I think it was about a year ago that I did a piece advocating the necessity for the powers that be to incorporate and make it mandatory for everyone wishing to join any political party to undergo mental and psychological evaluation.

I wasn’t being tongue in cheek either. Given the borderline (?) insanity of our political class as indicated by a lot of their actions and utterances in the last several years, it seemed like the wise thing to do. That way at least we would ensure that whichever one of those characters our questionable and peculiar political process throws up might be stupid or incompetent but at least not mad.

Ebe like say person dey find trouble that time but come and see now, what does one say about on_going situation in Kogi State? According to the report, ahead of the gubernatorial elections slated for December 3rd, an Abuja Federal High court has been told that the PDP candidate, Captain Idris Wada besides not being a card carrying member of the party (a crime that pales to insignificance if you ask me), is also not ‘a fit and proper person’ to contest for the governorship of the state because – wait for it – he has been adjudged to be of an ‘unsound mind’.

According to a sworn affidavit, Captain Wada has a record of mental disorderliness and is in fact, and I quote: “ an un_discharged psychiatric patient of the University College Hospital UCH, Ibadan. That he was admitted into the psychiatric unit of UCH on April 7, 1976 for ‘schizophrenic illnesses. According to his medical records his mental state upon admission was one of paranoid delusions and auditory hallucinations…

Now you might go ahead and dismiss this as mere ‘politics’. Mere drivel from (always unnamed) political enemies; but this affidavit is pretty detailed with names and dates and places; all verifiable.

Then again my people make excuses for everything so you might want to argue that what has a psychotic episode in 1976 got to do with running for public office in 2011? Well here’s the clincher – that on the 28th of April 1976, his father then of upper Area Court Makurdi, by a letter of discharge against medical advice actually took Idris Wada, with hospital number 399346, away from UCH contrary to the advice of medical staff.

That Idris Wada did not undergo full treatment for his psychotic disorder, that he was not diagnosed as having been of reasonable mind before his father removed him, that by his father’s letter dated 22nd September of the same year Idris was to return for treatment and observation for a period of six months, and finally… that there is no record that Idris Wada went back for treatment… Hm.

Even if this person sought treatment elsewhere…given the pressure of public office and the peculiar dog eat dog nature of our politics, is a person with this kind of mental profile fit for public office? And that’s not the worst of it. If this person had been thrown up in the process fair and square, it probably wouldn’t have generated so much rancour. If the rest of the story is to be believed; classic ruling party style, he was foisted on the process and forced on the people.

According to the report , Captain Wada is accused of ‘occasioning a mischievous and violent insertion of his name in the membership list of the PDP, making false declarations in support of personal particulars as well as forging a membership card of the PDP to participate in the primary election”.

Na wa! Is it any wonder we are still the way we are? This is the calibre of people that our leadership continue to throw up. The story isn’t farfetched either. Didn’t this same party foist a dying president on us? And this is just one of many.

The state of our nation is an attestation to the fact that there are many deeply psychotic people posing as elder statesmen pretending to know what they’re doing, taking us further and further down this path of insanity. Shey na beat dem dey beat each before abi? Wait, dem go soon start to dey bark and bite!