Continued from yesterday
Meanwhile, the strongest arguments against Atiku were also those that were bandied around by some of his new friends who were his erstwhile political enemies. All of a sudden, they would have us forget everything bad that they told us before about Atiku. To hold off the Atiku challenge, PMB needs substantial votes from sections of the country that he has indirectly and needlessly told he can never trust to head sensitive security posts.
Meanwhile, at election time, the cabal/kitchen cabinet have taken a temporary back seat, whilst leaving the “untrusted” to lead from the front.
The cabal are presumably waiting in the wings to take over and dominate proceedings once again if victory is achieved. If the baboons locked the monkeys out from the dinner table for long periods, when the monkeys were still required to lead the re-election campaign, it is unclear why the monkeys would be let back in after a second and final term is secured.
PMB’s campaign has been beset with missteps and personal blunders. Even when interviewers chose to inexplicably handle him with kid’s gloves he managed to misunderstand basic questions and/or to commit one gaffe after another on the campaign trail, thereby portraying himself (to Undecided and swing voters) more like a patient in need of help/sympathy, than a political icon/strongman. Atiku has not taken full advantage of PMB’s missteps either. When PDP’s rickety campaign platforms are not collapsing on account of overcrowding, they have often projected a song and dance spectacle that may be fun to watch for sycophants, but fails to convince the huge army of undecided/swing voters that the change Atiku promises will be in the right direction. Projecting an air of “business as usual” is in my humble opinion a needless gamble that needs to be corrected.
In the belief that every Saint has a past and every Sinner, a future, Atiku would sound more convincing if he was bold enough to admit that he is a past sinner who is now “born again” – a later day economic reformer that is no longer interested in perpetuating past errors which include a measure of profligacy. He could then dare anybody without sin to come forward and throw the first stone.
Tough statements on what he will no longer tolerate and the potrayal of a lean and professional team around him would probably be more reassuring and appealing to the Undecided than the monotonous carnival atmosphere that currently trails him.
So, PMB is in the lead, but Atiku has momentum because of some recent important endorsements and also on account of the fact that the bulk of the Undecided reside in the four zones where PMB is weakest.
In the final week before the Presidential elections the APC faces a “Catch 22” situation. They can hide PMB away to ensure no more embarrassing public gaffes and gamble that Atiku (even with a powerful closing campaign) will still not catch and overtake PMB or they can send PMB out on a final push on the campaign trail and risk more gaffes which may create further doubts in the minds of the huge army of undecided voters and tilt them towards Atiku.
Wheeling PMB out without allowing him to speak is a terrible option. A case of dammed if you do and dammed also if you don’t ?
Meanwhile, our selected Governorship Polls show APC leading PDP in Kano and Lagos States, but with PDP leading APC in Rivers and Sokoto States. Full details of all these poll results will shortly be made available on the Anap Foundation website.
Concluded
• Peterside, is the founder and president of Anap Foundation.
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