Chasing rats while the house burns

There’s a major political argument that’s been going on in my alumni WhatsApp group for days. Supporters of Okwute v supporters of the Jagaban. I generally tend to keep away from political discussions on WhatsApp groups because experience has shown me that hardly anyone ever changes position, so what’s the point?

But a particularly vicious exchange this morning had me asking Jude Mgba a question: who are the people running for senatorial positions from your senatorial district. He answered, but it was clear to me that he googled, and I told him, and he admitted. I appreciate the honesty. He didn’t know the candidates for the Reps, and therein lies the issue.

The terrible elite in the country has already won. We’re all so focused on who will be President, that we’ve forgotten that the President will need to work with legislators and governors, and this is where the damage will be done.

Let’s, briefly, assume that Peter Obi wins, but has gridlock at the NASS. He won’t be able to get any of the things people are projecting on him done. Let us assume that Tinubu wins and like Buhari has a pliant legislature. They will pass the kinds of laws that will fuck us up for decades, and AlphaBeta will be our corporate alpha and omega for the next 50 years. The same applies to Atiku and Intels.

Meanwhile, if there is one good thing that Buhari has done, it’s that under him, the balance of finance has shifted to the states and LGAs. As of when Buhari came to power, the FG was getting 52% of revenues from FAAC. It’s now 41.5%.

But we are all still so focused on Abuja that we let the people at the lower levels get away with virtual murder.