- “It is instructive to note that the POLITICAL CLASS in Nigeria has successfully weaponized poverty. They are well aware that the ‘goons’ class will continue to multiply in geometric proportion and they will forever be desperate to make themselves available for the dirty jobs. It makes the ‘use and dump situation’ very easy for them because the ‘goons’ are disposable items.“
*Photo L-R: Wike and Fubara *
By Omooba Adewale OLAYEMI
In Nigeria, the political arena is a theatre of the absurd.
Over time, politicians have perfected the game of keeping the people in a permanent state of animated suspense.
In what the Yorubas will refer to as, “ojumo kan ara kan”. There must always be a talking point to divert the attention of the people from the real issues that affect their lives. It is a well-perfected diversionary strategy to keep the masses busy and prevent them from asking questions about the failures of those in government.
The new ‘area of concentration’ is the latest fight between (Nyesom) Wike the godfather and (Siminalayi) Fubara, his political son.
Fubara wanted to play the game by running his own show. But Wike who is the biggest investor in the Rivers project is insisting nothing of sorts will happen because” agreement are agreement”.
Interestingly, the Nigerian masses constitutes a very unique set of followership.
So sad that when it comes to politics, the majority of our people are ready to dance to Gbedu when their tormentors are whipping them as long as he is one of their dog handlers.
There is a class called the POLITICAL CLASS in Nigeria. Even when they belong to different groups, they still see themselves as members of the same family.
As dog handlers, they ‘fight’ during the day but meet at the CLUB HOUSES to wine and dine at night. They use such platforms to cut juicy deals for the sustenance of the economic well-being of themselves and members of their families.
At such gatherings, after taking Isiewu, Fisherman’s Peppersoup and choice wines and cognac, they heartily laugh at the foolishness of their ‘dogs’ who on a daily basis fight on their behalf, maiming and killing themselves in the process.
They wonder when their ‘goons’ often referred to as SUPPORTERS will ever learn. It befuddles them why they are ready to put their lives on the line for the crumb falling from their tables. But at the same time, they device new schemes to put them in perpetual slavery so that they can continue to feather their own nest.
On a daily basis, you will see members of the Supporters Club who constitute themselves into attack dogs and e-rats trying to outshine each other on social media so that their dog handlers can notice them and keep them at a conspicuous place around the dinning table.
It is not out of place to see them fighting everyone who disagree with the point of view of the BOSS. They are more than ready to lose family and friends in the course of doing the ‘job’ they cling to as if their lives hang on it.
It is due to their folly and refusal to come to terms with the reality of their situation that no matter how hard they try, they will not partake in the buffet because they are not programmed to seat at the family dinning table.
It is instructive to note that the POLITICAL CLASS in Nigeria has successfully weaponized poverty. They are well aware that the ‘goons’ class will continue to multiply in geometric proportion and they will forever be desperate to make themselves available for the dirty jobs. It makes the ‘use and dump situation’ very easy for them because the ‘goons’ are disposable items.
A lot of people lament on a daily basis on why things are so bad in the country and the masses are suffering.
The answer to that big question is not far fetched. Politics has become the most lucrative business in Nigeria.
If you are smart enough to invest wisely and play the game, you will definitely reap bountifully.
In essence, when two businessmen who are members of the POLITICAL CLASS disagree on the sharing formula of the ‘profit’, I am at a loss as to why that should be the headache of the labourer who toils for his daily bread sweating on the shop floor.
As long as it suits the majority of our people to perpetually run the rat race just to escape poverty and achieve ‘breakthrough’ by crossing to the other side of the divide rather than unite to collectively fight their enemies, who have turned politics into personal business, so shall the idea of a just, decent, equitable and progressive society be a mirage.
No where in the world has progress and development been achieved when the citizenry refuse to dare to struggle and become active participants in the way politicians run their lives. The business of governance in the new millennium is too sensitive and critical to be left in the hands of the POLITICAL CLASS. It is more “dangerful” to do so in an environment like ours where politics has become a means to make the mega bucks.
Today, it has become expedient for those who are deeply concerned about the future of our country to build a concensus and achieve a common front in fighting for good governance rather than the interest of members of the POLITICAL CLASS.
We must tore the mask of political partisanship and manipulation and stop fighting proxy wars that benefits only the members of the class that devours the surplus of the state and are increasingly becoming insatiable in the quest to feed their greed.
We now have a situation that constitutes a ‘clear and present danger’ to the continued survival of our country. So in this ‘swim or drown’ condition that we have found ourselves, the most sensible escape route is to put our thinking caps on and work for the good of the whole.