AS ANENIH RETIRES, WHO AND WHAT NEXT?
The
last time I checked, the renowned political gladiator – Chief Tony Akhakon
Anenih – had graciously retired from active politics. The Edo-born 83-year-old
statesman disclosed this penultimate week, precisely on Saturday 26th
November 2016, in Abuja during the public presentation of his autobiography
entitled ‘My life and Nigerian politics’.
‘I
am persuaded that I have no more ambition nor any point to prove in politics. I
am, therefore, glad to declare that, from today, I shall be withdrawing from
active partisan politics. I shall, however, continue to avail the country of my
experience, give suggestions and offer advice, as a statesman’, he rightly
stated. He went further to seek support and prayers for President Muhammadu
Buhari to steer the country away from recession to prosperity, saying the
present difficult situation is a national plight that must be tackled in
unison, regardless of affiliations.
Chief Anenih served as the Minister of
Works and Housing from 1999 to 2003 during Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s
administration, and was subsequently appointed as the Board of Trustees (BOT)
Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). In his early political life,
he was state Chairman of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) from 1981 to 1983;
later, he emerged as the National Chairman of Social Democratic party (SDP)
between 1992 and 1993. He was a member of the Constitutional Conference in
1994. He was the Deputy National Coordinator of the Olusegun Obasanjo’s
Campaign Organization in the 1999 and 2003 Presidential elections respectively.
Considering his age and the level
attained in politics, there’s obviously no gain saying that the recent decision
taken by him was not just timely and commendable but well informed. Asserting
that he has made history, and succeeded in doing what Napoleon couldn’t do
wouldn’t be an overstatement, because retirement from political career is one
thing an average Nigerian politician sees as a bad omen and forbidden. It
appears this is the time to address the anomaly.
In
every profession, one ought to be ready to retire at a ripe age, and politics
isn’t an exception. It’s indeed baffling and mind-boggling when we realize that
the Nigerian political terrain is awash with men whom are supposed to be acting
as grandfathers, or what have you. It becomes more troubling and pathetic to
acknowledge that they still nurture ambition to vie for one political position
or the other when they are supposed to act as reputable advisers. Some of them
who see the country as their farmyard would be of the view, albeit ignorantly,
that they are meant to be life president.
Worse
still, some of them would arguably be unhappy that Chief Anenih had gone for a
rest at 83. I wonder if such set of persons wanted him to retire at 100, or
perhaps when old age has told on him. If truth be told, at 83, Chief Anenih
ought to be resident in the clan where he hails from, with a view to acting as
an elder kinsman. His gray hair shouldn’t only be a blessing to Nigeria, but
his people in particular.
It has become conspicuous that everyone
in the contemporary Nigerian society is afraid of retirement. Those in the
civil service are not left out. But, it’s very understandable why on the
average, a civil servant in the country is profoundly afraid of going for rest;
they are not sure of gratuity and pensions after retirement. When they retire,
the politicians sit on the pensions accruable to them as if they need to beg to
have their entitlements. It’s only an uninformed mind that’s yet to realize
that pensions are cumulated contributions made by a worker while in service.
Since
it’s clear the reason Nigerian workers are invariably filled with fear each
time they overhear ‘retirement’, we are yet to know why those in the political
circle equally exercise fear. Is it that they are also afraid their pensions
wouldn’t be paid, or afraid of taking a sound rest having served meritoriously?
Pension payment shouldn’t be their plight, because theirs are intact, even when
we think they have been officially deprived of such entitlements. Although most
of them aren’t constitutionally eligible to receive pensions, the unofficial
pensions they receive on a weekly basis in the name of ‘royalty’ or what
whatever is numerically twenty times greater than the wages of a professor in a
certain Nigerian university.
They
keep telling the youth that they are the leaders of tomorrow while they are not
willing to vacate the seats today. How do you reconcile this? Won’t the youth
come in and settle down today before they could lead tomorrow; how possible can
they emerge as the leaders come tomorrow when virtually all the positions are presently
occupied by these gladiators? Yet, the youth in question seem so myopic to
realize that things aren’t at ease. An average Nigerian politician intends to
taste all the available political posts, and if he eventually emerged the
president of the country having tasted all the lower positions, he would want
to remain there till he kisses the ‘six feet’.
The teeming Nigerian youths have been
pushed to the wall to the extent that the few who are politically aware have
begun to see revolution as the only option. They shouldn’t be allowed to dwell
in such obnoxious mindset, else, soonest we might be colossally taken aback.
It’s only in this part of the world that you would see a politician who would
never train his aide to become a leader someday; rather, he would wish he
remains his aide for eternity. And peradventure, if he eventually decided to
rest owing to inevitable old age, he would import his child from nowhere to
fill the position.
As
Chief Anenih takes a bow, who is the next person? I expect many others to
follow suit. In the state where I hail from, Imo to be precise, there are
countless of them. The funniest thing is, most of the existing socio-cultural
groups across the federation, such as the Ohaneze Ndigbo, are dominated by
these old politicians. If such observation holds water, you may begin to wonder
the correlation between culture and politics. Really, things have fallen apart,
and this cannot be the arrow of God; rather, manmade. In other words, fixing
the problem lies in our bare hands.
Inasmuch as I candidly bid Chief Anenih
farewell, as well as wishing him success all the way in his future endeavours,
I would want him to conscientize his allies to join him. Since we are
ostensibly in the era of ‘change’, let the change start taking place in every
facet, and such change ought to begin with the elders. They must be prepared to
lead by example so that we will celebrate them many years after their eternal
exit here on earth. Unless there’s something they are not telling us; if so,
it’s high time they let the cat out of the bag because time really is ticking.
Chief Anenih truly deserves tremendous
applause for this step taken by his person. But, come to think of it, has he really
retired from active politics? Think about it!
Comr Fred Doc Nwaozor
Follow: @mediambassador
