One of the many idiosyncrasies of Nigerian politicians is defecting from one political party to the other especially when elections are around the corner. A typical Nigerian politician is a power-hungry hoaxer who has been a member of all the political parties in the country. He is a corruption-enthusiast with a flawed mindset and an ungodly ambition to line his pockets with the nation's treasury. Therefore, he will do anything and everything he can, to become your Local Government Chairman, Senator, Governor or President. He doesn't give a hoot about the surge in the rate of youth unemployment, the epileptic power supply, the lack of good housing facilities or bad educational sector. All he cares about is- how to accede to power and pillage public coffers. Unfortunately, this is the prevailing mentality within the country's political terrain.
The year 2015 is just about ten and half months away and every Nigerian is waiting with bated breath, folded arms and crossed legs. It is an election year and with the numerous scandals and dirty scheming that have dominated the political scene so far, I doubt if the coming year will be ingrained in our minds as a positive one for Nigeria. Not that I wish for bad things to happen in 2015, but it will be unwise to ignore the ominous nature of these ubiquitous signs. The oga at the top has neglected his duties as the chief pilot of the country's affairs and has concentrated his efforts, time and our resources on covert campaigns for re-election. His ministers are buying bullet-proof vehicles with tax-payers money or waving magic wands to make oil-money disappear from the exchequer; Boko Haram is still unstoppable in the North, and badly facilitated schools are always closed due to strike actions by unpaid teachers/lecturers. Yet, all they can think of his how to come back to power and continue with their shenanigans.
The Nigerian polity is overflowing with politicians who do not represent any ideal; consequently, we are execrably governed by small-minded leaders who are the quintessence of mediocrity. The political parties have no direction, no values, no clear identity, no guiding principles or philosophy and of course no plan to better the lives of Nigerians. They just converge and discuss how to enrich themselves at the expense of impoverishing the populace. How remarkable it would have been if we knew what every political party stands for. What the ideology of the party is and the plans such a party has for the people. Wouldn't it be nice if we could easily access their manifestos on their website (I'm assuming they have) so as to know what the people stand to gain by voting for such party. A political party shouldn't just be a platform to launch a career in politics but also an avenue to make a change in people's lives by associating with the party that is willing to make that change through its socioeconomic policies, which are underpinned by the ideals of the party.
It might appear that I am too critical of these politicians and perhaps cynical about their intentions, but their actions have not given me a reason not to. As a brand enthusiast, I know that the recent trend in branding and commerce is that, companies or brands are no longer just relying on the quality of their products or packaging to stand out or beat the competition. They now invest a great deal in constructing a real personality for their brands and this involves defining what the brand is about, its essence and reason for being, its values, proposition (its offers to consumers and the benefits they will derive), and how to communicate all these intangible attributes of the brand when they interact with the public either through mass media, social media or face to face communication. This is about giving the brand you want to sell, a mind and an identity of its own. Someone clearly needs to take a cue! The truth is, people like those who stand for something and even if they don't like what you stand for, they will still remember you for it.
One of the hardest questions you can ask a Nigerian politician is whether he or she is left-wing or right-wing and I bet you won't get an answer or they might just think you are lost and asking for directions. Sad isn't it? Well..that's an insight into the regressive state of our political system and the permeation of ignorance in the society. You don't have to be an American to comprehend that the Republicans are about American conservatism while the Democrats are liberals in the US. The same goes to the Labour Party or Conservatives in the UK, they all stand for something. You are going to find the same in many other countries with ideologically-based political system. Gone are the days when NPC, AG and NCNC all had their own distinct party ideologies. Some were progressives, traditionalists, social democrats and even nationalists. Today, the landscape has changed and definitely not for good. APC, PDP, DPP and the rest are all birds of the same feather...as the cliche goes. The new mega APC is nothing but a congregation of aggrieved desperadoes while PDP is still a consortium of crooked pot-bellied men; so aren't they the two devils from the same netherworld? Apart from the fact that we know one likes to parade with a broom while the other has an umbrella as its symbol, (by the way, the connotations of these inane symbols elude me) we know nothing about their ideologies or manifestos.Yet, they rule us!
....to be continued
Adedapo Adebajo
No comments:
Post a Comment