MUTATION

PDP was going somewhere dangerous, but no one on board really knew. No shoes, no school bags, austere childhood… it is hardly the most touching story ever told of someone who rose so high from rather humble beginnings. But blame not those who lost their inborn humility while ascending PDP’s ladder to political stardom. In Brad Pitt’s World War Z, once you were bitten, some force took over you. It was therefore hard to be conscious of yourself changing from a human to the undead.

Until the 31^st of March, 2015, a lot of young people were at various rungs of the PDP ladder… undergoing change, toughening, developing cold hearts, supporting their evil precursors, reaching out for crumbs from embezzled funds, and getting there…

Consider that I once sat in a filled auditorium of the Anglican Church in Enugu, captivated by a lecture on morality delivered by the Venerable Professor Onyebuchi Nebo. At the time, Nebo was the immediate past Deputy Vice Chancellor of ESUT. Soon after that lecture, he was made the Vice Chancellor of UNN. I thought it was well deserved. After that assignment, he was made the Vice Chancellor of a new university somewhere in the South-West. And when Professor Barth Nnaji left the office of Minister of Power, Nebo was installed. The Professor Nebo that thrilled me as a young man, is the same Professor Nebo that hasn’t given us light in Pegi for two straight weeks so that our freezers are smelling… Lies upon lies as to where we are on power generation, where all our money went, and why tariffs rise in the face of decreasing power supply. Yet, I defended the government, and fought hard for another term. I’m a mutant.

A certain Comrade CC in my Church, Special Assistant to the Special Assistant of President Jonathan’s Special Assistant on Youths… Karmo boy to the core... For those who know, Karmo is a ghetto. Comrade CC has Fords and Highlanders and Nissans; and Karmo keeps wallowing in dirt and neglect. He’s been blind to the failings of Jonathan, and worked hard to suppress Buhari’s chances. He’s a mutant.

Mr. Ambrose Maduforo, a Diaspora returnee… he was lecturer of Political Science in Nigeria before he left for the United Kingdom. While there, he bagged his Masters, chased personal goals, and came back about two years ago to help Nigeria grow. He thought our NGO was the perfect place to come to: INITIATIVE FOR DIASPORA KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER. He visits, and the Programs Officer receives him – that’s me! He rants about novel ideas, and how he just needs a little opportunity to serve. I knew he was going nowhere with this genuine attitude, but I set him up to meet with my boss nonetheless. As expected, he was commended for his zeal, passion, and knowledge, and bid good luck… that was it. What could we really do for him?! He called me regularly to ask if anything was up. I saw him occasionally too, from afar, walking long distances and sweating… I hid. Today he’s in WADATA Plaza: he’s been bitten.

Comrade Chima Obieze, SUG President, ESUT, 2007. Man, or was it Boy of the People! My set, but was reading Law, so I left the school before him. Didn’t hear of or see him again until recently… He’s been Senator Ike Ekweremadu’s “lobby boy”. Today, he’s PDP candidate for Enugu State House of Assembly. Is he a mutant? Well, I was at Ike Ekweremadu’s house in Enugu in February. The Senator had gone out with his convoy for campaigns. But check this out: in his Enugu house, not Abuja, and while he was out with his ‘convoy’ for campaigns, I counted fifty eight bizarre looking cars inside his compound. The least was a 2009 Toyota Camry. There were about five Mercedes S Class of the same color, size, year of manufacture, and price. Is Comrade Chima a mutant?

The list is endless.

So Buhari becomes that serum that Brad found, and Jonathan is Brad. Buhari, serum? But that serum was literally a terminal disease in itself! Yes; but still a vital stopgap, nonetheless. It effectively ends the multiplication of the mutants, and prevents the PDP mutation from becoming pandemic. We infect ourselves, and become invincible to the PDP mutation. Buy time… until we find a permanent vaccine. The vaccine against greed and dirty play in our politics ought not to reside in one man, it needs to be systemic. The same way players are bought from far and wide and made to fit into the Barcelona style, so should our politics be. A man shouldn’t be our messiah, a system should. But, then, with the man Buhari, we have time, perhaps, to build that system.

All of us at the rungs of the PDP ladder will come down now and return to our childhood innocences, and maybe throw punts at APC’s government – that is, become the opposition. If we’re lucky, we’ll find other things to do to earn a living; or if Buhari is a good man and can, he’ll create jobs for everyone – including us. In that case we won’t curse our luck for too long… that we didn’t get up to where we would have grabbed some reasonable national cake. Such is life. I of all people should know that Raheem Sterling is one in hundreds, if not thousands of boys who chose potential football careers over advanced education. Those who will never make it to the limelight need not go asulking and ruing their decision. If nothing is ventured, how can anything be gained?! A bunch of boys must have been good, and probably even better than Raheem, but his star is the one that shines. Lucky him! When you’re on the ground floor of a building you could be summoned… where you go depends on where your caller is: if he’s on a high floor, you come towards the sunlight; if in the basement, you go under. Whatever the case, his mission for you could be a great one anyhow.