Prebendal politics and intellectual fraudulence

An editor friend of mine in his last article, made allusion to being a fanatical supporter of Muhammadu Buhari, but went on to discredit the General and his quest to lead Nigeria, by giving credence and credibility to all the conspiracy theories and sponsored propaganda surrounding the Buhari phenomenon.  He wrote about the use of […]

An editor friend of mine in his last article, made allusion to being a fanatical supporter of Muhammadu Buhari, but went on to discredit the General and his quest to lead Nigeria, by giving credence and credibility to all the conspiracy theories and sponsored propaganda surrounding the Buhari phenomenon.  He wrote about the use of religion as a campaign tool in the north of Nigeria, about the use of underaged ‘by the CPC’, and according to him, the ‘fact’ that General Buhari did not campaign at all in the East of Nigeria.  For someone who was a great ‘supporter’ of Buhari, the editor betrayed his treachery, first by presenting rumours as facts, and by arrogating to himself, an unmerited clairvoyance – behaving as if he is a mind-reader.

I will deal with some of the issues here.  But first, let me make clear that I am not a member of the CPC, even though I would gladly join if I knew how, but I am a staunch believer in the ability of Muhammadu Buhari to act as a change agent and help redeem Nigeria somewhat.  I will write about my expectations later.

No one should believe religious texts sent around on behalf of any candidate.  In our clime and with the desperation amongst political pundits, especially those who stand to lose their ‘garri’, the easiest thing to do is to concoct texts that will make your opponents look bad, or texts that could be used later against your opponents.  It is imperative to state that because of the access to state funds, the almighty PDP has enough resources to employ the best propagandists from across the world.  It can be said that this nihilist strategy, whereby religion and ethnicity were used as weapons, created and fuelled the carnage that happened in the north recently.  We had inputted so much hate and distrust and fear into the system, that it was just a matter of time before poor almajiris got fired up to take up arms.  I will put most of the blame on a desperate PDP’s doorsteps.  For that party knew well enough that Nigerians were tired of its oppressive policies.

Following from my article titled ‘One Bright Summer Morning’, note that such madness had happened in many parts of the country, with members of the same religion and tribe turning against eachother as happened in Ondo (and Ekiti) and Oyo (and Osun) states in 1983 and even earlier in 1965.  The current attempt to sweep the root causes of the problem – poverty, injustice and propaganda – under the carpet, will not solve any problems for us and just like in the case of the Jos perennial crisis, government will promise that ‘Enough is Enough’, or ‘Never Again’, or to ‘deal decisively with the perpetrators’, only for, somewhere in the future, the country suffers even a worse fate!  At best, the current approach is to isolate, castigate and condescend a certain section of the country as ‘fanatical’, or ‘barbaric’, or even worse still but understandably, to withdraw indigenes of one state from another, as if Nigeria was made up of different countries.  The process of Nigeria’s cannibalization has effectively started.

I will concede to the presence of under-aged voters in the north.  However, it is unscientific and preposterous for anyone, to allege that ALL the under-aged voted for CPC and not PDP as well.  Are the critics of CPC saying that but for the under-aged voters, President Jonathan would have generally cleared all the states up north (since he managed to poll 35% to 45% in a number of them in spite of ALL the under-aged ‘voting’ for CPC)?  So in the whole of Nigeria, nobody wants change?

Regarding the alleged ‘refusal’ of General Buhari to campaign in the East and South of Nigeria, that is an attempt to diminish the hard work that he, as well as other contestants including President Goodluck, did during the campaigns.  It is not easy to move round this country for campaigns.  General Buhari flogged the entire country and is not naïve enough to disregard some regions.  It is disingenuous and fraudulent for any so-called columnist to so allege.  More so, the CPC has very limited funds compared to the almighty PDP.  In all, according to an activist, Kayode Ogundamisi, who worked closely with the CPC, the Buhari campaign did not spend more than N400million in all, as against PDP’s trillions (which is in breach of the electoral law anyway).

For those who believe that the CPC could not have won without an ‘alliance’, that is just another display of intellectual arrogance and ignorance of statistics and sociology.  But the biggest joke is on anyone who believes that the trio of Atiku, IBB and Gusau, card-carrying PDP leviathans, who hate Buhari’s guts and would probably be among those who would run away from Nigeria if he becomes president, and who had all the opportunity before  but reneged, will be the ones organizing an alliance with ACN.  Of course that ‘alliance’ was a poisoned chalice which Buhari and Bakare were fortunate, upright  and brave enough to have refused!

That one is a columnist, journalist or editor does not confer on one the right to, in a cavalier manner, dismiss the efforts of others.  Who said Buhari could not have won the elections ‘no matter what’?   For me as an econometrician and statistician, as well as a self-made sociologist, it is a possibility.  The population of Nigeria is skewed to the north.  The census say so.  The voters registration say so.  But if anyone comes up with a result that claims that 90% of voters in the south of Nigeria turned out (and 99% of them voted for the incumbent), while the traditionally active voters in the north were lethargic after showing a most enthusiastic turnout during the campaigns (with only 35% coming out to vote), then that person must actually be a dreamer.  What will a poor northerner be doing at home on voting day? Watching DSTV like the rest of us?  Or waiting for his fresh copy of Weekend Trust?  Haba, let’s get real!  For the truth is constant, and our presidential elections, as well as clever-by-half politicians, highly-paid government publicists parading as human rights activists, journalists, editors and other players who are in this for the money, can NEVER stand the test of the truth. Or time!

After spending hundreds of billions on these elections, all we are saying is we need the true figures.  Why did INEC force us and waste time and money, taking ten fingerprints, if it would not be patient enough to subject ballot papers to biometric test?  Especially for a most-important presidential election?  And for those ‘intellectuals’ who make such statements like ‘everybody rigs, let’s just move on’, I say, listen to yourselves…  Do you want a better Nigeria, or are we just kidding here?