MONDAY COLUMN BY Hameed M. Bello, PhD
hamdbelo@yahoo.co.uk
The emergence of Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu as the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has proved right the projections of many analysts, including the Monday Column published on this page last Monday. The column titled, “Buhari’s prognosis of the anointed: A CDA,” attempted a critical appraisal of the president’s address to the Governors of the APC ahead of the convention meant to produce the party’s presidential candidate.
The analysis tried to study the president’s speech using the interpretative method to see which of the numerous presidential aspirants from the North and South of the country could fit into the perceived consensus arrangement then touted by the APC kingpins. The concluding segment of the column read: “Putting all the analysis together, we can draw a tentative conclusion that each of Tinubu and Osinbajo stands the chance of emerging the APC consensus presidential candidate, with Tinubu having a marginal edge.” Indeed,
Tinubu did not only have an edge in the hot contest but went ahead to emerge the substantive presidential candidate of the party in power. The prediction of the column has come to pass with several presidential aspirants of the APC, not only stepping down for Tinubu, but also proceeding to transfer all their delegate votes to him in a quasi – consensus arrangement.
The aspirants who conceded to Tinubu included the Ekiti state Governor, Kayode Fayemi, Barrister Uju Benedict Ohanenye, Jigawa State Governor, Badaru Abubakar, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, and former Speaker Dimeji Bankole among others. This concession, or consensus as it were, certainly crystallised Tinubu’s victory, thereby brightening the chances of a cohesion in the APC ahead of the presidential campaigns. This is added to the timely insistence by the APC governors of Northern states that power should shift to the South, the political elixir that helped consolidate Tinubu’s emergence. That block decision by the governors passes too as a form of indirect consensus. Although the Kogi state Governor, Yahaya Bello, one of the contestants did not step down for Tinubu, reports said he has just donated his campaign office located strategically at Wuse 2 District in Abuja for the purpose of the APC presidential campaign. This is certainly keying into the bigger picture.
Now the attention of the two major political parties, the APC and the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is shifting to the choice of a running mate, given the short deadline dished out by the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for parties to, compulsorily, submit their presidential candidates along with their running mates. In the coming days, the stage is set for intense search by the two frontline political parties to meet the INEC deadline, and unless each party combines speed with precision in its search, it could potentially harm its strategic interest to clinch power at the centre. The politicians themselves know that better.
However, key factor in the search for a presidential running mate, to my mind, is how each party will balance religion, ethnicity and regional consideration in the selection process in a way that will not undermine its electoral chances. Already, both candidates of the two major political parties in question are Muslims. Some sentiments are that each one of two should necessarily chose a Christian running mate, while others argue that competence, delivery and ability to sway votes must supersede faith in determining the running mate for a presidential candidate. Proponents of the latter sentiment will contend that of what use will it be to chose a running mate on the basis of religious balancing only to come up with someone who cannot mobilise the votes necessary and sufficient to win the election. Supporters of this type of sentiments will be quick to cite the presidential election believably won by the late Chief MKO Abiola on the banner of a Muslim-Muslim ticket. Abiola ran with Ambassador Babagana Kingibe, both Muslims, on the platform of the Social Democratic Party, SDP and arguably won in June 1993. The Kaduna State Governor, Nasiru El-Rufai was recently quoted as speaking on the subjectmatter. He was cited as seeing nothing wrong in a presidential candidate running with a mate of the same faith. He gave the example of how people criticised him when he ran for the governor of Kaduna state with a female running mate of the same faith. It was predicted by some people that they would lose the election, but as it turned out, they were voted massively and won convincingly, he argued. It is not certain if the present socio-political conditions of the country will favour, or not favour a same-faith combination for the presidential contest. We keep our fingers crossed to see how events will unfold in the coming days.
Feedback
On “Buhari’s prognosis of the anointed: A CDA” published on Monday, June 6, 2022:
Michel Foucault, the French philosopher of ideas, it was who said power is everywhere. That PMB would summon governors and party leaders, dish out instructions and disperse them and fly to Mali; return do same and fly to Madrid; return back do so and retire to his cozy chambers demonstrates the polarity of power relations between them; the statement that he allowed the governors free hand to choose their successors is the most concentrated of power relations/expressions; he was conversely saying that, I could have stopped you from choosing your preferred candidates because I have the powers to do so even though you are wont to parade yourselves as powerful chief executives in your local states. But beyond this Foulcauldian triumphalism, how can we insert this act/practice into the interstice of modern/contemporary democratic best practices. The practice is clearly monarchical. The best democratic practice is to create a free and fair environment for the aspirants to test their popularity and whomsoever wins wins. But this is Africa and power comes with power. If democracy is to succeed in Africa, Africa and Africans, must recalibrate their technology of democratic power. Beautiful analysis.
Atah Pine, PhD, Makurdi, Benue state (08035974174)
On “Feedback from political defection as ideological untruth,” published on Monday, May 30, 2022:
I do not think the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has grown beyond where Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, its pioneer head, left it. When I saw those operatives at the venue of the PDP National Convention, I laughed because I felt it was an act of showmanship to make Nigerians believe the agency is doing its work. They could not even disguise as real detectives sniffing for evidence would have done in order to apprehend suspects unaware. Is that stadium the right place to track the flow of illicit funds or they were just there looking for a scapegoat?
In spite of their presence, we still heard what happened behind the scene in terms of the rain of dollars that fell on delegates. We did not even hear of them bursting into any of the hotels where the latest millionaires in town were lodged and probably finding the smoking gun.
It is either the operatives were blind and didn’t see anything or were part of the bizarre bazaar.
Whichever way, the “obscene monetisation” of the primaries is only a prelude to the massive vote buying that will accompany the main election next year. If neither EFCC nor INEC could do anything about the monetisation of the electoral process beginning from the humongous cost of nomination forms to the purchase of delegates votes, these institutions should not bore us with sermons when poor Nigerians file out to sell their PVCs and votes at the general elections.
Onwuka Nzeshi, Abuja (08037449843)
