2023: A Three Horse Frenzied Bloodhound

Emenike George

The 2023 election would see a number of political parties on the ballot paper. Though they all claim to be ready for the race with a few days to the official flag off of the 2023 electioneering campaigns proper, only a few of them, about three, perhaps four are actually visible to the voting public, each angling for vantage positions that may guarantee them victory at the polls.  Among the three Parties noticeable on the front line mark, set and ready to go, include: the ruling party, All Progressive Congress (APC); the main opposition, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP); and the third force, the Labor Party (LP). We want to x-ray each of them based on certain factors, particularly their culture as a party, character, personality and the antecedents of their respective flag bearers.

As it’s a scientific fact that the foundation of any building indeed bears the full stress transmitted by that structure from top to bottom, so it is with a political party; its structure, culture, history, antecedents and some other factors, all combine to create an image for that party.

The three parties on focus here are the PDP, APC and LP. All of them already have their respective flag bearers. A few steps back in recent time to the build-up and emergence of the Presidential candidates may be a good place to start from in this prognosis of the 2023 elections.

We had earlier alluded to the statement that every political party has its peculiar characteristics, culture and beliefs; however, this seems untrue with the All Progressive Congress (APC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Because the two parties by all indices are seen to be one and the same. They are actually a mirror image of each other. For example, if you place both on juxtaposition, you will quickly notice that a significant percentage of APC leadership had at one point or the other been members of the PDP and vis-versa. This is why people believe that PDP and APC are Siamese twins skirted in their bodies with distinct faces pretending to have different fathers; hence they are often seen as six and half a dozen.  However, for the purpose of this discourse, I will be looking at the different faces of the Siamese twins.

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP)

PDP is the main opposition party and would be led into the 2023 general elections by Alh. Atiku Abubakar, a former Vice President of Nigeria. Alh. Atiku contested and won the party’s presidential ticket amidst alleged unwholesome maneuverings, betrayals and vote buying, which in no small measure may have contributed to some unsettling issues in the party to date. The 2023 elections will be about the 4^th attempt he will be making at the presidency using different political party platforms. First was in 1992 when he unsuccessfully contested the SDP presidential primary placing third behind Alh Babagana Kingibe and Chief MKO Abiola. That election saw a runoff, and events that evolved revealed for the first time the inherent desperation in Atiku for power based on his willingness to do just about anything to be in power anyhow. MKO emerged the party Presidential ticket winner.

In 2006 he made another attempt at power on the platform of the Action Congress (AC) having been elected the Party’s flag bearer. Again he lost at the polls to Umoru Yar’Adua of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)

By 2010, Atiku had returned to the PDP, and in 2011, he contested the Party’s primary and lost to Jonathan. Consequently, he jumped off the party again, but his obsession with power would not let him be, to the effect that when All Progressive Congress (APC) was formed in 2014, he quickly joined the Party and contested for its Presidential ticket which he again lost to the current President, Gen Mohammadu Buhari. Following that Presidential primary election loss to Gen Mohammadu Buhari who went on to win at the polls, Atiku envisioned that if he remained in APC, it would be extremely difficult for him to defeat the incumbent at the primaries to flag the Party’s flag after the first four year term, hence he decided to return once again to the PDP in 2017. Now back in PDP, Atiku at the Port Harcourt PDP primaries contested and won the Party’s presidential ticket for 2019.  Unfortunately, he lost one more time at the poll to the incumbent President Mohammadu Buhari of the APC.

Here we are in 2022 preparing for 2023 general elections when Mohammadu Buhari from the north would be relinquishing power after the statutory maximum two terms of 8 years in office. PDP has in its constitution, a rule designed to allow power to rotate between the North and the South, hence the spirit behind that Party policy on power zoning was everywhere loudly heard saying; let power move to the South. Justice was shouting power should shift to the South. Equity and fairness were not left out screaming from the rooftop that power should be guided to the Southeast in particular, but like the proverbial dog destined for the gallows that wouldn’t hear the voice of its owner, Atiku  seemed deaf and blindfolded by his obsessed desire for power. Indeed the ancient Greeks couldn’t have been any wiser saying ‘when divine anger ruins a man, it first takes away his good sense’. Did Atiku’s acute political condition override his thought process? Well, he would be flying the PDP 2023 elections flag, but what are his chances at the poll. Only time will tell.

According to Atiku, all Nigerians are equal and should be seen and treated equally. There is no unity without Justice and fairness. That is why “I will deliver leadership of justice and fairness” he said. But if we try to juxtapose these flawless statements from Atiku on his actions, person, character and antecedents, one would want to ask: Is Atiku, a Northerner, justified to present himself for election this time, particularly considering PDP’s constitutional provisions or zoning policy guiding the Party?  According to Atiku, if actually there is no unity without justice, how does he want to bring unity in Nigeria? He is said to be a unifier. How? Is he indeed qualified to talk about unity, fairness or justice if he cannot exemplify same in his party? Where is he going to get the justice he promises to hinge his leadership? How does Atiku want to approach justice without equity and fairness which he does not possess? No it’s absolutely impossible to give what you don’t have. He cannot even pledge it by faith because it’s not in sight anywhere near him even spiritually. Therefore, Atiku and PDP are most likely not being sincere with Nigerians, but are deploying the old deceit of ‘just promise them what they want to hear’ strategy. Former Governor of Cross River State excellently captured it all in this way when he said that the capacity of the flag bearer of any political party to function effectively depends on the culture of that party as well as the baggage it’s carrying. He gave example with PDP of which he was a founding member, where corruption according to him is their culture. He opined that even an Angel may not be able to function optimally in PDP because, at every turn, he will encounter a demon who will question his authority to do things the right way. He concluded that Nigeria requires a well-articulated social, economic and every gainful approach possible, to solving the plethora of challenges her past and present drivers have visited on her, and therefore, if Nigeria must survive, her next leader must be someone who is unshackled, whose allegiance is to all and to no one; someone who desires nothing for himself but the joy of seeing things done effectively well and the right way for the benefit of all. I cannot agree less with Duke because it’s only in a dream land that people overload their back pack and still hope to swim safely.

All Progressive Congress (APC)

The All Progressive Congress APC was founded 2013 in a merger of four main opposition political parties – the Action Congress of Nigeria ACN; Congress for Progressive change; All Nigeria Peoples Party ANPP and All Progressive Grand Alliance APGA to become what we know today as the APC. The objective was to challenge the then incumbent President Jonathan and his Party, the People’s Democratic Party PDP in the 2015 general election. The merger though not without agreed terms, but certainly was intentional with one goal in mind – create a formidable force, strong enough to match and edge out the almost 20 year old ruling People’s Democratic Party PDP from Aso Rock Villa by any means possible. APC proved to be that Party; successful, broad-based and nationally accepted. They went into the 2015 polls with Mohammadu Buhari as its flag bearer and came out winners. Bola Tinubu was said to have been largely instrumental to the Party’s victory in that election. Part of the alleged agreed merger terms was that Tinubu will take over power after Buhari’s tenure to compensate for his contributions to the Party’s victory in 2015. Notwithstanding the agreement, there was yet unprecedented and jaw-dropping drama that trailed the Party primaries, culminating into the famous ‘e mi lo okan’ proclamation and the eventual emergence of Tinubu as candidate. Though Tinubu succeeded in edging out all other aspirants, including the incumbent Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, controversies and drama have never been in short supply in the Party; from his choice of a Muslim running mate to the suspicion of his wired health condition, to some strange and infamous 50 million youths Corn, maize, agbado, garri, cassava economic theory, the list goes on. Much more significant are some foundational questions also trailing his person and character as the APC candidate seeking to rule the Nation Nigeria. For example, who are his natural parents, where is his village and state of origin, which primary or secondary schools did he attend, what is his date of birth or how old is he, what is his state of health, is his academic degree said to be from Chicago State University, USA authentic, what is/are his sources of wealth and so on. Many of these questions have continued to beg for unambiguous answers. Who really is the man Bola Ahmed Tinubu? For a man seeking to be hired into the number one office in the land, how much information about him should remain classified? Every detail of information about him ought to be laid bare for interrogation and if not, may make or mar his chances of victory at the poll.

The Labour Party

The Labour Party (LP) came to being 2002 promoted by the Nigeria Labour Congress as a political party. Though may not be said to have been active in the Nigeria political space, but with the emergence of Peter Obi at the May 30, 2022 Asaba primaries of the party as its Presidential Candidate for the 2023 polls, there has been nonstop buzz about the Party. It has in fact become synonymous with its flag bearer, Peter Obi, and is one of the few parties that conducted friction free primaries for the 2023 elections. Obi actually has brought some colour and flavor into LP to the extent that the Party’s acceptance by the public has continued to grow. The LP and its flag bearer have registered in people’s minds as a national party, representing integrity, excellence, capacity, competence and commitment. Obi also has shown himself an ardent nationalist, who believes in the unity of this Nigeria, possessing will and capacity to restore hope and renewed zeal and resolve to unite Nigerians as a people to come together and build a Nation to be proud citizens of. Obi sees every Nigerian as a Nigerian and not Igbo Nigerian or Yoruba, Hausa, Ijaw, Fulani, Idoma or Efik Nigerian. While it is true that you are first from a family, community or ethnic group before you are a Nigerian, but that is exactly what bestows Nigerian citizenship on you. Our ethnicity does not diminish our ‘Nigerianness’, rather actually affirms it. If a Nigerian, Ghanaian, Kenyan, etc. would emigrate to America to become Nigerian American, Kenyan American and so on, and over  couple of decades, become arguably the best American President, what then does It matter for a competent Nigerian of any ethnic extraction to become the President of Nigeria.

CONCLUSION

The economy of Nigeria has been pushed to a precarious tipping point and if the projected very fast slide from its high altitude precipice is allowed, the tumble will leave us with nothing but ruins and we will have nothing called Nigeria again. Now is the time to rescue her.

As the 2023 campaign season kicks off in a few days time, we all have a duty, all of us, to eschew blackmail, violence or character assassination of any candidate. Instead, we should mobilize everybody within our network of influence, young or old, all gender, not to be deceived by our common foe that has over the years used abject poverty as a weapon to manipulate our lives. The 2023 elections should not be based on ethnicity, religion, connection, my turn, or any myopic bias, but on character, competence, capacity, commitment, integrity and determination or resolve to take away hunger and transform Nigeria from poverty capital of the world to abundance where her citizens could realize their dreams. Enough is enough.

We must therefore ensure that come 2023, we vote into power the best with capacity, competence and commitment to uphold integrity, fairness to all, and unity of purpose in excellence, efficiency and effectiveness in governance.