Siaza is a fictional political series, taking a cue from the highly successful House of cards. Main character is a University don, Prof Bali Baloba, a university lecturer who takes his students through the devil and the details of how the mind of a politician works.

Episode 1– The Daydream Coup

“Welcome back to a new session. Let’s hope this one lasts the full 16 weeks.”

“The revolution is now!” screamed a voice from the back. “There are no more strikes.”

“Oh yeah, your new mantra” retorted Prof. “How are you getting on with that?”

One of the students replied, “We wanted a new government and we got it. We sent away those who had no inkling as to what it means to govern the biggest black nation on earth. “

“I like your newfound optimism.” replied Prof. “I’m really hoping you get the version you voted for. Well you can always buy another in 4years time.”

“This time will be different” shouted one of the students. “The politicians have learnt their lessons. We the electorate hold the power.“

“Well, we’ll see” replied Prof. “We all have the luxury of air through our nostrils and blood through our brains. Time they say, will tell but when it does, no matter what it says, I hope you all will listen and learn.”

He moves towards the board and starts projecting his lecture notes.

“I will like us all to build a theoretical model. You all remember opportunity cost from your economics class. As a side project to your course work this semester, we would be considering a concept called Political Opportunity Cost. We’ll role-play and move the chess pieces of our mind around. We will be altering past actions, imposing it on the present and postulating future reactions. Is anyone interested?”

There was a large chorus of “Yes” from the students.

“So let’s go back to December last year when the battle was shaping up. The incumbent, President Blessing Anya Theophilus had been nominated unopposed by his party for a 2nd term and the supposed coalition of ‘aggrieved parties’ had also gone through a rigorous internal election to elect its candidate Mallam Suleiman Daihatu as its Presidential candidate. The two candidates are locked in a battle to get the attention of the electorate and it is billed as the election that could possible split the country apart. President Theophilus is from the oil rich southern region of the country and Mallam Daihatu is from the arable northern region where close to 80% of the country’s food resources come from.”

“Fast forward to February this year and it is clear that Mallam Daihatu has a clear lead. He has picked a lawyer from one of the biggest religious groups in the country as his running mate and he is running on the slogan ‘The revolution is now’! His campaign team is well structured and lots of pundits and technocrats are going along with his message. President Theophilus is trying hard to prove his performance in the past 4 years has not been abysmal but it was all looking in vain. The election is scheduled for Sunday February 15th. Then the unthinkable happens.”

‘MILITARY TAKEOVER!!!’

“That was the headline of the Standard Newspaper on the 15th of February. A group of young soldiers had strategically taken over the Presidential palace, state houses, council offices, military barracks and divisions across the whole country. A young northerner, Col Bako, led the coup. Lots of lives were lost including 3 ministers, 10 members of the National Assembly, 2 governors and lots of others unrecorded. President Theophilus was smuggled out of the country to a neighbouring country; his wife was injured while they were escaping. The Vice President was abducted, taken to one of the military barracks and kept under arrested. Mallam Daihatu was also placed under arrest and his running mate had escaped and could not be located. The country was in turmoil for over 4 weeks”

“The army chiefs were said to be really angry at this coup. Some of the men still loyal to them rallied around, helped in dislodging them from arrest and regaining command of a few men. General Egbewiri, who was the army chief and also from the same region as President Theophilus, started the process of getting the coup plotters out and they succeeded within a week. This was now the 3rd week in March. Seeing that the military had regained the country, supporters of Mallam Daihatu called for a return to civil rule and elections but General Egbewiri was not having any of it. He insisted that there were still pockets of insurgents in the country and the army was needed to stabilize the polity. He suspended all political and government activities till further notice. At a press conference to update the media on the President Theophilus’ tenure that was supposed to end on the 1st of May, he insisted it was not yet safe to hand power back to civilians. He also stated that President Theophilus had helped with international support during the period of the coup and granted him a “Hero” award for the services rendered to the army while he was on exile.”

“General Egbewiri stayed in power till August and called for a fresh election. A new electoral umpire was appointed by the military and President Theophilus, whose wife died while on exile, returned and contested against Mallam Daihatu, whose running mate, had surfaced in the United States and was not willing to participate in the new elections. President Theophilus’ media team concentrated on his personal tragedy and the fact that he is ready to die serving the nation. Chants of ‘hero’ followed him all through the campaign. He won by a landslide. Col. Bako was not captured. Some say he killed himself, some say he changed his identity and was living in a palace somewhere in the UAE. Most say the coup was a plan by President Theophilus’ and his advisers to ensure he stays in power.”

“What do you all think happened?”

All the hands in the room went up.

@Richard3d7
https://richardawe.

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