Daily Trust - the online edition

Loyalty is one virtue that is universally demanded and cherished. Bosses demand it of their subordinates; employers of their employees; spouses of their mates; nations of their citizens and groups of their members. The wheels that turn the world will rotate ever more smoothly if people in their various relationships fulfil their obligations to those to whom they owe such obligations. In the light of the importance of loyalty in human relationship, the declaration by the newly ‘elected’ chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, that he would exhibit 101% loyalty to President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, is significant.

In a nation where loyalty, gratitude and other virtues are such scarce commodities, especially among our politicians, Ogbulafor’s pledge should indeed have been sweet song to the ears of a people who have grown used to politicians repaying their parties, godfathers and supporters with ingratitude and their nation with disloyalty. But rather than elicit applause, Ogbulafor’s pledge rankles. This is because while Yar’adua certainly deserves the respect and cooperation of Ogbulafor and other Nigerians, it is for the PDP and Nigeria that Ogbulafor’s loyalty should be reserved.

It is odd that Ogbulafor who is said to have been elected by the ruling party would pledge his loyalty not to the party that produced him, but to an individual even if such an individual is the president produced by the same party. Ogbulafor is not an appointee in the cabinet of President Yar’adua. His declaration to show more loyalty to the president over the party and the country is therefore wrong-headed, misplaced, unwarranted and even suspicious.

If Ogbulafor has the disposition of ensuring the growth and deepening of our democracy, he, by virtue of his position as the chairman of the ruling party, would be part of the checks and balances on the possible excesses of the president and other operators of the system. As a matter of fact, it is Ogbulafor who would be trying to insist that the president shows loyalty to the party that produced him by faithfully executing the policies and programmes of the PDP.

What is in evidence here is the subversion of democratic principles by all our political parties and not only the PDP. Election of officials to run the affairs of the parties are hardly ever done by the rank and file members but by tiny, manipulative elite who ‘vote’ on behalf of the people through a strange arrangement called consensus. Ogbulafor himself is a product of such debasement of the democratic principle of the people choosing who to lead them. It is therefore hardly surprising that his gratitude for becoming chairman of the PDP is not to the people but to those manipulators. If Ogbulafor had actually been elected by the masses of the PDP, he certainly would have known the rightful people to whom he would show loyalty.

Beyond this, when a man promises to give another man 101 percent loyalty, such a promise should be viewed with great suspicion. A man who is loyal ‘by nature’ does not need to proclaim his loyalty. He just shows it. At any rate, what does Ogbulafor hope to gain from the president with such an extravagant promise? Is he afraid of the banana peels that used to cause other PDP chairmen who were not seen as loyal to the interests of the sitting PDP president to fall? If Ogbulafor had the support of the followership of the PDP, why does he need to court the president’s protection by saying things calculated to please him?

For sure, no one expects Ogbulafor to be antagonistic towards the president or any other person involved in the task of building this nation. What we however expect from every operator in the Nigerian project is to maintain a healthy relationship in accordance with the laws of the land and the norms that are conducive for the growth and development of the polity. This system will not endure with the way cherished democratic values have been debased by men and women who are too greedy for power and who do everything to get it regardless of the effects on the country.