Come let’s reason together

Come let us reason together. Yes, let us reflect on this. It is worth the trouble. This post was sent by a colleague last week, and it brought back some memories: good, bad and ugly; all rolled into one.
When politicians were preparing for this Fourth Republic, the late Chief Bola Ige made some dramatic movements. Ige was former governor of old Oyo State, between October 1979 and September 1983. He was Minister of Power, later Attorney-General and Minister of Justice under ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo. Remember, Obasanjo kick-started this dangling Fourth Republic on May 29, 1999, courtesy of General Abdulsalami Abubakar.
Ige made substantial contributions to the making of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), All Peoples Party (APP) and Alliance for Democracy (AD) at inception and in quick succession. He was often credited with virtually writing their constitutions.
And this was how he allegedly performed the magic. He was a member of the G34 along with the like minds of the late Dr. Alex Ekwueme, Vice President in the Second Republic, Alhaji Sule Lamido, former Jigawa State governor, and Mallam Adamu Ciroma. The group metamorphosed into the PDP.
After birthing the party and putting its constitution in place, he felt short-changed when the hawks in human skin came calling. Ige beat a quick retreat when he met a brick wall. He abandoned the project in search of greener pastures.
He thought he found a viable alternative in the APP, he fell for it. He met his match in characters like Chief Lamidi Adedibu, even with greater intensity. He took his flight, angrily deriding the party as Abacha People’s Party (APP). Again, not before he perfected the party’s constitution.
He took a hurried sober reflection, and this paid off for him. So, when he formed the AD with co-compatriots like Chief Ayo Adebanjo and Sir Olanihun Ajayi, he was sure of what he wanted. He was in the best position to write its constitution. Yet, he borrowed a leaf from his previous experience in PDP and APP.
If today politicians are jumping back and forth between PDP and All Progressives Congress (APC), we know where they are coming from. They are not out of place they are simply acting the script. They are following in the foot (fool) steps of those before them. They dare not depart from the path on which their founding fathers put their feet.
This is the pathetic situation we find ourselves in. It is a complete mess. We are like one big chessboard in the hands of these cunning politicians. We suspect this is deliberate. We are enslaved and these devouring politicians are in all the parties, especially the so-called giant ones.
The APC and PDP have the same umbilical cord. Their thinking, thoughts and orientation are the same and one. Their members have the same mindset from the same source. They hop from one party to the other with ease. Shameless lot.
That is why all those who moved from PDP before the 2015 general election instantly became saints and spotless in the veiled eyes of the APC. They were literally worshipped. They never did anything wrong. All past sins were forgiven. They were warmly welcomed to the kingdom of changeless change.
See the pitiable irony: Those we accused of ruining us in the past are the same principal characters calling the shots. They are in the various levels of government. The executive and legislative arms are the worst hit. They are the power behind the throne inside the Rock. They form the bulk of the National Assembly’s leadership.
The only “change” they have effected is that they changed their umbrella for the broom. What they carried with the umbrella, they are now sweeping it under the carpet with reckless abandon. The same caliber of people are involved.
Of the 17 APC governors in the North, only five were never in the PDP. The exceptions: Governors Mohammad Badaru (Jigawa), Kashim Shettima (Borno), Yahaya Bello (Kogi), Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara) and Ibrahim Geidam (Yobe). All others, at one time or the other, were in PDP; some even learnt the ropes and cut their teeth in the party.
See the reason why this post is quite relevant and appropriate now? It couldn’t have come at a better time.
In the first and second republics, those who betrayed the trust of their parties and the electorate paid heavily for it. Some even paid with their dear lives. Up till today, some are seen as lepers in their immediate environments. The stigma won’t just go away.
It was never like this before. An apt sampler: Shortly before the 1983 general election, old Kano State governor Abubakar Rimi and Lamido, then a member of the House of Representatives, dumped their Peoples Redemption Party (PRP).
They did not stop at that. They demonstrated the stuff they were made of by promptly quitting their elective posts as well. They felt they had no moral justification to hold on to those offices.
That was when there was party discipline. When law and order were strictly followed and obeyed. When there was party ideology. When there were distinct and clear lines of demarcation among the parties.
That era is gone and buried. Old things have passed away in our polity and politics. All things have become new. Great pity! The more reason we must reason together.