With the silly season merging into pre – election mode, a politician cannot be too careful in his choice of language as well as enemies. Vice – President Yemi Osinbajo taking advantage of the Christmas break could do well with reading again George Orwell’s masterful foreboding, “Politics and the English language “. Orwell wrote the essay at a time of dysfunction, when shibboleths appeared to be replacing reason and even a perfunctory stab at analytical rigour. The contrived fire storm response to the VP’s position on the geo – political succession rotation come a post Buhari presidency makes Orwell worth reading again.
The vice – president wears several hats at the same time, he perennially has to do a juggling act. Calling for the presidency to be rotated to his southwest zone was a political statement expected on the hustings, nevertheless, within the context of a delicate juggling act, he might have shown greater circumspection. Perhaps he ought to have heeded to Orwell’s foreboding about the pitfalls, “The political language has to consist largely of euphemism, questions, begging and sheer cloudy vagueness “. Before the fire next time, the professor has been put on notice.
The traducers of the VP motivated by negative designs went about the business of attack with nary a thought for caution. As Orwell pointed out in the same essay, “But if thought corrupts language, language corrupts thought”. Inevitably the framework of the business of ethnic entrepreneurship really corrupts thinking and distorts the thought process. This is reflected in the attack position on the vice – president by the “pan – yoruba socio cultural group” Afenifere. Like the world cup Afenifere is a four yearly cycle. Come presidential election time Afenifere has to prove its mettle as a vote delivering mechanism in Yorubaland. This is not backed up by any verifiable evidence as those who have obtained the endorsement of the group in the past will testify.
The irony is that a group which was interwoven with a progressive, social democratic position in its heyday is at variance with a Yoruba vice-president at the head of the most invigorating social intervention programs since the first republic. Obviously for today’s Afenifere, the Action Group’s rallying cry ” Life more abundant ” is no longer the issue. In a clear repudiation of its origins Afenifere is now furiously aligned with a presidential candidate running on an unabashedly neo- liberal platform at a time when the original architects and cheerleaders themselves have repudiated the now discredited ” Washington Consensus “. Afenifere ‘s fury is reflected in its take- no – prisoners stance in its offensive against the vice -president a fellow Yoruba man.
If Afenifere is howling out of good old fashioned sibling rivalry, what is to be made of an incandescent Ohaneze Ndigbo? The contradiction is easy to spot. The hegemony hitherto established, pushed vigorously by Ohaneze is that there should be an Igbo presidency. Fair enough, but what is wrong with that worn out stuff about “what is good or is it sauce for the goose…”?
If the vice-president is canvassing for a Yoruba president surely it proves that it does really takes two tango. There is after all an electoral calculus involved. In coming up with a presidential candidate it adds up to look at the strength of the party in different zones This is normal if electoral miscalculation is to be avoided, A good example can be obtained from the United States. The disparity in the size of the sheer size of the Massachusetts delegation in contrast to some larger states at a Democratic Party national convention to choose the party’s presidential candidate is as a result of the delivery of winning votes for the party and its faithfulness over the decades. Even in the year when Senator George McGovern lost every state including his own South Dakota, Massachusetts was the only place in addition with the Washington District of Columbia which delivered for the Democratic party, only an irrational political formation will disregard this, and the vice – president donning the toga of a position is absolutely correct to make a play on this, frankly, who wouldn’t?
All of the above is normal in the cut and thrusts of every day political manoeuvre accentuated by Nigeria’s rentier political economy. It becomes profoundly unsettling though when Ohaneze (inadvertently it is to be hoped) take on a supremacist position. “Nigeria will never make progress until an Igbo man is president “. This position will undoubtedly warm the heart of people like the hideous Alfred Rosenberg one of the leading theorists of the Nazi party’s theory of herrenvolk (master race). This sort of mendacity cannot possibly help the cause of peaceful co- existence in one country or that of an Igbo presidency. It shouldn’t be encouraged because the effects of this sort of incidenry position continue to resonate after the final capitulation of fascism in nineteen forty five. Sadly, this model continues to be a handy tool in the hands of demagogues, sadly the after effect is always horrendous and not for the faint of heart.
The lessons to be learnt from the bravura of the last few days are unambiguous. The sensible start to move the framework from consumption to production by investing in the social and physical infrastructure must continue. Furthermore, the investments in the social intervention programmes and the construction of social safety nets must go hand in glove with the creation of a modern, internationally competitive economy. It is the only way to keep the entrepreneurs of divisions and decisiveness at bay.
Badhmus, a non – participant observer of the social scene, wrote in from Oshogbo.
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