Today, we’re talking a bit of home-based politics.
I can’t promise a truckload of fun or butterflies as you read through, but come on, what happened to being patriotic?
I can’t promise a truckload of fun or butterflies as you read through, but come on, what happened to being patriotic?
Like Sir Winston on the Soviet Union, our knowledge of the Nigerian Political System is, at best, deficient of real facts |
Enigma was of course
was an encryption machine used by the Adolf Hitler’s army to hide information
about imminent attacks from the enemies (the allies).
In simple and basic terms, good ol’ Winston meant “Something very mysterious and hidden”
In simpler and more current terms, the quote best describes
Nigerian Politics.
As a well-preserved age-long tradition, actual moves on the
Nigerian Political Chess boards have been shrouded in secrecy. Behind an
uncompromising Iron Curtain.
What happens in the seat of power (shown in the photo) stays in the seat of power |
The Nigerian Politics situation can actually be very simple. Everyone
plays their roles. Voters vote, winners hold office and shut the door; Voters
keep themselves busy by speculating; the masses begin debating speculations at newspaper stands, offices, rooms, churches and virtually anywhere the tongue is
not banned from wagging. In the end, no one really knows the real thing (not
even the stuff moving Political Science experts). We are all in the dark.
For the masses, some speculations are crowned “the truth” or
“fact” because of the level, age, reputation, experience et cetera of the
source of the speculation. Other times, speculations are crowned based on
logical standing.
But in time of crisis, like the recent holiday season fuel
scarcity, “the truth” really is any opinion that tallies with the mood of the
populace
Your conclusion is a good as mine. The truth in Nigerian
politics is an illusion.
That HAD always been the equation. Everyone lived in their
roles peacefully until the equilibrium got a bit of a wicked disturbance. The
disturbance in question was, and still is, a sudden and strange new desire by
Nigerians to get the actual truth of events. A voracious appetite for information.
This disturbance arrived with a frighteningly effective Chief of Staff - the
Social Media.
The equation has been turned on its head. Years ago, the
Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), a state-run Television and radio agency,
was the sole dishing point of information about the government to the people, and they played their role well. They simply served what the big guys wanted
the masses to be fed with. Little tasty-looking crumbs.
Then came Channels and TVC (private-owned TV Stations) with
trademark insightful and objective reporting, to blow it wide open into a buffet.
That development rocked the political boat terribly, but
promoted the masses closer to the truth. Then the mother of tempests took the
boat and ripped it into pieces. Free for all. The Internet arrived. Twitter said hello.
There was no place to hide. With YouTube’s devastating
ability to go back years, and dig stuff that cannot be denied, up also in play,
the masses began closing in on the truth. The walls of the corridors of power
began closing in.
“The public opinion is the rough draft of history”, a wise
saying goes. Guess who still haven’t got the memo.
The current Nigerian Presidency.
For all of the President’s personal faults, I find his
team’s staggering ability to surprise with new levels of ineffectiveness from
time to time very amazing.
The Presidency is a company that consists of the President,
The Vice President, and their “kitchen cabinet” (Chief of Staff, Secretary to
the Government, Spokespersons, Advisers et cetera). They are the closest to the
Chief chosen for the nation. Most importantly they are THE IMAGE MAKERS!
They speak for the Chief. Make allies out the masses. Get
their hands dirty so the Chief can “lift up holy hands”. Basically, they do
everything to not expose the boss to the raw feelings and temperaments of the
masses. It is why Presidential media chats, stop and greets, interviews and most
other public appearances, no matter how original they look are often well
thought-out choreographies. Nothing is left to chance.
The golden rule for the dealing with the media as a
Presidency is; “CONTROL THE NARRATIVE”. In other words, in dealing with a
crisis, let your story be THE story. Let your voice be louder than
speculations. Stay ahead. Let your official statement hit the news cycle first, and by all means keep it there! Oh and for the love of all that is good, let
your official statement not be monumentally unwise, or insensitive to the plights of the masses (You know, like a documentary on the President’s softer side at a
time of a terribly biting hardship that consists of horrible salaries,
horrifying prices of food commodities and fuel scarcity with skyrocketing price
of the little available).
It is therefore very difficult to understand the scope of
service of the current President’s foot-soldiers. Halfway, you chalk down their
errors as simple incompetence, on the other hand, you’re tempted to speculate
that the aim of these acolytes of the President is to intentionally carve open
their principal and deliver his head, figuratively, on a political pike.
From being caught in an outright shameless and absolutely
disgusting case of corruption (The former Secretary to the Federal Government
allegedly diverted funds earmarked for the Internally Displaced persons to his
private vault of a pocket), to handling the President’s medical vacation
episode with a spectacular level of cluelessness, Late, or complete lack of, official responses to serious National issues, forcing a “well-fitted” agbada
of monumental insult on the Nigerian state by turning out a list of board
appointees with nothing less than 5 names on that list already citizens of the
grave.
I certainly can go further. In your spare time, you check
out Mrs Lauretta Onochie’s twitter account for a start and marvel at such an
appalling PR job She does for the President. By the way, she’s the President’s
Special Assistant on Social Media. Her belligerent and sometimes classless
style has done an exceptional job at making less friends for her principal.
With significant and consistent contributions from the President’s men, the
goodwill reservoir that the President was so armed with when he rode to an
unusual victory (ie beating an incumbent), in the 2015 polls has very nearly gone dry at an unbelievable
rate
Traditionally, in a system like this, there should have been
rolling of heads. The fact that we’ve not seen much of that scares this
columnist. Is the President so loyal to his image-makers that they are allowed
to get away with competing levels of incompetence? Is the Presidential actually
satisfied with their output? (NOW THAT IS SCARY) Does the President know that
eventually the buck stops at his doorstep? Does the President know that the
amniotic fluid cushion that his men should, by their jobs, form around him is
hardly existent and he has his rear unprotected and battered by public opinion?
The election season is making its final descent and it’s
left to be seen what the President plans to do. An official and legitimate
opinion poll (if there ever was one), will clearly spell out a few things to
him: The lot of Nigerians has not improved under his administration, Nigerians
are hurt about it, as they massively threw their weight and trust in him - and
finally, it won’t take long before Nigerians put him at the very center of
their agony.
The line between the free new hope the administration
offered in 2015, and being qualified a failure for a government gets thinner by
the day regardless of what the President’s men tell him.
Politics is perception. A successful government is one the people
believe is successful, not necessarily one that performs excellently well enough
for all to see. On the other hand, no matter how well you perform, if the
people have a poor opinion of you and your government, best believed you’ve
failed.
From my course of study, I have come to understand the grave importance of "showmanship". Likewise in politics, you must not just be doing something, you must be seen and thought by the public that you serve to be doing something.
From my course of study, I have come to understand the grave importance of "showmanship". Likewise in politics, you must not just be doing something, you must be seen and thought by the public that you serve to be doing something.
Food for thought, Mr President.
Dear Reader, from this column, please go right ahead and
have an outstanding 2018.
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4 comments:
Nevertheless this stupendous difficulty in understanding Nigerian Politics is no match for the zealous future leaders and their arduous strive towards achieving "Change" for better in the country.
This analysis of Nigerian politics is just spot on (Tho, I won't deny falling asleep twice trying to complete this article😂) but I finally did, and boy is it wow...............Infact Bravo ! ! 👏👏👏
Image and publicity is everything in every organization, and for an administration to fail in this regard is for that administration to fail at everything.
Glad you survived the read @Vera. Your comments mean a lot.
I assume you have a near unshakable faith in the chances of the youths in the next elections. Mine unfortunately hasn't developed much spine. Only just a silent hope somewhere.
Thing is this, without sentiments, governance in its very rich history (anywhere in the world) hardly has been better in the hands of the young.
Now while I'd give all for a change of guard on the Nigerian political scene, I do strongly believe, if by the first quarter of this year, Nigerian youths are not united firmly behind a candidate, chances become less excellent.
The older men for all its worth may hate each other's guts in the public but are ultimately united on the most important issue, POWER!
So zeal alone will not cut it. Zeal, proper calculations and perfect executions. We're on their turf. They designed Nigerian politics. They designed the rules.
We MAY overcome!
@Mary You couldn't have said that any better! The "Success" of the Obama Presidency for instance was predicated on those. Image and publicity.
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