Hometruth
By Adeola Akinremi
I have been quite tardy to come back to you. I can remember. I served
you no letter of divorce, so there's nothing in-between us. In simple
words, we still have a relationship. Let me say the truth: I am someone
who's excited at the growth of someone else. So as i watch Solomon
Elusoji (who shares this back page with me) grow at what he does with
his STORYLINE, i became trapped and lost in my lust for his work.
His writings are so captivating and his STORYLINE makes me feel like am
always on Broadway in Time Square, New York. Yes, I am back now and it
will be every fortnight between us.
Last week, I returned from the United States where I followed the
campaign trail of the American politicians and their political parties
in the just concluded midterm elections.
Undoubtedly, as a country and as a people we have so much to learn from
the democratic experience of America. The tenet of free speech that is
the hallmark of the American society was at the centre all through the
campaign period. That is one thing that is a major problem in our
political circuit. We have seen a wave of violence in our politics this
year alone, just because of intolerance among our politicians. The
politics of fire and brimstone that is the hallmark of our society needs
to be done with by taking a look at the American politics.
I am not saying that the political system in the United States is all
perfect, because it does have its issues of ‘dark money’ and district
drawings that impact on the outcome of their own elections. However, we
have so much to learn on how the process has evolved to such a level
where no violence is heard in American politics and the ‘dark money’ is
not used to bribe a judge for an injunction or as a hand-out to people
to vote with regards to ‘stomach infrastructure.’
At this time, when President Goodluck Jonathan faces heavy criticism
for his policies, principally from the opposition parties, it is not a
different scenario in America where President Barack Obama’s popularity
sags. But how are President Obama and his aides responding to criticism
in comparison to what comes out from Aso Rock in the face of
anti-Jonathan campaigns? That is where the difference is clear.
Last Tuesday, when the midterm election was over and Obama got the boot
as shown in the result of the election, he simply said: “Americans, I
heard you.” In Nigeria, that will be a strange thing to say. The
president and his party will rather go and hire lawyers with tax payers’
money to do abracadabra to overturn the election, they will give money
to judges and they will hire ‘forensick’ experts to do their bidding.
Of course, the youths will be mobilised unto the streets with police
protection to start causing damage to property owned by the opponents,
with physical attacks on their lives as well. Where do we go from here?
And this, while the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu
Tambuwal was defecting from his party, the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) to join the opposition, All Progressives Congress (APC), exactly
two weeks ago, the American politics was experiencing similar situation,
though not in terms of defection, but President Obama had become a lame
duck to most of the candidates campaigning on the Democrats tickets for
the midterm election. So they tried so much to distance themselves from
Obama.
But that didn’t make Obama to call for the heads of the candidates as
would have happened in our own politics. Can any PDP governor or senator
distance him/herself from President Jonathan while campaigning for
election?
In Nigeria, that is a difficult thing to do. Any candidate who dares to
distance him/herself from the leader of his party based on policies
will be in soup.
An Igbo man will say Tufiakwa (abomination). In clear terms, that will
be tantamount to committing political suicide or what the pundits call
political hara-kiri. But there was no political elimination in America
when several gubernatorial and senatorial candidates pointedly told
Obama not visit their states to campaign for them in the most recent
American elections.
To be sure, there were ads on televisions from some Democratic Party
candidates separating themselves from Obama policies and hell was not
let loose. In Kentucky, the Political Director for the Democratic
Party, Christian Motely told me that campaign for state elections are
done differently in United States. “If you are running a campaign, you
do go for what is popular. Views are different from across the region
and you need to gauge the temperature of your community to draft a
campaign,” he said.
Now that the election is over and Democrats lost more states and
Republicans made gains, everybody gets back to one another and they are
looking forward to thanksgiving on November 27. Everybody knows that you
have to do what you have to do to get your votes. That is the level
where our politics and politicians need to get to in this country.
The idea of killing your opponents to have your way should be discarded
and the idea of bribing the judges to get injunction must come to an
end and of course the intolerance for free speech should be a thing of
the past.
Let me say that as we roll into our own election next year, decorum should be the watchword for the politicians.
I can never forget what Professor Al Cross, a long-time political
reporter and the director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and
Community Issues at the University of Kentucky, told me when I visited
him in his office on Thursday, October 30. “You must be careful when
reacting to a negative advertisement, because you may end up confirming
the words of the ads and thus become a victim of your own judgement.”
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