Leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have been traversing the length and breadth of Nigeria talking about “change” in the leadership of the nation. They talk glibly about the need for change in how things are done. It is their right to so do. In fact, it is good to talk about “change” because “change” is good. Even if you do not talk about “change”, it will present itself in both particular and general circumstances. After all, the truism is that the only thing that is permanent in life is change.
So, when I see them talking so passionately about “change”, which they claim is their motto, I consider them as being rather unimaginative. I dismiss them as boringly flogging something that is not new. Do not get me wrong; I know that the message of “change” is a meaningful message, especially when it is being passed on by credible change agents. But what rankles about the messengers of APC’s “change” is their hypocrisy, which they have tried to clothe with the integrity of the godly.
And because they present a picture that is false, this then causes so much noise in APC leaders’ communication process that substantially detracts from the credibility of the message itself. I am always inclined to see the message from the prism of the persona and antecedents of the individual APC leader rendering the “change” mantra. It would be worthwhile to remind many of them of their history and deny them of their unconscionable and farcical claim to probity.
When many of these APC leaders—former governors, incumbent governors, legislators, etc.—mount the soapbox to pontificate about their desire to bring about “change”, I always wonder what exactly they are talking about. What arrant nonsense! What shambolic dissimulation! Do they take Nigerians for idiotic and undiscerning folks? The sensibilities of Nigerians have been insulted and assaulted over and again through the shenanigans of these questionable characters who masquerade as patron-saints on the shifty political terrain.
I hope they would attempt some kind of self-interrogation, question their own sincerity; and, indeed, put their individualities on the scale of integrity to assess what they are really worth. What exactly is their worth? Are they really better than their counterparts in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), whose motto is “Power to the People?” and whose character and politics the APC leaders wilfully denigrate and demonize? Is it not self-serving deceit to attempt, as the APC leaders have been doing, to portray the PDP and its government at the centre as incapable of transforming the nation?
I hasten to posit here that the APC and its leaders, which discerning and rational Nigerians know, cannot play Caesar’s wife in the intriguing game of duplicitous politics and electoral manipulations, nor can many of them in public offices and those who had held public offices before now, come to equity because they do not have clean hands. Yet, with voices that seem to pack a whole lot of strength in them, these stocks have tended to overwhelm everyone with their unsolicited message of “change.” Their propaganda machinery is in overdrive!
It is unfortunate that these politicians engage in political sophistry that seems to be sitting pretty well with some of their sadly misguided followers. They exert themselves to force down the throats of well-meaning Nigerians their salad of lies, half-truths and misinformation. Simply because they want to dislodge the present occupant of the nation’s presidential seat, they have stopped at nothing to pursue party lines and subterfuge. They have resorted to propagating outlandish claims against officialdom.
Nothing good or beneficial, as long as it proceeds from the bosom of the sitting president, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, or from his bag of goodies, matters to them. They act true-to-type, haranguing every transformative gesture. They excel in pillorying every good action of government without giving credit where and when it is due.
This strategy by the self-acclaimed agents of “change” does no credit to them. Rather, it denies them the credibility that anybody could have ascribed to their self-imposed task of trying to expose the underbelly of the PDP’s ruling Federal Government. How can they appear or sound credible when the only elections in which they emerge victorious are transparent while the ones won by the PDP are rigged?
It is the triumph of one-man-one-vote when they win, but electoral charade when they lose. In pre-election activities, it is in apple-pie order for a godfather in Lagos to select and/or impose candidates for elective offices, but a charade in PDP if anything close to that or exactly that happens. In post-election era, judicial victory for them is victory for democracy while judicial victory for the PDP is procured. 3D”EN-GB” style=’color: black; font-family: “Arial Narrow”,”sans-serif”; font-size: 20pt; mso-fareast-font-family: “Times New Roman”; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;’>
There is nothing to convince doubters that the APC is itself ready for “change”, not to talk of its ability to bequeath “change” to the people. But politicians are incurable optimists. They can promise to provide heaven on earth, just as the APC is promising “change.” They will promise to build bridges where there are no rivers. So, I ask once more, what manner of “change” can come from a group of people whose antecedents are well known to many Nigerians?
There was an APC leader who, for eight years, privatized one of the southwest states; and, today, he is collecting royalty from those he helped into governorship positions in the zone. He is still very influential in the APC, which is promising “change.” Again, the question arises, what manner of “change” can come from such an APC leader.
Even some of them who run their respective states are no good examples: there is too much chicanery. Deception and systematic plundering of the people’s commonwealth have become “directive principles of state policy.” And, sadly, they continue to perpetrate the perfidy while presenting themselves as puritans. Is this not the lot of the APC, whose ranks have been swollen, in recent times, by some PDP politicians, whose personal political history is entangled in questionable circumstances?
Ask the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and their rumps would be exposed; and, indeed, the alleged malfeasances of some of them have already become public knowledge. The attempt by the APC leaders to wax sanctimonious is, therefore, laughable. I deny the politician in them the claim to saintliness; they cannot bring about “change” even in the context that they have promised it for they cannot give what they do not have. This is the parody of their reality.
Ojeifo contributed this piece from Abuja via ojwonderngr@yahoo.com
