Benue APC in a quagmire

BY Adakole Elijah

There is no doubt that the All Progressive Congress, APC, is currently gliding in a sty following the naming of Alhaji Kashim Shettima as its Vice Presidential candidate against the expectation that a northern Christian would be selected to deputise, Ahmed Bola Tinubu, who is the presidential nominee. Shettima’s announcement and subsequent unveiling expectedly barfed a national censure.

The hex was predicated upon the fact that Muslim Muslim tickets would obliterate the corporality of Nigeria. The country as it is is colossally polarised along several fault lines – north and south divide; Christians and Muslims dichotomy. The country has never been this ridged.
And, with this compartmentalisation of the country into these fault lines, cometh mutual scepticisms. And the apprehensions are deep-rooted. Nobody is to be trusted anymore. It is like we are in the timberland where there is zero sorority.

It was in this verisimilitude that political parties and their operators were expected to trade cautiously by installing dignity into the polity. But the apparatchiks and the Hawks of the All Progressive Congress who clambered power via the instrumentality of black propaganda believed that they could use similar instruments to further cajole the people of Nigeria to buy the Muslim – Muslim tickets, especially with Shettima as the anointed prince.

An early indication of this was when some spin doctors were recruited to create narratives about the goodness of Shettima to the Christian community in Borno state. They said Shettima rebuilt about 500 churches destroyed by the Boko Haram terrorists in the state. They bandied about the Borno Christians pouring encomiums amidst ululations on Shettima. All these without compunctions were refuted by the Christian community in the state.

To give vent and credibility to their choice of Muslim – Muslim tickets, they ingeniously, ingloriously and sacrilegiously rented political urchins to masquerade as Bishops during the unveiling of Shettima. They proceeded to lie that Pastor Tunde Bakare has endorsed their miscalculation. The same lies were mumbled about the General Overseer of the Redeem Christian Church of God, Pastor Adeboye. That is the height of deceit. From these quandaries, it was obvious that they were bartering in self-denial.

Nevertheless, the APC and its candidate pointed out pithily that the nomination of Shettima was a deliberate strategy aimed at harvesting votes from the northern part of the country. If that is the case, then they have a justification as everyone is entitled to his or her strategy. The People’s Democratic Party feeling sensitive to the sensibilities of Nigerians elected a Southern Christian as the Vice presidential flagbearer. Also, the Labour Party whose presidential candidate is a Christian and of Southern extraction selected its vice presidential candidate from the North – a Muslim. It is informational to note that both PDP and the LP satisfied the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians by observing the plurality of the country. That is equally strategic.

But why would the APC which calculatedly opted for a Muslim – Muslim ticket shops for Christian acceptability since their strategy is capable of granting them victory over the other political parties? Wouldn’t it be folly of them to try to placate the Christian population about their love for them? And, if their aim is not to denigrate the Christendom in the country, why did they not go for a Muslim – Christian ticket? Or are they insinuating that there are no Christians in the North? It is manifestly clear that the APC and Tinubu do not give a heck to the unity of this country. Their explanation is nothing but a mockery of Christendom.

They do not need Christians to win the forthcoming election. It, therefore, behoves Christians including all peace-loving people of this country to equally reject them at the polls. One good turn they said deserves another. This is what my Idoma people refer to as, “Oche Kawo, akanu”. And when somebody said you are not important, bid him goodbye and go ahead to show him your worth. Anything short of this might validate the person’s opinion about you.
It was probably a realisation of the above that a friend of mine, Dr Peter Deshi, depicted the actions and behaviour of the APC handlers as a “Delusion of grandeur, unmerited superiority complex, poorly disguised inferiority complex and a pipe dream ownership of Nigeria by a landless nomadic group”. The election is yet to be won but they are already behaving like a native potentate.

There is, therefore, no need for hullaballoing on this matter. Christians irrespective of party affiliation should go and vote against the APC. That’s all. Do they need to beg to be recognised? No. PDP and LP have given them the much-needed platforms to operate. Everybody can not all be in one political party. Leave the ArchBishop of Agbado diocese with his party.

As it is, Christians in the country have two viable options. And the druthers are the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP).

The reality is that APC can not be trusted and should not be banked upon. They came in 2015 and vowed to turn Nigeria into an earthly Paradise – El Dorado, and we were all ecstatic about their phony promises. We bought their bogey. Today, we are all languishing in an earthy hell. Terrorism and other ancillary crimes are on the increase with their murderous and ferocious activities.

The economy is in a state of dilapidation or comatose. Employment of our graduates has become scarce and non-existent beyond reprieve. A dollar sells for #660. Feeding has become a luxury. Our children are out of school. Our take-home pay can barely survive a family of two for a month. We can not afford the indulgence of being treated in the hospital when we are sick. The situation is pathetic. We are like walking corpses.

Every morning, we look in the direction of the rising sun with the hope that God will send his miracles to rescue us from this debilitating maladministration to no avail. But our prayers have since been answered unknown to us. God has allowed us to change the situation. We are the ones foot-dragging.

Something needs to be done. 2023 is by the corner. We have to make a decision and act on it. The choice is ours. Either continue with the griefing or go for merriment. And if we must go for enjoyment, we have to heed the clarion call by the late Fela Anukpolakpo Kuti in his hit album – Original suffer head.

The choice is ours. May God encourage us not to return to Egypt again. Affliction will not befall us a second time. But if we must not return to Egypt and affliction should not befall us twice, then we owe ourselves the obligation to extricate ourselves from this excruciating suffering by voting out the APC and its agents from our body polity.

As for me, I am going to be Atikulated. I observed some members of my household being Obedient but I thank God that no one of them will go hunting for BAT.
Elijah, the living ancestor ( Adalekwu) writes from the O’eje fortress, Otada – Otukpo.