Knocked out! Rampaging terrorist that stunned Nigerian politicians

He was accused of being overly ambitious to govern the Roman Empire, a trait that led to his ignoring warnings from soothsayer and Artemidorus who waited for him in the streets. They were going to urge him to retreat from going to the Capitol, where he had, blinded by ambition, ignorantly thought he would be crowned.  Beware, the ides of March, said the soothsayer. His wife, Calpurnia, had also narrated terrible nightmares she had to him.

But Julius Caesar, the eponymous character in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, told Artemidorous, “What touches us ourself shall be last served,” in response to the latter asking him to read a note which was of great concern about his life.

Caesar went to the Capitol (Senate seat) and the conspirators, led Brutus and Cassius and others, stabbed him to death, ending the life of a man who had great and lofty dreams for the Roman Empire.

It appears the political class in Nigeria might have taken some useful lessons from the Caesar’s episode and are keeping their ambitions under wraps in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic which is ravaging not only Nigeria, but also other countries of the world.

Unlike Caesar, what touches Nigeria’s politicians-their survival-comes first and not last.  The battle for survival seems to have knocked some fears into them, since when it is apparent that those contracting the virus are not the hoi polloi, but men and women of timbre and calibre, the politicians who have the means to junket around the globe and some of them who live off the sweat of the common man.

For a country where politicians discuss the next elections almost immediately a round of elections is concluded, hush appears to be the tone as far as power game for 2023 is concerned, no thanks to the coronavirus pandemic.

Just before government began to take serious action against the virus in the country, the media was saturated with reports about the scheming for the 2023 elections, particularly the presidential contest, and how the politicians were plotting to outsmart one another eventually in the race.

Touching this was the issue of whether Adams Oshiomhole should remain in office as the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC). It was obvious a handful of governors elected of the party’s platform wanted him out by all means. But reprieve came his way when a national leader of the party, Senator Bola Tinubu, rumoured to be interested in the presidency of the country, stepped in to give him a lifeline.

Another issue that was on the front burner before the virus launched its vicious attacks on the country was the deposition of the immediate past Emir of Kano, Sanusi Mohammed Sanusi. The aftermath were the various permutations and theories linking him as a key player in the 2023 political chess game. His deposition would later appear to have shored up  his goodwill account and was almost enjoying the new attention in the media before the masterstroke from COVID-19 brutally drew the curtain on his resurgence to stardom.

A politician observed how newspapers have become lean in terms of the number of pages and rued the preponderance of reports and articles about COVID-19 from the cover to the back pages, including the sports pages. All the issues that featured prominent in political discourse have suddenly disappeared to the back scenes courtesy the almighty coronavirus pandemic.

Sunday Tribune took on a number of politicians and non-politicians on why the political class has suddenly shelved public discussion of ambition and 2023 power game.

All politicians are now pastors- Senator Olujimi

Senator Abiodun Olujimi, representing Ekiti Central in the National Assembly, on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said the current situation has knocked out politics and politicking as what everyone cares  about now is how to survive. According to her the fear of COVID-19 is the beginning of wisdom for her and other politicians.

“The fear of COVID-19 is the beginning of wisdom. How can you talk like this? Something that has no cure? If it has a cure now, you can easily call somebody  to get you the cure at whatever cost. COVID-19 has no cure. Some who have it are asymptomatic. My brother, it is a major problem.

“People who were going abroad to go and cure headache now know that we are going to stay here together. They now realise that what is there abroad is bigger than what is here in Nigeria.

“So, we are all afraid because we don’t have a solution to it. And you know when everything is in the realm of guess work, it becomes something else. So, all politicians are now like children. We are now working across party divides. Something we should have done to make life better for our people, that is what we are now doing. It is terrible. But God will see us through,” she said.

Prior to the outbreak of the virus, Senator Olujimi and the immediate past governor of Ekit State, Mr Ayodele Fayose, were embroiled in a bitter tussle over who controls the power lever for PDP in the state. They are backing different candidates in the race for the state chairmanship of the party.

Asked what has become of the matter, she said “Who is thinking about that now? That has been put in the recesses of our minds until all of this is over. You can only superintend over human beings. The minute the human beings are not there, you have no business. And so, we all must come together to look after our people before anything else.

“All hands must be on deck. We can’t play politics with what is on the ground now. It is not malaria. If it were to be malaria, I will get you Coartem and you are recovering. But this virus? Nobody knows anything about it yet.

“So many people can get it from a single person and you don’t know where you are going to get it from. It has turned everybody to pastor. Everyone of us is at home, praying. Politics?

“All politicians are now pastors. Yesterday, I had to go to a chemist. Even the houses looked like they were not occupied. That is how bad COIVD-19 has turned the entire nation. We just pray we break this jinx as soon as possible. People are really suffering. God will help us,” she said.

Nobody is talking about politics, ambition now- Senator Folarin

Representing Oyo Central District in the Red Chamber, a third-term Senator, Teslim Folarin, puts the lull in political activities and discussion about 2023 in the context of COVID-19 pandemic.

“It is very simple. The issue humanity is facing now is unprecedented. How do I mean? It is an issue that threatens the survival of humanity. It is when you are alive that you will talk about politics. COVID-19 is the most important thing to focus on right now. It is a global topic. You switch on the TV, that is what you will watch on every station. So, you would expect that to push everything to the backburner and that is what is happening.”

On accusation that politicians are nonetheless sending coded political messages through COVID-19 relief packages they are handing out to their people, Senator Folarin said: “Absolutely, you should expect that. Baba Lamidi Adedibu (of blessed memory) would say, the moment he woke up, he would start to play politics.

“If as politicians, we put together a relief package for people and you say we should not put our photographs there, the same people will say we didn’t do anything. They would say when there was a global crisis and every other person was helping, he was nowhere to be found. So, it is normal for politicians to so act. It is a way of saying, ‘look, I was there when you needed me.’

“No politicians would do anything without wanting people to know he did it. This is because, at the end of the day, people would ask them questions. Take for instance, I take 100 bags of rice to Mapo hall in Ibadan, as palliatives without putting my photograph and tomorrow someone says to me, ‘when we had COVID-19 crisis, where were you? You didn’t do anything.’ What do I say in response to such people? In putting my image, I am saying count me as one of the people who were there for you. It is as simple as that.

“Even non-politicians that made donations also announced what they donated. So, it is not all about politicians. Deji Adeleke in Osun State announced what he donated to the fight against COVID-19. Aliko Dangote and many others did the same thing.”

Asked is the COVID-19 holiday will likely give Oshiomhole ample time to seek truce with the governors and other leaders of the party who are up in arms against him, he replied: “Let me be perfectly honest with you, I don’t think anyone is talking politics for now. This virus is so scary now and it is when you are alive that you will play politics. The virus is no respecter of age, status or race or anything. Everyone is scared.

“I can only speak for myself. Look at the reconciliation committee set up by the All Progressives Congress in Oyo State. We have not sat once and won’t seat until there is a bit of clarity on what the future holds. Social distancing has now become something we have to practise every day. It is a serious issue,” he explained.

Politicians, like others, must seek survival first before politics- Senator Tejuoso

Like others, Senator Lanre Tejuoso, who represented Ogun Central District between 2015 and 2019 on the platform of APC, agreed that politicians had replaced the thought about the next election with that of survival. But he decried politicians who in the pretext of supporting the common people chose the self-serving option of displaying their images on relief packages.

“It will be very insensitive for any politician to be talking about anything else at the moment apart from COVID-19. Whatever any politician will say now will be either to advise the government on how to improve on what they are doing at the moment or you have a contribution to make towards how people can protect themselves.  That should be what is relevant as of today.

“It is also insensitive of any politician who is [putting his image on his relief package]. God says in the bible that whatever the right hand is doing, the left hand must not know. Those who are doing that will get their reward here on earth.

“Some of us who want our reward in heaven will rather let God acknowledge what we are doing, rather than human beings. We are not looking for people’s votes and that is not why we are supporting them. There is no need for politicians to put their names on relief materials or announce what they are doing, unless if government asks them to donate. Like all the big donors that were invited by government to make donations and support the fight against the virus. That one is different can be allowed to pass.

“But if you are donating towards helping the hungry and you are putting your names and photographs on the food items, there is no need going to television to say you are doing something or are passionate about the people. If you are passionate about helping the people, you need not put your name.

“I will not do it that way because I want my reward in heaven and not on earth here. So, it is their choice and they get their reward here. There is no problem about that at all.

“When they realise that calibre of people who are catching COVID-19, everybody has to be careful and seek survival first. Everybody is protecting their lives and sorting themselves out first. Hence, they are not talking about any other issues,” he said.

But Dr Usman Ayegba, a lecturer at the Department of Political Science, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, thinks despite retreating to the background, Nigeria’s politicians still discuss 2023 and other political matters “in the elite circle.”

“Politicians are politicians everywhere in the world, not only in Nigeria. As you rightly put it, once the results of elections are declared, politicians begin to think of the next elections and the polity starts to vibrate politically. Like you rightly also observed, 2023 project appears to have died down because of the outbreak of COVID-19.

“This is, however, not to say politicians are not discussing. They know the rules of the game. Every politician who knows the game knows the time to put his or her ambition before the people. For now, what people are concerned about is survival against the virus that is threatening humanity. Somebody called it the World War III that we had thought would never come to pass.

“So, people will consider any politician that talks to them about 2023 power contest as somebody who is insensitive. As a result of this, politicians keep the discussion to themselves. My own belief is that these politicians still meet, COVID-19 or not. The fact that they are not talking about politics in the media does not mean they are not discussing politics.

“If you look at it very well, some of them are making political point out of the pandemic.  Some of them put out hand sanitisers and relief packages and put their names and photographs on such items. This is clever way of passing coded political messages. By the time we put COVID-19 behind us, they are going to make reference to what they have done to people during the time of crisis.

“They are very smart and intelligent people. A politician is just like a military officer. They never drop their rifle, even when they are sleeping or eating. Their rifle is always beside them and they are keeping their eyes on 2023. Only that they know that discussing 2023 ambition now will be seen as high level of insensitivity on their part by the people.

“So, they are trying to blend into the rave of the moment, which is the pandemic. That is what they are doing and not that COVID-19 has boxed the politicians into a corner and to the point that they are no longer discussion politics. They are only discussing it only among the elite circle. They are not pushing the information outside.

“Tomorrow, they will use the relief materials they are giving to people are basis for campaign. They will say they were there for the people when their survival was threatened by COVID-19. So, they are playing 2023 game. Only that this time round, not in Caesar’s language, but in a language that can only be deciphered by those who really understand the game of politics,” he said.

The don believes Oshiomhole and the APC stand to benefit a lot from the ample time the COVID-19 holiday has given.

“One thing that politicians value so much is time. A British Parliamentarian once said 24 hours is a long time in politics. If COVID-19 has done anything for the APC national chairman, it has given him time to look at the steps he has taken, a kind of introspection. Since the whole attention has been shifted away from him and the crisis in the party, he can now reassess the crisis that has trailed the party.

“As I said, they are meeting. This COVID-19 holiday will give him the opportunity to reach out. He could, for example, reach out to Governor Nasir el-Rufai, who now has the virus. He could call to empathise with him and that could given opportunity to straighten out areas their relationship might have gone bad.

“To some politicians, especially Oshiomhole and APC, it is a blessing in disguise. I am sure by the time we come back from the holiday, a lot of water will have passed under the bridge,” he said.

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