2015: Bad omen all round

by Idowu Akinlotan

“The president’s new ministerial list is not a reflection of the managerial competence of the appointees, or of the short time left in the president’s tenure; it is a reflection of the idiosyncratic belligerence of the president himself, his evasive and deceptive patriotism, his intolerable lack of fidelity to truth and lofty ideals.”

Last week’s tit for tat between the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) is a reminder of the biblical story of the altercation between Israel’s King Ahab and the most prominent prophet of the day, Elijah. Responding to Ahab’s spectacular misrule, Elijah had decreed very harsh repercussions on the country, prompting the king to accuse the prophet of troubling Israel. But the prophet simply retorted that on the contrary, Israel was troubled by the king and his household. The outcome of the struggle between the king and the prophet is too well known to require any analysis. Ahab and his family later came to grief.

Comparisons, the English say, are odious. But on Thursday, after the APC gave what amounted to a political ultimatum to President Goodluck Jonathan over his government’s increasing and rampant resort to undemocratic, if not entirely fascist, methods, and the PDP had retorted that the APC was attempting to truncate democracy, it was hard to resist comparing contemporary Nigeria under Jonathan with ancient Israel under Ahab. President Jonathan may not have taken anyone’s vineyard in the direct sense of the word, but he has done much worse by undermining democratic rule in Rivers State, involving himself in oil wells controversy, usurping state powers in favour of the police, and giving the general and depressing impression his sole idea of the presidency is to act and fight in favour of his party, supporters and people. It is difficult to explain why he is not unsettled and deeply nauseated by the brazenness of his methods in Rivers and the openness of the state police commissioner’s partisanship.

The president’s wife, Dame Patience, ever so replete with testimonies of God’s goodness in her life, continually proclaims peace, love and national harmony. But she has been accused of being a puppeteer in the Rivers crisis, with direct links to the state’s commissioner of police, the recalcitrant and fawning Mbu Joseph Mbu. The first lady has done little to refute the allegations of undermining peace and good governance in Rivers State; instead, she has spoken cynically and condescendingly of contributing to the progress of her home state, and has undisguisedly nurtured a hostile attitude towards the elected leaders of that state. Indeed, she speaks peace, and has even christened herself the mother of peace. But she acts war and, in the background, fights it. It is likely that to the very end she will indulge in interminable battles, never retreating, never surrendering.

It is against this alarming background that the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the APC met in Abuja on Thursday to review the state of the nation, particularly the condition in which the misrule of the Jonathan presidency has diluted the country’s democratic experience and weakened its foundational principles. It was no longer realistic, they said, to tamely endure the battering and buffeting of the ruling party, in Rivers as well as elsewhere. It had become clear, the opposition party said, that both the president whose proselytising tendencies on social and political issues have turned dull and vacuous, and the PDP whose implacable resolve to demolish the tenets of federalism has become all too obvious, merely paid lip service to peace, institution building, economic development and federal principles.

Having made these observations, and having been convinced that the ruling party had no interest whatsoever in conducting peaceful and fair polls in 2015, the APC has decided on a more activist path in pursuing its political objectives. It would block passage of bills, particularly the budget bill, and oppose the confirmation of the president’s men, including the service chiefs. Though it is not exactly clear how it hopes to achieve these delicate and draconian aims, the opposition party is doubtless able to discomfit the PDP in the Senate and the House of Representatives. The PDP has begun to fight back dirtily, as this column guessed it would. And if it is taken into cognisance that the opposition APC is still battling with fractiousness in its ranks, not to talk of the inelegant structural and policy distractions promoted by some of its more obstreperous and domineering state leaders, it seems clear that the auguries are not good at all.

As the APC put it: “Following the forgoing and in view of the joint resolutions of the National Assembly on Rivers State, and other constitutional breaches by the Presidency, the APC hereby directs its members in the National Assembly, to block all legislative proposals, including the 2014 Budget and confirmation of all nominees to military and civilian positions to public offices until the rule of law and constitutionalism are restored in Rivers State in particular, and Nigeria in general.

The NEC of the APC has now resolved that if these acts of impunity and lawlessness continued unabated and the Police persist in being as an enforcement arm of the PDP to the detriment of our members, it will have no alternative but to ask our teeming members all over the country, and especially in Rivers State, to take whatever steps that are necessary to protect their lives and property.”

Unmindful of their party’s unhealthy contributions to the country’s lifelessness, PDP spokesmen have suggested that the APC’s plans to respond forcefully to the ruling party’s misrule were deliberate attempts to truncate democracy, create chaos and cripple the economy. As its wilfully misleading tactics in the National Assembly show, the PDP is expected to embrace the worst forms of realpolitik as the 2015 general elections draw near. The party has ignored the law and the constitution so far in Rivers State, and in the National Assembly, judiciary and in many other states; it will continue to do so eagerly, unconscionably and remorselessly. The secret service and the police have become indistinguishable from Aso Villa general office staff; the president will continue to run the two law enforcement agencies as if they are nothing but appendages of the ruling party.

Going by the ministerial list awaiting confirmation, and in view of the extreme conservatism and pro-Jonathan inclination of the Senate, the president seems to be reinforcing his ‘war cabinet.’ He has the legitimate right to appoint ministers who will be an asset to him, and who could swing votes in his direction, but the appalling reality is that most of the president’s appointees have the same malicious and malignant mindset as Nyesom Wike, the Rivers State-born Minister of State for Education. The president’s new ministerial list is not a reflection of the managerial competence of the appointees, or of the short time left in the president’s tenure; it is a reflection of the idiosyncratic belligerence of the president himself, his evasive and deceptive patriotism, his intolerable lack of fidelity to truth and lofty ideals.

If the APC were to be reluctant to respond in kind to the PDP’s damnable tactics, it could be smothered by the continuing misuse of presidential powers and the mischievous interpretation of the law and the constitution. Nevertheless, the greater burden is on the APC. Unlike the PDP, which has a fairly long and stable tradition upon which to swivel, balance and launch ferocious and overarching attacks, the APC is just starting to accrete its partisan powers, define who it is, locate its strengths as well as recognise its weaknesses, and mould itself into a united and disciplined fighting force. The opposition party, it is clear, is a child born in wartime. It will require perceptive, brilliant and selfless leaders to help it reach adulthood quickly in one piece, not to talk of acquire the strategies and manoeuvres necessary to outfox such an indomitable and relentless foe as the PDP.

In the coming months, the country will find itself trapped between the PDP’s fiery lack of moderation and distorted nationalism at one end, and the APC’s intrepid and fanatical desire to challenge the ruling party, pound for pound, shell for shell at the other end. It would be chimerical to expect the country to fare very well between the two powers, not when the PDP can count on unnumbered and soulless state officials eager to betray every noble cause, including the country, and the APC can count on its Young Turks frazzled by intraparty contentiousness and weaned on harakiri.