Recent events in the political enviroment is akin to 'theatre performance'; Nollywood. Sadly, it is the people of Nigeria who will bear the brunt of full blown authoritarian rule as the country continues its journey to uncertainties. We need to be ready. What's the point of political witch hunt, bullying and intimidation of political opponents if their colleagues are welcomed to a red carpet dinner hosted by a government that claims to fight corruption. As we have rightly observed defection to the ruling party has become immunity from corruption. This sends a very dangerous signal. The message is 'play offensively' to win the next election at all costs, but that's not the future we want. The government has spent nearly four years to convince the electorates that certain politicians destroyed the economy of the country only to lure them in to the ruling party to inflate their ranks and diminish the chances of opposition. This is dirty trick, mocks integrity and degrades value of government. The politicians are no longer corrupt since they are of electoral value so what's the point of fighting corruption? The government should stop ridiculing the polity and acknowledge that it has failed to deliver and stop seeking scape goats.It's a common knowledge that corruption in Nigeria involved everyone irrespective of party or religious affiliations and the current government is also not free of corruption as evident in recent audits in the petroleum sector. The sponsors of the 2015 presidential election were the same corrupt politicians currently serving this government. We have argued that the root of corruption in Nigeria is the current political structure which grants power holders the right to do as it pleases them, so any geniuine efforts at fighting corruption should start from institutional reforms not political witch hunt to consolidate power. The ruling party wants to win the next elections at all costs deploying ruthless strategies that has the potential to ignite conflict instead of focusing on how to deliver good governance. Suddenly the Vice President, Professor Osibanjo declared that the restructuring debate which was the ruling party's election manifesto is no longer necessary, despite government's manipulation of the rest of the society with a committee report to buy time. Now tell me, is this the leadership he is talking about? Luring in opposition chieftains simply means that there is no change and there's nothing we can do about it. It is a shame that the government has failed to lead by example, thus presents a big threat to future stability and prosperity of the country. The tragedy is that political opponents may result to violence to resist state abuse since it has become very obvious that its only political enemies that are targeted. According to Punch newspaper , Eight politicians with N232Billion corruption cases are working for President Buhari's re-election. "These are politicians who are currently either under probe or prosecution for allegedly diverting government funds". [Punch September 1 , 2018].
There is urgent need for the government to provide a level playing field, embrace restructuring of the political system to avoid controversies that have the tendency to plunge the country into unnecessary political turmoil. This issue of political bias needs to be properly addressed if we truly don't want the country to descend into further insecurity, mass poverty, chaos and unnccessary political turmoil and uncertainties. Today the government should be focused on human liberation, empowerment not just the next election to consolidate their grips on power. Any country that wants to be successful needs stability, peace, it needs everyone, not control, intimidation, exclusion. Everybody should be worried about the dangers of prolonged uncertainties and what the future holds as we are getting ready for the next elections in 2019. Click on this link to read more about restructuring Nigeria : http://www.theleadprojectfoundation.com/2018/08/restructuring-nigeria-big-political.html
Uche Okeke is a Social Entrepreneur, the Founder of The LEAD Project Foundation. He's the author of : Nigeria's Democracy And Its Crisis Deliberate, Avoidable-'Bribe & Bullet'. What Can Be Done About It.
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