By Rev Fr Gerald Nwafor
In recent times the leading political party APC (All Progressive Congress) has devoted a lot of time to silencing the voice of the opposition. They called them names like sore losers, clueless, and cry-cry-baby. I do not expect the opposition leaders to back down because when there is no opposition you will be left with authoritarian power or totalitarianism.
I do not expect the APC to keep silent, but I expect them to respond with critical reasoning and understanding. Name-calling will not help in any way to salvage the current economic situation in which the APC government has plunged the Nigerian public.
Many of the programs and policies suggested by the APC government may be good on paper but constructive criticism from the opposition should have motivated the APC-led government to explain to the Nigerian people why they should engage in OIC (Organization of Islamic Countries) since Nigeria is a secular state.
The tax model proposed by the government has been criticized by politicians on both sides, but the government has not come up with any explanation. The Coastal Guard bill that has gone through the first and second reading needs serious sensitization and explanation. All the governors from the northern states rejected the tax bill, and some governors from the west said no to it as well.
The government should try to explain more to us all about the tax bill. This attitude of name-calling and evading questions will not help anybody. To win a contest you must have a credible opponent to make the competition worthwhile. The lion and the ant don’t compete on who is the king of the jungle. For the lion to lay claim to the king of the forest we must see the battle of the jungle between the lion, tiger, leopard, elephant, and buffalo.
There must be a level playing ground and the winner takes it all. The electrical company (power company) has faced a lot of criticism in the last 18 months since this Tinubu-led government swung into action. The national grid has collapsed 29 times and people are not allowed to say anything simply because they are seen as sore losers. I disagree that the opposition is engaging in sabotaging the facts.
The bastion of democracy which is the USA (United States of America) just conducted and concluded its election. The opposition group led by the president-elect Donald Trump won in a landslide victory. The government in power did not start calling them names but gracefully accepted defeat and called Donald Trump the president-elect to congratulate him. For the next four years, the Republican Party led by Donald Trump will be ready to receive constructive and unconstructive criticism from the Democratic Party. Opposition politics is a healthy way to checkmate the government in power.
If the Nigerian government should learn anything from the American political system, it will be open to criticism and willing to answer the opposition where necessary because there are people who do not support the plan of the winner. In philosophy, we say that a man who has no enemy has taken no stand, or is a dead man. There must be viewpoints and counterviews.
There must be words and opposites. And there will always be opposition politics in the society of human beings. When the government of APC said that the First Lady and the National Security Adviser would lead the country in prayers, I was first to oppose it because Nigeria has more than 1000 Imams and over 200 Bishops, Archbishops, and Cardinals! Why the First Lady and National Security Adviser? When the government said that there was a new terrorist organization in Sokoto, I opposed it because I remember that in 2018 the people of Northern extraction said that the Malian terrorist organization had infiltrated their community.
The government of APC swept the news under the carpet because they wanted to sell the fake information to the Nigerian public that terrorists had been defeated. Lies do not last, truths are forever. Today we know that terrorists and terrorism have grown astronomically in the Northern part of Nigeria.
Their nomenclature may change but the message and system of attack have not changed. The government should not call Atiku, Obi, and Kwankwaso sore losers because they are doing their work as opposition leaders.The state governors should not behave like the federal government and become allergic to opposition.
In Anambra state, it is the APGA (All Progressive Grand Alliance) and every other party in Anambra. It used to be APGA and PDP (Peoples Democratic Party) but now LP (Labour Party) has been added to the occasion. Many voices would be heard from the opposition camp. The governor, as a professor, should lead the federal government on this issue of opposition politics. The government at the center is APC.
They are not very strong in Anambra State but that does not mean that they cannot contribute constructively. The people of Anambra (Ndi Anambra) are crying about security lapses and erosion menace. I do wish that the governor would have a round table discussion with the security experts to discuss the way forward.
The question from the government (state or federal) should not be who is talking but what is the message. Sometimes the messenger would not be the expected one, but the message is very important for the survival of the people. The workman wrote in his book, “A fool can say wisely what the wiseman can say foolishly.” We need to listen to both and make informed decisions. The Nigerian situation beckons on all the well-meaning Nigerians to put their heads together for the welfare of all the citizens.
Partisan politics, tribal politics, and religious politics will not take us far in the game because selfish interests would not allow the bigots, fanatics, and nepotic people to see beyond their noses. For the bigots everyone is a threat, for the fanatics any opposition is a danger, and for the nepotic person, strangers are enemies. It should not be so with our politics. The government should welcome the opposition’s political views where necessary, abide by the rules of the game, and not plan on killing them; because in the land of the blind the one-eyed man is a king.
