I had wanted to title this piece “Leadership Vacuum in Nigeria”, but after noticing the great lull in the polity as a result of leadership breakdown, I decided to employ the term ‘limbo’ which conjures up image of hell and signifies a perpetual resting place for unbaptized souls.
To be candid, from what is happening in the country, it does appear that hell had been loosed and that was because there is no central leadership figure to take command and direct affairs.
If there was effective central leadership, the pervasive killings by Fulani Herdsmen, kidnappings/abduction, Boko Haram menace and the massive looting of resources in the country, which is called governance, would not have been possible.
In the absence of a central leader, the cabal in the presidency has seized the country, turning it into a kind of animal farm.
The cabal determined, to hold on to power, dishes out instructions which are tailored to feather their nests but very injurious to the polity. Is anybody surprised that APC, the ruling party is at the verge of collapse as the country prepares for a fresh general election.
The near collapse of the party is linked to this central leadership vacuum.
Everyone now claims to be leader, and the one described as Lion of Bourdillon in a documentary, and who sits tight in Lagos, is unable to call them to order because his hands were allegedly soiled.
The lesser mortals in the party, including the governors who had noticed the vacuum at the presidency, have flayed the cabal and are now equally dishing out orders and warnings.
The Party’s National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole has gone on ‘exile’ because the governors were calling for his head for allegedly short changing them. But information had filtered that he ran away because he was fingered in a fraud case.
One of the governors calling for his head, is Rochas Okorocha of Imo State. He had asked the cabal or whoever cared to listen to arrest Oshiomhole because he refused to allow his son-inlaw, Uche Nwosu to become governor next year. Okorocha was reported to have threatened that he would expose the rot in the presidency if the APC National Chairman is not brought to confirm his son-inlaw as the Party’s governorship candidate for next year’s general election.
It was however, gathered that Oshiomhole insisted that he was not going to make Imo State a dynasty of Rochas Okorocha.
In Zamfara, APC could not produce a governorship candidate, while in Rivers State courts of competent jurisdiction declared the ward, local and state congresses of the Party null and void. The verdict rendered the candidature of Tonye Cole invalid because the state Exco that conducted the primaries that produced him as governorship candidate became a nullity by the courts’ decisions.
But Amaechi has been insisting that Cole remains the candidate of the party.
Nigerians also saw the charade called governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun States where the victories of PDP candidates were upturned in favour of their APC counterpart.
If there had been effective central leadership, all these issues listed, including the cacophony of voices that were now being heard from APC should have been curtailed.
Nigerians are thus, justifiably pissed off by this abracadabra kind of governance which is why they are very much ready to throw the party that was responsible for it to the dustbin.
Herein, lies the opportunity for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to galvanize the people and wrestle power from the floundering APC.
Meanwhile, Oshiomhole the National Chairman of the party who went on ‘exile’ as a result of pressures from the APC governors he purportedly shortchanged, has come back to Nigeria and had set up a committee to reconcile aggrieved members of the party.
Seemingly overwhelmed by the division which his style of leadership caused the party, Oshiomhole now speaks apologetically, appealing to aggrieved members to sheathe their swords and allow the reconciliation committee to do their work.
He has equally been making spurious claims that President Buhari would win the 2019 presidential election, saying there is no credible candidates to compete with him.
