Nigeria Election: Of Desperation and Disappointments by Ayk

Twenty-eleven (2011)  was a desperate year in the State, it was time for a new Governor. The civil servants demanded a new face, but for the average ò•kadà man, it was time to balance the scales. He was tired of servitude to the Association. There must be others. And he was right.

The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria guarantees the Right to Freedom of Association and Disassociation. But for reasons beyond the scope of this article, these motorcyclists found themselves at the mercy of a man who when asked to vacate his position was alleged to have retorted, "Kí le• fé• ki n ma je•?" What (else) d'you expect me to subsist on?

So that a deal was (apparently) struck to support the Opposition in the quest for freedom. But freedom was not to be found in the Opposition, and never is: They got in, made a lot of noise, and allowed just one other association. Yet this was no freedom, since the newcomer was only to collect dues on alternate weeks!

One would have thought that the hope of the masses in the Opposition was the enforcement of the Constitutional provision to form as many associations as they desired, and leave whatever association they did not feel a part of.

And what is worse? They still get to serve both associations: pay dues to both (on alternate weeks), buy the annual licensing stickers from both, even when they are officially members of only one.

They had wanted Change!, clamoured for Change!; had been desperate for Change!, and were disappointed by Change!– even crushed by it. So much for the politics of Change!

Change! was promised for their votes and proselytism, yet what changed was not the rotten heads they had longed to change; what changed was the levity of their oppression: they bought only one sticker before, now they buy the one for N1500, and the other for another N1000. And the LGA reaps levies capriciously!

Isn't Change! beautiful?

And now that they have been failed by the Opposition, there are moves to make deals with the emerging opposition. To no avail! To no avail, since power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely, and you never know who someone truly is until he wields the Sword. To no avail, since the tiger knows better than to make the lion its treasurer.

You may think APC will be sent packing in four years if they don't perform, but will APC with the savoury taste of power be sane enough to let it go? Will they not breach the bridges that incapacitated the previous party? Will they not plug the smuggler's holes they were availed of to sabotage the ruling party? Wouldn't you?

#AykforPresident2031

Politics all over the world is about power and money, influence; and power always shifts to the rich: the oppressors who have made a lifetime of ill-gotten wealth rally about a purportedly honest man and promote him, but only with deals in place!

The truth is, Nigerian politics goes beyond Change!, and the devil you know is better than the angel you don't know. Changing the face does not matter, the soul stays the same, hidden by the skin of public relations, nonexistent to the undiscerning; as my people say, the leaf dancing atop the waves has its drummer beneath the waters.

Ayk Fowosire.
Sagamu.
@adelayok

The trick is simple, the cycle is same. The new government will bring new policies, refurbished policies, actually, make backdoors for the powers that be, and give the masses a falsified feeling of equity. SEE, The RESET Button.

There will be levies to improve infrastructure, corruption will be muted, shielded but not killed, the whistleblowers will be without whistles, and these levies will tow the path of budgetary allocations to where the campaign monies came.

The truly rich will get richer, the middle-class will work harder for the same pay (and will appreciate, in retrospect, the regime that let them buy cars and build houses), and the poor will remain so.

It has always been called the rat race, only we chose to call it Change!; the masses suffer and smile so long the rich appear to suffer with them. But that is all it is: appearance, camouflage, subterfuge...

So much for Progressives!

Yet, "the test of our progress is not whether we add more to those who have much, it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."