Justice, equity and fairness

The most abused phrase in Nigeria today is justice, equity, and fairness. Most of our politicians can’t make a complete sentence today without adding justice, equity, and fairness.

The way the phrase is being bandied around today I had to check for the meaning again. It’s like the Nigerian politician’s definition is different from the world’s definition.

In Nigeria, when an event or outcome favours a politician, it is the will of the people but when it goes against him, he is rigged out and fighting for equity, justice, and fairness. That is when democracy is in danger.

The most popular politician today in Nigeria is arguably Nyesom Wike, the Rivers state governor. He’s popular not because of his political sagacity but for the comic relief he is providing to Nigerians in recent weeks. Wike and his band deserve a Grammy award nomination for entertaining us weekly with their superlative performances.

Wike has been turning the screw on the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar. Wike has been using every opportunity to lambast Atiku. The Rivers state governor is insisting that the PDP chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, must step down because “agreement is agreement”.

The question I ask is; will Wike be calling for the sack of Ayu if Atiku had chosen him as his deputy? I don’t think so. His call for the sack of Ayu, citing justice, equity, and fairness is jaundiced to me and smacks of selfish interest. I can bet my last naira that if Wike had emerged as the deputy of Atiku, there would be nothing like G5 today and we won’t be hearing of the phrase justice, equity, and fairness. It’s all about personal interest.

Anyone in Atiku’s camp hoping for a reconciliation with Wike is being delusional. Even Stevie Wonder can see that is not happening anytime soon. I think Atiku has moved on likewise with Wike. I think it’s dicey for Atiku at the moment — not having Lagos, Kano, and Rivers in the bag is a risky venture.

No presidential candidate has ever won without winning at least two of these states. Lagos is out of the question because of the larger-than-life influence of the presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) Bola Tinubu in the state and Kano will be won by the New Nigeria Peoples Party( NNPP) presidential candidate, Rabiu Kwakwanso. Rivers state will be won by the preferred candidate of Wike. Why do you think he employed 200,000 assistants recently?

Take it to the bank, no Nigerian politician is going into an elective office for altruistic reasons. It is always about selfish and personal interests. They hide under national interest to deceive some gullible supporters.

Most of the people shouting justice, equity, and fairness today are politicians who lost out in the power game. Benue state governor, Samuel Ortom, is one of the G5 governors fighting for justice, equity, and fairness in the PDP but that phrase is not applicable in his home state. Since 1999, the Tivs have been producing the governor of the state. If Ortom had fought for the governorship position to rotate to the Idomas, I would have taken his justice, equity, and fairness gospel seriously.

Most of the politicians who said Nigeria should jettison zoning in 2011 and 2015 are the ones shouting that zoning arrangements should be respected.

And Nigerians are peculiar people, we never learn from our mistakes and history. We always fall for this cheap trick by politicians. This has to change.