By Frank
Opara
There is an existing rattling perception by the
majority of the white locals in the beautiful city of Manchester, England. It
is the fact that an average black guy in the city must be an Arsenal supporter.
Don’t ask me how they came about this notion.
I walked into an all-white pub to watch a Premier
League match involving City (as Manchester City F.C is known in Manchester) and
Aston Villa, a while ago when suddenly,
before I could request for my drink, a certain white local, holding a frothy
glass of beer, who never knew me from Adam, supposedly surprised at my
presence, walked up to me and reminded me wryly that the game had nothing to do
with Arsenal. ‘I’m here to watch football, mate.’ I responded, bristly.
Recently, I found myself in a similar situation with
the present political scenario playing out like an allegorical dance of death. I
am sneezing my brains out to know why an average Nigerian sees every Igbo person
as a supporter of Jonathan, with the silly tag, ‘Jonathanian.’
A couple of weeks back, I was chatting with a
female friend who happens to be an unwavering supporter of Buhari, a
‘Buharian’, so to speak. And before I could say ‘Jack’, she branded me a
‘Jonathanian’. There is nothing wrong with that anyway, because I could’ve said
I support Jonathan. If it hurts you, drink some water.
But I begged to disagree with her anyway because,
I know deep down I am not happy with President Jonathan, and so he Jonathan for
now cannot lay claim to my support; neither is his rival, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari
(retd.) of the APC. I am aware both of them badly need my vote.
It would have been easy for me to support
President Jonathan without much contemplation, had he not floundered with the
issue of Chibok girls. I have tried hard not to put myself in the shoes of the
parents and guardians of those abducted girls because of the expected
excruciating anguish.
Do I then support support Gen. Buhari? Not really,
because he was once a dictator whom I was once a victim of in Lagos during the
notorious War Against Indiscipline (W.A.I.). I equally refuse to be bought by
the ‘integrity’ claptrap that has become the rallying cry of his teeming
supporters.
Rather, I am so scared by the character of the
people around him. The questionable characters that have suddenly become the
avant-garde of their people, and who are seemingly bankrolling the massive
campaign budget of the alleged impecunious retired general.
And how can we forget the claim by Pastor Tunde
Bakare who was Gen. Buhari’s running mate in the last presidential election. Recently,
on national television he told Nigerians how he was compelled to sign a
prepared letter that would have forced him to ‘step aside’ for the position of
the vice president for one of the prominent member of the party if they won the
election.
My centrist attitude has afforded me the
opportunity to observe the ongoing political situation from a detached and
unbiased position. From this neutral point of view, one can easily see things
from the objective perspective; distinguish the bigots from the liberals, the
conspiratorial from the forthright, the denominational from the disinterested
and finally the foolish from the responsible.
I am completely in awe about the madness
represented in people’s remarks, opinions and comments especially by some
established social media influencers and journalists. I’m beginning to question
their so-called integrity. Truly, this period provides a real test of character
for all of us.
The irony is that supporters of both parties are
all guilty of the sins they accuse each other. Nobody seems to align with the
biblical injunction, ‘… why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s
eye, but considered not the beam that is in thine own eye.’
Before now, there was one garrulous Alhaji Lai
Mohammed of the APC. He is usually heard before he is seen (apologies to Salisu
Suleiman). He verbally attacks anything PDP and President Goodluck Jonathan.
Today, the PDP seems to have brought his match.
His name is Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, FFK for short. He is giving the opposition
a run for their money. His diction and eloquence accentuates whatever
statement, call it aspersion or fabrication he throws at the opposition in
defense of his party. From all indications, he seems to know how to play this
‘dirty’ game of mud-slinging. And it has earned him all manner of unwholesome
acronyms.
I do not see much difference in the inflammatory
public statements, and sometimes disrespectful remarks to the office of the
president by Governor Amaechi of Rivers State and the constant diatribe and
vituperations of his counterpart, Governor Fayose of Ekiti State against APC
presidential candidate. Neither has proved to be more civil than the other.
A few weeks ago, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, the running
mate to Gen. Buhari, the Presidential candidate for APC, had a town hall
meeting with the youth in Lagos. That event was regarded as commendable.
President Jonathan had a similar meeting with selected youth in the same Lagos
last week, and it was described as unnecessary and a waste of public fund.
At present, the whole political atmosphere has the
ambience of hypocrisy. The holier-than-thou postulation of both party spokesmen
is nothing but nauseating. Our sense of judgment has been distorted by tribal
and religious sentiments.
We are a few weeks to the elections. How much have
we critiqued from the lens of fairness? How much have we been reminded by our
instincts that goose and gander are still the same in our sense of judgment?
Remember, there’s life after election.
I can’t wait for it to come and go so that sanity
will once again be restored.
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