By Abdu Labaran Malumfashi.
Many of our politicians are caught by the bug of the ‘only one term’ syndrome since the beginning of the present democratic dispensation in Nigeria.
We are limiting the conversation to the Fourth Republic only, so what happened before then is not our concern here. Besides, most of the ills wrong with the country is happening now during our brand of democracy, where the winner appears not to only be always right, but to also take all the ‘booty’ all the time.
Many an office wanna-be, especially at the state and federal levels, would ‘swear’ to their fellow party aspirants that they would serve for only one term, if they were elected and leave the office for another, and more often than not, they appear to be believed.
But the trappings of power and the ‘yes your excellency people’ would make them to change their minds about serving for only one term, and continue in office for the duration of what the constitution agrees, if they do not cause it to be changed, where the citizens of the country are pliant enough, to serve their interest.
In some occasions, Their Excellencies might pretend to want only one term in office in order to ‘break’ any politician in the polity or their political party who looks like eying the sit when the occupants finish the ‘one term’ they have promised.
Such a promise was made by a governor in the north west, and before you know it, many of those aspiring to succeed him were ‘ruthlessly dealt with’ subtly, using the instruments of his office, and many of them went broke. But the wise among the aspirants, who saw through the charade of His Excellency, kept their money and sanity intact for another time. Their Excellencies often later claimed that there were no competent hands to hand over to.
This writer once did an analysis on the chances of those preparing themselves to succeed a governor who had promised to do ‘only one’ term. In the analysis, it was said of one of the aspirants (a very cunning one for that matter) that he was ‘stupendously rich’, but did ‘not have the political structure’ to win the next gubernatorial election in the state.
The following day, which was a Saturday, the politician invited the writer to his guest house to tell him that he was not that rich. He said he just had ‘enough contentment’ to keep him moving, looking like he possessed ‘all the money in the world’. But a retired police commissioner, who finished his career in Abuja had earlier informed the writer about the great wealth of the man in both money and assets.
After telling analysis writer of his ‘penury’ condition, he requested him to assemble for him to address his colleagues the next day, Sunday, where he repeated to them what he had said about himself the previous day, and added that he was only in politics to ‘assist the serving governor, but not to contest any gubernatorial election.
It was our belief that he made the claim for the governor to take note and spare him from his ‘subtle’ wrath, which he cunningly visited upon who so ever dared to voice or indicate their intention to vie for the office during the next election.
The biggest of all was of course, the politician who failed to change the constitution to have his way, despite the huge amount of money, ‘supporters’ and time he had deployed to extend his tenure over what the constitution of the country permits. The attempt to change the constitution was foiled by the resilience of some honest politicians, if there is such a specimen on these shores.
In any case, look at the power structure at the federal level. The President, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, his Vice, Senator Kashim Shettima, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, many Ministers and many Senators were former governors.
And all the former governors, who at first got to the office with a ‘holier than thou’ attitude, fighting those they perceived as corrupt, in no time change into something else. They become wealthy, and by the time they are about to finish their constitutionally permitted terms, they would not only become super rich, but decide who goes where, including the person who succeeds them.
A former ‘detribalised’ governor, who employed many people from other tribes, ‘made’ huge amount of money to make the list of the most monied politicians in the country, to the extent that he is being taunted as a president in waiting. But he is now facing the court on the allegation that he had enriched himself from the Commonwealth while in office. A front he allegedly used while in office is ‘answering’ some questions before the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC).
It is therefore, little wonder why the promise ‘to serve for only one term’ is never kept by governors once they are in office. They always ‘go the whole hog’ allowed by the constitution. Any governor who serves for only one term, does so not because they wanted it that way, but because they were overpowered by others more powerful than them.
The mentality to acquire lots of wealth at all costs perhaps explains why some people blindly want to lead Nigeria, in this very environment where most citizens only want to enrich themselves at all cost. Some of them do not mind how, regardless of the consequences on the country.
The independent marketers of petroleum products were alleged to be behind the fuel ‘scarcity’ in many but a few towns. The exception are the federal capital, Lagos and a few metropolitan centres, where the government keeps its two eyes wide open against untoward practices by owners of filling stations.
In the lesser towns, including state capitals, the independent marketers ‘regulate’ the sale of fuel to consumers to only one fuel station at a time, so as to make more killing and more money from the ordinary people. This was revealed to this writer by an attendant when in one filling station to buy fuel.
Even the side street vendor, particularly of food items, are not averse to cheating when the opportunity presents itself. Trending on the social media at the moment is the story of how one person went to the street to assist a few a
couple of such people with N20k a piece, but to his disappointment they all failed the test he cunningly put to them. He left back with his money without giving it to the intended beneficiaries.
Which brings us to the matter of selling of form for local government counselorship election at N5 million by a political party in a north west state. Needless to say, it would do nothing but encourage corruption at that level. The councillor has to recoup the money he spent from the campaign to the election. If he was very unlucky to have borrowed the money he used in buying the form, it becomes doubly necessary to ‘make’ money anyhow, so as to be able to repay what he borrowed and keep the rest for himself. And that is a mare councillor.
The phenomenon is in most of us in Nigeria, where doing the wrong things most of the time has prevented its development and place the country among the underdeveloped in the world. Given the opportunity, not a few of us are all ‘governors’, waiting for our chance to behave in the same, or even worse, way.
That is no thanks to the get-rich-at-all-costs ‘bug’ that appears to have bitten many on these shores, for no reason other than to accumulate more and more money than could be spent wisely in the life time of our immediate great grand children. And Nigeria is not only abundantly blessed with mineral resources for the use by our leaders for the Commonwealth, but it is also said to be the most religious in the world.
Unfortunately, some of its Muslim population choose the Holy month of Ramadan to make a ‘killing’ out of the people by increasing the prices of their stuff many times over the pre period prices. It is supposed to be a time to help, not to make more money from, the people.
Others hoard the food stuff in various hiding places, with a view to selling same when such items are dearly needed by the populace in order to maximise profits.
But the self aggrandisement shown by majority of our leaders in both politics and business, shows a stark disbelief in accounting for whatever we possess before the Creator in the hear after, even though we all believe that death is inevitable.
May God make it possible for us to use only from what He lawfully gave us, and enrich us with the benevolent spirit to assist the less privileged among us from it.
Malam Malumfashi wrote from Katsina.
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