The Gorilla Politics

By

Fasanya Oluwatosin

                              

There are no permanent enemies in politics but temporary friends is the saying atypical of the political stratosphere in Nigeria. It is not unusual to see politicians who are allies today become fierce enemies tomorrow and the day after re-unite. that depressing spiral of calculated gain seems to recycle. They tend to unite as a single font with issues of common interest and burst the shed in the slightest provocative conflict of interest.
The politics obtainable in Nigeria is in no way different from that obtainable among the gorilla where the male and female gorillas tend to emigrate from their natal groups to join another.
The practice of decamping or party switching as the case may be has been an ever present and recurring phenomenon in Nigeria since the beginning of democracy in 1999. Politicians in Nigeria as opposed to their counter-parts in other countries continually and indiscriminately change allegiance from one party to another. Party switching in itself is not a bad act and it is not unconstitutional as the 1999 constitution provided that each citizens have right to freedom of association. By this, each individual has the liberty backed by law to be a member of any association of which a political party is inclusive.
However, the frequent and incessant rate of party switching by Nigerian politicians is quite alarming and calls for concern. Such perpetual act id detrimental to our continued democracy and the stability of the country as a whole.
Politicians have turned from being party loyalists to party hunters who are constantly in the hunt for greener pastures in the political arena. It then begs the truth to know the reason for this continued act.
The answer is that party politics as practiced in Nigeria today has taken a fleeting upturn from what it should be to an avenue for position seekers to seek political positions. The formation of a political party is supposed to be based or hinged primarily on a particular ideology. This ideology is what draws the party its members who are staunch and ardent follower of the party’s ideological practice. This ensures ideological commitment of the members and prevent frequent change of party allegiance.Members of such party would hardly change party loyalty except for personal and vainglorious reasons.
Among the political party that exist in Nigeria as of today, there seems to be none with a clear-cut political ideology.
In the united states of America, the democratic party reflect the liberal ideas while the republican party reflects the conservative ideas. The Action Group in the first republic has its political ideology as Democratic socialism or Awoism. This ideology attracted the likes of sir Adeyemo Alakija, Ooni of Ife, chief Bode Thomas and a host of other stalwarts to the party.
The lack of political ideology of the current crop of parties in existence has resulted in the concomitant lack of ideological commitment by members who sees the party as a medium of clinging political power. The lack of ideological commitment explains why most politicians switch from one party to another when their objective aren’t achieved.
Most politicians affiliation to a party is largely due to political position. They hunt for parties where they can be guaranteed or assured slot failure of which they switch to another party.
Lack of democracy within political parties can also be attributed to this incessant party switching. The situation in most political parties in Nigeria is the “influential figure practice” as against the democratic practice where an influential person would be chosen as the flag bearer of a party without due and proper primaries. An aspirant could be told to step down for an influential person all in the name of making the party  win election. This singular act has dissuaded many a politician from totally committing themselves to the cause of a political party.

Party switching happens all over the world and it is not a bad act but it should be largely curtailed to enhance the growth of democracy.

1 COMMENT

  1. LINGUISTIC INTIMIDATION: BANE OF NIGERIA POLITICS
    Words are like eggs which after being said are incontrovertible. Though some do say that words could sometimes be retracted yet the reality is that the damage would have been done even after that. There is a weight behind every word spoken as such strict observance is given to every utterances of the mouth. Words could be constructive as well as destructive depending on how it is being used. The politics obtainable is this country is what I tagged the ‘destructive linguistic intimidation’ used by politicians against their political opponents during political vendetta
    The common practice in Nigeria politics is to see a politician or even a political party through their spokesperson publicly degrading the credibility of their political opponent with the sole aim of reducing the affinity between the masses and their opponent thereby scoring cheap political point. Just recently as the 2015 election looms around the corner, this fact has been overtly revealed. We’ve heard different names like “illiterate”, “semi-illiterate” “darkness” “motor park garage” but to mention a few. I believe we know who said those words. These utterances which I regard as ‘battle of words’ goes beyond their mere pronunciation, to causing havoc and unrest in the community.
    It does take me as surprise whenever I hear our political leader talk of insurgency and public unrest as the major thing they would qualm when voted in power. Just recently, Gen. Buhari said top on his agenda is to tackle insurgency in the state. I see this as a needless agenda because they are the cause of most public unrest. Little did they know that their battle of words is a strong factor in inciting their bagful of supporters spread across the country. Those words sink deep into the memory of their supporters who sees those words as a green light to show their support. Even as the February election looms near, there has begin to be fears of insecurity and a potential all-out war in the country. Some say if Buhari did not win, the northerners would surely be aggrieved and they are further incited by the previous pronouncement of Gen. Buhari should he lose the election. The Niger Delta militants who are further empowered by the Jonathan administration would also not let go should Jonathan lose the election. That conclusively means we are at a crossroad. These wouldn’t have been had there not been a fierce fiasco of words between the opposing parties.
    Since Buhari kick-started his campaign, we’ve heard of death of innumerable number of people and worse still, more would still perish if this battle of word is not stopped. Rather than resort to washing their dirty linen in the public, it is rather advisable that they clearly map out a clear-cut road map which would be used in steering this great nation of ours into prosperity.
    Rather than a fiasco of words, the different political parties should find a way of working glove-in-hand to tackle and solve the different problems that have bedridden this country.