Some months back, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, posted a tweet pleading with his supporters to let him answer direct attacks from his co-contestants. Then, other candidates, especially Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, accused Obi’s supporters of caustic, sometimes personal attacks. Obi, apparently sure that he would handle posers from his opponents in a more measured manner, tried to intervene.
He got more than he bargained for as some of his supporters told him off! One tweet I saw warned Obi to back off. And if he did not, he would soon run into trouble with his supporters, this Twitter user said. I found the tweet instructive even though it sounded like some banter meant to show the commitment of his supporters. Another tweet from the LP candidate earlier this week, however, revealed that his supporters were not joking.
As part of his visit to Kaduna on Monday, Obi tweeted about his call to the Islamic cleric, Sheik Ahmad Gumi. The tweet read, “Arriving Kaduna with Dr Datti Baba-Ahmed to honour the invitation of the Arewa Joint Committee. Datti and I stopped by for a courtesy call on Sheikh Gumi at his official residence in Kaduna.”
In no time, Twitter caught fire, with opinions divided on how expedient this visit was. Some of his supporters saw the visit as appropriate, but others thought it was abominable. If some reactions to Obi’s tweet are to be believed, the candidate may have lost a few supporters for going to see Gumi. The politician seems to have finally run into trouble with some of his supporters, as one of them warned months ago.
Now, it is the right of people to choose which candidate to support, but it is important for every Nigerian of voting age to understand that politics is not the same as idealism or morality. It is understandable that Nigerians are in a hurry to experience good governance but then, this is something you can’t wish into existence. The person of ideas must win an election before he can actualise his vision. Had someone like the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo won an election, for instance, Nigeria would most likely be different.
For Obi or anyone to effect change, they must win elections and, for that, they must work very hard. And working very hard cannot just be about who encourages him on Twitter and other social media platforms.
Even if all supporters on social media have voter cards and intend to vote, contrary to many postulations, it is not enough for any serious candidate to rest on his oars. As they say, 24 hours is a long time in politics, and so, keep expanding your reach.
You cannot say that anyone is your adversary. That should be obvious from the conduct of the more established political parties, like the All Progressives Congress, and Peoples Democratic Party.
Regardless of history, candidates of these parties have solicited the support of, and even visited, some of their political “enemies.” Why did Tinubu visit Obasanjo, for instance? As recently as 2019, Tinubu described Obasanjo as the harbinger of Nigeria’s political-economic misfortune. Yet, in 2022, he visited him with a large entourage. You just need to get everyone on your side in politics.
This is even more so with the constitutional requirements for winning the presidential election. Besides scoring a majority of votes, candidates must win 25 per cent of votes cast in 24 of the 36 states. This implies that you need 25 per cent of votes from four states in each of the six geo-political zones. How do you do that when you alienate people on the strength of some idealist philosophy? So, if there is a Nigerian, not convicted of any crime, and has considerable following and whose vote can change things, a presidential aspirant should be ready to court them. This is especially so for any leader who wants to run a united country.
That brings us to the problems people may have with Gumi. At some point, the cleric spoke like he was taking sides with bandits terrorising Nigerians. He sought forgiveness for bandits who have killed hundreds of Nigerians, maimed many more and turned many children into orphans. He subtly justified their criminal activities by suggesting that the Fulani ethnic group as being marginalised. Gumi neglected the fact that every part of Nigeria suffers from the pangs of directionless leadership, and continued to paint the Fulani as the only victims of oppression. Because of that, some Nigerians are at odds with him. Maybe, justifiable so.
However, if we are to be honest with ourselves, how many Nigerians are free of this tendency to protect their ethnic and religious interests? How many of us are supporting candidates today because of the language they speak or the religion they practise? How many of us would minimise our kin’s crimes of omission and commission, dismissing the same as inconsequential? Aren’t most Nigerians caught in this web of primordial loyalties? How do we then imagine that we have a right to associate with a candidate while some others don’t when we are guilty of the same thing they do?
We also realise that there are people like Gumi because of the failure of the government. Would the cleric intervene in the situation with banditry if the federal and state governments were alert to their responsibilities? So, it is difficult to blame non-state actors like the Gumis, Igbohos and Kanus of this world when the government is lame.
Even then, Gumi made a very important point. He said Nigeria made these young people into bandits because of the negligence of these mostly illiterate people.
The failure of Nigeria and those who have led states in northern Nigeria to educate thousands of children drove them into the hands of the devil, where they now unleash venom in the country. It is the same reason we have violent and restive youths everywhere. How many of those citizens does the government want to kill?
So, Gumi proposed that the country should employ the carrot and stick approach in dealing with the issues. He suggested that military action would by itself not put an end to these crimes, but that the government should consider an amnesty programme similar to the one once granted to militants in the Niger Delta region.
The argument was that no matter how many bandits Nigeria killed, the pervasive level of ignorance and poverty in that part of the country would make recruiting new hands easy. So, the more Nigeria turns its armoured tanks and jet fighters on them, the more it will have more of them enticed with pecuniary incentives and converted to this evil cause to contend with.
It will forever be herculean for a country to win a war against its own people, especially when it has not given these people the benefit of an education that promotes the sanctity of life.
So, apart from improving his chances of winning the election, Obi expands his understanding of issues around banditry with meetings like this.
However, neither Obi nor Gumi is a saint. But democracy is not about holiness, it is about the coming together of all hands, good and evil, to turn Nigeria around for good. Sometimes, Nigerians place their leaders on superhuman pedestals. That can only lead to disappointments that many people have received between 2015 and now. We should learn lessons.
Twitter @niranadedokun
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