By\u00a0Terhemba\u00a0Shija<\/p>\n
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Our country is a theatre of idealism, but it is also a home\u00a0of realists. Nigerians cherish discussions especially on politics and football and it appears most of them give excellent commentaries and analyses on these two games in beer-palours, street corners, informal and formal discussion groups and in social media.\u00a0\u00a0They\u00a0invest so much emotions in the\u00a0dialectics\u00a0of the fundamental essence of these games and, by so doing,\u00a0interrogate\u00a0or accept\u00a0different\u00a0ideas; compare or contrast Nigeria\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s standards with those of\u00a0other countries and generously proffer ideas to improve the performance of this giant of Africa in either football or politics.<\/p>\n
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Generally,\u00a0Nigerians tell themselves the truth anytime\u00a0they crave for success. They demonstrate their ability to criticize themselves just as much as they\u00a0prove that they also possess the\u00a0capacity\u00a0to appreciate one another when victory comes their way.\u00a0The euphoria that engulfs the nation at the\u00a0end of a fierce international football match or at the emergence of largely acceptable presidential candidate after a free, fair and credible election\u00a0is incredibly fulfilling.\u00a0\u00a0The ecstasy is even\u00a0therapeutic for a robust nation with great diversities seeking to harness its potentials to ensure progress and advancement.<\/p>\n
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The Nigerian political discourse, for instance, is as multidimensional as it could be of a nation with over 300 ethnic nationalities, multiple religions and a 170 million strong population fused together by a colonial power. It engages the instruments\u00a0of the idealist and\u00a0that of\u00a0the realist; the objective and the subjective; the scientific and primordial as well as the logical and the emotional in its discursive heterogeneity.\u00a0\u00a0What invariably comes out as Nigeria\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s political verdict\u00a0in\u00a0most debates\u00a0held either formally at Constituent Assemblies or informally in beer-parlour\u00a0discussions is consensus rather than the strict adherence to the\u00a0fundamentals.\u00a0\u00a0Our people are constrained to deal essentially with what they can do rather than what ought to be done. They seem to say that the law was made for man and not man for the\u00a0law.\u00a0\u00a0In\u00a0this regard,\u00a0emotions play a\u00a0more\u00a0critical stabilizing factor in reaching a consensus than any other parameter that may bother on logic and the law.<\/p>\n
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I am concerned here with the feeling of empathy which Nigerians evoke at critical times to solve naughty political issues that threaten the fragile fabrics of our confederation.\u00a0The word, empathy, is not as commonly used as its cousin, sympathy, perhaps because it carries more weight and significance. Everybody talks of sympathy which means simply commiserating or being sorry about someone else\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s problems. Empathy goes further than that.\u00a0\u00a0It involves showing understanding or being sensitive\u00a0to someone else\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s predicament to the point of vicariously participating in his grief.\u00a0\u00a0Empathy is indeed a cryptic current that surreptitiously works its way into the psyche of Nigerian disrupting laid-down procedures, destroying ethnic and primordial sentiments and promoting unspeakable solidarity and\u00a0camaraderie\u00a0among Nigerians.<\/p>\n
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On such rare occasions when the spirit of empathy takes possession of the Nigerian nation, the victims of tragedy are\u00a0very often lifted up, pampered and placed in a position where\u00a0they could feel reasonably comfortable to call themselves\u00a0part of the Nigerian community. Several examples abound to demonstrate this phenomenon in our political\u00a0history. The Late Major-General\u00a0Shehu\u00a0Musa\u00a0Yar\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Adua\u00a0was only a Lt-Colonel\u00a0in the midst of generals when the\u00a0then Head of State General\u00a0Murtala\u00a0Mohammed was assassinated in 1976. The gravity of the predicament was not merely that a very popular and dynamic Head of State was killed in cold blood. It was because his death marked the second time in Nigeria\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s short lifespan that two popular Presidents of Hausa-Fulani extraction would be killed in such a reckless manner.\u00a0\u00a0Of course, the entire nation was enveloped in grief. Sympathy messages flooded everywhere and the government then did a lot to immortalize the name of General Mohammed. All these were not sufficient to\u00a0assuage the misery of many citizens of our country. They needed\u00a0to be\u00a0empathized with\u00a0by practically engaging the victims\u00a0of tragedy\u00a0in the political arrangement of the day. The appointment of the then Lt-Colonel\u00a0Yar\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Adua to take the position of military Vice-President\u00a0in violation of military hierarchy was therefore a necessary step to empathize with the Hausa-Fulani people and to further cement our unity as a nation.<\/p>\n
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The language of empathy is so subtle that it appears most Nigerians cannot\u00a0easily\u00a0codify. The Yoruba people did not\u00a0readily join other\u00a0Nigerians who\u00a0were empathizing with them in 1999 by releasing Chief\u00a0Olusegun\u00a0Obasanjo\u00a0from prison and picking on him to run for the presidency of Nigeria. The\u00a0Yorubas\u00a0had refused to vote for him in the 1999 elections. At that time, the South West had\u00a0thoroughly\u00a0deserved\u00a0the sympathy\u00a0of the rest of the country by the way and manner, their son, Chief M.K.O\u00a0Abiola,\u00a0was denied the presidency\u00a0of Nigeria\u00a0and hauled into jail after winning\u00a0the credible polls of June 12, 1993. Chief Abiola\u00a0later died in jail without trial under the tyrannical leadership of General\u00a0Sani\u00a0Abacha, who also threw Chief\u00a0Obasanjo\u00a0into jail on trumped-up charges of attempting a\u00a0coup.\u00a0The nation was outraged by the catalogue of tribulations of their Yoruba compatriots and chose to vicariously identify with them.\u00a0Chief Obasanjo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00a0presidency in 1999 was therefore\u00a0a faith accompli\u00a0principally because of the consensus of the Nigerian citizens to empathize with the South West on account\u00a0of those atrocities.<\/p>\n
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As we await the proclamation of the 8th<\/sup>National Assembly on June 9, 2015, there are strong indications that Nigerians may again resort to empathy as strategy to\u00a0get out of the seemingly intractable problem the emerging ruling party, the APC, has found itself. The party has publicly confessed its inability to zone the presiding offices of the National Assembly even as it is closely marked by its rivals, the PDP which membership in the Senate is exceeded by just eleven members.<\/p>\n \n So far, the North Central geopolitical zone has provided a water-tight argument as to why the Senate Presidency should continue to be theirs, giving\u00a0persuasive arguments\u00a0of how they had pulled the carpet under the feet of PDP to emerge as the best performing zone for the APC in the last presidential and governorship elections.\u00a0They even cite the presence of the current Senate Minority Leader, Senator George Akume, among the foremost contestants who should naturally be given\u00a0the\u00a0right of first refusal in line with legislative practices all over the world in the race\u00a0for the Senate Presidency.\u00a0The zone also parades\u00a0prominent other names like Senators\u00a0Bukola\u00a0Saraki\u00a0and\u00a0Abdullahi\u00a0Adamu\u00a0as well as exhibits\u00a0their strong\u00a0comparative advantages\u00a0of providing Nigeria with the needed religious and minorities balance in leadership\u00a0of the three arms of government. All these\u00a0have, however, not stopped\u00a0the All Progressive Congress (APC)\u00a0leadership from leaving the race to be won by means of survival of the fittest, an approach which is capable of plunging the country into dire consequences.<\/p>\n \n However, it appears that the stage is set to once\u00a0again\u00a0release\u00a0the currents of empathy\u00a0on the citizens\u00a0to do some soul searching. The focus this time is\u00a0the North-Eastern geopolitical zone, the area that had for the past six years dominated national and international discussions as the theatre of war, rape, deprivation, mass killings, hunger, deprivation and neglect.\u00a0The Boko-Haram had declared war on the North -Eastern part of Nigeria in which about\u00a03,900 Nigerians lost their lives including\u00a0civilians \u00a0and the military. The area also has\u00a0a terrible refugee crisis.\u00a0However,\u00a0just like the Yorubas were unaware of\u00a0the\u00a0national sympathy towards\u00a0them, it had\u00a0taken the\u00a0group of Senators-elect outside the North-East Zone\u00a0to announce\u00a0a consensus to unanimously adopt Senator Ahmed\u00a0Lawan from this zone\u00a0as President of the Senate in the 8th<\/sup>\u00a0National Assembly. About thirteen\u00a0Senators-elect from the North-East Zone comprising those of the President-elect,\u00a0Mohammadu Buhari\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00a0home state,\u00a0Katsina,\u00a0have constituted themselves as the core\u00a0group of canvassers\u00a0for Senator\u00a0Lawan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00a0Senate Presidency.\u00a0 The General himself has\u00a0refused to\u00a0support \u00a0any\u00a0particular candidate\u00a0or zone\u00a0\u00a0for this\u00a0position. But if this gesture by the North-West Senators is not Buhari\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00a0body language\u00a0concerning this matter, then I do not know what else it is. I guess that the President-elect, having vigorously campaigned for the office using the factor of insecurity in the North-East and having promised a special package for the people of this zone may as well have decided to help in the emergence of Senator Ahmed\u00a0Lawan\u00a0as President of the Senate.<\/p>\n \n Secondly, the North Central zone which has a very strong case in the quest for Senate Presidency appears to have listened to the body language of the President-elect hence the subtle withdrawal of a candidate who\u00a0looked like the heir apparent, Senator George\u00a0Akume\u00a0and his consequent\u00a0merger\u00a0with Ahmed\u00a0Lawan\u00a0of the North-East\u00a0zone. \u00a0Akume\u00a0now runs\u00a0as the Deputy Senate President. The South-West Senators- Elect, most of whom are APC members, have also unanimously adopted the tag team of Ahmed\u00a0Lawan\u00a0\/George\u00a0Akume, \u00a0thereby sealing the zoning\u00a0arrangement for the positions of Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives among the four zones in the total control of the APC.\u00a0 What is particularly spectacular about the joint ticket of\u00a0Lawan\/Akume\u00a0is that\u00a0credibility has not been sacrificed for empathy.\u00a0\u00a0Both\u00a0gentlemen are\u00a0ranking Senators\u00a0and\u00a0longest serving APC Senators\u00a0from their respective zones.<\/p>\n \n The bottom line is that\u00a0the North-East,\u00a0being the worst victims of terrorism, is easily the object of sympathy in the new administration.\u00a0 Nigerians in their wisdom would not just want\u00a0the government\u00a0to retrieve the\u00a0Chibok\u00a0girls under captivity and the vast territories of Bornu and Yobe\u00a0under siege, but to restore the souls of their disoriented compatriots from psychological trauma and make them part of the Nigerian society after six years of nightmare. It appears our people are now once again poised to underplay certain indices and provide\u00a0a space for their brothers and sisters from the North-East zone to be part of the emerging leadership.\u00a0 The next President of the Senate is most likely going to be Senator Ahmed\u00a0Lawan\u00a0of\u00a0Yobe\u00a0State and the deputy, Senator George\u00a0Akume\u00a0of Benue State.<\/p>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Sufuyan Ojeifo<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Editor- in- Chief<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The Congresswatch Magazine<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n +234 8034727013 \u00a0 \u00a0+234 8023024800<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By\u00a0Terhemba\u00a0Shija Our country is a theatre of idealism, but it is also a home\u00a0of realists. Nigerians cherish discussions especially on politics and football and it appears most of them give…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26558,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n\n