The turbulence in the mountain signals the shrill blast of a whistle which had sounded in the distance. This time, crane booms were hurriedly swung aside and men clothed in shining armor – like that of a scorpion king - walked off the very pavement of the upper room railroad right-of-way. This was routine for the contractors who were constructing a mammoth overpass in the core of the central city some years aback. These men watched ceaselessly for the Express Train which would come thundering by in about a minute. “If that whistle-man ever misses his cue, it’ll be too bad for us to withhold,” uttered a worker. But when tragedy struck in the shadow of full-blown casualty, it was not for lack of warning.

Cautions were taken this time, as the familiar whistle sounded and the men walked off the rail track. Two men just stepped over to the adjoining track. They watched closely as the north-bound freight motioned slowly towards them, its whistle screaming under the heavens, but they were out of its way. It did seem like that train-whistle and the road-bed vibration were more than usual. The two men never saw the fast approaching XYZ Express Train on the rail track where they were standing. It grounded and hurled them into the underworld. They envisaged and thought they were in a safe place. But they were dead wrong, as their bodies flattened to the track-shape.

It is cunning, it dangles: The politics of Nigeria is far from intellectual discourse and engagement, but a macabre theatre of deceit and subterfuge. The tale of Uncle Brown finagling and wriggling his way into a corner of the privy, calls for exigency amid shrugging off constitutional facilities, thus silencing the guiding principles of the land. The scripts of Mister Ebony jumping on the bandwagon, with a core objective accrued to personal advantage, against the wishful thinking of the people, is a headlight to the quest to clinch power without regard for the law or decency..

The need for an unambiguous goal orientation in nation-building, the movement away from the undertaker economics that have warped national possibilities, the non-reinforcement of failing policies and the enforcement of strategic policies, and the relevance of addressing military disengagement on the pages of democratic memoirs.

The unfitted garment of a nation’s developmental status is chiefly ascribed to the reflection of the degeneration of our societal and leadership standards. The failure to curb the dysfunctional social policy framework that fails to keep government’s intention abreast with the genuine democratic expectations of its citizens, especially in terms of infrastructural deficit like power supply, good roads network, well-equipped and sound health facilities, and promising educational status, is alarming and disgusting and, thus, to the point of constitutional reaffirmation.

In a blink, an election had come and gone which, in turn, led to declaration of political squabble, disturbance of national peace, spewing of decayed language and the spread of paroxysm of hatred across the media space, shaking of administrative desks and, of course, the cunning interests of the foxes in prolonging the lives of the poultry.

Truth be told, the characterisation of the above is seen being screwed into the walls surrounding the unprecedented but prospective leadership of the 9th Assembly. One ought to understand that the present political chaos is connected with the decay of language, without ignoring the inability to work in harmony, even in the face of a broom-victory. There is division in the chase of the leadership of both the upper chamber and the lower chamber, as notable “Honourables”, with penchant for snoring during plenary, wriggles their filthy toes in a quest to kiss the gavel.

The pyramid of our guiding principles is no longer standing on the foundation of value. Instead of these undistinguished honourables to agglomerate their ideas, therein designing a well-structured economic policies that will forge the country ahead, they rather choose to pop out their pot-bellies forward, thumping their noses, in adulation to the cloud hovering above the edifice of the chamber. The act of lobbying themselves is a famous hallmark in the “Power Race” game.

Fellow Nigerians, it will be challenging not to type this: What we have seen on national display, twerking across the cyberspace, is really not a party of ideas and adequacies. That is, if they possessed any beforehand. It is not a party of legislation, which can’t agree among one another. So they have shape-shifted to a party of gridlock and investigation. Even if there is no basis for it, that is just what they do. The chamber is at loggerheads with itself in the future of the present. The only thing they agree on is to have endless investigation, without ignoring their technical breaching of the common decency. They are bunch of cabin biscuits.

It is pertinent to accede that, one can’t be a good pilot-fighter, if one doesn’t have a good understanding and working relationship with one wingman. There are heaps of economic and security challenges staring boldly at us in the eye: The annunciation of the northern part of the nation holding on to power beyond 2023, basking on the under-development story-lines of the region, is shambolic and less reverent.

It is, indeed, laughable since the reason is quite simple – from the inception of the present day Nigerian state, history tells that the North has held on to power more than her sister region. The ideal is straight: No precognitive and pragmatic blueprint, no development. Holding on to the pillars of power, even till eternity, isn’t the deal. It is what we do with the power, that places us for recognition.

The leadership of the northern region continues to masquerade their strife of interests as a context of principles. The conducts of the actualisation of their public affairs are being channelled to their self-advantage and personal aggrandisement. The threats of the preponderance of illiteracy are nothing but page-one factors, which have undermined the development of the region. They fail to subscribe that the citizens are the conscience of the society, and the youths, the propeller in the determining of a developing society. Distancing them from the corridor of Western education is a negative factor on their persons, and also on the society.

No sane society sprung up and developed on its own; it is the birth of ideas, and the application of such that thus transforms a society from a state of dystopia to an enviable state of utopia. I had refused to be a product of conformity, as I never choose to pitch my tent at the side of prevailing mediocrity. Subjecting our northern brothers and sisters to just Quranic education is not fair, and denying them Western education is mentally brutal to the soul of man. Religion is one thing, education is another – both play pivotal roles in the life of every man. Something they can’t deny their own children.

Instead of tranquility and nobility to be our emblem, we rather choose to pitch our tent under the aegis of mediocrity and oppression. We are quick to send honorary invitation to the lord of the underworld, to come preach to our open-mindedness, the spirit of societal division and its maladies, much to the dismay of the populace and to their own chagrin. These leaders nurture and develop the ambitions of their children, in a quest to occupy top positions within the nation’s top agencies and parastatals. Which way Nigerians? Our leaders are stooling on us; they have no compassion for us like a cat will have for a sandpiper.

The rapacious families are gathering their nests in a notorious assembly down the South, with just a mission – the idea of actualising the region’s presidential hold of power come 2023. They ignore the sardonic happenings of the now, failing to proffer lasting solutions to the daunting challenges in the present, as they are being preoccupied with the strategies of securing the lock to the upper room. The drama of jostling for the land’s most coveted office is a sub-regional wrestle in the epicentre of the South.

Yes! While it is okay to plan ahead – that is being precognitive in nature - it will be better off staying focused on the present national challenges and hurdles, with a specific focus to gain economic stability. For crying out loud, 2023 is still four years to come, 2019 is here. Let’s work on the pathway to the actualisation of its governance. The dividends of democracy promised beforehand, by these phony political jobbers, seem not to reach its Canaan Land, as its crawling rate is now fully cemented on grounds encompassing political matters. These political gladiators lack ideological premises in promoting democratic ethos here and there. The selfish creed of chasing after persona merit is now regarded as a national honour.

And, finally, a two-termed second-in-command of the nation is famously tagged as a “Cameroonian” by some stooges guiding the upper-room. Oh my God! Like seriously! I never knew there are political gynaecologists in the politics of our Nigeria. Chai, these blokes will carry out both archaeological and historical studies on your ancestors and they will jerk up from their grave. What a country!

•Meduoye Adeyinka wrtes from Lagos.

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