The Rat Play Polity In Nigeria

The Rat Play Polity In Nigeria

Prince Charles Dickson

Jos, Plateau Nigeria

Pissing in one's shoes won't keep the feet warm for long. It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it. When the Cat is away the rats play.

This week, the Vice President and Presidential hopeful for the AC was in Jos, the Plateau State capital, I took out time to monitor the whole event which was supposed to be a campaign visit and tour. At the end of the entire event I again gained more insight not just into Atiku but the kind of men that rule this nation of ours, the truth is that we need to really re-examine a lot that we take for granted.

By the time the whole rally cum campaign and what not was finished the entire Polo field venue of the event was so dirty that one could not but imagine why a party whose symbol is the broom could not leave in its departure a semblance of cleanliness.

The occasion was another avenue for the war of words to continue between the Vice and the President as Mr. Atiku rained unprintable words on his boss. It is sad that for an opposition that is supposed to show the way, everyone is fighting dirty. This I may not be able to condemn in its entirety because the Presidency has also fought dirty. Because days later in Yola, in the presence of the President the PDP Chairman rained abuses on Atiku in his home State. It only is a shame on the entire Nigerians and portrays us in a light that one could not truly argue.

The whole event was a reminder that we are still faraway from our desired destination of wellness as a nation. Through both events I have continued to ask questions regarding our general attitude to nationhood and leadership. Looking at Atiku and the whole charade, the fight between him and his former paymasters. I want to know what really does Atiku want, same question for Obasanjo, what does he want. What legacy do these men want to leave for the nation?

In his speech Atiku could hardly say this is exactly what makes me different from Obasanjo, this is what I intend to do differently. Abusing the President amounts to playing the game at the same level with the President. As the PDP train also talked about change and regret, at what only them knows...they regretted their mistake and promised change...change to what from what...the road to the next election certainly is ridden with potholes and deathtraps but in our usual style we believe that we will motor it as we have always done, accident or no accident.

On the count of lack of purpose I think that Atiku is no different from Obasanjo, his AC is no different from Obasanjo's PDP. The truth is that we are all the pawns in this game of cat and mouse, in the absence of a collective fight to ask for freedom, to ask for independence we continue to suffer the rule of rats because we have mortgaged our values to these bunch.

In the fight between Baba and Atiku I have never taken sides other than that of what the law says and the overall effect of the politicking on the populace. On one hand it is a case of a houseboy upsetting his master midway into serving or close to his freedom. So also is it a case of a master that refuses to see freedom as a necessity of life, although we must not take lightly the fact that these men, law or no law, constitution or no constitution, by my reckoning and that of sane thinking Nigerians have failed the nation and themselves. Both men are a shame to leadership and make a child-splay of our reasoning.

Tinubu at the Jos occasion, Jubril Animu in Yola and the many Nigerians who were on that infamous list of the EFCC whether edited or remixed, I can only re-echo that power is sweet, it corrupts but more than that is the fear of not having it some day that does more havoc. Obasanjo never saw eight years until it was flying past him, he never saw decay in education, health, power until he was close to the finishing line and realizing that he has failed and not knowing the judgement that fate would pass on him choose to one way or the other keep power and the whole Atiku mess is a fear of one thing or the other in the power game.

Whether the EFCC list was doctored before release or not the fact remains that there are names that should have been on that list that are missing, there are names my two year old boy would dare not call while dinning because rats know themselves and cannot come to play but for the absence of the cat. Should such a list just be because the men are contesting elections, so if there were no elections the likes of Nnamani would have been told to go and sin no more with all those houses or with an account of close to N4billion we are still out there crying victimization. Have you ever seen a mad man victimized...? Having removed the likes of Dariye is that the end, what happens to the billions he was alleged to have pocketed?

Is it not true that Bode George should be in that list, how about Gbenga Daniels...Oh...how about Mr. President when will the so-called report on him be released? How about those responsible for the disappearance of billions meant for roads. I know a road that has been awarded three times, three different contractors and the road is still bad. All the billions that went into NEPA, now PHCN where are the names that should have entered into the almighty Ribadu's list.

I hate to believe that Ribadu is a tool of Obasanjo, I disagree with alot of persons on that however I still have been of the opinion that the fight on corruption has been that of power delusion, a fight based on the psychotic cravings of a few that believe that the cat can do nothing so they play with our senses. EFCC simply is like the proverbial two edged sword, we know where it is slicing through today, tomorrow who knows.

Sometime two years back I wrote on what I called the anatomy of corruption and the EFCC method of fighting corruption, and not a lot has changed as I still hold on to the points I made and they include the fact that either way corruption has to be fought. And that whether you are the President's enemy does not secure a free ride and it is unfortunate that the President's enemies have chosen to be thieves. One of the tools of Mr. President is blackmail...and I repeat blackmail, but from a literal sense you do not blackmail a man whose slates are white and clean.

I know a handful of Nigerians that can tell Obasanjo to go to hell and the President based on his inability has resorted times without number to cheap insults but dare not blackmail them.

I know that many would disagree with me and before I am executed, I remain resolute, whether edited list or not, nearly all those on that list are guilty of graft, and it is the painful truth, in a nation where our number 1 and 2 men accuse each other of swearing by different Holy Books it is no use asking for those on that list to swear but if any sincerely did...death would gladly sweep. Yes, the law courts have not vetted that list, those men have not been convicted but let us wisen up, how many courts would convict these men and how are we sure that they wont get the Tafa Balogun treatment. Nigeria is just dirty...just dirty.

Let the wind blow, if wishes were horses I would have wanted Atiku to win and let us see how he deals with the aftermath of Obasanjo...Let Buhari win let us see if he could in pursuing probity and accountability be able to successfully remove Atiku from Obasanjo when probing this PDP mess, someone should explain how PTDF would be probed to a logical conclusion without both Obj and Atiku heading For Kirikiri and Yola Prisons, if it was good for Mustapha and co...who is above our prison. If only they had equipped those prisons they would not be afraid to go there.

Will Yaradua fall sick when he is confronted with the rot in the Presidency, what will happen when Yaradua discovers the real circumstances that led to his emergence...Oh Nigeria, indeed when the cat is away the rat plays and it does it so well. In the rats wake, food disappear, destruction is everywhere, a trademark of rodents is left behind, items get missing and that is what is happening to Nigeria today. By the time all this ends, we will hear another saviour talk, another beginning with no end in sight...

Men with unco-ordinated ambition are bent on meting destruction on the entire system for their selfish reasons. I once asked how many of these ex-this and ex-that are going back to the class room. Everyone is realigning, from PDP to ANPP, and vice versa, horse trading and rat stalking just to continue to rule me and you, that is the essence of all these looting.

We keep pissing on our shoes thinking we will remain warm but forget the stench that will emit from those same shoes. let me end by saying that Nigerians and Nigeria are in a situation where in the words of Principia Discordia "All statements are true in some sense, false in some sense, meaningless in some sense, true and false in some sense, true and meaningless in some sense, false and meaningless in some sense, and true and false and meaningless in some sense". We are not far away from a fatal mistake as much as we are near to a victory..the cat is away, the cat means many things to different people what are we going to do in its absence. May the Almighty Allah help us, and save us from ourselves.