How Not To Manage A Fall

Incidentally, Mentuh is not speaking to the innocence or guilt of those accused. Rather, he would want the application of federal or political party character on the fight against corruption – if you question one PDP, you must question one APC; and when you invite one Southerner, you must also invite one Northerner – unknown to him that while the Federal Character Principle is aimed at ensuring fair and equitable distribution of positions and socio-economic amenities, the fight against corruption does not distinguished between thieves based on their places of origin.

By Hon. Josef Omorotionmwan

The view is popularly held that he who has never failed has never really succeeded because, properly used, that which people look upon as failure could provide a major springboard to bigger successes.

Again, failure is not really falling to the ground; it is remaining there when you fall and the greatest failure consists in deciding not to stand again.

In that moment of temporary fall, we must have the vision and flexibility to embrace change; to continuously adapt to changing situations; and to improve on our performance and our commitment to service.

When we fall, we should accept our fate, realizing that history has no memory for the man who came second – not even the second man to climb the Kukuruku hill or the second man to walk on the moon.

In essence, that man occupying the second position cannot be posturing as if he still occupies the first position. This is the essential difference between the government and the opposition.

In either case, good leadership puts the interests of society as a whole before those of any specific group.

At the inception of the current administration, President Muhammadu Buhari made no pretenses over his avowed war against corruption and the need to pursue corrupt elements even into the deepest holes.

Initially, he intended to make a clean start from the date of his inauguration; but a peep at the opening entries dictated otherwise. It became necessary for him to examine some aspects of the immediate past administration.

This did not go down well with the opposition who would rather have him go back to our return to democratic experiment in 1999. Clearly, this was an open invitation to the administration to spend its entire tenure probing the past, thus leaving it with no time to implement its own measures.

Understandably, the opposition elements have not been receptive to the idea of a probe in their acts of commission and omission, as symbolized by the barrage of attacks on the design. The recent outpourings of the PDP spokesman, Chief Olisah Mentuh, give them away.

Mentuh has vehemently attacked Buhari’s anti-corruption war as draconian and selective. Hear him: “Only PDP ex-Governors and Ministers have been picked up… No APC member, despite the public petitions of corruption and squandering of State funds, has been invited or questioned by the anti-graft agencies.”

Incidentally, Mentuh is not speaking to the innocence or guilt of those accused. Rather, he would want the application of federal or political party character on the fight against corruption – if you question one PDP, you must question one APC; and when you invite one Southerner, you must also invite one Northerner – unknown to him that while the Federal Character Principle is aimed at ensuring fair and equitable distribution of positions and socio-economic amenities, the fight against corruption does not distinguished between thieves based on their places of origin.

If 20 corrupt elements are from the same household, the better as it makes the job of rounding them up easier for the anti-graft agencies.

Again, it is he who goes to the river that breaks the calabash. The law of averages would easily point to the fact that since PDP was in power for 192 months and APC has just completed the fourth month, for every 48 people questioned from the PDP stock, nobody should reasonably expect more than one from the APC side.

This is where the PDP hypothesis collapses. As things stand, the APC side is already over-subscribed because as difficult as it may be for the PDP to understand, Senator Bukola Saraki who has been shuttling between the Senate Chambers and the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, is an APC man.

The point being made here is that the fight against corruption has no character. The anti-graft agencies have a duty to investigate petitions received by them, irrespective of the political party or geographical location of those involved.

Even more ludicrous is Mentuh’s observation, “The APC former governors who have ongoing corruption cases in court are being rewarded with APC tickets….” Why is Mentuh turning his party’s strength to weakness?

His motives could be clandestine, bordering on anti-party activities. Why else would he be offended that the APC is featuring “bad” candidates that could be easily defeated by the “bright” candidates of his party?

Or, could Mentuh be playing smart? Coming from a tradition of money as panacea for every problem, while Mentuh’s party is featuring rich incumbent governors, he would rather have the APC feature neophytes.

He may have been thrown off balance by the fact that the APC is featuring candidates that can match theirs, Naira for Naira.

The PDP stance is a classic case of how not to manage a fall. Good opposition is projected on constructive criticism, not on crying wolf. A well-meaning opposition should by now be thinking of where things went wrong and where to go from there.

History tells us that when the defunct Action Group and its leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, got entangled in a treasonable felony case, they did not stay in the market place, pleading witch-hunt.

Rather, they went for the best criminal lawyers in the world at the time and they got the best defense. By government estimation, nothing else could have stopped their elimination from mother earth!

Essentially, the 2019 race has begun. For those who want to avert a re-enactment of the 2015 scenario, this is the time. Last time, while you were haggling from court to court, x-raying your opponent’s primary school leaving certificate against your PhD, the man and his party were in the field campaigning for votes.

It is still more naïve to insinuate that defectors are driven solely by the need to avoid prosecution. Otherwise, what explanation would anyone have for some of the finest and most incorruptible members of the PDP who are jumping ship in droves?

It is time to sit back and plan properly. After all, failing to plan is planning to fail.

Hon. Josef Omorotionmwan is a public affairs analyst and Chairman, Board of Directors, Edo Broadcasting Service. He can be reached at: joligien@yahoo.com