By Prince Debo Luwaji
Make no mistake about it, the political season of electioneering is here again, and these are far more dangerous times than you ever knew. Like a beast looking for whom to devour, it bares its fangs in every conversation and encounter, ready to strain relationships beyond repair and even claim lives. Our politicians, without exception, made it so, but none of their own ever becomes a victim.
I recall that in the heat of the debates preceding the 2023 presidential and governorship elections, I shared an opinion piece on the then-viral “Lagos is no man’s land” controversy. True to my usual circumspection, I tried to be as balanced as I could and avoided unsettling the nerves of people who might hold divergent views. The meat of my essay was an attempt to preach caution to those whose decades of monumental investments make their stakes highest and the potential damage severest when the losses are eventually counted.
The immediate reaction from some of my own treasured circle of friends was outright confrontational and incredibly bitter. I was then the president of an arm of the Lagos Business School (LBS) Alumni, where we had hitherto enjoyed open camaraderie, mutual trust and scholarly interactions even after leaving the great institution many years earlier.
I immediately withdrew the post, even without finding anything wrong with it, just in deference to the sensitivity of others. It was enough warning to me that political times are not normal times. No thanks to our so-called leaders, who always expand the ethnic, religious and every other divisive us-and-them rhetoric at times like this, accentuated even more now by the social media phenomenon with all its toxic exchanges!
Normal everyday discourse that would otherwise have elicited laughter has now become combustible, often placing passion over logic.
Sadly, back to my story, our once-bubbling association has never fully regained its conviviality and trust since that minor incident!
Now you will never find me engaging in any discussion about politics, football or religion, in person or online. I simply play dumb. It doesn’t matter whether your opinion aligns with mine or not; I just don’t have anything to say or offer when people discuss any of these issues, in which a man’s personal conviction can evoke the most visceral of defences.
Every day, the political space gets more choking and toxic, with political parties’ foot soldiers on the campaign trail pulling down billboards and brandishing machetes at town hall meetings. Less time is spent on issues than on hate speech that denigrates opponents in each other’s strongholds.
Propaganda and falsehoods are spread with ease, and in these days of AI, it has become increasingly difficult to distinguish between real and fabricated stories!
Former Jigawa State governor and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain Sule Lamido, speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today, put it succinctly. He said that, given the predominant tone of the ongoing campaign, it doesn’t matter who wins between the incumbent and the others vying for the presidency: Nigeria still loses!
In other words, the political ambitions of the major contenders appear to have taken precedence over national unity, and Nigerians will suffer regardless of who emerges victorious.
“Whether Peter Obi, Atiku, whoever wins, in terms of our unity, our economy, our love as a country of brothers and sisters, it’s all gone down. It’s more about their personalities. They are abusing each other. Those things become very, very personal,” he said.
The former governor expressed deep concern about the damage the political contest was doing to national cohesion, referring specifically to the growing political tension in northern Nigeria in view of the propaganda, hate campaigns and incitement going on there.
Gone are the days when patriotism, decorum, restraint, sacrifice and exemplary conduct were the personality traits of those who advertise themselves as leaders of the people. More and more, the intemperance of the language and conduct of our politicians indicates that their ambition was never about Nigeria. It is all about their own selfish interests.
Sometimes I do wonder if they tell themselves the truth behind closed doors. A politician loses a legal case fair and square because he and his camp put up a lacklustre defence, having underrated the stakes. He knows this to be true but still comes out publicly to claim that political intrigues and manipulations were at work!
We have long recognised anthems and flags as part of the symbols of national identity and pride, however they were formed. They are never the exclusive preserve of any particular party or oga in power. Yet, in the glare of the world, what better examples did our honourable elites, whom we have entrusted with leadership and who continue to ask us for the same grace, give us than publicly advertising defiance and disloyalty to these national symbols? What do we tell our young schoolchildren watching? Was it not part of basic education and every spiritual doctrine that you give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar?
The hypocrisy of the political elites is never hidden, so why people still hurt and kill themselves for their sakes baffles me.
For instance, look at some of those who had once used unprintable words against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (PBAT), words that had most probably incensed some foolish foot soldiers into a killing and maiming spree. The same people are today prominent members of PBAT’s cabinet and praising the man to high heavens.
The other day, Dr Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa, former Executive Governor of Delta State, was asked why he dumped Atiku (PDP) for Tinubu (APC). He said the full-circle switch was because he had now seen the light. This is the same man whose choice by Atiku in 2023 over Nyesom Wike as his vice-presidential candidate sparked the internal wrangling from which the PDP never recovered!
But can anyone blame him? Was his principal not the first to see the light and abandon the PDP ship to sink? Where are all the foot soldiers of that time who engaged in heated, disruptive campaigns from Benin to Maiduguri, Kano to Lagos? Those who have died in vain probably imagined themselves martyrs of democracy. Just sheer stupidity!
Without a thought for the consequences, people’s anger is being stoked to see political opponents as devils that must be destroyed. Yet the instigators live in fortified places that can’t be invaded when the mayhem begins. Bit by bit, Nigeria is pulled apart and destroyed by those who claim to love her so much for the sake of the masses!
My take is this: in these troubling times, the mainstream media must play a clearly patriotic role and must not lend their platforms to those pushing the nation towards Armageddon! We all lose without peace and national cohesion after the 2027 polls.
This is the season when the role of the National Orientation Agency (NOA) should be more pronounced. The agency should wake up to its core mandate of shaping public policy awareness, fostering civic responsibility and promoting national unity through public enlightenment campaigns. To this end, its dominant messaging must be that no politician’s ambition is worth a drop of any Nigerian’s blood.
I saw a message a couple of days ago that I found most profound, and I must share it here in closing.
“War is a place where those who don’t know themselves and don’t hate themselves kill themselves over the actions and words of those who know themselves and hate themselves but don’t kill themselves and have a warm handshake with themselves after the war.”
The lessons of our history are sufficient affirmation that this is true.
Nigerians who spread hate and promote mayhem through social media, or move around campaign centres with machetes and concealed guns shouting war songs, must pause to ask themselves the simple questions: where are the biological sons and daughters of these politicians who egg us on towards self-destruction for their own ambitions?
I rest my case.
Prince Debo Luwaji is an entrepreneur and public affairs analyst. He can be reached at luwajidebo@gmail.com.
Disclaimer: This is an opinion piece. The views and claims expressed are the author’s own and do not represent the position of BizWatch Nigeria or its editorial team.
