To the eternal credit of Abraham Lincoln, America can today be said not to have deviated from certain ideals such as preservation of the unity of the United States at all costs; the recognition that nations as well as men are answerable for their failings and their sins; and that the true triumphs of nations come from self-discipline and sacrifice rather than from expediency and opportunism.
Each day I wake up with more conviction that this is an inspiration needed in our national life today where Nigerian leaders will be concerned not so much with ‘getting by’ obstacles; rather, they be like trees that have firm roots in communion with a bigger universe than themselves. Once such discipline is acquired by Nigerian leaders, Nigeria will enjoy the freedom to bloom, expand, blossom and bear fruit. At present, we appear to be in a journey without a map, in a car that is running out of control.
Today, words such as ‘belief’, ‘duty’, or ‘personal integrity’ carry either a negative charge or no meaning at all. We have become mass men. If we can’t beat them, we join them.
Fulton Sheen had Nigeria in mind when he insisted that one of the greatest tragedies that can befall a generation is for its ‘leaders’ to become ‘politicians’. By ‘leaders’ he meant those who are committed to the solemn charge of education, policy making, government and communication. He defined ‘politicians’ as statesmen who have become victims of expediency, dupes of opportunism and Simple Simons of pragmatism.
The reason is that, too often today, the good Nigerian politician is understood, not as a man who has some higher ideal from which he never deviates, but rather as one who so manipulates his thinking, his actions, his promises as to maintain himself in public office, or to keep a mob following him at all costs.
In travelling through Nigeria’s rough road, so many today not only get off the road but try to console themselves that there is no destiny, no right road than to succumb. Nigeria is today suffering from crisis of models. There is no one who says something and sticks to it. Our icons profess standards but refuse to act upon them. The country’s inner wounds come from our refusal to live up to ideals.
Defection from form, conviction, loss of pattern of law, of moral ideals has become common place. It is on this infamy that our polity has stalled. The measuring rod which was meant to measure the mud is thrown into the mud; the music which was to direct the symphony of a nation is thrown into discord; one settles down to a blending of incongruous and incompatible traditions and standards. What is left today is homogenous political reasoning and increasing dilution of personal convictions.
Nigerian politics has neither a permanent enemy nor foe but permanent interest. Each sun rise reveals a new twist. Generally, character is not revealed when life shows its best side but when it shows its worst. The worth of a person is to be judged by how he reacts to the obstacles, the limitations and crosses of life. There are so many ‘whys’ today in the mind of Nigerian youth because of too much compromise.
The man who has no standards is like a fool. A fool has been defined by Chesterton as “a man who has lost everything except his reason.” I agree with Obierika, a character in Achebe’s ‘Things fall Apart’ that if gods decree that my child must die, I will not dispute it neither will I be the one to kill him.
On Tuesday October 7, 2014, the former Governor of Anambra State, our revered Mr. Peter Obi decamped from the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA and defected to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. His defection followed a motion moved by PDP caucus leaders from the South East zone who stormed his private residence at Onitsha to woo him into their fold, as a full fledged member of PDP. Never in the history of the PDP was such a delegation sent to persuade anybody to join the party. The delegation had in attendance a former National Chairman of PDP, Chief Okwesilieze Nwodo, who moved the motion, the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Nyesom Wike, who seconded it and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, who suggested the motion. Others were Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha, Senator Ben Ndy Obi, and PDP woman leader, Kema Chikwe, PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, Senator Paulinus Igwe Nwagu, Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State, etc.
Articulating their mission, Nwodo declared: “we are here to request you to join us in PDP and work with us as an insider no more an outsider. PDP was founded by our own man, Dr. Alex Ekwueme and we started winning 80 per cent in the Southeast zone until such a time when we drew backwards but we believe that with you in our midst, we shall return to our winning spree. I now move a motion requesting you to here and now give us your word”. Olisa Metuh revealed that both President Goodluck Jonathan and the party leaders were interested in having Obi in their midst since Obi had been supporting Jonathan from time immemorial, there was need to join the PDP to actualize the dream.
The road to that visit had been long coming. Recall that Mr Obi had in August resigned as the leader and chairman of the Board of Trustees BoT of All Progressive Grand Alliance. Obi prefaced his acceptance of the offer on his commitment to be strongly involved in President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election bid, saying “The President is doing very well. He has a lot of policies in place that will transform the country if re-elected. We shall support him fully for the benefits of the country.” Obi insisted that there was nothing wrong with APGA arguing that he enjoyed the cordial relationship with Chief Willie Obiano and would continue to support his government to build up the state. This was the same reason, Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo had offered for abandoning Labour Party (LP) for the PDP.
The puzzle! If Obi said that it was about being strongly involved in President Jonathan’s re-election bid, would it not have been better for Mr. Obi to rally APGA supporters to vote for Jonathan? If he supported Jonathan as a sitting governor, did he not have more freedom to offer such now as an ex-governor?
In the past years, the name Peter Obi had come to be a household name because of his doggedness to true democratic process and his belief in the rule of law. He worked against all odds to build up a party that had number and integrity. I had twice interviewed Mr. Obi during his ordeals and in each occasion came out with more admiration for his moral high ground. It is good to observe that other parties have lost elections in Anambra to Mr Obi and not APGA as a party. With the party he built up, he provided a rallying point Ndigbo needed to enthrone good governance. That was what we looked up to for its sustenance only to see Obi backing out.
The defection may in the long run benefit Mr. Obi as it will provide him opportunity to be a competitor in national politics but what will he tell the younger generation about political conviction? If not because of good qualities he had, the PDP would have been in manhunt for him. He should have brought his personality to rob off on the APGA and bring it to national relevance. Napoleon Bonaparte said that nobody can lie on the bed of kings without catching from it madness of destruction. With Obi out, our last man is down.
