As the pool of politics in Nigeria has got dirtier with the passage of time, Nigerians have had to put up with all manner of political dirt. In many instances, Nigerians have been forced to get used to political dirt and political death in a sad reflection of the lows to which the great hope of Africa has sunk.
When in 1966, the first gunshot which announced the country`s first ever military coup in Nigeria eroded the euphoria that had accompanied Nigeria`s independence six years earlier, it also sounded the death knell for the country`s nascent democracy, marking in the process the country`s dearth of true heroes.
The coup and the countercoup which followed it took many lives. But its greatest harm was reflected in the way it shoved aside many of Nigeria`s independence heroes. When between 1967-70, a cataclysmic civil war threatened to rip apart Lord Lugard`s 1914 contraption of convenience, the inevitable conclusion was that the Giant of Africa had been built on shaky foundations.
Counting the cost
Many years have since sought to shear Nigeria from those horrible days. However, the pull remains. For even as the years have sought to ferry Nigeria away from those troubled years, many of the problems that first took roots then have simply refused to go away. They have keep rearing their ugly heads, pulling Nigeria deeper into the woods in the process.
Nigeria has continued to count the cost of ethnicism, of corruption and of insecurity. Nigeria has also continued to count the cost of not having solid institutions in place.
It bears note that in the intervening years since the first military coup, there have been other military coups that have provided hammer blows to the destiny of Nigeria as a country. In fact the shockers of 1985 to 1993 when Ibrahim Babangida was in power, and those of 1993 to 1995 when Sani Abacha was in power still cause shock to course through Nigeria even till these days.
An appalling allusion
Nigeria continues to charge headlong into the buildup to the 2023 general elections and all that comes with it. Out of sheer experience, Nigerians know that they are firmly heading into a season when their sensibilities will be carved to shreds by those who care only about electoral victories, and could care even less about the history or sensibilities of Nigerians.
Nigerians are now entering into the season when politicians in bid to score cheap political points from wherever possible would leave nothing to chance. So far, there has been no disappointment.
For Kashim Shettima the vice presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, it appears it is not enough that the same faith ticket of the party is generating mixed reactions. As things stand, it appears there is no example too egregious for him as he seeks to whitewash what is a stormily contentious ticket.
Recently, he completely gaffed when at the 96th anniversary celebration of the Yoruba Tennis Club in Ikoyi Lagos, he drew parallels between Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, and Sani Abacha, a military dictator who ruled Nigeria with an iron fist between 1993 and 1995. Mr. Shettima had stated that Bola Ahmed Tinubu had the hospitality of Sani Abacha.
What a gaffe! Attempts to explain away the comment have fallen flat so far. Coming some few weeks after $23million of the infamous Abacha loot was pledged to be returned to Nigeria, it is inconceivable that a man who arguably was Nigeria`s most brutal dictator, who killed and incarcerated many, and stole billions from the country, would be invoked for anything beyond the making of the worst examples.
But that is what Nigeria has painfully come to today. The country`s dearth of heroes and paucity of values hav3 made it such that there many people who consider as heroic those who should only be remembered for their infamy.
With campaigns about to begin fully, there is no doubt that Nigerians would be inundated with many more of such examples as time goes by.
If Nigerians are not to be spared anything, then Nigerians must themselves spare nothing in scrutinizing those who would put themselves forward to be considered for leadership in Nigeria. Searing questions must also be reserved for those who sell such dubious candidacies.
Kene Obiezu,
Twitter: @keneobiezu
