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Just Returned from Nigeria: Reporting Politics and Etc. By Okechukwu E. Asia
As I arrived at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, there was no life, I mean, no major activities going on. It was almost a ghost town. And this was on a Monday evening. When I inquired about the whereabouts of Nigerians and the politicians who usually roamed around the airport, I was told that the politicians have gone underground in their circle of conspiracy mode to prepare for the elections next year.
Everywhere you go to in Nigeria these days you see potential candidate’s posters and beneath these posters are politically motivated killings and kidnappings going on in every state, every local government area, organized and sponsored by some politicians to silence their critics and opposition. And looting of state and federal treasuries has reached an unprecedented proportion. Some state governors vowed to use the entire state federal allocation to execute their second term election. There are no infrastructural development going on anywhere, and most elementary and secondary school buildings have no roofs and the children are sitting on the floors of those buildings. And the politicians and their cronies are busy looting the country blind.
I attended President Jonathan’s presidential campaign fund-raising dinner in Aso villa in the company of a good friend who is very close to the Jonathans. The fund raising dinner was a parade of who is who in Nigerian politics and a contest of who can impress the president and First Lady the most. My friend donated N75million Naira through his company that night (Yes, you heard me right). While hundreds of other attendees’ donations dwarfed my friend’s, we were heavily recognized and treated like one of the visiting heads of state. The Jonathan/Sambo campaign raised more than N500 million Naira that night, which was not that much. Thanks to the new Electoral Law that limits individual campaign donation to N1 million Naira only.
Nigeria’s currency (the Naira) is under serious assault by the politicians, their children and aides and foreign corporations. The Naira is almost worthless unless you have it in millions because everything is priced in thousands. I attended a meeting at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja – this is the hotel where Nigerian politicians go to show off their loot. If you haven’t spent your money here, you haven’t looted enough as the saying goes. I was shocked to buy a bottle of locally brewed Star beer for N790 Naira, ordinarily sold for N150 in a beer parlor, and purchased a bottle of Heineken beer for N1200 Naira, which sells for N200. In my presence, a politician spent N2 million Naira on drinks and food for his friends in one night. I saw a bottle of Champagne sold for N250,000. Only in Nigeria. Some of these politicians are residents of this hotel paying more than N250,000 Naira per night and they have lived there for more than one year. One evening visit to this hotel and you will come out depressed about Nigeria. You would want to start an armed revolution.
The story is the same everywhere. In the Southeast every state-owned higher institution is closed due to Academic staff union strike for non payment of subsidy by the state government after the governors had received the money from the federal government and pocketed it for their second term campaigns. From Abuja to Owerri, Imo State capital you see students of Southeast Universities in hotel lobbies and on the corner streets prostituting for money. It was heartbreaking. The governors of southeastern states are playing god with the future and destiny of our youth.
In Owerri, Imo State capital, nothing has changed. The usual heavy traffic jam is still the order of the day. There are no new streets constructed since Sam Mbakwe days. The only good news about Owerri is the introduction of Tricycles (popularly known as “Keke”) in place of the dreaded Okada, and many brand new hotels mostly owned by our corrupt politicians. But I admire and love keke. It’s a wonderful invention perfectly fit for easy going city like Owerri. I usually parked my car in a safe place and hop on a keke to get to anywhere within Owerri metropolis. It is programmed to a top speed of 20 km/hr. So while in a keke you relax and read your daily newspapers, have serious conversations with a friend, and most of all you don’t have to worry about Owerri traffic hold up because keke can squeeze through the traffic stops. And keke is cheap and better than the regular automobile four wheel taxi.
Owerri also has its share of new hotels. There are more than ten brand new hotels within Owerri metropolis built in the last one year alone. The best among them is the new Benchmark Hotel on Oduobi Crescent around Maris Supermarket in Ikenegbu part of Owerri. This hotel is 4-Star hotel with 2-Star prices. The amenities inside will make you think that you are in a Hilton hotel in America. The prices for food and drink are reasonable compared to others in the area.
The politics in Imo state reflects the events in national politics. Again, this is the time for the clowns called politicians to engage in their circle of conspiracy. The time to wheel and deal with our destiny has come and this time the politicians are more deadly than ever. Daily disappearance of political opponents and critics is now a common occurrence. And political assassination has taken the front seat in our polity. This is a national epidemic. It is not peculiar to any state. It is now matter of life and death and dare not express your preference for a particular office holder in public or else you or your relative will be kidnapped within 24 hours of such disclosure. In Imo state, the two factions of PDP (Alliance group led by Ifeanyi Ararume and New Face led by Governor Ikedi Ohakim) have taken a new twist. Hon. Ifeanyi Ararume has left PDP for ACN. This is a serious blow to PDP in Imo State because of heavy support Ararume enjoys among Imo electorate. The stage is set for Governor Ikedi Ohakim and Ike C. Ibe to fight it out in PDP primary. The winner of PDP primary will face Ifeanyi Ararume (ACN) and Rochas Okorocha (APGA) in the general election.
National politics is also a worrisome adventure. It is worrisome in that almost all the former military officers are either contesting for office or heavily sponsoring some of their own to national office. Mohammadu Buhari’s CPC is posing a serious threat to all the political parties including PDP in the Northern part of Nigeria. As it is now if PDP is not careful and get their house in order, Buhari will be cruising to a landslide victory in the North. PDP is also losing its national appeal, as the issue of internal democracy has sowed strong seed of discord in the party. Western and Mid-western Nigeria have gone to ACN party and just a matter of time before most PDP legislators from these areas will defect to ACN. PDP is mostly alive in the Southsouth and in the Southeast, it’s just a marriage of convenience but it is not deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
There is a serious assault on PDP in Rivers State by ACN led by Dr. Sekibo as PDP house is in disarray. Within PDP in Rivers State there are three serious contenders for the governorship of the state – Hon. Austin Opara former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Sir Celestine Omehia former Governor whose tenure was unjustly ended by the so-called Supreme Court, whose justices are the most corrupt people in Nigeria, and Governor Rotimi Amaechi who is the incumbent governor. If this arrangement continues, then PDP is in deep trouble in Rivers State. Because the two heavy weights who would have teamed together to dislodge Gov. Amaechi are busy fighting each other and Gov. Amaechi is sitting in a corner smoking his cigars and laughing at them.
Within the PDP presidential primary, the only person President Jonathan should be afraid of is President Jonathan. It does not happen any where in the world that a sitting president would be denied his party’s presidential ticket. So it’s up to Jonathan to put his house in order and take control of PDP away from those vicious governors whose only interests they serve are their own. Jonathan doesn’t really have a competitor within the PDP. The presidential ticket is his to lose. You better wake up Mr. President. You are a politician and not an Archbishop. In politics, you do not bend your back for others to ride on. But one consolation is that IBB, Atiku, Saraki, and Gusau combined are no match for the President Jonathan in securing the PDP presidential ticket. These others have so much garbage to worry about.
President Jonathan should also look to the Diaspora and bring back some of them and infuse them into his campaign organization and accredit some as election observers. This will create the impression to Nigerians and foreign observers that his campaign has global appeal.
Whatever happens in the next general elections, one thing for sure is that Nigerians are beginning to hold politicians responsible for their behaviors while in office. I am almost certain that the next election will not be bought by money-bag politicians. The people who will do well will be the politicians who actually campaigned and were voted for. Those who rely on rigging and intimidation to win will be in for a serious rude awaking and they will be disappointed.
Boston, MA, USA |