[PERSPECTIVES] 2023: Clashes Between Theses And Antitheses For Permanent Synthesis

By James Ashipa

To the ordinary onlooker and observer of politics, 2023 is still far away, but to the average politician, 2023 is near the corner. It is true that the merger between the new People Democratic Party (nPDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC) was not based on ideological lines, but since politics is interest-driven, that activity could be analyzed on the basis of thesis-antithesis-synthesis spectrum.

The challenge before our contemporary political actors is to be bold enough to spell out and stand by their real intentions for seeking political offices, whether it is based on altruism or mere selfish desires. Some of them have inadvertently alluded to their true intentions, which they hide under such clichés as ‘stomach infrastructure’, ‘dibo kosebe’ (vote and cook soup).

Since they view politics as a business investment with a lot of juicy benefits, they hide their shameful, ignoble intentions for pursuing political offices under such clichés and cannot publicly flaunt same. Their behaviour is akin to that of a cheating man/woman caught in the inglorious act of infidelity and who tries to hide his/her loin with a lean part of a loose wrapper in public.

We cannot be at the end of history (apologies to Francis Fukuyama) as there have been several events since the above merger took place. Even Fukuyama tried to give credence to the emergence of events by alluding to the foundation laid by ancient philosophers thus:
“And yet what I suggested had come to an end was not the occurrence of events, even large and grave events, but History: that is, history understood as a single coherent, evolutionary process, when taking into account the experiences of all peoples at all times. This understanding of History was most closely associated with the great German philosopher, G. W. F. Hegel. It was made part of our daily intellectual atmosphere by Karl Marx, who borrowed this concept from Hegel and is implicit in our use of words like “primitive or advanced”, “traditional” or “modern” when referring to different human societies…”

It is of note to say that the merger produced a thesis, which was threatened and saw the exit of some of the gladiators who formed it, thus creating an antithesis. This state of flux will continue in an attempt to give rise to a permanent synthesis, which is becoming more difficult to attain in Nigeria due to several intervening variables like the clamour for restructuring, #EndSARS movement et. al.

Another reason for the continuous back-and-forth, emergence and reemergence, alignments and realignments is the variant of democracy we are practising, which is one of EXCLUSIVENESS – a zero-sum game and winner-takes-all type of democratic system. This democratic model agrees with Michel’s ‘iron law of oligarchy’ in which, he who says organization, says oligarchy as is easily seen in the skewed appointment into public offices.

What is predictable with our present situation was aptly captured by another Scholar, Huntington when he provided an alternative to Fukuyama’s ‘End of History’ with his ‘Clash of Civilization’.

In similar manner that we have clashes between western, liberal democracies, communist China and the Islamic civilization, within our political space and as we move towards 2023, there will be several sociopolitical events that will attempt to shape and reshape the political landscape but the best bet for the political class is to institutionalize and practise an INCLUSIVE system of political participation. This will reduce the tension in the land and give every part of the country a sense of belonging.

In a nutshell, this cycle of sociopolitical development and clashes between theses and antitheses will continue in an attempt to arrive at a permanent and final synthesis but of course, this will likely remain utopian as events will continue to occur and reoccur before and after 2023!

•Ashipa James Olashupo, Osogbo, State of Osun.
ashipaj@gmail.com, ashipaj@yahoo.com