Much Ado About 2015

It mocks us as much as it excites us. Like an elixir, it stirs us into action from our state of ennui. As we gravitate towards it, it evokes our emotion, curiosity and even suspicion so much that every move or action is calculated and wrapped up around it. And for its sake, governance which is the main essence of politics is now becoming a weary priority, with education, power supply, infrastructure and other high flyovers in the needs of the Nigerian people now suffering miserable neglect .

It is also the ultimate decider as many have predicted. Its verdict can either unite or fragment us. 2015 is such on elixir, an enigma.

Even if we feign ignorance of how 2015 will look like, we can not ignore the concatenation of events in the last few months and the deafening razzmatazz that come with them. From the internal fissures that are tearing the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) apart to the brouhaha of the opposition parties which recently coalesced into a mega, impregnable fortress called All Progressive Congress (APC); and from the vicious threat thrown up by the acronym hullaballoo, courtesy of the proxy APCs – either African Peoples Congress or All Patriotic Citizens, to Diepreye Alamieyeseigha’s controversial pardon. We can scratch from these as many headlines as events unfold.

In all of these however, one thing is central. And that is the 2015 battle, with the grandeur,  splendour and cushy comforts of the Presidency as the ultimate target.

But the ruling party is making no pretensions that it is not ready to let go the Presidency, at least not in 2015. The anointing of “Mr Fixer”, as Chief Tony Anenih is now popularly called, as the chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees; the balkanization of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) with the overnight formation of the PDP Governors Forum and the imposition of Akwa Ibom State governor, Godswill Akpabio as its chairman and the on-going peace talks in the PDP are palatable icing on Jonathan’s presidential cake, as well as clear signposts of ‘no vacancy’ in Aso Rock in 2015.

While Akpabio has threatened to flush out the ‘Judases’ that may want to stand in Jonathan’s way,   come 2015, the PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur has assured the President that he can now go to sleep with his two eyes closed and even enjoy his siesta if he likes. These propositions, though epitomise political naivety and as well expose the dirty underbelly of Nigeria’s power elite and their antediluvian mindset, they are, in fact, a well known political sophistry meant to dissuade political adversaries within and outside the PDP from eyeing Jonathan’s seat.

While the ruling party continues to poison the political clime with hubris arrogance, the opposition, on the other hand, is busy punching the air with a broom of hurricane.  Without any sense of history and a gobbet of political finesse, both parties are approaching the 2015 elections with raw savagery unbefitting of 21st century Nigeria.

Given the political antecedents of ruling parties in Nigeria and the recent developments within the PDP, especially as we recently witnessed in the choice of the party’s Board of Trustees Chairman and the detonation (or is it diffusion) of the power of the NGF, there is no doubt that the PDP would want to wield the full and imperial powers of the Presidency to crush any perceived opposition on its path. On the other hand, I have the suspicion that the opposition mega party, APC, would want to go beyond civilised, legal means to resist imperialist fascism, going by its recent unsavoury pronouncements that what happens in the Middle East would be a child’s play if the PDP tries to foist itself on the country. This fear is even made more potent by Nigeria’s gradual collapse into a two-party system.

In truth, nobody can take away the fact that both the PDP and APC, if the latter finally comes on full stream, are tough cookies that cannot be easily crumbled on the template of personality and followership. While the PDP boasts of 23 states, the APC parades 11. This development has particularly worn 2015 the garb of a delicate delicacy that must be handled and treated with utmost care.

We should remember that we have travelled this path before during the First and Second Republics when our political elite wheeled the two republics to ruin, chaos and bloody disaster. We can do without the sure farce of a possible third if we all play the game by the rules.

Boye Salau