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We did not conclude on political golden lessons last Monday. You saw that there was no direction to whither next. Today, we continue with more political lessons I have imbibed, 50 years on. Politics Nigeriana creates many small gees.
Ever heard of god of pride? A politician who brags to no end. Only pride makes a human being see himself as god of tomorrow or god of power or god of success or god of nonsense or god of something over which he has no control. Only pride deceives you to accept you are god of lies.
Or god of self. Or god of filthy lucre. Or god of cabal. Or god of without-me-nobody-else.
You get that, don’t you? You have experienced them, haven’t you? They are legion, so don’t tell me you have not encountered the only-cock-to-crow god; the only do-as-I-say god; the you-must-worship-only-me god. Which Nigerian doesn’t know about god of loyalty who himself is so disloyal he thinks loyalty is one-way traffic that terminates at his personal bus stop?
Almost always, these gods emanated from having recorded successive political successes. He ran for local government chairman and won. And ran for House of Assembly and won. And ran for House of Representatives and won -pronto, a political god was born.
Or someone who prides himself as always belonging in the right camp. In 1999 and 2003, his candidate for President was Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. In 2007, he supported Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, and in 2011 Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. In 2015 and 2019 when the presidential tide changed from PDP to APC, our man had like a thief in the night migrated from point PD to AP.
Instantly, he emerged god of crosstitution or god of election. Or god of connection. Or god of oppression. Or god of suppression or god of all the other -ions.
It’s added advantage he remains relevant, when he currently holds no elective office like that. Woe betide you if he’s not on your side. He can intimidate your camp and you to death, with empty calculations and boasts. Thou shalt not fear this idiotic paper tiger.
Another small gee of note is god of contracts. He moves about with god of money. And with god of injustice. And, with god of corruption, complete with god of chicanery.
This cabal and their cronies operate deep inside the inner sanctuaries, sanctums and bedrooms of power and are so powerful even the godfather dreads them. They are quite conspicuous in public no matter how hard some of them try to falsely disguise their inane loudness. They are always around power-holder-in-chief; in fact they hold him captive. You find even the big boys and big girls of the system flocking around them for -you know what and why.
Alas, as with all other small gees, these gods never last long (enough) let alone forever. They soon fade away or die off -politically or actually. Their retirement is a life of anguish, bitterness, depression, hate, irrelevance, loneliness and regret. Suddenly, the same kingpins who refused to show us mercy now beg us not only for mercy but for understanding and survival as well.
Ninety-nine point nine nine percent of the time, they get neither mercy nor love. More like, they always reap what they sowed. Unfortunately, the flip side of this booby lesson is that the other small gees and their emerging wannabes don’t learn anything at all from the experience. They all end up in that inevitable cul-de-sac.
This lesson is so important it deserves a second, more critical look. Why don’t Nigerian politicians learn from what happened to others like them? Why the craze to sit a particular person in your stead, when you know that such a one shall eventually come for you? Is there something karmic in politics Nigeriana, and is that something too strong a pull that even known prayer warriors cannot push back?
In that is enshrined another lesson that calls for sober reflection. Politics is a predictable cycle. Mediocrity and hate and greed would for a while trump excellence and love and altruism. But, payback time cometh: no need therefore to kill yourself over anything.
See: Nigerian politicians cannot do without subterfuge, envy, blackmail, quarrel, plotting, counter-plotting and allied intrigues. Each has a place in their DNA. But, while they can betray themselves the next minute, nothing stops them from coming back together in the near future once their interest dovetails. That’s how they roll, all tingods
They all mouth the Big Gee but it is themselves in all their smallness that they worship, 24/7. These gods don’t know God. This is the reason they don’t love people. Everything is about them, by them, of them and for them.
Politocracy, rather than democracy. What was looted but recovered is relooted. The sheer daredevilry. Nevertheless, they continue to succeed because Nigerians have yet come to breaking point.
On that day, may Nigerians not simultaneously hit boiling point. That day is nowhere near though, because most of the citizens also play the god-card. Some are god of AGIP (All Governments In Power), god of criticism (they play to the gallery every time) and god of apathy (they don’t care what happens to the country). Others are god of money-for-hand-back-for-hand; god of fool-at-forty and god of how-to-destroy-a-country.
You should know them just by identifying how much unpatriotic, corrupt, ethnic, clannish, religious and sundry negative sentiments they evince or tolerate. Next week, the series moves to money. You’d treasure the ad hoc golden lessons I have picked up hitherto. God bless Nigeria!
Marriage: Silence as talisman
All marriages have their peculiar challenges. There’s not one marriage worldwide that hadn’t or hasn’t witnessed some downs. If a man and a woman who have lived together for decades shared their story, all you would have for them is respect.
Marriage is not beans, as we say in Nigeria. Marriage demands more than love, more than money, more than education. There are couples who had love, education and money but failed to hold their home together until death.
Well ahead of IQ, social intelligence, financial intelligence and educational intelligence, emotional intelligence is the number one ingredient for a successful marriage. By successful marriage, I mean a home that -until natural death- manages to manage differences, pains and challenges in a way that retains individual and corporate happiness, human dignity and public respect. Emotional intelligence is knowing to not allow pride, anger, jealousy, competition or vengeance compel you to speak or act silly -especially publicly.
Recently, the matrimonial institution in Nigeria has come under untold heavy bombardments on the social media and in one case on live global television. While praying for God to heal the affected families -in the short and long terms- it is important for husbands and wives to be intentional about being there for each other, no matter the matter that is no threat to life. When two people in trouble stand together and pray, instead of ranting to a third party, they very soon realise that the storm that threatened to break their home was only a breeze of blessing -nothing more, nothing much!
