Politicking at the expense of governing

Also published in Daily Trust 

The current premature escalation in intra and inter-party political struggle among our politicians, and the disproportionate momentum defining the wave of the associated political hullaballoo represents the desperation of the incumbents to consolidate their gains, and also that of the opposition to regain their lost ground and “adjust” the political equation that dramatically changed to the advantage of some and disadvantage of some others, in the wake of the death of President Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’adua in 2010.

In any case, in as much as this is normal in politics, it’s quite unfortunate to note that, the undue systemic preoccupation with it is unnecessarily disproportionate and it affects the balance between politicking and governing, of course to the detriment of the interests of the ordinary Nigerians. Though, the opposition would never relent in their efforts to distract the incumbents with a view to discrediting them politically, it’s imperative for the incumbents to not allow themselves to be distracted at the expense of their leadership obligations.

Unfortunately however, this is actually the case in the country particularly ever since the death of President Yar’dua and the subsequent ascension of Mr. Jonathan to power. It’s obvious that, whether deliberately or not, the opposition, particularly at the national level, has succeeded in distracting the government, which has taken on politicking at the expense of governing in its bid to cling to power in 2015.

  

This situation is made worse by the existential threat facing the ruling party, the People’s Democratic Party, PDP. By the way, notwithstanding its accumulated notoriety as a party, and the apparent kleptomania suffered by many of its members, I don’t believe that the PDP per se is all what Nigerians have to get rid of in order to turn things around in the country. After all, many if not most of the opposition leaders themselves were equally thieves and incompetent when they held various political positions before they lost out and subsequently decided to join the opposition in their desperate bid to regain their lost slots on the big cake. While many others are former PDP members forced out of the party in internal party feud.

Accordingly, with due respect to those who single out the PDP as the sole cause of Nigeria’s current predicaments, I consider their assumption too partisan in nature hence too narrow to identify the real causes of the country’s persistent predicaments.

Anyway, while politicking continues to overshadow governing, politicians among both the opposition and the incumbents hardly address relevant issues that have direct bearing on the lives of the people they represent. On one hand for instance, the incumbents who, having little or perhaps nothing to show, beat about the bush in their futile bid to claim credit and justify their stay in power, and in the meantime distract the public from assessing them on the bases of the issues that actually matter.

On the hand also, the opposition, having no practical blueprint to provide a better replacement, needlessly waste resources and energy in highlighting the obvious i.e. the implications of the decay bedevilling the system, and also the resultant systematic failure to deliver. It’s of course needless because the implications are too obvious to waste time in highlighting them in the first place, as they are everywhere to behold. As a matter of fact, everybody, including the elite, suffers in one way or another, though at various degrees of course.

It’s unfortunate to note that, even though our politicians, of course with very few exceptions, claim loyalty to their respective political parties, and claim commitment to its written mission and values, the reality is that, only their personal interests determine the extent of their loyalty and commitment to their parties.

Interestingly enough, I reliably learnt that a leading member of the PDP currently serving as a minister, who is also a former Nigerian ambassador, had once (while still serving as ambassador) wanted to order some custom-made souvenirs in PDP flag colours from a Dubai based vendor, apparently to present it to some key party leaders back in Abuja, however he couldn’t remember what the colours were, so he asked those around him what were the colours of the PDP flag?

Actually, notwithstanding whether party flag colours are important or not I reasoned that if a leading member of a party, who primarily owed his ambassadorial appointment to his influence in it for that matter, could easily forget what the party’s flag colours look like, he was definitely not that loyal to the party in the first place. After all, apart from some voluminous manifestoes purposely prepared as part of formalities to get registration, and which I believe must have now gathered enough dust in various parties’ secretariats, none of the parties has any practical and binding manifesto defining its polices and/or blueprint with detailed policy implementation mechanisms.

Anyway, this lack of commitment explains the rampant cases of defection from one party to another and/or engagement in antiparty activities whenever their political ambitions are frustrated by some more powerful party members. Yet unfortunately, ordinary Nigerians, who rot away at the receiving end, are easily carried away by emotion and prejudice to turn a blind eye to the real causes of their plight, and allow such politicians to continue toying with their collective intelligence in pursuit of their personal interests in disguise.