And The Dangers Of Loyalty Politics:
What Is Loyalty Politics?
Loyalty politics is the common type of politics in Nigeria where leaders demand for total submission and absolute giveaway of members freewill and cognitive abilities for the leadership’s altruistic gains.
It is a type of politics where idealism and rationalism is seen as a crime, but sycophantic idiosyncrasies are exalted and promoted as a general rule or standard—It is the direct opposite of democracy in the real sense of it, because it deprives the people of participation, and places quota and nepotistic consideration over merit. It is a style of politics fancied by tribal chauvinist with complexity, promoted by tyrants under the pretext of party supremacy. This style of servitude politics is exploitative and should be classified as a vice with full legal consequences meted to those who openly practice it.
This style of politics is prevalent in Nigeria today, but Rivers state seems to be ahead of others in this will-o’-the-wisp since the advent of this current demo-crazy that began in 1999.
The dangers of this illusive politics upon the masses is that, it imposes the master’s servant upon the people as against the people’s servant,—It circumvents the will of the people for having those that can bear their burden, and enthrones the master’s puppet and clowns whose only objective is seen through the prism of the overlords who foisted them upon the people. It was the modus operandi of the PDP in their inglorious years in charge, and now the locus standi of the APC who has created a new semantic for it called “Anointing”.
This anointing breaks no yoke, in fact, it brings more economic woes to the people. Because when panel-beaters are erected on the podium of policy making, it would be unkind and unfair to expect of him the duties and finesse of a lawyer, this can be liken to a miscarriage of expectation, and at the end, what we would get is a resignation to our frustration. It started since 1999, and Rivers people had lived through this frustration from successive governments to date, and each time we think there’ll be a new day, we end up sinking further into the arms of a more draconian arbiter. But they say all things comes to an end, so is Dr Farah Dagogo the long awaited “White Knight” to take Rivers people out of the political dungeon and economic abyss of today? Only time will tell.
But like the exodus of the children of Israelite from the stronghold of Pharaoh of Egypt, it took an unstable Moses to do God’s work in the fulfillment of his words. Paul the apostle was a persecutor of God’s children, but he was destined and chosen to be the greatest disciple of our lord Jesus even after Christ ascension to heaven. Today Rivers people are like the children of Israel in the hands of Governor Wike the Pharaoh of Rivers state, looking for a Moses to rescue them from his claws. And the biggest mistake I see Rivers people making is to stereotype the Moses in Dr Farah Dagogo who had been sent to deliver his people on the basis of his past personality. Such thinking is odious and will place us on a flatfoot in our redemption march.
Today in Rivers state, liberty of the people has been seized, governance participation restricted, journalist out of fear can’t report what they see and when they attempt to do so, they are beaten black and blue by uniform men on the instructions of the gov’t. Everyone has been silenced, the monarchs has been caged, opposition political parties are kept on watchlist and are threatened to their marrow. It is at this point that the call for support for Dr Farah Dagogo is clarion, because he has shown uncommon courage to challenge his fears and liberate himself and Rivers people by extension.
And if Nigerians should judge him by his past and lose sight of the dangers around our future, (Our Democracy) then we are not wise. Every revolutionary leader the world has ever had had at least a flaw. King Martin Luther jr was a cheater and a chain smoker, Nelson Mandela was a gangster and also adulterous, Mahatma Gandhi was a sexist and exploiter of his female followers, but these are great men who changed the destinies of billions of people and repositioned some faulty courses and enacted new world orders.
The support for Dr Farah Dagogo has to be detribalised and apolitical at this point. All people of good conscience and good reasoning is encouraged to join forces to fight for his freedom. And the reason is that, the incarceration of Dr Farah Dagogo is a new tyrannical experimentation in Governor Nyesom Wike’s political conquest, and Dr Farah, a national assembly member of Nigeria is the last hypothetical sample in this process before Rivers state becomes fully and absolutely conquered.
So should we allow this Wike’s pyrrhic conquest for sentimental and parochial reasons at such great cost? Oppositions are silent, tribes men have been muted, even those who benefited from the agitations of Dr Dagogo in the PDP can’t even mutter a word now. What is Prince Uche Secondus saying about this situation? Alhaji Atiku Abubarkar came to Portharcourt yesterday and left without the slightest mention of the name of his protégé who is being incarcerated for associating with him, the assumption to that is that Dr Farah Dagogo is expendable in Alhaji Atiku’s political chess game, and his eyes are only fixated on his end goal and every other thing or persons can burn in Wike’s hell.
It was “late Ken Saro Wiwa” the great Niger Delta environmental activist who wrote in his book that “Silence Would Be Treason” if men of good conscience sits idly and do nothing in the face of repression and tyranny because it isn’t their kins or tribesmen who faces the brute of the tyrants henchman.
The incarceration of Dr Farah Dagogo has gone beyond a political skirmish and shouldn’t be seen with such peripheral view. We must all condemn the arbitrary use of the instrumentality of state (The police and the Judiciary) by those in charge as seen in this case, because evil knows no tribe or demography, sex or age, evil is evil and until we see it as such, we may not find a reason to come together to defeat this full blown tyranny that has kept one of us in captivity for which he may not be the last.
Rivers state is a home of great men with no paucity of good conscience, therefore, we must all rise at this point and put on the brotherly armour of love which teaches us that “Injury To One Is Injury To All”, and demand that Dr Farah Dagogo the new face of Rivers democracy be freed.
Comrade Solomon Lenu.
Portharcourt. Rivers state.
15-05-2022
