The Masters and Mistresses of Power By Douglas Ogbankwa Esq.

Politics is the madness of many, for the benefit of few -Alexander Pope

The Nigeria game of thrones is a unique one that could marvel even the original creators of the game itself. It answers to issues that range from the sublime to the ridiculous. It was Dr K.O. Mbadiwe the intellectually audacious First Republic Politician and NCNC Chieftain that aptly captured the Nigerian Political Tragedy in the following aphorism:

Man is living a false lifestyle in a wrong society, a society, where morons are barons, a Society where thieves are chiefs and a society, where monkey dey work baboon dey chop.

In situating the Nigerian Power Jigsaw, Professor Adebayo Williams who I must concede first used the title of this article posited inter alia thus :

Power in Nigeria is controlled by the 3 Bs: Bullet, Ballot and Bottom Power

The Power Game in Nigeria is intertwined between the 3 Bs. If the Leadership of this Country will be very frank, they should tell us how many of them have actually won an election. During the election period, Youth are armed to fight for Politicians and after the elections, the guns are never retrieved. That is why you see that after every major election in Nigeria, there is a major insurrection in a part of the country. Examples are the Odi Crisis, the Niger Delta Crisis, the Crisis in Benue, the Boko Haram Crisis, the IPOB Agitation, the Bandits in the North, the Kidnappings on our high ways, the ISWAP Fighters, they were all spurned up by our Political Leaders one way or the other . When you start a wildfire some times you can not control it. So in Nigeria, the ballot, the bullet and Bottom Power are the drivers of Nigerian Political Tragedy Contemporaneously.

It was Oscar Wilde that once posited thus :

Everything in the world is about sex, except sex. Sex is about power
The Bottom Power Element will surprise you. It will interest you to know that the June 12 Crisis started over an ego trip between the late Maryam Babangida and Kudirat Abiola, both wives of Ibrahim Babangida and MKO Abiola respectively. The Presidency or absence of the same was ultimately determined by passion. Every war that is worth it’s salt in this world, was caused by the struggle for a woman. The Struggle for a woman is an extended form of the struggle for power. If you were a young man, I would advise you to avoid women of power, because the power of a woman can consume you.

Forget about the fact the corrupt persons were after Nuhu Ribadu, Nuhu made a big mistake, sit he choose to struggle a woman with one of the major elements of Shehu Yar’Adua’s Government.

It was Leonardo Di Vinci that said: Nothing strengthens authority more than silence
You do not see the real people that have power in Nigeria and you do not hear them. This Young man told Nuhu Ribadu how he will be phased out of power and his being phased out, followed every way he boasted about it. The same scenario repeats itself even now, all around the world. It was John Jesen that said:

History is past politics and politics is present history

Be careful when some persons boast. There are those that boast but are empty, ignore those. But there are those that boast and they mean what they say and say what they mean. Ignore those at your peril. It was Renee Ahdieh that posited in The Rose & the Dagger, that :

The power behind words lies with the person

But there are those that do not boast at all but are very quiet. Run for your Life, when you encounter those. An Anonymous Russian Constitutional Expert captured the Russian Dictatorship under Russian President Vladimir Putin thus :

Different Countries have their different Constitutions, but ours is absolutism moderated by assassination

Assassination is an Official Policy of many Governments of the world. In some countries of the World, those that kill, are also those who will do the investigation. They try to make it simple. It is like asking the thief to look for a missing item.

The Power Puzzle in Nigeria is a complex mix of the unimaginable. It is like Clint Eastwood’s Hollywood Blockbuster: The good, the bad and the ugly

When you engage those in power, be careful how you renege on your promise, change agreements or squill classified information. You may never have another opportunity to do any of the above or make any amends. Also, give anything you do on the big stage your best shot, because : You do not have a second time to make a first impression

Forget about the Razzmatazz of inaugurations: the rhetorical speeches and flamboyant parades. It is like the facade of a White Wedding looking glamorous, but far from the reality of marriage.

I close with this quotation of mine :

Every Ballot Process has a lot of Bullets before and after it and I dare say blood too After all whether you win or not, what they say is Having scored the highest number of (un)lawful votes in this election, he or she is hereby declared the winner of the election. Let us not talk about election tribunals, hmm, that will blow your mind.

About the Author :

Douglas Ogbankwa Esq., @ Douglas Ogbankwa@gmail.com. , a Benin Based Lawyer is the President of the National Movement for Actualization of Good Governance (NAMAGG) and the President of the Benin Writers’ Society.

Gatekeepers News is not liable for opinions expressed in this article, they’re strictly the writer’s.