POLITICS: IF YOU CANNOT BEAT THEM AND YOU CANNOT JOIN THEM, PLEASE WATCH THEM FROM YOUR STAIRS

By:

Shehu Bashir Esq.

On the 18th of February, 2025, I wrote an article which I titled “The Exfoliating Game of Politics”. My allusion was to argue that political end is endless for as long as the game is still on.

I suggested then that people should be patient, watch and observe as the game unfolds, so that they will not be making premature alliance based on interlude scenarios.

This instant message is alao applicable political followers and “table tennis” social media analysts who are always quick to condemn others while they cover their own rotten wound in sanctimony. Their hypocrisy stinks. They live on the platform of ignorance even though they know not that they are ignorant.

Loyalty is not dogmatism. Loyalty is an asset of assertion of principle which gives one the gut to defend a cause in good conscience. It is also a weapon for fortification against any attack on one’s principle. Where loyalty becomes a servility, any campaign of decency becomes an indecent exposure of hypocrisy.

Despondency, absence of self awareness, self honour, generally applicable principle and desperation for continuous access to “economic perks”, directly or indirectly, influences or encourages irritating lack of integrity to stand by the truth. The anxiety to survive is making people to be confused even in their own principle.

Politics may be all weather but consistency does not necessarily diminish anyone’s value. The pattern of subjective play has made some people lose the sense of their judgment.

These days, people don’t know what to support or oppose just as they don’t know where to go and not to go. They often resort to “body language therapy” to feel the pause of their boss in order to know which bus to board. If there is any such public display of error of judgement, they either quickly retract in shame or be silent in shame. It is a classic show of hypocrisy and sycophancy.

There is no need to write anything too much about the scenarios that just played out in both Lagos and Rivers State, as we may be experiencing similar things in other states across the nation. They are normal broad day paradox in Nigeria political power play. It is a survival of the fittest showmanship.

In Osun, the governor does not even know the “mortal to pour the fat” to grind. He has been scrambling for way out of his committed illegality without any hope. Kwara political landscape may be retained or redesigned. The architects are still on the drawing board, trying to draw out the right plan to construct a befitting legacy house. No room for error. A careful step is being taken in order not to slip. It is all politics. And it is lawful. It is open for anyone to take.

The beginning and the end of any political game will have an outcome of a winner and a loser. There is no draw in political game.

What determines your loss or your win depends largely on the strength of your political muscle – your financial capacity, demographic popularity, powerful godfathers, and persuasive personality. All these must be combined, atleast.

The flexibility of your weapon to attack and/or defend yourself is also important.

The caveat is that – if you don’t have the right weapon, don’t fan the embers of war. The first strike is rarely the last hit especially if the contender has a backbone to absorb the ferocity of the attack and launch a counter attack.

Laugh very loudly when you are beating your opponent to a defeat but do not cry too much when he wrestles you to the ground and punches you on your face. The game of politics does not end in the first strike, it goes on and on and with different emerging dynamics as the day goes by.

It needs no emphasis that politics is a career (for some people) in many respect. The urge to stay in politics does not necessarily mean the quest to be in power for life but with power. Yo be with power means to be eternally relevant in politics. Where a political power player is even in power, losing political relevance is what many player do not want to risk. It comes with assertive display of might.

In politics, rules of engagement is rarely the rule of law, strictly speaking. The contest comes with roller coasters of paradox. What is sauce for the geese is not always sauce for the gander.

Political rules are meant to change based on prevailing circumstances. Nothing is sacrosanct about and in politics. The application of “rule of law” may be based on prevailing strength of upper hand in political play. When you make the wrong service, you may get the wrong return of service.

Do not blame politics and politicians for taking the best advantage of their strength to get what they want, anyone who had chosen to be in the game is out to outsmart the other side. So, when you are outsmarted, don’t bring down the wall of Jericho for losing out. Nigeria-state industry will not produce lubricant for anyone to rub their egos.

The road to political victory may not always be morally smooth and may not necessarily be the way of the law. The winner of any such “manipulation” may feel proud for the victory. It will however be hypocritical for the followers of such opinion or the admirers of a politician to define political ethical standard based on the interest of their idol.

Whatever that is used as weapon against your opponent today, if they use it against you tomorrow, make no noise about it unless you want the author of noble book to erase your name from the book responsible people.

The game is just starting. As it is now, the best form of participation, until further notice, is to sit like a spectator and allow the politicians do their thing. The value of effort is seen in the outcome of the effort. If you can’t beat them, and you can’t join them, please, watch them from the stairs, tomorrow is still unfolding.

*GOD IS HERE.*