“Intolerance is itself a form of violence and an obstacle to the growth of a true democratic spirit” – Mahatma Gandhi
The content of this discourse is heavily moderated after studying the profile of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC’s spokesman, Felix Morka who needlessly attacked the Labour Party’s national leader, Peter Obi. I was also restrained by some remarks on him by someone I respect who argued succinctly that the man deserves some sympathy, not opprobrium, given the situation in which he found himself. What’s the situation you may ask?
It’s a set of circumstances that derive from the insecure nature of some Igbo APC members who are virtually perching on a slippery slope and looking for every opportunity to be dramatic to be noticed. In truth, Igbos in the ruling APC can be likened to an Islamic Imam operating in Vatican City or a Catholic Priest in Saudi Arabia or China. Their jobs are usually Herculean. They put in a lot of effort but no heed is paid to them possibly because of where they come from and in the case of Igbo APC members, their electoral inviability to the party.
Serving a grounded and ravenous politician like President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and you are not bringing much to the table electorally, I am sorry for you.
Morka’s case is even made worse by the way his organization is run. The ruling party is like a small department in the Presidency where over a dozen attack dogs are already effectively mobilized for the job. In such circumstances, a spokesman for the party is bound to be relegated, bored, and likely redundant.
Even if the office is to be given attention, not when it’s being manned by somebody from the ethnic zone marked out for political pinching.
Morka’s antecedents, as seen in his profile, leave one with one conclusion – that here goes another great head tarred by the ever murky Nigeria political environment, leading one to wonder curiously what Morka is doing in APC with such an enviable background on accountability and social justice.
These reasons are why my brother Morka is not going to get commiserate bashing from his unwise outing against Obi. Tinubu’s induced hardship is biting everybody, with even Tinubu’s ‘Igbo son’ Joe Igbokwe wailing loudly from Lagos. But no attention yet on him. I hope both Igbokwe and Morka will give us credit if, after this sarcasm, they remember them.
Twenty months went into the forty-eight months of the Tinubu era, appointments are flying about, 72 topmost national positions have gone to Yorubas alone, and nobody appears to be looking toward the party. If anyone is hoping to get something in this dispensation, it has to be through independent contacts from numerous strategic positions around the power corridor like the First Lady, Chief of Staff, offices of the first and second son of the President, Office of the first daughter of the President, Mother General’s office and office of the President’s confidant, don’t ask me who he is?
If you have no contact with any of the above strategic offices/persons and desire to get noticed ostensibly for an appointment in this government, the other option would be for you to identify a possible government-perceived enemy and attack the person in the media. This may give you instant attention as a friend of the regime who should be compensated. But even at that, you still need to pray for luck so that Aso Rock evaluators do not tag your effort as attention-seeking and not genuine. It’s even better if the person you are attacking in the marketplace is your ethnic brother or sister. That will underline your importance in the system as a risk-taker for the regime.
There is no doubt in this dispensation that Peter Obi has become the Tormentor- in -Chief of this administration, going by the way and manner he has engaged them bumper to bumper on issues of governance.
OBI effectively filled the vacuum in the opposition sector and has helped to strengthen our democracy. But the Tinubu regime has been very uncomfortable. They have manufactured and fabricated a series of lies ostensibly to harm Obi and diminish his impact in the political space to no avail. A series of strategic nocturnal meetings have been held on how to checkmate Obi. But none is working.
Felix Morka, from his distant position, may have gotten from the grapevine that his brother was causing sleepless nights in the Villa and felt that attacking him may bring the desired limelight, recognition, and possibly the elusive favour.
So, after Obi diligently x-rayed the activities of the government, issue by issue, based on the President’s media chat and New Year broadcast, Morka jumped into the fray, doing the work of over 10 attack dogs and over 40 Ministers who should challenge Obi point by point. Obi did not talk politics, which would have been Morka’s terrain as the party’s mouthpiece. He dwelled purely on governance.
But the party Spokesman rushed to national television to say he had crossed the line and should wait for the consequences. Anybody who went to school knows that crossing the line has consequences. In early school sports when a line is crossed and you are put on your marks, you dire not cross the line before the whistle, or a teacher using his disciplinary stick draws the line and says let nobody cross the line, or a soldier with his gun at a checkpoint tells you don’t cross the line. In all, the consequences are common but their degree differs.
From whichever angle you stand to access it, crossing the line is an extreme warning for transgressing a boundary, a physical or metaphorical boundary, often resulting in consequences. Violating a rule or norm that often comes with negative repercussions or exceeding a limit, to go beyond an acceptable limit or threshold, resulting in harm or negative consequences.
Even idiomatically, crossing the line means going too far, displaying action or behavior, often resulting in offense or harm. It could mean to overstep authority, exceeding one’s authority or jurisdiction, often resulting in conflict or consequences.
Perhaps thinking about the gravity of the threat on him and weighing it alongside what he said in his press conference, Obi returned to seek public help in judging if he went beyond his brief as an opposition leader in his press conference to warrant the crossing-the-line threat.
The Labour Party leader knows the meaning and the implications of crossing the line, a tense warning coming from a voracious ruling party like APC to him in opposition cannot be treated with levity. His crying out was not just a mere sympathy seeking but stitching in time to save nine as they say.
The threat has some far-reaching implications. It could result in restrictions on Obi’s free speeches or an attempt to muzzle his freedom of expression. It could even be seen as a tactic to prevent him from playing his constitutionally guaranteed opposition role by intimidating and discouraging him from criticizing the government or examining its policies. Crossing the line could even be an action that potentially leads to Obi’s arrest, prosecution, or physical harm, God forbid.
Those of you who think that Obi shouldn’t have cried out may be far from understanding the situation. What Obi is doing by keeping his Presidential ambition alive after his strong showing in 2023 is tantamount to trying to collect a bone from the mouth of a dog at the level of an American Rottweiler or a German shepherd. It would be naive, therefore, of Obi to underrate any threat from that end. Dismantling political power from the gang holding it now cannot just be a mere political action.
On the other hand, also, Morka was naive when he thought that threatening the most popular politician in the country today the way he did would come without a reply because he is a ruling party. He forgot that Obi is not just representing himself or only the six million voters allocated to him in 2023 but is seen today as the hope of most Nigerians downcast by the poor governance delivery in the country.
The 400 threats that Morka claimed he received and reduced to 200 specifics for threatening Obi should show him vividly that he goofed and the honorable thing would have been to retract and apologize, especially when the opportunity provided itself at the Television house. But to do that would perhaps have been to lose out in the expected reward inherent in defending a principal from a political enemy.
It’s quite understandable why the Tinubu regime fears Peter Obi. Such apprehension stems from several factors. One major reason is Obi’s growing influence and popularity among Nigerians, particularly the youths. Obi’s message of change and continuous call for good governance resonates with many, making him a formidable opponent for the ruling party.
Another reason is Obi’s criticism of the Tinubu administration’s policies, which have been seen as a threat to their authority. Obi has slammed Tinubu several times for feasting while Nigerians fast, highlighting the administration’s apparent insensitivity to the struggles of ordinary citizens.
Perhaps the most disturbing to the ruling party, which most political pundits cite, is that the Tinubu regime fears Obi’s potential to unite the opposition and mobilize support across regional and ethnic lines.
After the 2023 election, no visionary politician will ever take Obi for granted. His candidacy in the 2023 presidential election showed that he could garner significant support from diverse groups, making him a force to be reckoned with in Nigerian politics now and in the future.
What our brother Morka did in that tactless outburst was actually to recruit himself into the attack dog job, which was going outside his terrain, and by that indiscretion, he exposed himself crying more than the bereaved.
The best way to identify a struggling government is by the type of attack dogs on their team. Attack dogs in bad government are often used to silence critics and opposition. But they ultimately reveal the weakness and desperation of those in power. Whenever a government is under pressure, it becomes oppressive. Its attack dogs will stop at nothing to maintain control and crush dissent. The conspicuous presence of attack dogs in government is a clear indication of a regime’s fear of its people and its instability.
Tinubu’s regime needs to note that the concept of “attack dogs” is often associated with authoritarian regimes that use aggressive tactics to silence critics and opposition. In Nigeria’s history, there have been instances of governments using heavy-handed tactics to suppress dissent, such as during the late Gen Sani Abacha and the last regime of Muhammadu Buhari when the likes of Wada Nas and Lauretta Onochie, respectively shone notoriously. Unfortunately, and disheartening, this is the inglorious path our brother Felix Morka chose to follow. May God help him.