Beyond ethnicization, the next critical conflict in Nigerian politics today is between truth and lies, good and bad politicians, and those who tell the truth and those who fabricate it. Truth and fabrication are opposites but both have found a place in our national ethos. This week’s Political Musings will focus on the word “Jankara”. The word is colloquially used to describe the dominant characteristics in Nigerian politics.
The word derives from a popular market of that name in the Lagos Island heartland, known for its depiction of the dominant deportment and gait in Nigerian politics. Although Jankara Market was not united by Jankara politics, Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has used Jankara politics to demolish the market and other landed property in the state, hitherto believed to be the most cosmopolitan. The action is just to get at those perceived not to have voted for his All Progressives Congress, APC.
Jankara market was built 93 years ago by women for the sale of local fabrics. It is located in the heart of Lagos Island and is known as a place to get cheap wearables. In Nigerian parlance, Jankara is also associated with fake and low-quality things, not just clothing. Jankara market as we know it has been reduced to shanties and the old women and younger generation of traders there nostalgically watch the ruins of their once-upon-a-time money spinner.
Compassion is not part of the game of Jankara politics and callous- ness greeted the traders of the good old Jankara market who thought that their pleas would cause a change of heart in the Jankara politicians of Lagos. Those who indulge in the power game called Jankara politics are adherents of the Italian philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli. This 16th-century man was well known for his political ideas as contained in The Prince, the book where he argues that the end justifies the means and that it is better to be feared than to be loved.
After the February 25 election in Nigeria and the brigandage that accompanied it through the electoral process down to the judiciary merchandising, Nigerians are already aware that the Machiavellian theory is at play. What is happening in Lagos State today is politically targeted at Ndigbo who are perceived to have voted for the Labour Party. The APC that lost in that election is today in office and in power through the judiciary and INEC abra- cadabra at both the presidential and state levels.
Remi Tinubu, the wife of the President is on record to have warned even before the election that Igbos will be chased out of Lagos and their properties inherited if they fail to vote for APC. They actually did not see why they should vote for APC when the Labour Party provided them with better options. Governor Sanwo-Olu has the unfeeling and callous task of carrying out Madam’s order because they reason within themselves that Igbos cannot do anything aside from their fine boy politics. Recall that President Bola Tinubu had hinted at what was to come in his 2022 video remarks, stating that power is not served a la carte, but is only available to those who are ready to grab it and run.
Ndigbo believed that their “fine boy” politics would give them power in Lagos and Nigeria, but they have now learned otherwise. Nigerian politics is not built on Jonathanianism, where ambition is not worth the blood of any citizen, nor is it built on the Obidient mantra of taking power from political criminal gangs and creating a new society by just marshaling fine points without physically defending them.
Peter Obi, the ringmaster and motivator-in-chief of the Obidient Movement, took the political space by storm, daring the dangerous political hawks and steering the polity with persuasive fine points, while also seizing the social media space. Although Obi’s entry into the fray enlivened the hitherto docile voting populace, he could not force an attitude change in them as they continued to believe that God gives and takes and that they should wait for His time.
By doing so, perhaps they are expecting the same God to come down, Nigerianize, and help them get a bone from the mouth of a Rottweiler dog. Unfortunately, God’s way is not our way. Ndigbo in Nigeria by now must have realized the difference between Jankara politics and fine points poli- tics. In Jankara politics, brute force and corruption reign, not ideas. In Jankara politics, promises are made; they are not meant to be implemented. In Jankara politics, what money cannot do, more money will do with brute force.
In the Jankara world, voters do not matter; the snatchers and compromised electoral and security operatives matter. However, it needs to be quickly stated that anyone who obtains power that is not derived from the people’s majority votes is not from God. Some inquisitive minds may wonder why God would allow such a thing to happen in the first place. The answer can easily be found not in politics but in religion. God often looks away for evil to strive for the same reason He allowed His son to die a humiliating death on the cross so that He would take glory and mankind would be saved.
We must also note this caveat: Those who will benefit from His glory when it arrives will be those “who do not follow the example of sinners or join those who have no use for God.” What we are saying here is, if you are not happy with Tinubu’s snatch- and-run presidency and you are happy with Hope Uzodinma or Yahaya Bello’s kill-and-take politics you are not likely to enjoy the grace when it comes.
The foregoing is a mere fore- word to our conversation this week which is centered on two brands of politics, fine points and Jankara, which way is Nigeria going? In the 2023 general elections, two candidates stood out: Peter Obi of the Labour Party and Bola Tinubu of the ruling APC. Obi campaigned on a unique and persuasive message of taking Nigeria away from its current consumption status to production. He made himself available at all forums, public rallies, town hall meetings, and conferences to push through his points.
Even without the so-called political structure, and no control of state or local governments, he was able to win over Nigerian youths and a sizable number of the elite. On the other hand, Tinubu did none of that. He shunned media interviews and debates, and at rallies, he said virtually nothing but danced his way through with comic blablu remarks. In his “Jankara” politics, Tinubu found a political ally in the then Governor Nyesom Wike, whose Machiavellian politics suited him most.
With Wike’s help, Tinubu was able to checkmate the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), whose candidate, Atiku Abubakar, he denied endorsement for refusing to pick him as the presidential running mate. Tinubu’s campaign centered on assuring the people that he would con- tinue the good(?) work of Buhari, the regime he is now accusing of leav- ing the state bankrupt and comatose. His approach was more about being feared and even hated than loved.
In the end, it’s up to Nigerians to decide which way to go, create and rebuild a new country, or continue in this ig- noble way coordinated over the years by criminal gangs. As Marcus Tullius Cicero tells us: “The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil.” And as South Africa’s hero, Nelson Mandela prays for us always, “May your choice reflect your hopes, not your fears. God help us.
