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UCHE OGBUAGU’S SLIP ON A BANANA PEEL AND THE TRANSIENT, EPHEMERAL AND KALEIDOSCOPIC NATURE OF POWER POLITICS! 📌 🥸
Has our Imo House Assembly become something like “Fuji House of Commotion” or the bowel of “chibo anu ozo”?
Imo House of Assembly politics is full of nerve wracking surprises, sort of “One Week, One Trouble”.
The State Assembly has lately been in the news for too many wrong reasons.
Firstly, the erstwhile Speaker was thrown off the bus and a new helmsman elected, now the Majority Leader has been removed in controversial circumstances.
Who and what is next? Only time shall tell.
Thursday 4 March 2021 marked the day Honourable Uche Ogbuagu was removed as the Majority Leader.
Uche Ogbuagu, member representating Ikeduru State Constituency in IMHA, now of APC had done some arguable illegal and unconstitutional political jumpology having ab initio been elected on a PDP ticket.
Serving House of Assembly members (like other parliamentarians in the Senate or House of Representatives) are not allowed under the provisions of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria as amended to change the political party under which they were elected and are liable to forfeit their seats if they decamp unless there are strong reasons to do so.
Considered a henchman of Rt. Hon Ihedioha of PDP when he held sway for seven months, Uche defected to APC shortly after Senator Uzodinma of APC was declared Governor of Imo State and has spared nothing in criticising the PDP and Ihedioha era.
That is the kaleidoscopic nature of power politics- Friends today, rivals tomorrow, enemies today, co-conspirators tomorrow.📌
Don’t call it chameleonic behaviour, call it political correctness- No permanent friend but permanent interest in politics.
Trust Imolites and particularly those of PDP persuasion who felt betrayed by Uche Ogbuagu’s “turn coat” type of politics, not a few have come up with one thousand and one reasons why he deserves his removal as Majority Leader forgetting that “onweghi onye riawara dinma” and that “onweghi onye apapa otele di nma”.
As I always say, every man is naked.
Uche is not a saint and those lampooning him are no better.
A Nigerian politician in search of power can do anything in his crazy desperation. Such is the downside of the roguish business of politics.
Forget the razzmatazz and packaging for political correctness by his haters, Uche did not do what most have not done and or will do if they were in his shoes!
Some have also maintained that he was justifiably removed because he was “arrogant” as a Majority Leader of the House of Assembly.
What a grouse! ♋
Of what use is the humility of a politician in search of power who can pretend like a green snake in a green grass?
Those who know counter that humility is a subjective term or an abstract construct.
What some call humility or lack of it may aggregate to timidity or jealousy or envy on the side of those passing the judgment.
We are too judgmental and too often very good advocates for ourselves and poor judges of others.
A confident folk is more often than not nailed on the cross by his adversaries as arrogant and pompous.
Lest you get it twisted, I am not holding brief for “Uche Nwa Ogbuagu” alias “Talkinson Master” but I am duty bound to balance the narratives.
Many pretend to be humble until they get into power or position of authority and if you have never been in any such privileged position, don’t claim that you are humble.
Pretenders always do the worst! 👎🏿
In power politics, you can fall out favour in a split second.
One gossip, one successful execution of conspiratorial malice, hatred, envy or jealousy, one future political calculation or need to take absolute charge can make an erstwhile favoured person to have his back on the ground.
Talk of the proverb, “if you want to hang a dog, you give it a bad name”. That is how unpredictable power politics is.
Uche Ogbuagu slipped on the proverbial banana peel littered on the highway of power and you don’t need to ask who did it. He has been consumed in the musical chairs that often characterise politics in the legislature where the trigger is also pulled from outside.
That is Naija Politcs- the more you look, the less you see.
Principal Office in the legislature is like the swivel seat used by the barbers (“Oche ndi barber”) that can swing in any direction.
Basically, the legislature is a bowel of equals and in all climes, it is full of peer rivalry.
To the extent that no legislator is elected by his constituents to be a Presiding or Principal Officer, anything can happen any time.
Only colleague parliamentarians will graciously elect from amongst themselves their Presiding or Principal Officers as the case may who then hold such offices at the pleasure of their colleagues.
To be “primus interpares” (meaning first amongst equals) attracts envy, jealousy and sometimes antagonism.
Uche Ogbuagu had to bow to the ephemeral and transient nature of power politics.
He is not the first and certainly will not be the last to suffer that kind of fate.
He fell to the fiery antics of combombulation of power even when information from the grapevine has it that he is eyeing the Green Chamber in 2023.
2023 kwa? Who knows tomorrow?
Hmmm…Politicians can act as though they know tomorrow but man proposes GOD disposes!
Let us accentuate that Hon Uche Ogbuagu has done well for himself.
He recorded an uncommon transition from a street comedian to a political appointee to an employer of labour and empowered power play politician with mandate in a sophisticated polity like Ikeduru LGA and Imo State at large.
That one no be moi moi! Give it to him.✔️
Whether he resigned before his removal as he said or whether that his claim is untrue is not important now.
The live issue is that he is still a bonafide member of the IMHA with all the rights and privileges attached thereto.
To be a former Principal Officer no easyooo. He now knows the secrets of House leadership and belongs to the group of House members who must be watched with two eyes wide open until the end of term in 2023.
It is significant to point out that less than one hour after he was removed as Majority Leader, supporters of his successor had began to describe his successor as “God sent”.
That is the nature of power politics- onye bu igu ka ewu na eso.
Once you are out of office, the crowd will disperse and gravitate to the where the grass is greener.
Uche may be down now but certainly not out because power politics is not a 100 meter dash but a marathon race.
In sum, power politics is transient, ephemeral and kaleidoscopic…No champion forever! 🏹
Let peace reign in our legislature and let love lead in our dear State.
A new normal is possible!
🖋️
Prof Obiaraeri is my name, the ☆☆☆☆☆ 5-Star Civilian General etc.
