At the height of its 16-year stranglehold on power,instances of executive rascality and tendency to over-bear by some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), leaders went down. Just like the giddy grandeur of power suffered by some of the new political task masters in town today, Nigerians, for instance, can easily recall the epic fit of exuberance when politicians shocked associates with jaw-dropping and extravagant gifts, sometimes running in millions of tax payers money.
And there was the case of another governor whose power-drunken son over-reached himself in a supermarket and ignorantly assaulted a military officer. As was the usual swagger of the spoilt brat, the swollen-headed governor’s son stormed the super market and demanded to know why lesser mortals should venture into the same public facility while he was in the house.
Unknown to him, the customer he hollered at was an army officer. The rest of the story became folklore after the thoroughly-humiliated officer (unlike the haughty breed that succeeded),sheepishly withdrew, regrouped and, in company of his colleagues, descended on the swaggering brat, pounding him silly until he was purged of his hollow swagger. By the time the governor’s son was let out of the supermarket, the pompous brat did so with his tail prominently dangling between his legs.
Barely two years after the political tables turned,it has, most graciously, become the turn of some elected over-lords on the platform of the All Progressives Party (APC), to be over-whelmed by a similar inelegant bug of insouciance and arrogance of power.
For long, psychologists have wondered what combination the mystique of power could be most intoxicating as to sweep off even leaders who were once self-effacing and genuinely-loved; what combination was sufficient to destroy immunity against the so-called intoxicating brew of power. Before climbing to the exalted position of governor, Adams Oshiomhole (immediate past governor of Edo State), for example, was a classic example of a leader who rose to power and fame on the wings of genuine populism.
But an unguarded encounter during when the former governor reportedly demanded why a widowed hawker should not be flushed out like other street traders, suddenly dented this popular image in the minds of most folks. After the inelegant comment went viral in the social media, Oshiomhole spent more effort than he bargained for to rectify the public relations disaster.
Indeed, the trending argument is why elected officials should fear criticism more than their unelected counterparts. For example, rather than defend himself against allegations of impropriety from legislators in the state, the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum and Governor of Zamfara State, Alhaji Yari promptly enlisted the help of the Department of State Service (DSS), and rounded the legislators up.
In Nasarawa State, some protesting workers under the aegis of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), who demanded their complete salaries were not so lucky. Some of the workers were shot and killed after the Police was invited by Gov. Tanko Al-Makura.
Not long after, a private radio station in Lafia, the state capital, was demolished, allegedly because the station flouted town planning laws. But the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC), said nocomplaint was made against the station other than the fact that it aired sentiments considered critical of the sitting emperor.
Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode in the centre of excellence in Lagos has also been bitten by the bug of extra-judicial swagger. A fishing settlement in Lekki was flattened with the help of jack boots and bulldozers, despite the restraining order of a court of competent jurisdiction.
It has been agreed that those seeking recompense from equity should do so with clean, not dirty hands. But Gov Yahaya Bello of Kogi State does not seem to believe in that. So rather than absolve himself of the allegation of double registration by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, ( a veritable criminal offence by extant laws), he allegedly sent thugs to break up a rally organized by Senator Dino Melaye to protest unpaid salaries for workers in the confluence state.
About five persons reportedly lost their lives in the invasion by the armed thugs, including an unemployed graduate who was merely passing by the protest venue. And like the late afrobeat legend, Fela, sang, the young man died for nothing- neither qualified to die nor eligible for salary which the governor has failed to pay, in preference for his determination to find accommodation within the revolving doors of political arrogance.
