NIGERIAN POLITICS AND ITS DISCONTENTS

NIGERIAN POLITICS AND ITS DISCONTENTS

*(Modest thoughts with Ayuba Yilgak'ha, May 14, 2922; SMS: 08116181263)*

Politics is a moral human activity characterised by perpetual rude shockers. It is one game too many, where anything can happen. In the game of politics, is the unusual interaction between the good, the bad and the ugly of human power tussle. In other words, it has to do with the surprising manifestation of all possibilities within the context of human tendencies in the pursuit of power and relevance. 

Because politics is a game interwind with virtues and vices, therefore, it takes someone who has the capacity to absorb big shockers and survive its discontents, that is, aspects of the the game that fall below accepted rule of behaviour or shared expectations. This is especially so when politics take dimensions that are antithetical to one's shared values or ethical code of conduct.

Politics is like a gambling game, full of risk but full of gains too. In the game are no experts but people who are possibly capable of adapting to all situations or outcomes. No politician could, ab initio, predict with certainty the outcome (s) of any political contest at all times. This is because, political outcomes are dictated by the interplay of highly deregulated factors which often flow with great rapidity (speed) and overwhelming complexity that are often difficult to track or control throughout or at some points. Except otherwise imposed, all political outcomes are surprises to all manner of persons including those claiming to be in charge or on top of the game. Therefore, politics is a flexible game which occurres with much fluidity.

What makes politics fluid is the unpredictable nature of its players: Human beings. Human beings are mobile moral agents who can change based on prevailing circumstances around them. This assertion is in consonance with Micheal Owen's postulation that 'the character of a man is made for him not by him.' Here, the scholar means that the behaviour of man is dictated by the environment around him. Therefore, when circumstances changed, human beings which Plato described as 'political animals', also change.

The changing nature of politics has made it a constant and regular game of negotiations and re-negotiations; alignments and realignments; adjustments and re-adjustments. Senator Sani Shehu, a human right activist cum politician once observed that in the game of politics, when one attains the dusk meeting and failed to attain the dawn one, he has already been schemed out. So, it is total naivity for a politician to be absent during meetings where strategic last-minutes-and-critical decision (s) will be taken. This is because the changing dynamics of the game might have invalidated previously held standpoints, especially, when new information are obtained about what really matters at the time.

To an active politician, what is constant is the desire to acquire and/or maintain political power. Every other thing is by the way, especially, when the the game is played without morality or moral consideration and moderation as postulated by Niccolò Machiavelli. In Machiavelli's political school of thought, 'the end justifies the means'. The idea is that whatever is done to acquire power, even if it is deceit, betrayal or even to commit murder, etc, is justifiable. So, those who play the game of politics based on the dictates of this evil postulation, lack morality and can do anything worst than one could ever think or imagine to acquire political power.

Former vice president of Nigeria, Alh. Atiku Abubakar once reported as saying politics is a game of betrayal and that a politician who does not have full dose of it will not fit. Similarly, Rothman (1983) hypothesised that a good politician is one who has prejudices enough to suit the needs of all his constituents. These assertions clearly meant that betrayal and prejudices are strong weapons in any political expedition. The reverse is the case for politicians with good moral disposition.

Moralists see politics as the search for an opportunity to serve not to be served. This means that power just for the sake of it, is useless. It is about service and not self. Therefore, Chaplin's idea that power is needed only when those who seek it wants to achieve something sinister does not follow. If it does follow, at all, then in part, not absolutely. Politics, therefore, can neither be demonised or justified as a saintly enterprise. The condition of the game is dependent on the world view of the participants or actors.

Those whose God is their stomach and have no regard for values can easily be toyed around and make the game of politics more murky and uncertainty. For instance, a man who has not tamed his apatite for food can easy betray when food is offered in exchange for his vote or support. Also, gullible minds could easily be psyched, hypnotised, brainwashed or even indoctrinated when religious sentiments are wiped. In other sense, money (food) and religious instincts are the common most used factors by politicians to win public sympathy amongst gullable minds.

All politicians are restless mood-readers. They are experienced but, maybe, informal psychologists whose motivation is always to understand what appeals to the consciences and instincts of their publics or constituents. Having guaged the mood of the electorates, they tried even by way of unrealistic promises to woo support. This explained why there are more broken promises in the game of politics than in any human endeavour. This is so, especially, when the political actors are the desperate types.

In Nigeria, political actors can mimic anything to gain acceptance from the people. A political lion could perfectly or imperfectly mimic a dove as part of the strategy to survive the unpredictable nature of the game. In this clime, politicians fly private jets but ride motor cycles when elections are handy; they feed on British Menus but go for roasted corns at street corners when elections are handy.

In Nigerian politics, also, politicians spend weekends in Europe, US and Dubai but always in the villages when elections are handy; they eat and sleep in five star hotels but on queue at 'Mama put' (local or street) food vendors when elections are handy; their phone lines hardly go through but always reachable when elections are handy. The idea is just to identify with the ordinary status of the masses who are in the majority with enviable voting power that could return or unseat any public office holder seeking election.

A situation whereby politicians desert the people and return during election campaigns is called fundamentals of psychology of Politics. The actors try to avoid everything that will suggests they are leaving in luxury, especially, when in company of poor electorates. Most politicians will fake empathy, that is , "feel for, with about, about the people." This makes them politically correct (but morally dubious!). The people are getting wiser by the day. They have learnt to understand the fundamentals of the psychology of the politicians too.

Electorates are human beings not mere voting machines. They can reason and make informed decisions. Voters are citizens not inanimate object that can be used and dumped. They cannot be left to fate only to be found useful during elections. When you bit the finger that fed you; there shall be no finger to feed you tomorrow. It is the finger that votes, so you cannot push it aside and expect to enjoy its voting power during the next circle of elections. No way, no way, no way!

In Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart", Eneke the bird says that since men have learned to shoot without missing, he has learned to fly without perching. Driving the message home from this postulation, I dare say since politicians have perfected the art of dribbling poor electorates with subtle professionalism; the electorates have learned to vote out dubious political office holders with prompt correctness and due diligence. This is a possibility in the game of politics too.

In the last couple of months, we woke up to intimating billboards in the city of Jos, Plateau State with a uniquely catchy inscription. For example, "Bigg Things Coming." The name Sunday Garba Biggs suddenly appeared with an intimidating aura. Without sounding preemptive, however, the Bigg things seemed to have been grounded. The initial power and sympathizing frequency that gave it steam have stealthily backtracked and, therefore, the hot steam it generated suddenly evaporated at the speed of light. That is the game of politics for you.

Punctured dreams like this are recurrent decimals in Nigeria's socio-political and economic landscape. The perceived grounding of the "Bigg things" is a symbolic metaphor for many ballooned yet shattered hopes and dreams which are a very common part of the game of politics in my country. With time, therefore, all political actors would either taste disappointment or appointment. There is no politician, born of a woman, who tarries awhile, in the game of politics, that has not gone through one form of discomfort or the other.

In politics, a secret game of dabblings and wobblings, the more you look, the less you understand, and, the less you understand, the more you are manipulated and shortchanged with discreet subtlety. In primitive democracies like ours, where sound moral values and progressive political ideologies are almost nonexistent, political outcomes are often bound to be boring and inspiring.

Active political participants are likely to experience political baptism of fire (deceit and betrayal) or political favor where power is gained to serve. These binary probabilities and possibilities are fifty-fifty, especially, in this part of the world. Those that have been part of the game could tell the story even better. Best wishes to genuine political office seekers at all levels as processes lead to the 2023 General Elections start in Nigeria.