Lately, one has tried to play down on political affiliations of some of Nigeria’s contemporary political parties’ candidates as we gradually approach the February 16th general elections and to shift focus to some of their personal attributes that stand them out for suitable representation in the midst of plethora of contestants.
Although the last analysis that saw Comrade Amade Edime being paired with Senator Dino Melaye as a combination that could be meaningful for Kogi State was met with a deluge of objections from a number of supporters of the Comrade.
Some persons were of the opinion that the Comrade has nothing in common with Dino. According to them, Comrade Edime is a very refined man, not childish in his approach to issues like dancing to make mockery of any perceived enemy, not given to an elitist lifestyle of provocatively displaying objects of wealth and a host of other character traits of the Distinguished Senator which, according to them are far at variance with those of Edime. But the point in that piece was very clear that, Kogi needed fearless men who are no push-overs at the National Assembly which, no doubts, Dino has been.
However, this time, the comparative narrative is shifted to a cursory look at Comrade Edime and President Mohammodu Buhari, which anyone can, without prejudice, realize that they have a whole lot in common.
Unlike the rent-seeking barons who dominate the economic and political arenas of our country and who benefit from the profits therein leaving the burden of the loss to be carried by the ordinary Nigerians,like Buhari, Edime would seek to help every poor person he comes across to carry this burden of financial and political crisis in their everyday life.
Also, like President Buhari, Comrade Edime is not popular among the high and mighty in the society at all. In fact, someone once made a remark about the reason most of the so-called ‘Political Heavyweights’ even from Dekina Local Government, Edime’s own LGA are afraid of throwing all their weights behind him is the fact that Edime’s attention would entirely be for the poor people. And because the poor, orphans, widows, sick and others in need in Kogi East are uncountable, in the thinking of the elite, the money would not be enough to cater for their (elite’s) insatiable wants. And that is the main war that Mr President has been waging against this set of gluttonous elements in Nigeria.
Regardless of whatever opinion anyone holds about the President, perhaps,negative, there is something, like Comrade Edime, no one can take away from him, except one whose personal quest for endless acquisition of illicit wealth has beclouded his natural sense of moral judgment, and that is the fact that the President is not a man given to flamboyance and opulence.
As someone who has handled wealth at a very tender age managing a personal company that employed over a hundred Igala young men and women handling Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of several refineries in Nigeria, Comrade Edime, like Mr President who, on his own part has ruled the Nigerian State as a Military Head of State in the time past with supposed unrestricted access to enormous wealth which no one can accuse him of misappropriating, he still maintains an undeniably glaring affinity with the poor masses.
Although Buhari can be accused of any other thing as the President, but there are some very key facets of his lifestyle that will forever endear him to the poor, downtrodden and the vulnerable in our society which the Hausas call the Talakawas.
In fact, just the way it took a crack among the major political and economic elite in the country who acutely fell apart and were hell-bent on destroying themselves for Buhari to emerge as President in the events leading up to the 2015 election, the same scenario has started playing out among the ‘Political Who-is-Who in Kogi East at the moment and that is sure to ensure the victory of Comrade Edime.
More over,one of the main areas of convergence between the traits of Buhari and Comrade Amade is the fact that they have personal discipline to reject gratification. One can clearly find in Comrade Edime, just like President Buhari that stiff disgust for bogus democratic practices that gravely deepen socio-economic inequality which exists among the Nigerian citizens. Interestingly, it was the search for a new form of representation in order to overcome the political and economic impasse prior to the 2015 elections that necessitated the coming of President Buhari, a similar scenario that brought him into government in 1984 as a military ruler.
Politics aside, it is very difficult to find a politician with the kind of privilege and permission of his faith that President Buhari enjoys, who would still stick to one wife; neither operates foreign accounts nor have a single building abroad; not given to alcohol; says the facts as they are, not minding any conventional standards of twisting the truth called diplomacy; not quick to jump at conclusions and seriously committed to the injunctions of his religion.
Furthermore, it’s difficult to find politicians travel without lodging different women in hotels and all that kind of extravagant lifestyle which pushes them to a point where they begin to live way above their constitutional means and thereby looting the treasury. In this aspect, it’s as though Edime is constantly following the footsteps of President Buhari.
Another obvious common ground between President Buhari and Comrade Edime is the fact that they are never easily provoked. Like Buhari, that which a person is seriously engaging in with a clear intention to provoke the Comrade to anger would eventually end up as if he never noticed it.
As one sits back expecting them to lash out in a commensurate or disproportionate outburst, they keep their calm, diligently investigate the origin of the issue and solve it satisfactorily.
In conclusion, it’s worthy of note that no leader is flawless, and this is not one of those sycophantic overtures for President Mohammodu Buhari just because the next election is approaching. But some personal character traits, among other numerous ones, are crucial in a leader’s life if he must live and also be seen to be living above board.
- Enejoh Ojoto Solomon
