Violence as 2014 hallmark, APC’s choice and the falcon…in Lagos

The Kano Central Mosque blast that killed some 100 or more people on Thursday last week, gruesome and sacrilegious as it was, has become one among many such occurrences that have now turned Nigeria into one of the most violent and unsafe countries in the world. The Kano Central Mosque blast underlined a number of […]

The Kano Central Mosque blast that killed some 100 or more people on Thursday last week, gruesome and sacrilegious as it was, has become one among many such occurrences that have now turned Nigeria into one of the most violent and unsafe countries in the world.
The Kano Central Mosque blast underlined a number of facts about the unrelenting violence- and one is that the perpetrators seem to be saying for them nowhere is exempted from their callous anti-human campaigns, not even a revered place of worship. It was one more proof that though the Northeast may have become the epi-centre of the violence because it is receiving the brunt of the perpetrators attention, still whenever they want they can strike at targets anywhere and that whoever lowers his guard does so at his own peril, which as has been demonstrated in Kano can be so devastating.
And talking of lowered guard brings up the matter of the impending elections in early 2015. Nothing is so obvious in the issue of quelling the insurgency than the utter helplessness of government through its security agencies to stem its tide and put a stop to it. The reasons for this can be deduced from happenings in the campaign against the insurgency and these include:-inadequate weapons and other fighting materials, low morale and, it must be said, something untoward and much more deep seated and sinister which has continued to militate against the prosecution of the campaign against the insurgency and other violence with the dispatch needed.
So, with security so fraught and inadequate, it is just natural to worry about how it would cope at election time, when it would be called upon to be on the lookout for those seeking to foment trouble as well as the insurgents who may choose the period to perpetrate their mad incendiary acts, just to draw attention to themselves. It would therefore be well worth everyone’s while to remind those in charge that especial care should be taken to dissuade insurgents from turning election time into another bloodbath.

The APC’s choice
On November 11, barely 4 days hence, the All Progressives Congress would pick its presidential flag bearer in Lagos. Some half a dozen individuals have put themselves forward for the prized party position and whoever wins knows he has made a pact with history and destiny. Lined up in the contest are both veterans in the political arena like General (rtd)  Muhammadu Buhari and  former Vice president Atiku Abubakar, two serving state governors-Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso (Kano), and Rochas Okorocha (Imo) as well as Sam Nda Isaiah- the publisher of the Leadership titles, whose bold attempt to shoot straight from the newsroom to the presidency validates the saying that one should aim for the sky in order to get to the tree top. The much touted entry of Speaker Aminu Tambuwal into the APC presidential fray did not happen after all. Many had thought that prompted his defection from the PDP and by so doing inviting invidious PDP controlled state power on his person. He has since lowered his ambition to run for the governorship of Sokoto State, ostensibly in deference to older and more tested aspirants.
The appearance of the APC on the political scene many months ago gladdened many hearts for the simple reason that under the suzerainty of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) since 1999, Nigeria seemed to be settling into a one dominant party polity. The PDP was and still is a huge behemoth of a party against which are ranged small ethnically primordial parties, which, individually none has a fighting chance of supplanting it in an electoral contest, ever. Indeed the PDP itself, in moments of inordinate self- pride boasted that it would rule Nigeria for eternity, implying that those other parties would languish in political wilderness forever. To be sure, there is nothing particular wrong with one party dominating power, as long as its rule is translated to growth, progress and prosperity. After all, Singapore shot from being a “third world” country into the so-called “first world” under one dominant party in the steady hands of Lee Kuan Yew who virtually grabbed the country by scruff of its neck and dragged it, literally from dependency to sufficiency and modernity.
Not so with the PDP rule and the facts on the ground are enough evidence. For the past 5 years Nigeria has been in a virtual state of war for which there seems be no end in sight. The thin veneer of social peace has given way to rumblings and disquiet across the nation as oil price, in a free fall in the international market has wiped the bottom out of a seemingly stable economy and exposed its fragility, making government to warn of impending dire economic measures and bitter days ahead.  So when a number of parties joined to form one big pan-Nigerian party to match the PDP in clout and spread, it was seen as a good augury for democracy whose essential ingredient includes the availability of choice for voters among equal but competing political parties.
The APC has now afforded Nigeria the opportunity to earn the right to be called a genuine democracy capable of giving Nigerians a respite from almost 2 decades of PDP rule and its “harvest”. Of course, that is if on the 11th in Lagos the right candidate emerges. This is no time for predictions because it is assumed that the delegates are well aware of the onerous responsibilities place on them to choose rightly, with an eye to clinching the ultimate goal–the presidency, and this must have informed wise heads in the party to first seek to secure the unity of the party and forestall the breaking of ranks by contestants who the votes may not favour through making them to sign an undertaking to close ranks, no matter the outcome. Good move. Party cohesion and unity of purpose and of course, a set of winner policies and programme cannot be over-emphasised as the political freight –train we are all travelling in hurtles toward the appointed date come February 2015.

The falcon no longer hears the falconer
The latest in the marshy political terrain in Lagos is that the solid ground upon which the old certainties of politics in Lagos State was erected, as it concerns the APC is being rocked to its foundation. A tussle is brewing between no less a personality than Ashiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu and his former protégé, Raji Fashola who is about to complete his tour of duty as governor of Lagos State for two terms, courtesy of the Ashiwaju whom he had served as chief of staff while serving as governor himself.
Details are hazy but it has partly to do with differences about party positions in the Lagos APC with the Ashiwaju seeking to play the role conferred on him by his title as first among equals, reserving the right to choose for the party, while demurring Fashola, as I understand it, prefers party positions to be filled according to laid down criteria. Is the situation now akin to the falcon no longer hearing the falconer?