The Concourse

By Soney Antai

Goodbye 2026!

It’s a curious topic, and so if you ask if it’s a mistake, or wonder if I have set out to be looking for the nonexistent or invisible, I cannot blame you. But in The Concourse we do our hardest to stay human and real; so pay attention and relax with me. If you stay calm and quiet, you will ‘collect’ the message of the day. Now, let’s begin, or should we say, let’s continue.

Marxists tell us that the economy drives society’s evolution. Thus, for them, the economy is the base or substructure on which every other social movement or activity, which they call the superstructure, rests. This implies that whatever people or societal institutions do owe their existence and endurance to the substructure. Of course, not everyone would agree to this postulate.

However, if we deploy this position to analyse just why top politicians in Nigeria are about the busiest and most resilient folks around, the Marxists’ hypothesis appears tenable. Now, let’s reason together. How come the most significant year in political discussions in the country currently is 2027, when we are in 2025? How about finishing with the year that now is, before talking about 2026, and much less 2027? No, buddy, the politicians will smirk at that explaining that politics doesn’t work that way. But why does it not work that way? Their answer would likely be such as a fiery pentecostal evangelist would utter when urging people to repent of their sins and receive Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour and Lord. And what would that be? “Delay is dangerous; tomorrow might be too late!” So, there have it. waiting until 2027 before beginning electioneering could prove too costly for their political career. You see, politics is now seen as a career for many Nigerian politicians.

But then comes the question: why do people seek political offices or positions in Nigeria? The politicians would tell you that they are driven by the patriotic passion to serve their people. How do they want to do that? The likely answer: to bring development to their marginalised people; to offer very selfless service to their people, blah, blah, blah! But in reality, they seek the positions to realise their pleonectic self-serving ambitions.

At a time when stats on the economy are clothed in resplendent garbs, while the people are getting poorer by the day, it becomes an act of self sabotage to believe our politicians. Their overwhelming obsession with 2027 gives credence to James Freeman Clarke’s submission that, “A politician thinks of the next election; a statesman thinks of the next generation.” Meaning: they, like their buddies in the so-called properity gospel, are driven by a crude I-me-myself worldview and they are ready to deploy any tool to achieve their goals.

How else do we explain the renewed calls by some self-appointed northern leaders calling for amnesty for ideological terrorists who pay no allegiance to the country, but devote their souls and bodies to raping, torturing and killing those who do not share their atavistic worldview. How could otherwise reasonable men not be concerned about the blood of their innocent fellow humans spilled on the altar of such ideology? Why are these do-gooders not bothered about the fate of those driven away from their homes by these terror mongers, but seek amnesty for them? Would they be doing this if they were victims of these human wild beasts?

It is clear that because political offices have become exotic buffet where their occupiers are treated to endless, inexhaustible menu, the need for governance has become a footnote on the needs hierarchy of the political class. With that comes the deletion of 2026 from the political calendar so as to hasten the day when all who succeed in smashing, grabbing, dragging and hauling political power can sit down by the river flowing with wine, with bikini-wearing young females serving swawarma and drinks enjoying themselves. If this is what we unashamedly choose for ourselves 65 years after Britain forcefully put us together, then our children would be better off without our kind of heritage, and we can graciously say, so long 2026 and come well 2027!