It is two years to the next general election cycle: yet, in every government house, plus including Aso Rock, that is what tops the agenda of the present. In fact, in Nigeria, attention -political if not all- had shifted to 2027 since one year ago. Perhaps, it is just in man to prefer what they have yet conquered. Otherwise, humanity should bother why second term is better or, if you like, far more preferred or far more anxiously pursued.
Politics Nigeriana makes for compelling study. It throws up far too much than, I guess, politics in saner climes. By the way, Anchor of the BUSH HOUSE NIGERIA and Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Information all-media series, GOV UMO ENO @ 2: 29 GUESTS, 29 DAYS, Itoro Columba, himself a former chairman of Ikono local government, told me on air last Saturday that Nigerians (it must be politicians) do not like that phrase, because they say it seems to suggest ours is among insane climes. I am crazy about this country because we are almost always attempting to run away from our shadow.
If climes were either sane or insane, Nigerians would not have needed to research too long to know where our country belonged. For instance, when men taunt women as being “the weaker sex,” we forget that means we are the weak sex. Fortunately, the expression, “in saner climes,” suggests others are sane. So, Nigeria falls in the category of sane climes.
Not sure why that is so funny, but I cannot stop laughing as I write. Man likes to live a lie, especially, in public. The inherent oxymoron in using Nigeria and sane in one phrase has the same potency like laughing gas. Knowing Nigeria is among sane climes calms me as a Nigerian in spite of all that I know.
It must be the same effect that other oxymoronic expressions (such as civil war, clearly confused, military intelligence) have on those concerned. Imagine the Nigerian war that was so civil it took a million civilian lives. And, that is as unmathematically as Nigerians count o. The figure might have been far, far, far more horrendous!
Talking about oxymoron, it goes far, far, far deeper in Nigeria; in politics Nigeriana, really. We hate love and love hate. Our politicians, all of them, hate their supporters but love their enemies. Oxymoron is in our very nature.
Being a Nigerian journalist practising in Nigeria, it is such a relief that those of us with strong subnational ties can safely afghanistanise nationally. Apologies, dear President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, you would have to bear this one brunt like the man you are. In the build-up to 2023, then Candidate Tinubu was the most vilified. There was nothing that they did not say or write about the poor man.
Then, he won. Then, he himself began to reach out. To, you now know whom. He travelled abroad and met at least two of his most virulent critics one of whom is right inside the inner sanctuary of Aso Rock today!
The other leading critic at the time is now in the wings, far closer to power than all of those who said and wrote niceties about the then presidential standard bearer of All Progressives Congress. I am not naming names because I am not against what the president has done. Truth to tell, man is like that: always nicer to -always wooing- unconquered territory!
However, I want supporters to realise that the prodigal son shall always be treated to a big, expensive party. It was so in the Old Testament. It is so in the new. It shall be so in the future.
Well, there is something else we all must learn from that. Nigerian politicians are godly people. They are far more forgiving than the rest of us who call them names every day. They not only forgive their enemies, they treat them better than their friends.
This reality is surreal. You want to cry, you want to laugh. It is a chilling realisation of how double-faced life can be. As we say in Akwa-Cross, you choose this you win, you choose that you lose.
That is why, as the clamour for 2027 had begun in earnest, everybody would have to answer their father’s name. If you want the men and women angling for power now to pay you serious attention then, oppose them vitriolically. That sounds satanic and it is, but if you want what you want in politics Nigeriana, that is one stratagem you must deploy. Nigerian politicians hate soft supporters, they love hard enemies!
I concede that is a cynical -almost sadistic- way to capture the situation but that is the way of the pen: always writing nonsense that the writer may not like. Those guys (Nigerian politicians) are good people. They forgive and forget, almost like God does. Only that their supporters think that they forgive their erstwhile opponents and forget their actions and words but, with that loss of memory, also go all the sacrifices of supporters.
Which brings me to one subnational top actor who is so like the president and who, I think, is sacrificing far too, too, too much for this president; something I am still trying to better understand. At the wee stages of his governorship, he held a party at government house to thank or, as it were, to offer a golden handshake to tens of his known enemy foot soldiers. As if he was telling them it is your hate, it is all you said on live radio and television against me, it is all you wrote in newspapers and online against my aspiration that got me here. Yours sincerely can never forget that big media event!
Fortunately, the tactical fresh politician understands what he is doing. He takes his time, but he is conscious of reward and who and when and how to. Only that, politics Nigeriana does not respect time. Which is why supporters become enemies easily!
In the days and weeks approaching, rewards would flow. I know enough to say that it is how the man functions. Always bottom up, always by his timing. And, you can neither change nor preempt him.
Which introduces a different slant into the mix of this vexed debate. Is it up to the follower or supporter to determine the timing complete with the quality or quantity of their reward? If yes, as an alarming majority of us are wont to retort, what is and where then lies the prerogative of the leader? Supporters may grumble all right but ultimately, they should show restraint in order not be abandoned by the ultimate Rewarder.
See, you are not a supporter if your eye is only on reward. You are a businessperson. A true supporter serves and waits. Supporters should focus on their assignment and allow leaders to do theirs.
So, back to our caption. We may have seen enough to know that in politics Nigeriana, it is better and indeed more lucrative to be an opponent than a supporter but is that who we are? My clan and I still believe that it is far better to be consistent, that it is far better to never be moved by waves of aggrandisement. Supporters who mean(t) well should not copy the poor, puerile, ungodly example of the prodigal son’s hardworking, hitherto patient elder brother. Genuine supporters (that is, the called and the chosen) support with all we have so that we too get full genuine backing when we need it.
It is soon our turn. Even if it is not, we must learn to support and smile through it all. We must learn to be patient, because God had built into time an unfathomable reward package just for the patient bird. No man, no force, nothing can stop a patient dog from eating the fattest bone with the most flesh.
God bless Nigeria!