5 Nigerian politicians we don't want to hear from in 2018

Politicians are undeniably a major source of headache to the average Nigerian, but considering how important they are to the running of the country, it's near impossible to just ignore them and their antics and hope they fade away (but boy, do we wish!)

If wishes were horses, here are a few politicians Nigerians won't mind if they just disappeared a little from the affairs of the nation in 2018:

1. Governor Abiola Ajimobi

Oyo State governor, Abiola Ajimobi, didn't really kick off 2017 with his best foot.

While addressing a group of disgruntled students of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) in January, the governor displayed the emotional intelligence of a disused mopstick.

At the time, the institution, co-owned with the Osun State government, had been shut down for eight months due to an administrative conflict.

Lacking the temperament to calmly deal with a frustrated crowd in a diplomatic manner, the governor resorted to the sort of rhetoric you'd expect to hear from the dictator of a rural settlement that isn't marked on any world map.

In a video that went viral, the governor dared students to do their worst and called for respect he clearly didn't appear to deserve.

He said, "You complain that your school is shut for eight months. Am I the person who closed your school? If this is how you want to talk to me, then go and do your worst. If you want to be troublesome, I dare you. I'm ready for you, let's see what happens then.

"You should have little respect for constituted authority, no matter what. And if somebody of my caliber meets with you... eight months of what?

"This is not the first time schools are getting shut. So what? It's not to come here and sing 'it will be rough this time.' To be rough for who...is it for me?"

At some point during his rant, the governor even tried to have a student from the crowd arrested for talking back to him but the attempt was resisted.

This is undoubtedly not the sort of behaviour you want to see in your democratically-elected leader.

The governor has been relatively quiet since then, and we hope it remains the same in 2018.

2. Senator Dino Melaye

Is a calendar year complete without a Dino Melaye drama to get Nigerians talking? Not 2017.

The lawmaker representing Kogi West senatorial district had quite the eventful year with two notable scandals that he appears to have emerged from quite well without significant scratches.

The first one was an allegation by an online media organization that the lawmaker had falsified his academic records, adding that he did not graduate from the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) as he claimed.

After the Vice Chancellor of ABU, Ibrahim Garba, debunked the allegation, the senator celebrated his 'victory' with a song and dance that became a viral hit mostly for how ridiculously immature it was.

Fed up with his public antics, thousands of his constituents signed a petition to have him recalled from the National Assembly, a move that appeared to rock the Nigerian political landscape for a minute.

The senator has succeeded in tying up the recall attempt in court, so he's largely escaped 2017 unscathed.

However, Senator Melaye, despite his experience and vibrant contribution in the National Assembly, appears to live and breathe by how controversial he can be.

The man makes mountains out of molehills for reasons that are really only best known to him and no one will miss him if he takes a step back in 2018.

ALSO READ: Top 10 quotes in Nigerian politics in 2017

3. Governor Rochas Okorocha

How does a governor in a Nigerian state earn the scorn of citizens from another entirely different country?

Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha, answered that question when he unveiled a statue for embattled president of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, in the state capital, Owerri.

While the governor has refused to reveal how much the statues cost, he's boasted that they're expensive (so that no one can accuse him of being cheap).

"My statue is not cheap, it's expensive!" he boasted.

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While it'd be a daunting task to make the governor's statues disappear, Nigerians will settle for the man making himself scarce a little, if only so we don't have to cringe when he does his next ridiculous thing; like appoint his sister as the state's Commissioner of Happiness and Purpose Fulfilment.

4. Lai Mohammed

During an interactive session with journalists in Lagos in November, Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, lamented about how his first name, Lai, has made it easy for everyone to call him a liar and went further to say he's never actually told a lie.

He said, "I have never said anything that can be disputed."

Truly, on closer inspection, it appeared the man had always been sincerely truthful in his dealings with the Nigerian public.

Except for that one time when he claimed Shi'a Muslim cleric, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, was not in prison, but in the government's protective custody, only for it to emerge months later that he's actually still in prison.

Or that time he reported that the president was hale and hearty in London only for President Muhammadu Buhari himself to return weeks later to say he "couldn't recall being so sick" since he was young.

Or that time he promised in July that Buhari's ministerial list would be released "in a few days" but it wasn't sent to the National Assembly until October.

Or that time he sent a picture to media organisations purportedly of then-candidate Buhari in an interview with Chief Executive Officer, All Eyes TV Show, Kemi Fadojutimi, during Buhari's working visit to the United Kingdom, only for investigations to prove that the picture was taken in suite 881 at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja.

Our Minister of Misinformation might want to be a little more straight in his dealings in 2018 or take a hike.

5. Governor Ayodele Fayose

Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose, is one you might call "one week, one trouble".

Not only is the outspoken governor an unrelenting critic of President Buhari's administration (a job that's really commendable half of the time), he's also become a thorn in the flesh of his own People's Democratic Party (PDP).

The governor spread a lot of disinformation and issued empty threats when President Buhari was in London treating an undisclosed illness.

Clearly against his party's decision to zone its presidential ticket for the 2019 election to the north, the governor has also declared his intention to run for the seat, the first and only to officially state his intention as of right now.

While some of the governor's criticisms of the government are well-founded and important, Fayose's constant need to spark a fire means his motives are always questionable in a manner that distracts from the important issues.

We could do with a break from him in 2018; but honestly, that's asking for too much.