Since time immemorial, Nigerians have cried to God for vindication and intervention in the affairs of the country, and the rescue of the nation from the strong forces of opportunists called politicians. For long, we thought God has forsaken us but as it is gradually becoming evident, God is visiting them in a unique way- they are sick, and gradually going insane.
“We could not see Yar’adua, but he is fine, and we are happy. In fact, we saw the wife. Turai told us they drank Kunu together and we are very happy with what we heard. We are very sure that President Yar’adua will return home as soon as the doctor has finished attending to him, he is very fine and we are happy.”
Bello Haliru Mohammed
PDP Deputy National Chairman
Madhouse is my favourite programme on South Africa’s ETV. The show features games in which participants win cash prizes based on their ability and dexterity at mimicking and depicting madness. The show helps viewers to have an idea of what happens when a house is full of mad people- hell is inevitable.
Still talking of madness, the ground floor of the West ward wing of the University College Hospital, Ibadan houses the premier institution’s psychiatry department. Passers bye on a daily basis are witnesses to psychiatric episodes that occur when some of the patients break lose. Scenes like these further substantiate the need for the mentally deranged individuals to be kept and watched closely, and nothing serious should be committed into their hands. As a nation however, the reverse is the case.
How do we explain the destiny of the world’s most populous black nation- Nigeria- which has been committed into the hands of people whose thoughts and talks depict them as psychologically inadequate?
In the first instance, nobody sent them as emissaries to Saudi Arabia, they went on their own. It is therefore expected that when there is nothing additive- positive or otherwise- to the plight of the nation, which could warrant the nation signifying interest in their mission, it becomes imperative for them to do us a favour and shut up. However, the above statement credited to the deputy national chairman of Africa’s largest party, the PDP, further shows the precarious situation, and unimaginable bondage that seem to be Nigeria’s destiny in the next 40 years, so they speak.
Like everyone else in government, PDP executive members, led by the party chairman embarked on a mission to our new Presidential Villa- King Fasai Hospital, to assess the health status of our ‘recuperating’ president. And like past teams on similar mission- governors, senators, representatives, political jobbers and political prostitutes, and in similar manner, they were turned back by no other person than the not-so-literate Turai! This brings to the forefront Nigeria’s ill luck at leadership, a situation that has shown us as an unserious nation.
In a country with the rule of law practically invoked in all circumstances, the law saves all the stress of encoding, decoding and deciphering the complex legal terminologies. But in a nation like ours where rule of law is followed at wish, our usual act of beating-around-the-bush shows us off as a set of insane people.
If there is anything that Yar’adua health dilemma has brought to the notice of Nigerians and the international community, it is the fact that our leaders are not psychologically sound enough to lead themselves talk- less of leading an entire nation.
In places where things are ideal, it is a thing of unimaginable shame that the national executive officers of the ruling party, on whose backs the president rode, could be disrespected and summarily shown the way back to Abuja by Nurse Turai who decides who sees the President, and who does not. However, their Saudi predicament is nothing compared to the classical clinical case of psychotic or schizophrenic insanity demonstrated by the audacity of the party’s National Deputy Chairman who went on record to make the statement quoted above.
It is expected that the PDP delegate, having failed in their mission, like thieves, would sneak into their respective villages but the shameless virus of Nigerian politics seems to have eroded every iota of sanity in them, and had made it almost impossible for these highly respected politicians to distinguish between what is plausible and ‘applaudible’ from that which is monumentally disgraceful. This is what happens when due processes are not followed.
In a working democracy, elections at all levels are preceded by primaries where aspirants wishing to be the flag bearer of their respective political parties rally around delegates that will make the decision. In PDP and most Nigerian parties however, this is not the case as flag bearers are preferentially chosen based on conditions that are best known to the ‘choosers’. This goes on to the polls where the same selection procedure is carried out and the mandate is given to the candidate with the most prominent benefactor.
Unlike his deputy, the PDP party chairman was remorseful and was caught soliloquizing.
He felt ashamed, manipulated and highly embarrassed by the unseen strong forces around the ailing president. Like a reasonable person, he made it known that he was dissatisfied with the trip, the aim of which was not achieved. Before one gets caught sympathizing with him, it is worthy to note that his party, and no one else, is responsible for the present collective fate of the nation.
During Obasanjo’s regime, the party’s walls were fortified by big grammarians like Prof. Jerry Gana who convinced the fiercest electoral observer that our elections are free and fair, and professional charters and graph plotters like Soludo who led a team of think tanks that perfectly hid our faces from the realities of our true status as a nation. But for the sheer inexperience and fate of Yar’adua and his boys, all eyes are opened, and we are grateful for that.
It is now a public secret that PDP is full of sick people. The chairman, in a PUNCH report is said to be suffering diabetes and eye problems, while the party’s last presidential candidate that is expected to be of good sound health is in a only-God-and-Turai-knows state for months at tax payers’ expense in Saudi Arabia. God save us from this ravishing madness.
With evidences indicating the psychological imperfection of our leaders warranting the need for psychiatric evaluation, the bar has just been raised for new inclusion into the ongoing constitutional review.
Our lawmakers should answer pertinent questions like- for how long is it reasonably acceptable under the Nigerian constitution for the president to be away from his duties? How and when is a president declared unfit to rule? Who decides who sees a president- the wife or the cabinet? And what is the minimum qualification for a first lady?
Without any doubt, Turai prepares the best Kunu ever made in Aso Rock as frequently reported in the media, and attested to by Mr. President when he was ail and hearty. But we’ve also realized that she is the most unlettered among past and present presidential partners, based on her interference with issues that are way out of her league. Although our constitution is silent on the duties of the wife (or wives) of our leaders, it is time to define such.
Nigeria’s progress has been paused since November although it’s been on a typical Lagos go slow since the outset of this administration. While the opposition is not making good use of the golden opportunities by instigating their members in the National Assembly to speak up and invoke whatever the Constitution says, nature’s
laws of evolution and natural selection seem to be coming to our rescue as a nation.
It took a Jerry Rawlings led revolt revolution for Ghana to be sanitized of bad bloods like PDP but in our case, the case is different as gradual bloodless fizzling out is our best approach.
No prophet is needed to prophesy that Yar’adua won’t be having a second term, talk less of a third term, and without any killings, bloodshed, and the likes, he seems to be out of the way of Nigeria’s progress. The same also goes to his political family, the PDP.
Diabetes is a terminal condition giving the sufferer a given lifespan to live. Hence whether the PDP chairman acts right or not, he will soon go off the stage. The deputy chairman with a controversial psychological status has also been said to have an underlying ailing conditions and in no time, people like him will be playing lesser roles in the clogging of the wheels of our political and national destinies. With them out of the way, Nigerians will soon smile.
PDP should be aware of the encompassing realities around them and try as much as possible to redeem the party’s long lost name, a step which is being adopted by the party’s past members who are now presenting themselves as the elders of the nation (Wabara et al).
It is also expedient for Nigerians not to relent in their intercession for God’s intervention in our political ascension. Polls are around the corner and sooner or later, unsung heroes will emerge as they attempt to lead the nation. But some facts are also emerging. One of such is the fact that PDP chieftains are not the ones exclusively doing the selection, God is also involved. And as time goes on, we will soon see whose team is the strongest: God’s or PDP’s madhouse?
