I regret that I finally have to validate the
ridiculous “Jonathanian” and “Buharist” mentality
today.
The truth is, I detest using such tags
on people. Since the folly of political
polarity gripped our country just before the
2015 elections, I have refrained from lumping
people together with labels like “Buharist”,
“Jonathanian”, “Hailers or Wailers” and others
with which people have been stuck. I do just
think that these names are derogatory; they
also detract from the essence of democratic
citizenship, in my opinion.

But then, today’s shift is not without reason.
Granted, nationals are bound with the duty of
supporting their democratic leaders, but a
particular group of Nigerians have elected to
take their support for the President Muhammadu
Buhari administration beyond the normal demands
of citizenship.

With this set of people, it is impossible for
the President or his administration to do any
wrong. Now, I concede the right to beatify any
human being by anyone who so desires, what I
find objectionable are the mindless attempts
to disrupt contrary arguments without regard
to their soundness.

While people are entitled to choose blind
loyalty, they trample on the rights of others
when they interrupt their positions and
attribute every point that disagrees with their
own as either sponsored or unpatriotic. You are
then forced to ask yourself if these folks
have a good grasp of what loyalty to country
is.

A piece on my column last week would, for
example pass as one of the most constructive
pieces of advice a citizen could offer his
leader. Titled, “Mr. President, you do not have
three more years,” the piece merely drew the
President’s attention to how ill-advised it
would be for him to imagine that he had three
years to impact on Nigerians. I stressed the
point that politicians are not in the habit of
suspending their ambitions on the score of
national service and that from the end
of 2017, the President might find no one but
himself willing to till the ground, working
single mindedly, for Nigeria.

Some supporters of the President took offence!
Describing the intervention as another link in
the long chain of anti-Buhari sentiments, most
of the responders want to dismiss even
the most objective assessment of the
government.

And so it has become difficult to evaluate the
performance of Nigerian leaders without incurring
the wrath of some people who fervently hold
on to their belief in the infallibility of
certain men.

The tendency to suspend reason is not peculiar
to those who support the President, although
they are easily irritated given the growing
disenchantment of Nigerians with the
administration. Some of them speak more
eloquently in defence of the government than
those who are even paid to do the job. But
the supporters of former President Goodluck
Jonathan are no less obstinate and caustic in
their reaction to issues that concern the Buhari
administration. The arguments on either side
being still hot and divisive as it were before
the election of March 2015!

There are all sorts of blind accusations and
partisan affection in the appraisals of public
issues and discourses. If you dare to support a
good policy of the Buhari administration no
matter how rich, deep and utilitarian that may
be, you are a labelled a supporter of the
All Progressives Congress the same way
commentators are considered looters in the ilk
of the Peoples Democratic Party folks if you
speak in defence of Jonathan.
The capacity of our people to remain static on
these lines of affiliations, not reconsidering at
any time, is almost sub-human to be honest.
After all, aren’t human beings said to endowed
with the ability to see issues from different
points of view? How is it that people make up
their mind not to ever see a good point
reevaluate no matter what they see?
Twelve months after the last elections and 11
months into the new government, these
opinionated political observers find currency in
our offices, social media platforms, social
events, intellectual communities, market places
and even worship centres. There is never an
end to the strife.
Unfortunately, for the mass of the people who
ignorantly draw blood in furtherance of these
divisions and in protection of their own
perception, the beneficiaries of these bickering
have always been our political and bureaucratic
elite, those who feed fat on our divides, who
see opportunistic advantage worthy of
perpetual exploitation in the way we see
ourselves and they do everything to lead us
on.
For themselves, the rich and the powerful very
often collapse these artificial divisions whose
relevance find expression only for the purpose
of advancing theirpersonal and political
interests. They are at home amongst one
another while on first class flights to all
corners of the world and when giving their
children in marriages across ethnic, social and
political divides.
Sadly, it is the same people who are victims
and objects of elite political conspiracies, who
are unable and, in many instances, incapable of
discerning elite motives which have been the
basis of our national gloom and
underdevelopment.
Yet, these same people are the engine room
upon which democratic growth can be built,
even if Nigerians, both government and the
governed do not seem to understand this. While
government still treats citizens like some
hirelings who have no say in the matter, the
people, possibly due to the deferential values
in our culture, largely see government in the
image of a father, who should not be criticised
or provoked to offence. This is the reason why
instead of holding people in government
accountable, we treat them with awe and allow
them to run riot on us.

Nigerians have for example, suffered, and even
been traumatised by a series of deprivations
over the last couple of days but we still
have people who defend a government which
has not found sufficient reasons to explain
the problems and what it is doing about them
to the people. Some of the hardline supporters
of the government insist that it is premature
to even blame the government for anything
since the immediate past administration is
credited with a lot of malfeasance.
We however fail to accept that while politics
and political parties may come in different
colours and shades, good governance bears no
vagueness and most Nigerians who complain,
only desire a change in the quality of their
lives. And if government cannot, for any
reason deliver that to them at any time, such
a government must communicate its limitations
to the people, empathise with them, advise
them on the fleeting nature of the challenge
and then carry them along every step of the
resolution of the issues. Any government who
fails to do this deserves immediate reprimand
from every Nigerian of good conscience.
We should all note that the Buhari
administration presents another opportunity for
Nigeria to take its place in the comity of
nations. I am of the opinion that missing this
opportunity to set Nigeria on the path of
sustainable growth may be a fatal wound to
the development of Nigeria and it is only the
watchfulness of the citizenry that would get
us there.Should we continue with this election
hangover as we have carried on in the last one
year, citizenship would be greatly hampered,
democracy itself would be in danger and good
governance would suffer immeasurably?
To promote a representative republic, we need
to refine, deepen and elevate the level of
national discourse for nothing provides the
safeguards and protection for the people other
than eternal vigilance and citizens’consciousness
against the partisan and opportunistic
tendencies of men in power.
Above all, we must realise that all of us are
in a race, not against ourselves, but against
the rest of the world, most of which goes on
advancing the frontiers of development while
we are here tearing ourselves apart. Government
is not our father, we elected them to serve
us and we must all come together to support,
support not meaning docile. We should insist
that they deliver on their promises to us, no
matter what our political sentiments are. That
is the way to move Nigeria forward.

www.2000views.com

correct