A Ghost Is Haunting Nigeria -By Khaleb Ogbonna

“On the eve of the “spring of nations” (that is, the revolutions that broke out across Europe that spring), Karl Marx published The Communist Manifesto, a short, hard-hitting text whose first chapter began with the famous words “A specter is haunting Europe—the specter of communism.” The text ended with the equally famous prediction of revolution: “The development of Modern Industry, therefore, cuts from under its feet the very foundation on which the bourgeoisie produces and appropriates products. What the bourgeoisie therefore produces, above all, are its own gravediggers. Its fall and the victory of the proletariat are equally inevitable.”” – Thomas Piketty (in his book CAPITAL IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY)

It is Sunday, the 26th of February 2023, and I am in my hometown, Amaba Isuikwato in Abia state, taking a week-long rest from work having had to vote in the just-concluded Presidential and National Assembly elections, yet, similar to the Arab Spring that swept aside age-long dictatorship in the league of Arab Nations, I have been a keen observer of how ghoulish the devastating effect this spring has been on the rich, career politicians; having their tanking fortunes joyfully celebrated by the proletariat who once idolised them. This can only be explained that the Biblical angel of death that passed through Egypt has found its claws on the hopes of people who have spent a fortune amassing goodwill.

Being a finance/policy journalist, I can only say that the closest to the tragedy witnessed by the proletariat political class in most South Eastern and Northern states of Nigeria may be likened to the global economic recession of 2007-2008 that wiped out financial giants like the Lehman Brothers and a host of others. Maybe closer to that is the narrative that a man slept a billionaire and woke up in the cold, having had his fortune wiped out, sending him to the streets homeless, depressed and suicidal.

Similar to Whizkid’s Jaiye Jaiye featuring Femi Kuti, the lyrical lines “Lagos today, London tomorrow….. omo jaiye jaiye” is for the political class that has been hit by the tsunami. The description of the political fortune of many may now be said to be ‘distinguished today, extinguished tomorrow’.

Very hilarious was a Twitter user replying a campaign tweet by the Governor of Lagos, Mr. Babajide Sanwolu, where he offered a sarcastic advice, “omo e be like say you go go learn coding oh” an obvious way out for the governor should he lose his re-election bid.

For governors who had already planned a retirement trip to the floor of the Nigerian senate as is their custom, they have been victims of easier but unfortunate retirement, albeit without benefits, which has to be, accepting in good fate to enable them not incur  the wrath of the protesting voters. Were the 2023 general elections to be the financial market, even the best of mathematicians, the Billionaire Jim Simons of Wall Street, could not have predicted the current bearish run that political stocks are taking.

The ghost currently troubling Nigeria, like the 2022 flood in most parts of the country is excavating the vestiges of debris, dead and dry bones are given life and erstwhile servants are now in ownership of the exotic cars of their masters, while the masters are now looking for the quickest route to their destination to make the trekking less harrowing in their newly found political wilderness.

The only challenge with the ghost troubling Nigeria is that while it is friendly to people who ordinarily wouldn’t have been in the first quarter position in fair and square elections, it is wrecking havoc on political giants. It is however a ghost whose dimension of devastation cannot be predicted or negotiated with. Yet, the people, the electorates, have cheered it on to the excruciating pain of helpless persons who were even more prepared for political office.

A typical example of the adversity of this spring is that an Okada rider,  Honourable Donatus Matthew from Kaura federal constituency in Southern Kaduna who probably picked up the Labour party Federal House of Representatives form to maintain his status as a Honourable (of course that is what Nigerian politicians bear immediately they lose elections), will be representing the federal constituency, dusting up his ‘legislative acumen’ having been a ward councillor years ago.

You could hail Honourable Matthew for his political sagacity as a former ward councillor, yet, how do you explain the victory of Chimaobi Sam Atu, a bus driver who defeated the likes of Nonso Nnamani, a half-brother of the former governor of Enugu state Chimaroke Nnamani, in the Enugu North/Enugu South federal constituency? Maybe as a bus driver he has his union of transport workers backing him. Probably that could be an explanation for the political oddity.

This article remains inconclusive as it cannot predict the outcome of what the ghost will do. However, it will be revisited when the ghost takes its temporary rest.