Beyond the glamour of campaign rallies

In the days when Sani Abacha was the divine glue that could hold Naija together, lapel pins and car stickers were the cult paraphernalia. The coating, texture and quality of your Abacha pin determined your ranking in the pantheon. Well, campaign paraphernalia works like that. At these functions, the big guy’s handlers have contracted tailors […]

In the days when Sani Abacha was the divine glue that could hold Naija together, lapel pins and car stickers were the cult paraphernalia. The coating, texture and quality of your Abacha pin determined your ranking in the pantheon. Well, campaign paraphernalia works like that.
At these functions, the big guy’s handlers have contracted tailors – sorry, I meant fashion designers, who turn the designs into cultural motifs resonating with the culture of the area. Naija’s civilian presidents are icons of culture. You won’t catch the Wizard of Ota in Pierre Cardin zany suits won by Charles Soludo. And thanks for that because certain things are better imagined than seen.
Yardy loved his pseudo-austere babbanriga and wore it like a second skin. President Jones’ Ogbia style uniquely distinguishes him at local and international functions. It was a shame to see his valet suit him up to apostolic acclaim on social media. African leaders have to copy their Naija counterparts in garbs that suit the weather?
Of late, the General has been photographed in ‘culture suits’ and he doesn’t look dapper in some of them. Watch him in Ibom traditional dress and throw him a salute. While he looked cool in his Ogbuagu 1 title dress, his neck made him look like a scarecrow in the Ishagu he wore for campaign posters. Suiting him up to slap palms with a little lad is a cultural faux pas. In our culture, kids revere their elders; in Obama’s America they slap palms. A deeper stroke of creativity would have turned things round for the better. Apart from his military uniform, nothing fits the General like his kaftan or babbanriga or the combination of both. Being an austere man, I bet he employed tailors instead of fashion designers as outfitters. When it comes to campaigns, the hood does not make the monk.
In other climes, campaigns have shed the toga of the jamboree or the carnival. Door-to-door is in and hall appearances help voters make tactile contact with the candidate where they ask relevant questions. Generally, old media loses out to the new, long speeches replaced by pungent video ads; television is limited to public engagement, endorsements or critiques and issue-based fiery debates with decorous language. Naija is playing catch-up. If Frederick Lugard were to have an approved sabbatical from the land of the dead, he’ll be at home with the same aura of the 50s with all its vitriol.
Issues are behind innuendo; outright insults and blame games are the vogue. Funmi Iyanda tries to steer the ship of campaign back to the things that matter. The elite would wish her luck with that since the vociferous social media generation hates soiling their manicured fingers in blue ink but they are most virulent critics and loudest grumblers against dynamic inactivity.
The two parties started their campaigns strategically and tactically from regional positions of weakness. The message is that till the last day, every soul could still be swayed. The opposition APC kicked off from Rivers, until recently a PDP stronghold while the later went to Lagos, a battleground state it has fought hard to recapture from the opposition for sixteen unbending years. Although the ruling party’s greatest opposition is bound to come from the north, it needs Lagos for strategic reasons.
On the other hand, the entire south is the opposition’s hunting ground. If it courts a decisive victory, it would need to sway undecided voters from there to give that coveted victory constitutional legitimacy. It can count on the north as a home run. If the ruling party had used the same strategy on the bloody insurgency in the northeast, it would have secured our dear nation and make the election a walkover. Thus far, it has concentrated on what could have been.
Campaigns ought to be about issues not personalities, as voters ought to have known the candidates before they begin. The incumbent ought to be outlining achievements and how to wrap up on pending projects not on the real or perceived vindictiveness of the opposition especially when it’s done in a way that makes the undecided say, thanks for reminding us – bring him on.  Here again is the failure of political communication. Bad rap makes followers start the fight on social media and carry out the mindless violence on the streets.  There is need to tone down the bad rhetoric. The nation belongs to all who aspire to run it; they must pitch ideas, not bombs and bayonets.