killed four times by the military. It has become so irritating that Obiageli Ezekwesili, one of the leaders of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) campaign, chided the military, it has “triumphantly” announced the killing of Abubakar Shekau, leader of the Boko Haram, on four occasions yet it hasn’t managed to rescue the abducted Chibok girls. I join Ezekwesili and other well-meaning Nigerians to admonish the military to be more decisive in their approach at rescuing the girls and stop treading the propaganda way as that would not help their image. If Shekau has died, why dropping his name in every raid? Since Shekau is seen as the “baddest boy”, why have we not had the girls back? Questions and more questions!
Herdsmen rampage and government’s silence
It is very difficult to understand what actually is happening in Nigeria and how government is really addressing the issue of herdsmen menace across the country. When the merchants of death struck in Agatu,Benue State, leaving blood and tears in their trail, the Federal Government sighed and maintained its posture; when the herdsmen descended on Nimbo in Enugu State, the government at the centre screamed and threatened fire and brimstone, but nothing happened. This murderous group has since been unleashing mayhem on innocent communities, far from their native homes without let. And Nigerians have not been told that any of those involved in this dastardly act has been properly punished. The same way government is treating the issue of herdsmen is how it is also handling the unwarranted killings by some Islamic fundamentalists in parts of the country. It has happened in Kano, Abuja and Zamfara, and there are many unreported similar cases. The body language of Aso Rock in all of this does not give the needed assurances that Nigerians are sufficiently free in their own country. Too bad!
Zebulon Agomuo
