The hackneyed ‘he that wears the shoe knows where it pinches’ doesn’t seem to particularly address or cover my subject matter as the interest of the people who actually bear the brunt pain of misrule are eliminated in the cliche. The trite is often used to buttress a situation where what an individual is undergoing that privately concerns ‘him’ in a given circumstance is best known to him.
That inverted generic term – HIM is individualistic and highly personalised. But the topmost national political leader elected and legitimately saddled with the responsibilities and cares of the entire nation can no longer be said to prioritise his personal matters to the exclusion of the plights and problems of the entire citizenry. This brings us to appreciate the implications and validity of our topic under discussion. The phenomenon in Nigeria political power nerve center that converts angels to villains; gentle people to untamed tigers; good souls to vampires and friends of all to foes of all and sundry, needs be explained, exposed and exorcised.
Dr. Reuben Abatti, former spokesman ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, wrote an article in the Guardian newspaper on October 14, 2016, titled ‘The spiritual side of Aso Villa.’ He said terrible and terrifying things o make the feeble minds mortified, grief-stricken and dumbfounded. But before you read the traumatic words by the Arise Television anchor, please don’t skip this… The crux of this piece is not just about the happenings within Nigeria seat of power but especially touching the essentials and core pledges and obligations around which Aso Villa centers – The BIG SHOE. The correlation between birthing ideas, and successful execution and delivery of the same and proper leadership and the enabling environment it requires is important and precisely what Abuja El Dorado represents.
Abati said: ”When presidents make mistakes, they are probably victims of a force higher than what we can imagine. Every student of Aso Villa politics would readily admit that when people get in there, they actually become something else. They act like they are under a spell. When you issue a well- crafted statement, the public accepts it wrongly. When the president makes a speech and he truly means well, the speech is interpreted wrongly by the public. When a policy is introduced, somehow, something just goes wrong. In our days, a lot of people used to complain that the APC people were fighting us spiritually and that there was a witchcraft dimension to the governance process in Nigeria. But the APC folks now in power are dealing with the same demons. Since Buhari government assumed office, it has been one mistake after another. Those mistakes don’t look normal, the same way they didn’t look normal under President Jonathan. I am therefore convinced that there is an evil spell enveloping this country. We need to rescue Nigeria from the forces of darkness. Aso Villa should be converted into a spiritual museum, and abandoned.”
From the above dreadful account, a dispassionate and critical evaluation will not disregard this insightful allusions when it was made by first hand witness but ask pertinent questions that will unravel possible solutions. I believe that the lifespan of superstitions is anything but durable. It hardly stands the test of not just time but superior and counter beliefs as they emerge. However spirituality differs from superstitious beliefs. The former is a reality while the latter is arguably a figment of a people’s imagination. There is a possible chasm between acknowledged life principles and a certain concept cultivated for a protracted period of time by group of people into character and conducts (often not civilised) way of life otherwise named superstitions. Irrationality seems to have been the most handy definition of Nigeria government mishandling of the country’s affairs starting from the military regime dispensation till date. Now, what remedy is feasible and open to us? Abati’s suggestion appears too unrealistic and quixotic. Buried (not just in the Aso Villa ground for certain ritualistic practices) but deep down the hearts and heads of our certain past leaders who have combined forces and principalities to mortgage the future of our dear Nigerians, is the mistrust perverted mindset and despotic ideology. The repercussions are the prevailing national albatross and deadening desolation we are now deeply ensnared in.
Imagine a place, the bedrock home and hearth of our jinxed nation’s topmost president; the foundation of which is demonstrated to have been spoiled, muddled and soiled in diabolism and fetish practices and rituals. The BIG SHOE an efficient president of Nigeria should wear ought to be one that will enable him to function and discharge his duties without let or hindrance. The insecurity in the land is rapidly getting messier and more complex by the day.
Woefully, our security operatives across the federation have shown to be overwhelmed by the onslaught and random offensives by the combined heavy activities of bandits, kidnappers, separatists agitators, and other terrorists groups. No day passes without gory reports of morbid killings here or random group/individual kidnappings there ravaging northern, eastern and western Nigeria. The fulcrum of a Nigeria president calling starts and ends with provision of security of lives and property, creation of enabling environment particularly to foster national coherence and cohabitation among the heterogenous state, etc.
It took President Muhammadu Buhari five whopping months of the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, to even know there is such a significant industrial action. The impasse between government unconcerned agents and the ASUU representatives is too intricate for a novice president’s intervention to resolve as soon as fortnight. I waved it as political gimmick when I read the front page on July 20, 2022 and thus I quickly commented ‘The Nigeria president issued order to education minister giving him two weeks ultimatum to resolve ASUU standstill with his government does not carry legitimacy or enough weight for it to be complied with.
He only knew about the five months old ongoing strike four months plus into the industrial action. So now what!!! I look askance…’ To a certain presidential candidate of the ruling party, a word here… It may be your entitlement to impose yourself on others as their enforced ruler but oftentimes it is necessary that you observe the circumstances surrounding the entire ambitious efforts, and when your findings reveal that sacrificial withdrawal is warranted, wisdom entails you engage that pull back process. If Nigerian politicians can lie or muddle up facts about things as enviable nativity status as their heritage foundation, then indeed this Bible passage that ‘if the foundation be spoiled, what shall the righteous do’ is terrifyingly worrisome.
God bless Nigeria and Nigerians.
Orajiaku, investigative journalist and security strategist, writes from Lagos via
[email protected]; 08035530832
