Tinubu‘s mandate and the hunter’s call

It is not only unfathomable but also preposterous and downright stupefying that some fellow Nigerians and their foreign sympathisers are still engaging in arguments about the veracity and authenticity of the outcome of the February 25 presidential election results.  It even gets to most irritating levels that in their hearts and genuinely in their private […]

It is not only unfathomable but also preposterous and downright stupefying that some fellow Nigerians and their foreign sympathisers are still engaging in arguments about the veracity and authenticity of the outcome of the February 25 presidential election results. 

It even gets to most irritating levels that in their hearts and genuinely in their private moments, they admit to themselves that from the campaigns, the rallies, the recruitment of new voters, and the execution of their campaign strategies both at the communication and logistics levels, there was no iota of hope towards a pathway to victory of any sort. Yet after the denouement of electoral failure, they are now hell-bent on clutching at straws, hoping they can pull down the house if they can’t occupy it.  

The intelligence community has duly alerted Nigerians and stakeholders alike about the deadly plot by some disgruntled politicians to truncate our long-suffering 24-year-old fourth democratic journey. The hunter has sounded his whistle, calling his dog to return to base! The Department of State Security has not for the first time appealed to all detractors to toe the line of peace and tranquillity in their response to their electoral calamity.  

Even the Abdulsalami Abubakar Peace Committee extracted a commitment from these political combatants to uphold the peace before, during and after the elections. Yet, we had violence in some deep country precincts. The hunter’s dog, it would seem has lost its way. For them, because it’s raining in their villages, they ignorantly conclude that it’s raining all over the world. They shut their minds to the fact that it might not be raining elsewhere.  

Let’s us recall how we got here. It was common knowledge that the opposition Peoples Democratic Party started its campaign early and seemed to have gathered some momentum by the first month of 2023, but alas the fallout from its presidential primaries caused irrevocable angst between some governors and the candidate for reasons of non-adherence to the rotation principle entrenched in the party’s constitution as well as the “parapoism” of Governor Tambuwal’s stepping down for candidate Atiku much to the chagrin of Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, whose chances of victory were dealt a deadly blow by Tambuwal’s action. PDP never recovered from the opprobrium and “internal war” that ensued. 

Secondly, non-political, non-card-carrying voters who constitute about 70 per cent of the populace were torn between voting for another eight years of another Fulani president after Buhari or choosing a southern candidate. 

In comes the Labour Party, whose poster boy is a southern candidate, Peter Obi. He fitted the bill. So PDP’s strongholds in the South East where it used to reign supreme, were further decimated. PDP was in trouble. As if that wasn’t enough, the master strategists of the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, took him into the creeks of Graramatu Kingdom to meet Tompolo in Okerenkoko as part of the search for votes.

 Government Emuopolo alias Tompolo is “government” of his own if you know what I mean. Even the dreaded Asari Dokubo jumped on the “Sell Tinubu” train. As the final nail in the coffin, the PDP literally gave up campaign in the South West and seemed to rely on Fulani hegemony and a few northern APC governors to betray the ruling party and vote PDP.

Of course, the APC  governors of Kwara, Kogi, Jigawa, Zamfara, Niger and Borno all delivered as expected, and Sen. George Akume wrestled Benue from PDP and gave Asiwaju as a bonus. How could PDP have won the presidential election with these uncertainties and topsy-turvy, rollercoaster journey? Not in the wildest dreams. 

The other dog of our famed hunter that is not listening to the hunter’s whistle is the Labour Party and its candidate Peter Obi. 

Whoever thought Peter Obi was going to be president was living in some extra-terrestrial bubble, oblivious to the realities on the ground in this 925,000 square kilometres of land called Nigeria. Indeed, the large population of non-card-carrying voters comes from a culture where a voting pattern bequeathed to them by their grandparents and parents has been entrenched in the family psyche and sub-culture over long decades.

For instance, most Yoruba would vote for UPN, AD, ACN  or its current version, APC. The appellation “progressives” fits the Awo philosophy they grew up with, so on election day, they are not going to wake up one morning and change because a certain Peter Obi has shown up.

Likewise, numerous Hausa Fulani will go the Northern People’s Congress route and its modern-day version of the  National People’s Party (NPN). There is a history to the voting behaviour of every generation; he will not break the ranks. But it has now dawned on Peter Obi that they don’t form the critical mass needed to upturn voting patterns and long-standing behaviour in his favour.

Labour Party needs another four years of mobilisation to get the remote villages of Konshisha (Benue), Jekanadu (Sokoto) Yorla (Rivers Ogoni), Ipokia (Ogun State) Rikoto (Kebbi) and Dawakin Tofa (Kano) and all such communities where 70 per cent of Nigerians dwell. Not on the internet. 

The party needs another four years to get foot soldiers in the 176,000 polling units who will go on election eve and appeal to the locals from house to house to come out and vote, sometimes coax them, sometimes induce them! That’s how it works my friend.

The trajectory of the media and internet simulation in favour of Labour Party was exaggerated and misdirected. Be that as it may, for the six months effort of Peter Obi’s resurgence of the Labour Party to produce one governor and more than 30 National Assembly members is commendable but it also accentuates the volume of humongous work and gargantuan goodwill Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Sen Kashim Shettima have built over the decades for them to amass eight million votes on February 25. 

From the foregoing, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party and Labour Party have no reason to claim they won the elections. Asiwaju had 22 governors at his disposal with all their resources and voter strength. Tinubu picked his mandate in style, grand style with a gap of close to two million votes. 

The path of self-destruction that the disgruntled politicians that the DSS mentioned are embarking on is needless, irresponsible and totally suicidal. These fifth columnists, who have no capacity to handle failure, are refusing to heed the call of their hunter-master.

When you prepare for war, you crave victory but also make provision for possible failure. That’s the mark of a great warrior. This is the time to sheath their swords and prepare for the next elections in four years.

The democratic journey we seem to be nurturing successfully does not need this aberration of the already doomed idea of “interim government.” As we say in Hausa “Wanda bai ji bari ba ya ji hoho” (one who refuses to listen to advice will feel the pain later). 

 

Bako, PhD, is a member, Media Directorate, Presidential Campaign Council