The occasional display of misty-eyed emotion, which at one time was considered unthinkable for a politician, has not only become acceptable but is now celebrated as a show of humanity amid the partisan slings and arrows.
Only on August 31, the former Vice President and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, publicly succumbed to tears. In the past also the then-presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari and former Plateau State governor, Jonah Jang, who recently declared his intention to run for the office of president.
Perhaps this is why Senator Shehu Sani, representing Kaduna Central District, revealed Monday via his official Twitter handle that a friend of his, also a politician, gave him pepper and a handkerchief to rub on his face so as to shed tears “on the plight of the masses’’ while collecting and submitting his nomination form.
The lawmaker tweeted this after he picked interest and nomination forms in order to participate in the All Progressives Congress(APC) senatorial primaries that will produce a senator for his constituency.
According to the lawmaker, he politely turned down the offer, saying he’s an activist and not an actor.
His tweet: “A politician and a friend gave me a pepper and a handkerchief to rub on my face so as to shed tears ‘on the plight of the masses” when I’m collecting and submitting my nomination form. I politely turned him down. I told him that I’m an activist and not an actor.”
Recall that Atiku’s tears had been over the sorry state of the nation when he received the PDP presidential nomination form bought by his support group.
Is the elephant in the room of Shehu Sanni’s ‘plight of the masses’ tweet Atiku?