Can Objectivity Gain Accommodation Where Prejudice Resides? An objective person doesnt allow his sentiments to interfere with his judgement of people and reality. Sadly, objectivity, just like common sense, is not so common. We merely profess it. To a Jonathan hater, there is nothing to persuade or convince him that the President has ever achieved anything since coming into office. His hater is not interested in the facts because the blinkers of prejudice wont let him see them! Similarly, there is nothing you can tell a Bubari hater to believe in his integrity or appreciate his previous record of achievements. The only thing he wants to hear is that Buhari is a religious fundamentalist. His past untainted record wont impress a Buhari hater. Again, a Jonathan hater would rather pretend that the Ijaw politician is behind the Boko Haram terrorism than accept the damming realities that contradict his allegations. A Buhari hater will persist in believing the implausible or unlikely story that $2.8 was stolen under Buharis watch when he was the Minister of Petroleum! Once we are political opponents, we see nothing good in each other. Unfortunately, even our highly placed public office holders play this dirty politics of burying objectivity to feed their prejudices. Former FCT Minister Nasir El-Rufai, in a 2009 article, dismissed the achievements of the late President Umaru Musa Yaradua. In the article, entitled, Great Expectations, Disappointing Outcomes, El-Rufai said of Umaru Musa Yaradua: Having been in office for less than two years, it may be premature to pass judgment on his leadership and governance styles. But there is a saying prevalent amongst Hausa speakers of Northern Nigeria, which roughly translated means: “You know that an enjoyable weekend is round the corner when things begin to look good by Wednesday, (otherwise, forget the weekend, or just pray).” How objective was El-Rufai in that article? Remember he wrote it while living in exile after falling out with the late President Umaru Musa Yaradua administration. Some alleged that he was attacking Yaradua because he didnt make him the Minister of Power as was widely speculated. Our politics is founded on telling as many lies as possible against your political opponents. It is also based on denying or denigrating the records of your opponents real achievements. We maintain a prejudice of an intensity that admits of no virtue in our opponents or those we detest. Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, a Republican, endorsed Barack Obama, a Democrat, for the 2008 presidential contest against his own Republican candidate, Senator John McCain. It is unlikely if a Nigerian politician would have openly acknowledged the virtues of another politician in the opposing camp without being sanctioned for anti-party activities. We have a long way to go!
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 11:43:30 +0000
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