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I see politics as a game of interest. It could be exciting if the interest here is national or general. But unfortunately, for Nigeria where I come from, the interest is never national but sectional, primordial or personal. To the Nigerian politician, power is not a means to an end but an end itself. Politics is a zero-sum game and winning must be at all costs. Nigerian politicians are blinded by their ambitions and so are inconsiderate or insensitive to the feelings or position of others. This explains why Nigerian the politicians are generally manipulatable.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) seems to be embroiled in an internal conflict since the conduct of the party’s presidential primaries and the emergence of the erstwhile vice-president His Excellency Alhaji Atiku Abubakar (GCON) as the party’s flag bearer. Despite peace overtures from His Excellency Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the party’s presidential flag bearer in the forthcoming election and the party hierarchy to resolve the crisis, Wike and his group remained undaunted making impossible demands and provocative statements. His belligerent attitude of throwing jabs and fighting everybody who seems to show support and solidarity with Atiku is unbecoming of one who claims to be a democrat and his near impossible conditionality for settlement smacks of arrogance.
Apparently, Wike has held on stubbornly to his preposterous demands, refusing to bulge in the face of current realities, reason and logic ostensibly on the claim that he remained in the party when others left. I must say that it is selfishness to attempt to destroy the house you ostensibly help to build because you lost out in the primary election and was not chosen as the party’s presidential running mate when you have openly declared after the said primaries that you are not interested in the position.
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Clearly, when I x-rayed the so-called Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) intractable crisis since its presidential primaries in June I see one of the parties to the conflict acting out a script written by forces from outside of the party. Yes, as an activist and a politician, I understand the dynamics of political intrigues. I know well enough to believe that Wike and his group are actually acting a script designed somewhere in the South West with the aim of precipitating imaginary crisis and distracting the PDP campaign team in order to allow the ruling and the visionless APC regime to retain power. The retrogressive forces are obviously at work. They are those who did not want to change the status quo; those who pretend to be speaking for the people but are benefiting from the misfortunes of the masses.
The question we must ask is why is the conflict still lingering in spite of effort to resolve it? Again we must not fail to ask about whom Wike is working for. Is it the River State people, the people of South-South Nigeria or the hapless Nigerian masses pauperized by the All Progressives Congress (APC) regime’s divisive policies? From the look of things, he is directly and indirectly working for Tinubu in pursuance of his personal aggrandizement and that would eventually be the end of his political career. Indeed, it is naïve for him to think that working against the PDP will advance his personal interest. It would certainly be the height of folly for Wike to abandon the PDP where he is highly regarded and consort with the hawks in APC. And it is also extreme foolishness to think that others will take you seriously when you work against the platform you claimed you helped to build.
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If Wike has integrity he will know that working against PDP is not just betrayal of the party and the Nigerian people but a betrayal of self. Unknown to him those he thinks that he standing in for would never trust him in future. It is always the case – use and dump syndrome. If he believes that he stood by PDP when others left, then he should hold firm the fort. It is unfortunate that Wike has allowed himself to be used apparently forgetting the lessons of history. Nigerian politicians especially the inordinately ambitious ones are known for learning disorder. It is inconceivable to me to think that a politician of the status of Wike could condescend to the level of associating with the APC group after what they have done to the nation. The APC regime has blatantly shown that it does not care if the nation survives or sinks. The party has no clues at all about how to tackle the myriads of problems it brought on the nation and thus anyone who consorts with a group like APC is obviously not in tune with reality.
The PDP leadership should take the bull by the horn and avoid the pitfall and trap set by the political opponents. While it is desirable to make peace, it also imperative to show that nobody is indispensable. The interest of the nation, the party and the onerous task of wrestling power from the APC obnoxious regime should be of prime necessity. The task ahead of PDP now is beyond self-aggrandizement; it is about rescuing the nation to which the hand of every concerned patriotic citizen should be on deck. Governor Nyesom Wike must be reminded in clear terms that whatever power he wields now will atrophy in eight months time when he would have joined the league of governors emeritus.
Hajia Hadiza Mohammed
hajiahadizamohammed@gmail.com
