Circumstances routinely arise where
people unconsciously expose their repressed feelings. The recent election is
one of such situations.
Carried away by the euphoria of
victory, some people have spurted out feelings based on tribal feelings,
elevating their group over another. There are others who have been angry about
the defeat and have resorted to malicious speeches against one ethnic group or
another, accusing them of conniving against their candidate. They had taken to
spreading words capable of instigating war. It is shocking to read them saying
that one powerful group is attacking the weaker ethnic group, the majority
against the minority, one religion against another in retaliation for not voting their candidate.
Very few people had managed to
control themselves, which I doubt beneath the façade, they are boiling in resentment. Those who
tried to maintain neutrality did not escape this intricacy when they granted
interviews , you can catch them dropping skinny hateful remarks against one ethnic
group or another. For that, the election gave a platform for revealing
classified feelings which people had
been hiding for fear of offending their friends, or damaging the reputation
they are struggling to build as an asset for future aspirations. Once in a private
setting, such people can speak out whatever feelings they have in their mind.
Certain factors played significant role to
influence voting behavior in recent presidential election. Religion and region
did play while the sheer commitment to redeem Nigeria from People Democratic
Party’s misrule, which had confined Nigerians into a dungeon, played a big role.
Many Nigerians are anxious to prove the party wrong with its claim to rule the
country for sixty years. Sixty years of anguish, of murderous sufferings, of looting
and willful destruction. Nigerians had seen only suffering and agony in the
PDP’s sixteen years. The thought of living under this calamity for another
forty-four years has always left me with sunken heart and deepened anxiety.
But because of ethnicity people went
to the poll and managed to vote a candidate who disappointed with unfulfilled
promises. Because he is closer to the home. In Nigeria’s political context, one
will not desert a kinsman for a candidate from the outer space even when you
did not benefit from his regime since Nigerians have believed that a kinsman in
government is a representative of his fellow townsman in carting away the
national wealth. According to one hypothesis expounded by Bala Usman “ if one gets a plot in Victoria Island or
directorship or a Mercedez car or some share, one is getting a share on behalf
of his ethnic and religious folks. Riding a limousine and vacationing in
five-star hotel abroad is on behalf of one’s tribesmen who are starving but
somehow vicariously in that car and enjoying the hotel comfort.” One
mystification that people find hard to decipher is the hidden meaning of what politicians are implying, this can mutely say
something like “vote for me so that I can get contracts and build million-dollar accounts abroad. Vote for me so that I can win a presidential
seat, so that you minority as my kinsmen, can drive the satisfaction when you
do not have a square meal a day, and your children are suffering from chronic
malaria, yet I’m eating a dinner costing million dollars in the expensive presidential
suits on your behalf and that of others in religious brotherhood.”
In the Southwest, the votes were
fiercely fought although APC had finally won. The Yoruba people felt that they
were under represented in Jonathan’s government who had failed to procure the
promises he made in 2011. They played kingmaker during that year that saw him
as president. Now, if Jonathan won, it would be his last tenure, who was likely
going to install a successor from the north, in a dubious zoning policy by his
party that did a devastating harm to the country’s unity.
Voters in the region decided to
vote for the APC, a party if elected, would have their son in the second most
influential rank in the country. APC means more posts and being adequately represented.
The possibility of producing the next president after Buhari’s tenure has even further
encouraged their support.
Religion has been playing role to
influence voters in the Middle Belt, even though votes were closely contested
in the recent poll. Voters might have hated PDP with all their heart but felt
the need to cast their votes to a candidate they share the same religion even
if they have suffered terribly in his hand. Some people in this region, like
some fellow countrymen elsewhere, see a northerner as an oppressor and a symbol
of born-to-rule. They should vote for a candidate despite his apparent failure.
Like other Nigerians, are battling with so much problems.
However, not everyone in the region
put religion as the basis for electing a candidate. States such as Benue where
Jonathan had won in 2011 had gone to Mr. Buhari with the overwhelming
Christian’s support. Mr. Jonathan
relaxed, making little effort to win voters’ support by disbursing projects in
addition to political appointments in which an official might not care to initiate
policies that would touch the lives of their folks despite the idea of ethnic
and religious brotherhood. Taking it for granted to be elected on religious
brotherhood, Mr. Jonathan miscalculated
the business and took to churches to
announce government policies, an unwise
move capable of sharply dividing voters
on religious line. He has seemed to
forget that some families from the region lost their members to the insurgency
and religious affiliation cannot do anything to compensate their anguish which
Mr. Jonathan was less enthusiastic to confront.
In contrast, votes in Niger state were
blind to religion. Election in the state was seen as a broom sweeping the dirty tactics employed by the PDP
to divide citizens on religious line, and rule on mutual understanding in
sharing the loot between Muslims and Christians. The vote there is a
symbol of national unity because a
Christian candidate fielded by the APC has floored down a Muslim candidate aspiring
to the senate after eight years serving
as state governor. The victory of David Umaru came with a hope for unity and
touch for genuine democracy.
In the core northern states, the
chief factor was insecurity, among other things. People were anxiously desperate for change,
they have got it badly for the last four years where the insurgency had blown
off the peace and crippled economic activities. You can be amazed why Buhari
had gotten such pyramid of votes from Kano hence you did not know how I have
been living in fear, in austerity, with children glancing over their shoulders
in the classroom. Many families have either lost a brother or father to the
insurgency from the perceived wanton inability of Mr. Jonathan-led government. Voters
who were diehard supporters of the PDP and voted for it previously, did not show
interest in the party at the recent poll. Among them were bereaved people nursing the pain of the loss of a family member who went to the
market or mosque and did not come back alive.
Many people like me felt guilty to
cast our vote for PDP. When we looked around, we saw children who lost their fathers
to the insurgency. You could not have the face to look these kids and tell them
you’re sympathetic with them when you have voted the man whose inaction led to
the death of their fathers. People really needed a man whose vote would not
mean another four years of killings, showing little interest to tackle the
insurgency until the last minute to serve as political advantage on the eve of
the election. Some people who did not initially subscribe to the conspiracy theory
of Jonathan’s involvement in the insurgency had begun to believe in it. Muslims and Christians from the region felt
that Jonathan did not give them the attention they deserved. People were
prepared to vote for any candidate irrespective of religion or place of origin
who is ready to redeem them from their tragedy. Just a man, whether a Pope from
Vatican or an Imam from Mecca.
Muslims and Christians stood for
one another in the spirit of solidarity from the shared tragedy. It is
simplistic and naïve to stand before the international audience and shout against
the vote from states such as Kano when you have made no effort to help them out
from their suffering You kept busy lining up of your pocket and expected these
people to give you votes. What an ego? Hedonistic!
I may even say people had shown
development in the process of one-Nigeria democracy to have given some hundred-thousand
votes to Goodluck Jonathan whose heartland states gave fewer votes to General
Buhari in 2011. Of course people in the north have learnt ethnic voting from
some parts of the country.
No denial, religion was partly a
factor. But it is a weak assertion to say people in the north had voted Buhari
entirely on religious affinity. Buhari had trounced late president Yaradua who at
that time had lately finished serving two terms as Katsina state governor and was
contesting for the presidency despite the incumbency factor : the army, the
navy, the police and the state treasury at the PDP’s beck and call.
Jonathan was looked at as ethnic
representation of a certain group with the hurtful statements from some people
who viewed him as our son in government. Secondly, he was seen as an anti-north
for his cancellation of dredging river to the north, and especially for his
reluctant attitude to deploy military might to confront the insurgents which had
painted a bad picture on him to be seen more as accomplice than a man saddled with
the responsibility for protecting their life and properties. And of course it might be true that some
people might derive pleasure when there is bomb blast in the north. For this
reason alone, the teeming almajiri, the ‘trown away,’ the abokis, those
incomprehensible and dense bodies had come out in torrent and full of emotions
to cast their votes.
The policy of mixing up politics
with religion was rendered useless in Kaduna, the home of Namadi Sambo who told
northerners not vote APC because of pastor Osinbajo is serving as Buhari’s
running mate. But many people felt threatened under PDP’s government with its
Muslim vice president and hoped to feel more secure under people like pastor
Osinbajo.
Buhari’s victory is seen as symbol
of unity among diverse Nigerian nations, groups who were marginalized by Jonathan’s
ethnic showmanship throughout the country. If there is any ethnicity at stake
during the election, it would not be unconnected with the grudge some Katisna
people held against Jonathan who assumed power following the death of their son.
But this feeling might have flourished on certain factors.
There were people who vehemently attacked
Buhari beyond just differences in political party and style of governance. They
nurtured a personal grudge against him and the race where he comes from. You do
not need to have a voice analyzer or polygraph to detect the strong hatred they
say of him in their speeches. They called him a pedophile a fundamentalist who
would convert the whole country into his religion. I could not help wondering
if such people actually knew an iota of what Nigeria or democracy is all about.
Some folks are suffering from schizophrenia.
I found it hard to cope with the thought
of some people whom I initially accorded the respected for having remarkable intellect
whom I later found were ready to believe in such idiocies and began peddling it. Inconsistencies have
occurred in their utterances to cripple their allegations when they voted Umar
Yaradua who came from the same region and religion with Buhari. Where were
their heads when they voted Yardua? Did
they not fear that Yaradua was a Muslim? Did they not think that Yardua was
also from the mental universe of the born-to-rule society? We should wait to
see if such hateful souls will take up their life when PDP presented a
candidate from the north in the next election period. I can only accept one submission if they had
stated that they were supporting Jonathan as “our man” despite his obvious
incompetence.
A fight for all
Nigerians had learnt a big lesson
from the anguish and gnashing of teeth following the fuel subsidy removal just
a year after Jonathan was sworn into office in 2011 and the theft of the Sure-P
funds the following months, money which Nigerians had supposedly paid when
government decided it could not afford to sell petroleum to its citizens at
subsidized price. Nigerians quickly saw through the lie where officials stole
the money meant for the improvement of their life.
This election is seen among the
citizens as collective responsibility to redeem Nigeria from the cruel hands of
some crooks who had been swindling the country for sixteen years. According to
John Campbell, ‘’when and if violence occurs, it is between APC and PDP and not
Muslims and Christians.” People had united against the PDP to save the country
they saw as a crippled car climbing up to a hill while its peers and those who
started after her had set the pace for travelling to the moon. Voters believed
to come out to push this car forward.
Naira, dollars and pounds had exchanged hands but did not yield the
desired result.
Jonathan’s embarrassing attitude
that threw the country to disgrace before the international community had also
exacerbated his unpopularity. Some powerful few had built a wall that prevented
him from the reality. Those who misled
Jonathan told him only about economic boost. But they had forgotten that it was despite, not
because of government, where ministers wore a wristwatch that costs a million
dollar, a scandal that could cause a public officer to lose his post and go to
jail in another country. His willful indifference has awakened the civic
responsibility of the citizens where humanity is accorded respect that is little better than a favour given to
hindquarters. Incidents such as the missing girls, the massacre of two-thousand
souls in the town of Baga, the missing of million dollars, pension fund scam,
the fraudulent purchases of executive fleet, allegation of massive corruption
in the military sector, all this had added up to the Jonathan’s tragic flaw.
Not entirely unmerited, Jonathan’s
deserved to be whipped out of office, with the oil minister spending millions
of naira for her personal jet, million dollars lashing on the executive tea and
convoy.
Another factor that had damaged
Jonathan’s image was his attitude to deny visas to foreign journalists who were
on their way to the country to cover the election, while the few locals working
for the foreign media were detained by the state security operatives. But Nigerians were very determined to make
their votes count especially with the card reader on their side. They have taken
to social media and made the whole process a global issue. This made it very
difficult, and the people made it clear to the rigging community, that any
attempt to maneuver would have damaging consequence to the presidency.
PDP and APC are the same. The same?
It is worth noting to those who do
not see the difference between APC and PDP to have a check of their mental
capability. Oh yes I see, senility is inevitable where mental and physical ability
go down with the age in which a person’s
brain becomes less acute, confused and forgetful. After reading a body
of books, yet the basic knowledge of law of logic has escaped someone’s mind in
order for him to make a conclusion based on a kinda of mischief. No doubt that Buhari is surrounded by some
PDP’s emigrants. Yet, we still have confidence in Buhari/Osinbajo believing
that their body language and character would never suggest “stealing is not
corruption” as a willful indifference to
the theft of the nation’s wealth.
Buhari has many challenges to face,
especially with the crooks surrounding him, caught between limited choice to
work for the masses or reward those who funded his campaign. Buhari might fall
out with the elite who sponsored his campaign but his victory is not entirely
credited to a single society of men considering the staggering base support of
the masses he enjoyed. He should not be
there to spend taxpayers’ money for his kitchen paraphernalia. Press the
thieves to vomit the money they swallowed and fix such critical issue as power,
insecurity, oil scarcity; issues that have been eating the soul of the
downtrodden.
He should try to have confronted the
fundamental problems confronting the country before he leaves office and put
the whole processes on the track of stabilization in such an open way where
citizens can have access to know how much fund was allotted to a project. This
open government will help retain the truth of Nigerians, in case he left office
with uncompleted projects, the masses shall be curious to see the projects
done. In addition, open government is an option to Buhari where he will throw
the fight between government officials and the citizens so that once an issue
becomes public, it is hard for an official to brazen off the hues and cries
that will ensue from the public. This will force them to cultivate good
character since men are forced to believe in what they do not really believe in
for the sake of appearance. That is, if Buhari chose to be a passive aggressor
against corruption.
Character is like a shirt, everyone may choose
to wear his taste according to his circumstances. Jonathan government left a
huge lesson. Believing that Buhari ‘s unfriendly attitude to corruption, will
make public officials become wary since in this regime there is no sign that
common stealing is not corruption. It is the head the moves first before the body follows suit. If his character and
body language is seem to suggest ‘’stealing is not corruption’’ which at best is fairly impossible and at worst unlikely, then, I tell you even the
most honest person will not stand watching everyone swimming into the sea and
waits the wind to push him.
