Nigerian Politics: Where Good Men Go To Die

Nigeria’s Vice-President, Professor Pastor Yemi Osibajo is a good man. You do not have to agree with me. The fact that very high expectations were had of him when he was nominated to be President Muhammadu Buhari’s deputy says it all. His politics, persona and optics has risen and fallen on this perception that he is a good man.

However, the number of Nigerians who are disillusioned by his seeming silence and inaction in the face of the ethno-religious genocides that have pervaded the Nigerian space and actions such as Tradermoni scheme which had him share money to market women and men just before the 2019 General Elections are ever on the rise. Some of his supporters have since run out of excuses for him, and others have completely turned against him.

So this begs the question, can an ‘Osibajo’ OR any other good man who goes into the Nigerian political system ever really distance himself from the failure of the same administration especially when it seems that that individual constitutionally lacks executive power? In this piece, we will use the current vice-president, Yemi Osibajo as a case study.

The answer to those who expect a good man to be morally upright in a system built for everything antithetical to morality is not a simple one. So here goes…my perspective on the matter.

The truth is this, those who will judge the vice-president (remember he is our case study so this is not particularly about him) on moral & structural grounds are both right. However, politics is amoral therefore the make up of the foundations on which political practice is built in a clime will promote morality or immorality in its politick, even from players capable of either.

Therefore, expecting morality from players in a system built for immorality is some level of naiveté. Same as executing moral judgments on players in the same system. Why? Everyone who goes into a system becomes undeniably tainted by that system by association. Therefore in this vein, I believe the vice-president can not morally distance himself from the sins of this administration.

Let us explore the intricacies of the moral angle. It is important to note that for every rule there is an exception and that it is possible to be an exception. Let us also recognize that being the exception comes at a considerably high and sometimes strategically unnecessary price — if there is a bigger picture. Any man in such system that decides to distance himself from the moral proclivities of the system he finds himself in will pay a steep price in growth, promotion and ambition. Still, there are exceptions!

On the other hand, I believe that he could have structurally or constitutionally distanced himself from the administration…but that would have meant being a vice-president who acted like he was in the opposition and this would result to an ultimate resignation of his position or an impeachment.

Having explored the above possibilities, while harbouring expectations that certain players be exceptional and applaud those who pull it off, the goal should not be to continually hope there is a stream of exceptions in very dysfunctional systems but to restructure and sanitize the system which taints all men regardless of their best intentions or empowers the worst to make true their craziest fantasies.

So, in choosing players in such a system, the objective is not to look for the exceptional. Most times than not, the exceptional, by virtue of their reputation may not be strategically positioned enough to win or may even be schemed out by fellow players whose predispositions are threatened by the exceptional.

The objective should be, to look for players, tainted or not, exceptional or not, who have a desire, motivation, leverage & even something to personally gain by sanitizing and restructuring the corrupt political structure. When these persons are found, everything should be done to place these individuals in positions strategic enough for them to win, and to effect change, no matter how little.

To sustain this, and have a chance at bettering the foundational integrity of the politics at play, we must, rinse and repeat the above till a critical mass of stakeholders dedicated to changing the system are raised and positioned for the desired impact.