I learnt this recently that a new party, Voice of the People (VOP) has become the latest breakaway group from the PDP that had once been predicted will last eternity. Now we know that God is the final determinant of who and what last how long! What a mighty God we serve! We knew all along the latest upsurge in the dynamics of politics in Nigeria would occur, we were not just sure when. Now that it’s here, so what?
So, what? What difference does it make for the regular, average Nigerian in search for a new lease of life? What difference will it make for uninterrupted supply of power? What difference will it make for security? So should I now start packing my luggage and head for Nigeria because VOP is not just a VIP, but a true voice of the People?. What difference will the springing up of a new party make for the image of Nigeria abroad where almost everybody hates Nigeria and Nigerians? What difference will it make? Will it stop old men forcing 13 year-olds into marriage? Is Voice of the People another Voice of the Powerful? What difference will it make sir?
Will it stop the National Assembly from raking in trillions of naira and drying up the coffers of Nigeria in the name of legislation? Will it stop mass exodus of talents and gifted from Nigeria? I really want to know what the new party is all about! Will killings of Christians stop in the North and maiming of Igbos and Yorubas end in these vile territories? Is it a true Voice of the People or Voice of the Powerful? Is it a perpetration of the powerful getting more powerful and the rich getting rich richer? Will stealing from government coffers stop and corruption capitulated? Will my money be safe in the bank without blood-sucking bankers banking my money under their pillows and in their private accounts? Will our graduates be able to communicate in simple English instead of the bastardy we experience now with some of them? What difference will VOP make? So now extortions will stop in our ports and bribery end in our borders? So, now robbers will rob no more, and kidnappers will end their enterprises? The questions I have will not fill this page, so I’d better stop.
I can tell you this. No one gives a hoot what new party springs up. Nigerians’ minds are already made up that a new party is just like a new church or mosque springing up next door where the principal is after one and only one thing-MONEY! You can’t change Nigerian minds about that, no matter how many times you say “Jesus loves you, so do I”, or “this party is for the people”. Nigerians aren’t buying none of what they have assumed is hogwash and shenanigan! Whether you say you will die for Nigeria a million times, I will tell you that Nigerians don’t want anyone to die for Nigeria, they don’t care if your whole family dies for Nigeria, they just don’t want to die in hunger and poverty, and they just want to live because they are life-affirming people! If you chose death over life for people who are already walking around dead because of what the military, political parties and politicians have done to them, they will walk dead to your funeral and sing “:Amazing Grace, how sweet thou art”, as long as there is free food for everybody! Is the solution to our problems the birth of many more parties that should have died in utero?
Is it a party problem or leadership problem? Is it a party problem or perspective and priority problem? Is it a party problem or orientation problem? Don’t we have enough parties, and don’t we have enough caucuses? I know the goal is to install Lamido who we heard has done an outstanding job, and pair him up with Amaechi who has proved his own mettle too in Rivers State. Will Lamido land our graduates a job to do, and Amaechi make a way where there seems to be no way? Are they seeing the people’s predicaments from the same lenses that impoverished Nigerians see from?
This is not about parties popping up, the more the parties, the more the apathy! The more the parties, the more the pity expressed for Nigeria and Nigerians by many of our friends abroad who continue to say to themselves; “these people just don’t know how blessed they are”. If VOP will be representative of the people’s interests, not just a slogan, tired and frustrated Nigerians will join force with them, and maybe this will be the hour that my hometown of Imesi-Ile has been waiting for. I will be glad to join the train on their behalf. May be!
