2023: In search of the righteous…

“When the righteous are in power the people rejoice… Are you rejoicing now?”

The quotation above is a reproduction of one of the charges of the vociferous electioneering campaign of 2015 that brought the Muhammadu Buhari administration to power. It was one of the questions that reigned at the time. The status of the campaigners as clerics was more pronounced in that era and many of them leaders of the campaign were more of pastors than they were known as politicians. They brought that aphorism from Proverbs 29:2 in the Bible and used it to draw more bitter flak to the Goodluck Jonathan administration. They wired all the attention of a crowd at a political rally to the Bible passage and used it as a direct message to the revelling political audience. It took away attention from what they intend to do for the nation. The simple but profound question was to posit that the people of Nigeria were not rejoicing but were suffering and barely surviving in the Goodluck Jonathan regime. For this, it was important that they must vote for Buhari and thereby remove the unrighteous people in government and replace them with the righteous.

In 2015, especially as Nigerians sailed towards the general election, everything was going for Muhammadu Buhari, particularly as it concerns his presidential campaign. In that blitzing political frenzy, not many Nigerians were applying the brakes and tact to probe deeper into the deafening calls for the ouster of Jonathan and his behemoth PDP. Not many Nigerians wished they were Jonathan at that time. It was not joyful to be in his shoes. Whatever that president said then was generally lampooned and in many cases turned and twisted. Jonathan as president in 2015 was in a sinking ship and was a drowning man. But he had his voice like the proverbial chick captured by the swooping kite. He cried not to be freed from his captor’s hungry claws but that the world might just hear his voice. Jonathan warned Nigerians of the looming disaster enough. His voice was, however, drowned in the high-pitched call that he be crucified. The noise included the piercing question: “Are you rejoicing now?”

It’s nearing eight years since that time. Nigerians now know better and can relate individually to the Bible quotation according to how the Buhari era has impacted them. It is an individual thing, like the sacrament of reconciliation in the Catholic Church. The Esan of Edo State say each mourner knows why he is pained by the death of a person. The wisdom in the saying is that the mourner is actually not mourning the fate that befell the dead but his own fate. Interestingly, the writing on the wall was seen first by the Buhari government in Owerri, the capital of Imo State. There, at a political programme in February 2019, when a crowd which was asked “Are you rejoicing in this government?” answered in the negative. It was a pointer to how the people feel. The feelings have not been assuaged.

It is the season of politics again. It has come upon us like a fresh rain, with its peculiar hue and character. The fields are already agog, littered with all kinds of characters with all kinds of perspectives. These characters can be found in the North, in the South, in the East and the West of the country. The various gladiators in the different political parties are already in the crucible, being tested for the high offices and for the low offices of our public administration. The candidates are gradually being fired, like gold, to see their inherent quality and, perhaps, how easily they could get melted. When the real bonfire of campaign is lit, and it begins to heat the political crucible, we will know who among them in there that has the capacity. But their capacity, sagacity, cash and clout notwithstanding, could they be classed among the righteous in the mould of what has been talked about in previous campaigns?

The Bible in Proverbs 29:2 says “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked man rules, the people mourn.” We have learnt that from the administration of President Buhari when they campaigned. We have also learnt our lesson, which is built in the completion part of the same Bible passage from his government. The dictionary defines ‘righteous’ to mean “morally right or justifiable.” It also says the righteous are “virtuous”. Virtues are built into us just as we come with vices. However, parenting and certain societal interactions help us to suppress the vices and nurture our virtues. Virtue is honed like skills in young talents, but when the young lack parental and societal care as the world has seen in northern Nigeria, the vices, which are often more alluring, take over. John Locke notes that “virtue is harder to be got than knowledge of the world, and if lost in a young man, is seldom recovered.”

Part of the unrighteousness is not taking care of the young. Our government, through many of its actions is either creating poverty or is exacerbating it. It is held that lack of rain exacerbates the fire on the roof thatch. And George B Shaw laments that “the greatest of our evils and the worst of our crimes is poverty.” If poverty is a crime and we liken vice to sin, Oliver W. Holmes comes to mind. The 19th century US Supreme Court judge known for his strong, dissenting opinions, took “sin has many tools, but a lie is a handle which fits them all.”

From nearly all the scorecards Nigerians have presented on this government, there are enough reasons to say that most Nigerians are not rejoicing. So, where have all the virtue and morality gone to? Where have we dumped the right things and all the justifiable plans and proposals? Where have all the virtues gone to? Are there demons in the Aso Rock that ostracize leaders we send there of the virtues they were known for? Dr Reuben Abati hinted at that, but he was not explicit. We might have to probe further.

Dr Abati had been in the Aso Rock Villa and came out to tell the demons story. Mr. Femi Adesina is in the same place today. From all indications, he might be seeing what millions of Nigerians do not see, and hears from demons millions of Nigerians do not know about or hear from. To most of those living outside the Villa, he appears like a man from whom all the milk of humanity has been squeezed. He has been weaned of some virtues. Could these be as a result of the demons Dr Abati wrote about? There are more questions than answers, a la Johnny Nash.

The 2023 campaigns are upon us. Candidates would be polished and presented as new, unblemished brides. Who are the righteous among them?

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