Monday Column By Hameed M. Bello, PhD
hamdbelo@yahoo.co.uk
It is becoming an acceptable norm for politicians aspiring to political offices to resort to groups to either stage a protest in their favour to egg them on to run, or in some cases for such groups to volunteer to buy nomination forms for the aspirants. Funny enough, some of those protests even threaten to sue the aspirant if he or she fails to oblige their request. Who is fooling who here? It may not constitute an offence for friends and associates under normal circumstances to mobilise legitimate funds to support the political ambition of an aspiring friend, but the magnitude and frequency of occurrence, and the rapidity of it in our system breeds some suspicion. We saw how Americans freely donated money to support the political ambition of former US president Barrack Obama because of their overwhelming love for his charisma and the hope and promise his aspiration signalled for majority of the American people. Quite inspiring.
Vanguard newspaper online reported on April 22 that protesters stormed the private office of former President Goodluck Jonathan asking him to declare his aspiration for the presidential race. Jonathan was Vice President to the late President Umaru Yar’Adua from 2007 to 2010. He was sworn in as president on February 9 2010 after Yar’Adua’s death and completed that tenure on May 6 2010. He was elected president and sworn in again on May 6 2010 and served a four year term up until May 29 2015. As incumbent President in 2015, Jonathan sought reelection but lost to the current President Muhammadu Buhari. Seven years after in 2022, protesters are now dragging him into the contest once again.
According to Vanguard, “the group made up of men, women and youngsters stormed the office with posters and leaflets demanding that the former President join the race.
“Some of the posters which bore Jonathan’s portraits read: “GoodLuck Jonathan, you must run” “We need you to restore Nigeria.” The supporters argued that the former President has the template to restore Nigeria’s pride of place and give all Nigerians a sense of belonging. The report also recalled that a separate group, ‘The Nigerian Young Professionals in Diaspora’ had earlier the previous day called on Jonathan to contest and gave him one week ultimatum to declare for 2023 Presidential race or risked being sued.
Similarly, the Punch newspaper reported on April 21 that a group had resolved to buy presidential nomination form for a chieftain of the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu.
A support group, ‘Asiwaju Project Beyond 2023’, expressed its readiness to purchase the presidential nomination form for an All Progressives Congress aspirant, Bola Tinubu, the report said. In a statement released in Abuja by its National Director, Media & Publicity, Adeboye Adebayo, the group said picking up the form for Tinubu was as a result of the belief they had in him and to make it clear to Nigerians that he had the capacity to lead Nigeria to the promised land.
“After the price for the form was announced by the National Executive Council, we had a national leadership meeting of the group which was called at our secretariat and we concluded on the plan to pick the form for him. The money has been raised; we will be storming the secretariat soon to get the form for him,” the group said.
Elsewhere, the Tribune newspaper of March 21, 2022 reported that a group had bought N40m PDP Presidential Nomination Forms For former Senate President Bukola Saraki. The group made up of young professionals and business people paid the required N40 million to purchase expression of interest and nomination forms for former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, to vie for the presidential ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in next year’s election, the report said.
The group reportedly came to the national secretariat of the party in Abuja to purchase the forms, saying that they arrived at the decision in their search for a capable Nigerian that can address the interest of Nigerian youths and unify the country.
In a related development, Guardian newspaper of April 21, 2022 reported that a group has promised to buy APC presidential nomination form for Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. Members of The Proogressive Group, TPP, have expressed the readiness to buy the APC expression of interest and nomination forms for the Vice President Prof Yemi Osinbajo in pursuit of his presidential ambition. TPP’s chairman, Senator Kabiru Gaya, who made this known to reporters in Abuja, explained that the gesture speaks volume of the depth of acceptability of Osinbajo among Nigerians.
Gaya, who chairs the Senate committee on INEC, maintained that Osinbajo would not be intimidated by his adversaries to drop his presidential ambition. He said that Osinbajo stands out as the most competent aspirant to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari after his tenure in May 2023.
“Even an internal issue of the price of our party’s nomination form is being deliberately misinterpreted in some circles when we feel confident that unlike moneybags, our truly populist candidate is popular enough to pool supporters’ token donations and raise such money with ease,” Gaya said.
Why do politicians lobby for third party (groups) to pay for nomination forms on their behalf when everyone knows that their aspiration plan had long been preplanned and concluded including the funding aspects. Is it the starting point of proving their followership or popularity? And what offence under the law could one have committed if you want him to run for an elective office and he is either uninterested or thinks he does not have capacity for it. Already, eligibility to contest election into elective offices have been guaranteed under the 1999 constitution and the electoral Act. For instance, Section 106 of the Electoral Act states that a person shall be qualified for election if he – (a) is a citizen of Nigeria; (b) is registered as a voter; (d) is educated up to at least the School Certificate level or its equivalent; (e) is a member of a political party and is sponsored by that.
Does it make sense for you as a group to drag someone into a contest simply because you want him to run only for him to disappoint you in the end? Certainly not. What is the motivation for partisan groups calling on individuals to run for political offices as if those individuals cannot speak for themselves or lack the conviction and confidence to do so. Could it be that such groups are positioning themselves for political patronage or their actions were at the instance of their principal who might have drafted them on his behalf for a fee. What stops an aspirant from telling those he intends to lead that he has bought his nomination form himself and does not need any third party endorsement but the vote of the electorate. Or are the group members positioning themselves to gain advantage in the event their principal succeeds? Or are they working for opponents who suspect the concerned aspirants could be a threat and want to preempt him, or even coerce him to back out of the contest if he is the type that lacks independence of principles?
These are some of the emerging concerns around our political experience which we need to interrogate and make sense out of them.
Feedback:
I read your last Monday piece and it runs on the same theme I have also treated, particularly the concluding about Tinubu and Osinbajo where you rightly pointed out that one should have stepped down for the other, except for the intrusion of ego . The only error I noticed was that on consensus where you had stated that while the presidential aspirants from the North are in favour, those from the North are not. It should have been those from the South are not. Pungent analysis, though.
-Dr Bisi Olawunmi, Department of Mass Communication, Adeleke University, Ede, Osun state.
Well done sir. Your last Monday column was very educative piece and timely too. A little observation noted. Though, late for correction but all the same, necessary for attention. In the sentence, “Presidential aspirants from the North are in support while those from the North are not, I think the other should have been South. May Allah continue to bless your pen.
– Abdulkabir Yusuf Omonubi, Kubwa III Badminton Club, Abuja.
