By Dele Sobowale
“They are totally unprincipled people; and the APC itself is a highly unprincipled party for accepting people like that. For me, it is a very bad situation; and it is not good for the image of our party.”
Professor Itse Sagay, SAN.
Mohandas Gandhi, 1869-1948, the immortal Indian leader had listed seven things that would destroy any nation. First among them was “Politics without principles,” (VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ p 245). It has always been the cancer of Nigerian politics since the First Republic. Carpet-crossing or what I call mandate robbery, after elections, unfortunately, started in the old Western Region in the 1950s. It was repeated during the Second Republic, 1979-1983. Nobody knows what would have happened if the Third Republic was not aborted. But, the Fourth Republic got off to a roaring start under President Obasanjo of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Vvery quickly, the leaders of the PDP proved once again, what history has tried in vain to teach.
“Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
George Santayana, 1863-1952, VBQ p 93.
The PDP won the Presidential election in 1999. It had a comfortable enough majority to pass any bill it wanted; but did not have the two-thirds majority it needed to re-write the constitution to suit the latent ambitions of its new leader. So, instead of embarking on new legislation to propel Nigeria to the front ranks in the comity of the world’s nations, they went poaching for more Senators and members of the House of Representatives to join them.
WAHAB DOSUMU (DOUBLE EGBON) LEGACY
“The evil that men do lives after them…” William Shakespeare, 1564-1616.
“Never speak ill of the dead” is an admonition used to bury a lot of outrageous conduct. At any rate, revealing documented truth is not the same thing as “speaking evil”. A man who stole billions is a thief – dead or alive. And, in my books, mandate thieves rank worse than those who merely steal money. That is why I have started with my “double egbon” (my senior twice) – who was the first to engage in this nefarious political activity in the Fourth Republic – ably assisted by then President Obasanjo and Bode George.
Late Dr Dosumu and I grew up in Lagos Island. He was much older than me; he attended Baptist Academy, Lagos with my eldest brother. He came to our house frequently and became “brother Wahab”. He was extremely brilliant and finished in Grade 1. Suddenly, we read in the Daily Times that he had bagged the prestigious American Government Scholarship to study in the US. I went to congratulate him with money from my senior brother. Then he said to me. “Dele I hope to see you in America one day.” Well, in 1964, I was in the USA on the same scholarship. He was the only person I knew on arrival; and I sent a letter to him announcing my arrival on ASPAU. Consequently, we were quietly very close; and there was no disagreement on anything until the Fourth Republic. I am grateful to God today for keeping me alive to see the PDP reap, bountifully, the harvest of unprincipled political seeds those two sowed – starting with Wahab Dosumu.
Because, of an accidental entry to my computer files, I cannot be, as usual, precise about dates. The two relevant articles were deleted along with several others. The political drama, still playing out in Nigerian politics, started when I was invited to a lunch meeting at the old Chinese Restaurant, at Onipanu, in Lagos, with Senator Wahab Dosumu of the Alliance for Democracy, AD. All the top journalists and columnists were there. We finished lunch and our host delivered a bombshell. He was leaving the AD and decamping to the PDP. He gave his reasons, chiefly, that Governor Bola Tinubu had turned Lagos AD into a one-man affair. He had no other option than to decamp to help Lagos obtain its dues from Abuja. On that note the journalists were dispersed.
But, I was (and I an still ) not a journalist. I was Dele Sobowale, his “double aburo”, and I could not sit back and watch my senior write his name into the Black Book of Nigerian politics. I waited until others have departed and moved close to him. Then the following exchange followed.
“Dele, what do you think of my submission?”
“Egbon, it was awful. I least expected it of you. Three former ASPAU recipients are now in the Senate – Brume, Okurounmu and you, Sir. I was hoping you will set a good example of how Presidential system works. This is not it, Sir.”
“Ok Dele, come and see me in Abuja next week and we will discuss it more.”
“Ok, Sir. But, Nigerians unborn will suffer if this thing catches on.”
We never met in Abuja after that because events moved too rapidly. Lagos PDP had a grand reception for him – with Bode George grinning like a fisherman who caught a whale. Deep in my heart, I knew they would regret it. I then wrote an article denouncing what I called mandate robbery.
STOLEN MANDATE AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
“Politicians are their own grave diggers.” Will Rogers, 1879-1935
As far as I am concerned, politicians decamping after being elected on one party’s platform are worse than those the police routinely charge with 419. It is a form of robbery which is far worse than others – especially when it is rewarded by the party receiving the stolen property. It is impossible for anyone involved in it to convince me of his integrity. Unfortunately, this is one despicable legacy which our generation of politicians will leave for the next. In that case, there is absolutely no hope that Nigeria will ever mend enough from its current wounds to become great.
After Dosumu, two other Lagos State Senators – Ogunlewe and Obanikoro — again decamped from the progressive camp to PDP. One was rewarded with the Ministry of Works under Obasanjo; the other Minister Of State for Defence. Lagos State gained nothing from their appointments. Instead, with PDP now out of power, the two have gone begging to be re-admitted to APC. They have swallowed all they vomited about Bola Tinubu. Surprisingly, the Lagos APC considers these people and others like them as people to have as party members.
Others followed the Dosumu example nationwide. In 2003, the PDP enlarged its majority; as more prominent politicians decamped from the opposition to the ruling party. As usual our unimaginative politicians gave the same reason. They wanted to take their people to the mainstream of Nigerian politics. By 2005, PDP was just short of having two-thirds majority in the Senate and House of Representatives. This development prompted a former Chairman, Chief Ogbulafor, to predict that “PDP will rule for 70 years”. Nigerian politicians never cease to amaze me with their foolishness. How a man over 65 years old can forecast what will happen in 70 years is a mystery – especially when he will not live long to find out.
“In times of victory, prophets are unnecessary distractions”
Trevor Roper, 1914-2003, VBQ p 204.
I wrote a rejoinder to Ogbuluafor’s attempt to play God; warning him that he and Obasanjo might live long enough to see PDP out of power. History would record that the PDP was voted out after just 16 years; Ogbulafor is living in well-deserved political oblivion and Obasabjo is alive to witness the PDP harvesting the political fraud her sowed when he was President.
PDP GOVS AND OTHERS DECAMPING TO APC NOW – PREDICTION.
“History does not repeat itself; man does.”
Prof. Barbara Tuchmann, Harvard University Historian.
If you want to know why Nigeria might never develop before the world ends, on account of climate change, just take a look at the characters we elect into high office – from Presidents to Governors, Senators, Representatives, State Houses of Assembly to Local Government Chairmen. While in other well-organised and ethical nations, people could point to statesmen and women as their heroes and heroines, few Nigerians can point to a politician – other than Ahmadu Bello, Awolowo and Azikiwe – as their own. The only one I have is Obong Attah. That should tell us something about our elected leaders and ourselves. We must love trash. God knows we elected so many of them; and then turn around to complain about their performance.
Nigerian politicians are again repeating themselves because the level of intelligence has not risen; and wisdom is generally lacking. They confuse expediency with sagacity and frequently end up making a mess of the nation and themselves. That is why nobody can truly call Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, Jonathan and Buhari his hero today. None of them has done anything heroic. On the contrary, they have individually and collectively led us to where we are now – which is hell on earth.
Since the current wave of unprincipled politics is moving in favour of the APC, it is only appropriate that my comments focus on this one. Back in 2018, Vice President Osinbajo asked Nigerians to vote for APC “because we are not corrupt people”. Forget for now how a honest man could give such a blanket endorsement to thousands of people he did not know. But, Governor Yari was in APC and has since been charged for corruption. My files are also full of reports, un-denied, of corruption by several APC officials – some are now facing trial. The VP implied, without making exceptions, that the PDP is a den of robbers. Again, it is appalling for anyone to make such claims about hundreds of thousands of people who had not been charged to court for anything.
We are now in 2021, and some of those “robbers” have now decamped to the APC. Some did before the 2019 elections; some others have been sentenced; some cases have been tried and ordered re-tried of former PDP chieftains now in APC. And the party is taking more in everyday. Pray, what does that make the APC, but, a party of “robbers”? That however is only part of the matter; and perhaps not the most important.
For me, the saddest part of the entire episode lies in the fact that the APC, as it stands today, is a sinking ship. The Caretaker Committee established by President Buhari has failed in one of its most important assignments – reconciliation of party members. If anything, the party in most states is more polarised than at any time in its short history. Those jumping from the PDP into APC, in Kwara, for example, will have to decide if they belong to the Governor’s, Lai Mohammed’s or Ms Saraki’s faction of APC. As things stand, the PDP might return to power in Kwara. The same can be said of Osun and Akwa Ibom States.
The point I am making is this: the APC, like the PDP in 2013, might be its own worst enemy. Buhari will offer no help; he has achieved his objective by becoming President. APC can go to hell. Mark my words.
