Northern yobos, southern bimbos

IN a primary election that displayed the very worst in Nigeria’s mercantile politicking, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presented Nigerians last week with one of the most insanely provocative outcomes. Atiku Abubakar, perpetual presidential contender and moneybag, won a presidential primary manipulated by born-to-rule goons to foist yet another fait accompli on Nigeria. The PDP, a party led by a northerner, elected a northern presidential candidate after a northerner, Aminu Tambuwal, the man who was used by political frauds to subvert its zoning principle and rob the South-West of the speakership of the House of Reps in 2011, stepped down in the middle of the election in circumstances that could only have been permitted by political yahoos. I refer to the English novel Gulliver’s Travels, where the yahoos are “ the most filthy, noisome, and deformed animals which nature ever produced. “ They are “restive and indocible, mischievous and malicious.” Their heads and breasts, we are told, are covered with thick hair, the rest of their bodies bare. Says the narrator Lemuel Gulliver: “I never beheld in all my travels so disagreeable an animal.” If you have any problem with my characterisation, rouse Jonathan Swift from his grave and place him in fisticuffs. I have no pact with northern political yobos and their southern bimbos.

The groundwork for the electoral affront had of course been laid when the party refused to zone the presidential contest to the southern part of the country, playing Pontius Pilate with the emotions of Nigerians. It is no wonder than that by last week’s outcome, it showed crass indifference to the feelings of the vast majority of Nigerians who have all but been consumed by the predatory, ethnically insensitive and intellectually effete presidency of Muhammadu Buhari, a ruler who must rank, with the exception of Abacha, as the most tyrannical president that Nigeria has ever produced. It revived the born-to-rule mantra which saw power being transferred from Yakubu Gowon to Murtala Mohammed, and from the accidental Head of State, Olusegun Obasanjo, to Shehu Shagari, Ibrahim Babangida, Sani Abacha and another accidental leader, Abdulsalami Abubakar. I cannot forget the Abacha era when even newspaper vendors arrested by military goons in Abuja were treated according to their ethnic origin. Those of the favoured northern origin were let go but the southerners, who of course were in the majority, were not: their names were to be written on their backs with a blade for purveying news the regime did not like. A man from Ondo State who had a long name I cannot now recall fainted. And when democracy came and President Obasanjo appointed service chiefs, these yobs rose in protest because the Owu chief had appointed those they considered to be second class northerners.

The wasters of the land are right now sewing the gowns that they will wallow in while wasting Niger Delta money on frivolous pursuits. Digging up sad memories, PDP assumes that Nigerians, particularly southerners and the Middle Belt people, will accept another Fulani rule after eight locust years of a Fulani bigot during which herders, mostly of Fulani origin, have been empowered by the Nigerian State  to kill, rape and plunder at will. Mistaking 2019 for 2023, Mr. Atiku himself has boasted that his 11 million votes are intact. The case is made worse by the fact that Atiku has not really been accused of being a man of ideas, and has never at any time made a categorical stand against nomadic killers, the people who turned Benue State to a burial ground on January 1, 2018, cutting down innocent souls in cold blood. Instead, he has questioned the legality of anti-grazing laws. He recently bowed at the feet of prospective votes when challenged to condemn murder. That, for me, is high treason.

Is the PDP actually telling us that Igbos, who have once again been blatantly robbed of their right to the presidency, will vote massively for Atiku? Is it that Atiku controls the umbilical cord of Alaigbo? That is one “unkindest cut” too many, particularly given the people’s history of investment in its cause. And are we supposed to believe that the Yoruba,  expecting southern rule, would once again embrace Atiku’s expired appeal? So it’s all about who can supposedly win election with the heftiest war chest now and not about equity, justice and fairness? But perhaps I am only being facetious because the party, like the others that dot the landscape, has never really been associated with ideological, ethical or moral consistency. It is just a means of capturing power and should therefore not be held to high standards. That promises to remain the case for years to come, and Nigerian voters are in for a shellacking.

Once again, the South has, at its own request unfortunately, been trampled upon and treated with contempt. The enthronement of Atiku bears a similar parallel to the brazen act of legislative robbery perpetrated by the Senate led by Dr. Ahmad Lawan, which allocated 3 per cent derivation to the long-suffering, despoiled Niger Delta region and 30 per cent to the non-oil producing North. That was after the nation had waited for years for the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) to be passed. Lawan was aided by southern lepers in this act of financial genocide against the Niger Delta people who pay the bulk of Nigeria’s bills. With Atiku’s men placed at the helm of affairs in the ruling APC, the game plan is clear. With this template, all that the North needs to retain power ad infinitum is to up the dollar game and play southern pretenders like a drum.

By its poor primary choice, PDP has shown that it is not prepared for a divorce from its demons. It has put a knife on the sentiment that held it and vast sections of Nigerians together and will pay a price for its arrogance. The case for a northern 2023 presidency stinks very badly. It has no basis in logic or rationality and it is nothing but a further plunging of a knife into Nigeria’s putrefying sores. It is a swine’s offering and can only further pollute this land.