Nigeria and indeed Nigerians sometimes or more often than not have always present a melodramatic stance on issues in what our Igbo brothers would describe as “Dancing naked in the village square,” and we seems to be enjoying our ” Palongo dance,” which had kept on showing us off as a bunch of clown in the comity of nations.
Like a TV soap opera that gradually evolved into compelling plots and employs the tactic of suspense to keep the audience glued to the screen, Nigerian politicians for instance have always come up with one issue at a time that will either entertain or insult the sensibilities of the people for a given time before another drama of the absurdities is allowed to play out itself. What a nation of clowns?
Sometimes, Nigerians relish and regalled in pushing frivolous issue to public consciousness and make it to donate and perhaps have a larger share on issues of public importance all in the quest to divert attention from the more pressing national issues.
Looking at the drama of the absurdities that had since characterised the outcome of the 2023 general elections and the manner in which each of the principal political gladiators are aiming for the throat of one another, one would readily recall the theory of Whataboutism. In Yoruba parlance, it is called “Curing a lesser disease when the other big disease is festering and life threatening.” Fete sile pa lapalapa.
The rhetorical function of whataboutism is to redirect attention from the specific case at hand. Although commonly used as a rhetorical move, whataboutisms can appear in arguments. These tend to be weak arguments and are often instances of the tuquoque fallacy or other fallacies of relevance.
Whataboutism or whataboutery (as in “what about…?”) denotes in a pejorative sense a procedure in which a critical question or argument is not answered or discussed, but retorted with a critical counter-question that expresses a counter-accusation.
Whataboutism is an argumentative tactic where a person or group responds to an accusation or difficult question by deflection. Instead of addressing the point made, they counter it with “but what about X?”.
Peter Conradi, author of Who Lost Russia? called whataboutism “a form of moral relativism that responds to criticism with the simple response: ‘But you do it …
The elections have been fought and won. The aggrieved parties have done the needful by approaching the Presidential Appeal Court Tribunal to adjudicate and the tribunal in its wisdom had thrown out majority of the arguments adduced by the opposition and it is expected that the opposition parties will allow the man holding the ace to focus more on the issue of governance.
Instead, the parties have resulted to take the matter to the Supreme Court, which of course is still part of their constitutional rights and is adjudged as one of the processes needed to deepen democracy.
Having moved to the Supreme Court, one would have expected that the gladiators would present a sound argument before the apex court of the land pointing out loopholes where the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal might have missed the point and therefore listen to the prayers of Atiku and Obi and declare Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and or Peter Obi the winner of the election.
In what Onikepo Braithwaite described as Atikus’ voyage of discovery to God’s own country – The United State of America, the issue that has however dominated the media space is about the Chicago State University and how and how not Mr. President had forged his certificate or not.
The aggrieved former Vice President had approached the Chicago State University, demanding for the release of academic transcript of President Tinubu, among others, even against the latter’s consent. The overriding beliefs as at the time the public awaits the certificate from CSU was that the President did not attend the University as claimed. And, after much ado, the CSU shocked the entire world when it released the document and declared that President Tinubu did not forget his academic records and the document had since been released with the University duly affirming that candidate Tinubu contrary to widespread insinuation actually attended the CSU. The BBC, a respected international news medium, has also come out strong, declaring that there are no evidences that Tinubu forged his certificate after a serious fact checking expenditure.
Where does this endless pursuit take us?
Immediately after the certificate was cleared by the CSU, Alhaji Atiku again addressed a press conference, where he rallied his other opposition elements to join him in the fight. With the manner Atiku reached out to his fellow contestants from other political parties to rally round him to fight the certificate hoax to a finish, it was obvious that the issue has shifted from who and who did not win the election to the desperation to see the other person lose and everyone back to the basis. It has become a case of Kaka ki eku ma je sese, afi se awadanu,” that is, “If I can’t have it, nobody else will have it, so, let us scatter it”.
This stance, however, called to question the propriety of the unholy alliance now being championed by Obi and Atiku and in whose interests that is? People have continued to wonder why the combined forces now being used to fight the President to the finish was not deployed when the momentum were gathering. A combination of Obi and Atiku’s votes would have taken Tinubu to the cleaners owing to the interpretation of the outcome of the elections, and Nigerians would have been save the fortune or misfortunes of having him emerged.
As if to match Atiku and his cohorts action for action, a group loyal to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has also called out Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, asking him to explain how his Senior School Certificate is carrying another name order than his original surname.
As a result in the last couple of days, the former Vice President has had to start explaining the discrepancies in his Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) certificate.
Were it not for the wild goose chase the two political gladiators embarked upon, Nigerians would have been saved the embarrassment of having to dissipate energy on issues that are rather inconsequential
It is now becoming a melodrama that says “if you Chicago me, I Sadiq you”. Again, where do these matters take us, especially in the face of excruciating pains Nigerians have been subject to? The long drawn legal battle Atiku had entered into had not afforded him the opportunity to play the role of opposition element the way it should be played. For the benefits of the doubts, opposition in the democratic setting seems is an entity that exists to speak out where the hope of the common man lies, as it is expected that putting the ruling party and its candidate on their toes will help to better the lots of the masses through reversals of bad policies. But, if one may ask, where lies the hope of the masses in this politics of whataboutism?
Waheed Ogunjobi, a journalist, author and public affairs analyst, writes from Abeokuta
