As the 2019 campaign season kicks off
When your president and his deputy hit the road at the same time, as Gordons would put it, two things are involved. They are either conscientiously hardworking servants of the people or they are on the campaign trail. So when Sai Baba returns to Kano while his deputy goes to Demsa, Adamawa on condolence visit, […]
When your president and his deputy hit the road at the same time, as Gordons would put it, two things are involved. They are either conscientiously hardworking servants of the people or they are on the campaign trail. So when Sai Baba returns to Kano while his deputy goes to Demsa, Adamawa on condolence visit, it can be atikulately concluded that the 2019 campaign season has started early. Kano is the vote spinner state while Adamawa is primed to be the hotbed of opposition politics.
If you were a ‘soft target’ survivor of Boko Haram attacks, you could be forgiven for your feeling of jealousy because this level of dynamism has not been seen since Sai Baba became president. If you live in Southern Kaduna as a survivor, you might wonder what you have done wrong. Selective amnesia should have wiped off the characteristic shock that comes with every tragedy in Borno because people already know that the president only visits the places where his security could be guaranteed. Forget all those heckling of President Jones of the old campaign days and the Abacha dictum that if a rebellion lasts longer than three months, there is state involvement in it. We all know from grasscutter trails that insurgency is the new machine that mints dollars. If you doubt me, ask Babachir Lawal and Ayo Oke.
New governance dynamism is in the offing people. One that opens up job vacancies, clears salary and pension arrears while delivering on projects. A little fuel queue would take us there. It is there to help us remember the road once travelled. 2019 may be two years away on the Gregorian calendar; it is less than 24 hours in the political calendar.
The train of governance gathered supersonic speed when Atiku Abubakar, the Waziri of Adamawa, unveiled his divorce from the APC on November 2. That action followed explosive statements from the Emir of Bourdillon, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, that made him a guest of Camp Buhari. That meeting changed the lyrics a little, but the musical scales are the same – nobody should take anything for granted on 2019.
From now on, the Atiku calculus would determine how governance pro-acts or react. You don’t have to like the man from Jadda to agree that he holds the ace as kingmaker or spoiler. In Camp Buhari, all antennae and GPS coordinates are monitoring the game changer. Buhari attested to this when he told the opposition that he still pulls the crowds in Kano.
Prior to that, his infantrymen had thrown salvos of innuendo at Atiku. Video’s alleging why Atiku is persona non grata in America has surfaced after the man shut up those alleging that he is corrupt without evidence. Atiku’s team responded with claims that Buhari was once an unwelcome guest in America. This is typical Fela’s roforofo fight. Throwing these jabs so early may leave people short of arsenal when the full war starts. Those in power know they have the joker, which is why a little more hardship is imperative. The people must be brought to their knees if they are not to make the mistake of rebelling too early.
Atiku is a master of the game, as anyone who has played with the Wizard of Ota and survived knows too well. He is not a man to be underrated. He is nobody’s pushover.
He knows where his voice is essential and is not afraid to lend it. For instance, the police would have ignored or shut down the #ScrapSARS movement without much opposition. But with Atiku expressing solidarity with victims, the pendulum swung and the police was forced to opt for the better way out – dialogue and collaboration with handpicked malleable NGO in its reform. The lesson here is that, if Atiku endorses Buhari’s barren heifers, they become producers of agile calves.
The ruining party knows as well as the spoiler that the ship of state is listing and that if they don’t watch it, it could go belly up. For a media that reports but hardly analyses, people would have to read between the lines. Why did the Vice President go to Demsa? Is it the only part of Naija that has suffered communal tragedy or is it because it’s too close to formidable enemy territory to be ignored? Believe that it’s a good governance visit and you miss the whole point.
So welcome 2019 early. The next twelve months would feature alliances, divorces, upsets and intrigues. The contestable question is: how much of all these truly affects the bottom-line – repositioning dear country for the development it needs to live up to its full potentials? How to stop the brigandage in the Niger-Delta and keep the petrodollars flowing before the developed world turns off the tap; how to stop the insurgency in the North-East, the kidnappings, communal clashes in the centre, the ritual murders in the South West and the exodus of young people to Libya and experienced hands to Canada.
Enter the era of promises but the wary would be asking: how many of the past ones were kept? It promises to be a long drawn battle. Would the electorate be swindled as usual or has it learnt its lessons knowing that second terms are for building nest eggs?