Mystic of Motion: When Political Contestant Becomes a Boulder

Eguakun Nosakhare

First, let me make it clear: politics is not my goal. However, when a nation drifts to the edge of the precipice, the blame falls heaviest on those positioned to abate the root cause, but who chose complacency.

The Bible says in James 4:17, _”Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”

For this reason, this reflection stems from personal observation of the trends in Nigeria’s political dynamics prelude to the 2027 Presidential Election. The political atmosphere is turbulent, with contestants and parties holding one another in contempt. Most unfortunate is the perceived obsession of some presidential aspirants who leap from party to party under the illusion of self-overestimation or intoxicated by public hype.

These crops of contestants bear the negative wages of the adage: The Mystic of Motion: When The Contestant Becomes a Boulder.

A painstaking breakdown of this idiom will not only add clarity and beauty to its metaphor but also reveal its politico-mystical significance.

The Mystic: Motion Without Mandate

In mystic traditions, motion is sacred only when it follows a call. The dervish spins because God said turn. The pilgrim walks because there is a shrine. But there is a false mysticism: motion for motion’s sake. The contestant becomes a mystic of motion – always moving, never arriving. Each defection is framed as “divine leading,” each new platform as “fresh anointing.” Yet no altar is built, no covenant kept. The mystic without an altar is only a wanderer.

 The Motion: Velocity Without Vision

Politically, motion should mean progress. A man moves from thought to plan, from plan to party, from party to policy, from policy to people. But when motion becomes the message, vision dies. The stone rolls uphill, downhill, side to side – gathering applause but not allies, headlines but not history. Velocity replaces veracity. The electorate, hypnotized by movement, mistakes displacement for direction. In physics and in politics, motion without mass moves nothing.

The Boulder: Weight Without Root

Here lies the satire and the warning. A rolling stone gathers no moss. But roll long enough, roll loudly enough, and the stone becomes a boulder. Now it is too heavy to lift, too round to stand, too smooth to build with. The boulder cannot be planted – it has no root. It cannot be laid as foundation – it has no face. It is impressive in size, intimidating in noise as it moves, but useless for shelter. The contestant becomes a boulder: hyped beyond utility, famous beyond function. He can crush, but he cannot construct.

Politico-Mystical Significance: The Gospel of Drift

This is the doctrine we must name. It teaches that relevance is residence, that trending is transforming, that a new party is a new destiny. Its sacraments are decampment, declaration, and denial of the last platform. Its congregation is the crowd that cheers every move but follows no movement.

The mystical danger: a nation mistakes the boulder for a cornerstone. The political danger: the boulder mistakes the echo of the valley for the voice of God.

Godly Motion Vs Boulder Motion: The Wilderness Test

God Himself ordains motion, but always for productive significance. He broke the claws of stagnation over the children of Israel in the wilderness when He commanded them to move. “You have stayed long enough at this mountain” – Deuteronomy 1:6. And so they moved. But note this: Moses, Caleb, Joshua, and the congregation moved united under a common vision. None was a boulder. They were knit together under the leadership of Moses. In that unity lay their strength to overcome adversaries. Each man, with humility, aligned with the other as a supportive subordinate for effectiveness.

That is how it works, as ordained by God in Ecclesiastes 4:9: “Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.” The present parallel: In Nigeria’s political situation today, one watches with disaffection the neglect of this vital biblical wisdom among members of political opposition parties. For ego or other reasons, they find it difficult to harness the advantage inherent in this scripture – to forsake ego and agree on who should run and who should be running mate.

I quite commend the spirit behind the formation of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as a coalition platform, but lament the present inability to agree on who should vice who. Rather than consolidate by reason of this biblical revelation, there is an exhibition of the boulder characteristic: large, loud, but rolling alone. Each stone insists on being the cornerstone, so none becomes foundation.

The Clarion Call: From Boulder to Building Stone

The boulder fears moss, yet refuses mortar. It will not be set beside another stone because it believes it is the whole temple. But Peter writes, “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house” – 1 Peter 2:5. A house is not one boulder. It is many stones, set. My counsel here is simple: acknowledge potential in others, throw away ego, and do the needful. Unity is not weakness. It is warfare. Two are better than one because two can watch each other’s back while facing the adversary.

But Amos 3:3 asks, “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” So, dear ADC presidential contestants in the forthcoming 2027 election, if victory is your goal, mend your fences.

2027 is around the corner. A stitch in time saves nine. If the stitches of unity are not made now, the tearing later will require nine times the effort to mend. Let the mystics of motion become master builders. Let the boulders consent to be broken into building blocks. Only then does motion produce a monument.

The true stone the builders rejected became the head of the corner because it stopped rolling and submitted to the Builder. Until the mystic of motion agrees to be set, he remains a boulder – feared by some, followed by many, but founded on nothing.

Let the electorate also discern: do not crown motion as merit. Ask of every moving stone, “Where is your altar? Who are you set beside? What are you building?” For in the answer lies the difference between a boulder and a foundation.

May the forthcoming 2027 Presidential Election be peaceful. May God bless Nigeria in Jesus’ Name.

Eguakun Nosakhare JP, is a Retired Director of Hospital Services/Chief Executive, Edo State Hospital Management Board, Edo State, Nigeria.