It’s been quite amusing observing self-styled critics driven by diverse motivations criticizing the Senator Representing Cross River Central Senatorial District barely twenty months in office.
I have identified them in three different categories. The first group comprises those who woefully lost the senatorial primaries and the only way to lick their wounds is to criticize the Senator from the very beginning, no matter what good he does. This group has now become popularly christened as “The Wailing Wailers” very much in disrespect of “Bob Marley and The Wailers” of the classical Reggae fame!
The second group includes those who believe that they are being objective by being seen as criticizing the Senator, they are guaranteed a surge in popularity, followers, and even financial support.
The third and final group comprises those who criticize and tarnish his image because of their ambition. To them, the only way to power is to pull down another man.
I am forced to categorize the fourth group as the ones with transactional relationships fueled by misplaced expectations but I would leave them for another day.
The first group is led by people who should have known better with an intimidating background of political and activism experience, yet, lending credence to pettiness and idiosyncrasies.
They are the attempted Senators Representing the APC founding fathers of Facebook Senatorial District, spewing half-truths from both sides of the mouth with willful manipulation and recklessness. They see all the ills in others and cleverly forget how they were butted out of government for matters relating to financial misconduct and abuse of office.
They criticize budgetary allocation forgetting this is the highest provision the Senatorial District has received since its inception even when it had ranking Senators. They criticize the continuation of abandoned projects because it is not in their backyard. They celebrate solar street lights in other Senatorial districts and criticize the ones in their district because they never miss out on an opportunity to cut a pound of flesh. This is the pitiable state of mind they have long degenerated into.
The second category of critics are the ones with extremely infantile and pubescent approaches to important matters, they criticize trends and social media followership. There is a peculiar and growing phenomenon: If you want to gain a massive following on social media in Nigeria, the formula is straightforward: attack people in power.
It doesn’t matter if your criticisms are well-reasoned or based on facts; what matters is that you are seen as a rebel, a voice against the establishment. These "key pad warriors" thrive on chaos, using every opportunity to attack those in power, whether justifiably or not, to advance their agendas or position themselves as champions of the masses. A typical example are those, who suddenly recovered from amnesia to discovering brilliant ideas of things to do in the National Assembly after a failed four year tenure.
The third group of critics are the ones with a tainted reputation from the murky stream of shady businesses and behaviors. They lack a limited understanding of party politics, creating the illusion of Us versus Them, even in the same party. Their only strategy is unleashing paid media attacks on their perceived opponents. They suddenly become philanthropist and remove their phone lines from frequent ‘Do not disturb’. I sympathize and empathize with this group because they remind us of the story of the sugar and ants.
The embarrassing plot about this group is how they put their ambitions above the government they serve under, less than two years in office. They are constantly being cheered by overnight saboteurs, as the next best thing after sliced bread. Their most popular stock in trade, so far, has been the habit of jumping from one politician to another. For this group, all that matters to them is their ambition and greed for power.
In all, I doff my hat to Senator Eteng Williams, who has seen all groups of critics but has maintained a calm demeanor staying focused on delivering quality representation to his constituents. He has returned hatred for love, evil for good, and enemies for friendship.
I am sometimes irked by his simplicity and humble nature but this itself has adored him as everybody’s darling. This is what true leadership is about.
At the end of the day, the wheat shall be separated from the wasteful chaff.
_Hope Obeten, ANIPR, is a media consultant and writes from Abuja._
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