Rotimi Fasan
THE reality show that the All Progressives Congress, APC’s, presidential nomination process has been turned into, parcelled and handed over to every Aja and Eran, Sule and Ojo, able to afford the nomination and expression of interest forms fee, is now beyond sickening.
It speaks to the deception of not only the APC as a political party that has magnified many times over the shameful excesses hitherto associated with the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, but also the dubious politics of the Muhammadu Buhari presidency that is often eulogised as one led by a man of impeccable credentials.
Supporters and other groups of power mongers have somehow screened President Buhari from the debilitating reality that has downgraded the moral fabric and integrity of the Nigerian state. It is as if the country is in a bubble that is shocking in its transformation of our sense of rectitude and of what should be acceptable to us as a country and a people under universal standards of civilisation.
How on earth can anyone describe the charade that the nomination process of the APC has been reduced to as anything less than criminal? How could people who should be custodians of our common patrimony, guardians of the sacred demands of constitutionality, be the very ones violating it? And all of this under the watch of a man we are required to accept has the highest sense of integrity?
What moral or legal standard justifies the present situation in which senior public servants that should have nothing to do with partisan politics are boldly throwing their hat in the ring and joining the circus of palace jesters that call themselves presidential aspirants? All of this simply because they have the means to purchase a mere piece of paper that is said to validate their interest in a supposedly democratic process that bears all the imprints of corruption?
Now that the entire process has been monetised and turned into a cash and carry affair, is it any surprise that the latest entrant in the unfolding spectacle that beggars belief is no other than the ultimate money man, the custodian of the national treasury, fiscal and monetary policies of Nigeria, the Governor of the Central Bank himself, Godwin Emefiele? Mr. Emefiele, a former Managing Director of one of the leading commercial banks in Nigeria, has against all odds proven to be more than a survivor in the cloak and dagger ambiance of Nigerian public service and the damaging politics of identity that go with it. He has in a way become a favourite son of the ruling oligarchy having served as Governor of the CBN for the entire years of the Buhari administration.
This is quite an achievement for a man from a so-called minority part of the country in an appointment environment that has for the most part remained toxic to people of particular ethnic and religious configurations. The secret behind Godwin Emefiele’s staying power at the CBN, one that could see him potentially challenging the man who first appointed him to that position in a presidential contest, is gradually unfolding and no one should doubt the fact that it has a lot to do with his perfect understanding of his place as a man who knows how to stay where he is told to stay and do what he is told to do. It has far less to do with somebody’s assumed sense of fairness or impartiality.
Should Goodluck Jonathan take the bait and succumb to the snares of those presently luring him out of retirement for their own selfish purpose, should he fall for the tricks of the fishers in troubled waters that are urging him as well as many others from the same part of the country into taking their place in the crowded field that the presidential nomination process of the APC has become- once President Jonathan’s ongoing ‘consultation’ results in his picking up the gauntlet of a presidential contest a third time, he might have to square shoulders with his former appointee at the CBN in a reprise of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Yemi Osinbajo tango that is fast making enemies of erstwhile associates.
Then the so-called venal militants of the Niger-Delta that are threatening to bring down our national roof should anyone stand in the way of their child of the creeks would have more than a handful choosing between their two favourite sons of the soil. That would be a riveting fight of two militias that is bound to command interest on the scale of a seasonal film. It is becoming clearer by the moment where President Buhari was headed with his earlier demand that appointees be allowed to hold their position in the public service while dabbling in partisan politics.
The distinction between a political appointee and a public servant as Emefiele is straining to make is at best false. The game could not have been more dishonest with the manner officials in the ruling administration are now blatantly joining politics and declaring their interests in elective positions.
Which is not saying that many of these individuals have made any serious effort to hide their partisanship before now. Nigerians knew what was afoot and warned about it as was the case with Emefiele who feigned ignorance in the many weeks it was speculated he was in the race for the presidency.
The troubling thing is how it is becoming public knowledge how sustained has been the relationship between these public officials and politicians with whom they have been closeted for long.
Who is next? INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu or the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad? Emefiele who has beaten his way to the courts in a futile quest for a judicial interpretation of something whose truth he already knew, to wit, his eligibility or otherwise as a sitting governor of the CBN out to succeed his principal as president- Mr. Emefiele took his rejected plea to the courts even though he has been a card-carrying member of the APC since 2021 if the chairman of the APC in his ward in Delta State is to be believed.
As a prelude to this infantile game his proxies, including rice farmers, in three separate groups revealed they had purchased his nomination forms for him while he protested loudly that he was capable of doing that himself should he decide to stand for election. We all knew that was mere shadow boxing for no sooner did he make this non-disclaimer than he said he was waiting for the direction of God.
Without waiting for the outcome of his consultation with God, Emefiele headed for the courts in a huff and returned with a bloody nose. So much for consultation.
