By Wole Olujobi
Never since the recorded history of King Henry V111 of England have I read about hypocrisy so bland in its audacious cunning than the latest subterfuge by a section of our country Nigeria in its reaction to the politically-motivated “endbadgovernance” nationwide protests targeted at President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in his economic reform agenda to shape Nigeria for good.
I had thought that the Pharisees and Sadducees had stretched hypocrisy to its wits end when they confronted Jesus Christ and His disciples, accusing them of breaking Moses’ fourth commandment on the Sabbath holy day of rest by engaging in the healing of the sick.
Responding, Jesus rebuked them, asking: “Who among you will have his sheep lost on Sabbath day without searching the field to find it”?
Tongue-tied, the Pharisees went home in a subdued, bruised ego after failing that conscience test and succumbing to a superior battle of wits.
Which leads us to the saying that hypocrisy is setting for others the standards you won’t embrace in the world of infinite protection of self-interest while also hurting the interests of others.
That again leads us back to King Henry Tudor of England who was an accomplished Catholic and extremely well-schooled, and who in 1521 published a famous theological thesis entitled “Defence of Seven Sacraments” in reaction to Martin Luther’s “Ninety-five Theses”, which Henry took a strong view against. Henry’s work was regarded by the Catholic Church as a classic, that Pope Leox even awarded him an ecclesiastical title.
Yet in a little more than a decade, the same Henry seized the property of the same Catholic Church he defended, dissolved monasteries and establishing himself as the Head of the English Church otherwise called Anglican Protestant Church, all in a bid to legally divorce his wife (Catherine of Aragon) in order to marry another wife who would have for him a son that would inherit the church and its consficated properties. He succeeded in his hypocrisy of value.
Hypocrisy of value, which in moral psychology, according to British political philosopher David Runcimab, is the failure to follow one’s own expressed moral rules and principles, and this finds expression in desperate situations bereft of moral suasion, thoughtlessly deployed to achieve selfish motives.
Hypocrisy is why rich people tell poor people that money is not important. That is also why people who are opposed to abortion support unjust wars that kill millions. Hypocrisy is also why people who complain about homosexual submit their baby son to a professional to cut parts of his penis off. It is the same reason that a murderer is appalled by seeing the murder he committed, yet he starts a serious investigation on who actually murdered the victim. Hypocrisy is why those who are the architects of Nigeria’s misfortunes are the same people preparing innocent people for the Golgotha to suffer the consequences of the offences they (accusers) committed.
The proponents of “endbadgovernance” protests know from the history that any public protests against government’s policy always end up in fatalities, looting and arson. But because they know the motive of their position, they tell us that Nigerians have inalienable rights to protest against unpopular government policies.
Yet, when it suits them the most, they argue against public demonstration to protest against government policies. It is all a matter of interest eventhough patriotism is what is most needed for national redemption.
We saw this in 2020 when the police anti-crime squad, SARS, established to curb criminal activities across the country, turned out to be the arrowhead of criminal gangs terrorising the citizens of the country.
Nigerians protested against the oppressive mode of operation of the SARS squads. But a section of the country up North refused to join the protest, arguing that the protest was illegal and engineered against President Muhammadu Buhari by the Southern rebellion to sack him from the Aso Rock.
At a meeting in Kaduna, prominent northern leaders, including top Federal Government officials, governors, political, traditional and religious leaders, reflected on the state of the nation on the heels of the #EndSARS protests.
In a communiqué read by the Governor of Plateau State and Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum at the time, Simon Lalong, after the meeting, the gathering dismissively referred to the #EndSARS protests as “subversive actions” geared towards “regime change.” Inexplicably, they urged the security agencies to watch the Federal Capital Territory in order to “guard against unwarranted and destructive protests to safeguard critical assets of the nation ,” according to The Punch report. Conclusively, protest against SARS was declared illegal by the northern leaders.
Curious at the meeting was the attendance of top federal officials at the purely sectional and regional meeting. They included the then President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan; the Chief of Staff to the President, Ibrahim Gambari, and the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu. Also disturbing was their silence on major problems militating again decent living in the North.
And you now wonder that if their counterparts from the South had taken a cue from them and attended a similar meeting where sentiments and views diametrically opposed to those of the other regions are openly canvassed and promoted, the basis of the unity and oneness of the nation which the Northern leaders canvassed and endorsed at the meeting would have been questionable.
That was what prompted Southern and Middle Belt Forum to ask: “To where would this country be heading if we had also decided to call our own meeting with our governors and top officials in the Federal Government?”
In fact, it is curious that the resolutions of the Kaduna multi-partisan meeting failed to outline strategic and pragmatic action plans towards addressing the challenges of the region, namely; extreme poverty, banditry, terrorism, insurgency, malnutrition, almajiri system and illiteracy.
But reacting to the current endbadgovernance protests, the northern leaders declared in their comminuque: “We acknowledge that the primary purpose of any government is to secure life and property, and enhance the welfare of its citizens. Any regime that cannot guarantee these basic rights loses all legal and moral authority of being in power, and would naturally incur the wrath of citizens. It can therefore only remain in office more by default than by public consent.”
Conclusively, they supported the endbadgovernance protests, which reports indicated had turned violent with many losing their lives while looting and arson were widespread.
It is gratifying, however, that five socio-political groups in the 19 Northern states composed mainly young elements in the North accepted the Federal Government’s offer of dialogue as a way to find solution to the nation’s problems.
It is curious that while these young people in the North opted for dialogue to ensure that Nigeria does not slide into the anarchy as witnessed in Sudan, Somalia. Libya and recently, Kenya, where untamed riots have destroyed the daily life of the citizens and crippled the economy, the elders preferred protests that will end in arson, looting and fatality as we now see in some parts of the country.
In particular, what is the thrust of the “endbadgovernance” protest against Tinubu if not anger against insecurity, bad governance hunger and cost of food that the northern elites supported while they opposed EndSARS anger against the same ills? It is OK to oppose EndSARS protest to protect Buhari because that protest was “illegal” but the current “endbadgovernance” protest is “legal” to hound out Tinubu who knew nothing about the mishandling of the nation’s economy, including the alleged mortgage of the nation’s crude oil, which is at the heart of the present economic crisis in the country.
That leads to a moral question on the trajectory of poverty crisis in the country that suffers deprivation in the midst of plenty.
Tinubu is just 14 months as President that inherited agricultural production sector that cannot feed the citizens as a result of fertilisers subsidy scams, terrorist attacks, kidnappings on the farms, and the mother of them all: the fuel subsidy sleaze.
We witnessed the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) and its devaluation of the naira component when the ruling military elites and their agents swooped on the Central Bank’s vaults to divert the nation’s foreign currency earnings from investment, manufacturing and industrial drive to trading posts in the bureau de change outlets and ubiquitous mushroom finance houses where Nigeria’s foreign currency earnings were being traded like Tom Tom and suya; thus defeating the investment in production drive that informed the structural adjustment programme in the first place. Other development schemes were also botched by the irresponsible military regimes in the country.
Definitely, the spiral effects of these failings on the present crisis should not be blamed on a man who is just 14 months in office, but who is now being made to carry the can of the inadequacies of the past administrations.
It is the height of hypocrisy to blame Tinubu for the failings of his predecessors who operated in a clement economic climate but wasted all the opportunities to grow Nigeria to a prosperous nation. It is callous to start scapegoating and plotting the downfall of a man who has the courage to face the nation’s challenges to save the poor from the stranglehold of the leaders whose pastime is milking the nation to her marrow while the citizens die in penury.
It is only national spirit that can heal the economic wounds inflicted by the past leaders. It is not hypocrisy that will address the present challenges not caused by the present leadership. Nigeria is bound to a collective, national identity and destiny. Definitely, sectional solidarity is a threat to any effort that can bail Nigeria out of her present pitiable economic condition.
The northern youths alliance has set the pace for national salvation to defeat the hypocrisy of the leaders with two faces of a Janus. Let sincerity and nationalism govern our conducts in making Nigeria a great nation.
* Olujobi, a journalist and Commissioner in Ekiti State Local Government Service Commission, writes from Ado-Ekiti
