By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye
Now, let’s face it. Despite all
the empty (and, often, very exasperating) noise about being driven by
patriotism and “desire to serve my
people” that usually saturates the atmosphere at each election season, a
careful, conscientious search on the political terrain can only yield about
less than one percent (and one is being really generous here) of aspirants
motivated solely by genuine desire to improve the lives of the citizenry and
make society a better place.
Buhari, President Jonathan and the Chairman
of PDP and APC
of PDP and APC
For the majority, the sole
incentive is the golden opportunity politics offers to gain access to
government coffers and cart away as much free money as one could grab before
one’s tenure elapses. This is just the raw, plain truth. Indeed, it is a simple
case of organized banditry and every politician in Nigeria knows that we know this.
There is, however, a very
insignificant few who, although also inspired by the same primitive craving for
the very unfairly lucrative political jobs, are content to just go home every
month with only their usually jumbo salaries and allowances. Although, they do
not find the very outrageously inflated pay packets they have allocated to
themselves in the midst of widespread poverty very obscene, they are, however,
able to recoil from the mad, free and fair looting that has become the
distinguishing feature of political office in Nigeria . The brazenness with which
the looting is perpetrated and the most revolting manner its prodigious
proceeds are often flaunted before everyone underline the unmistakable
impression that shameless stealing has received an official endorsement as part
and parcel of governance, a kind of official culture.
What makes the matter even more
egregious is that these callous looters are always able to use some tiny crumbs
or the usually very reliable intoxicants, namely, ethnicity and religion, to
get the same shortchanged and impoverished citizenry to rise in their defense
each time there are attempts to pry into their hideous activities in office. It
is only in Nigeria
that this kind of thing makes sense – that someone among the populace would
want to fight and even die for an unrepentant enemy of the people who has so
wickedly exploited, dehumanized and grossly diminished him!