Afrigather On Monday 11 December, I came upon the sixth, within the sequence of opinions in regards to the final basic election being peddled by Day by day Solar columnist, Amanze Obi. I used to be shocked by the cocktail of lies and fallacies put ahead by the author, on why his candidate, Peter Obi misplaced the final presidential election and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu gained. This spurred my frantic seek for the fifth version. It was extra of the identical, certainly harmful as Amanze tried, albeit fruitlessly, to instigate Christians and their leaders towards President Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima. Believing a lot in his concocted Islamic conspiracy towards Christians, Amanze Obi puzzled why there was no “fury”, or ‘outrage’ displayed by the Christians after Tinubu’s election.
Within the two articles that I learn, Amanze, disappointedly, packed too many falsehoods in regards to the final election such that ignoring him might be a fantastic disservice to our individuals, particularly the youthful, impressionable, simply excitable ones. To Amanze and his ilk, I’ll say it’s too early to begin distorting the story of the final election, with clearly revisionist deceptive data, that one will solely come throughout at beer parlours or marketplaces.
In attempting to decode Tinubu’s emergence because the candidate of the APC, Amanze Obi invented a conspiracy of northern Muslims who had “the temerity to insist on a Muslim-Muslim ticket as a situation for energy shift to the south”. There was nothing of such. Tinubu went into the first election to slug it out with Rotimi Amaechi, Yemi Osinbajo, each Christians and Ahmad Lawan, a muslim. Faith was not the problem at this stage. What was at stake was every candidate’s enchantment to get together delegates. Tinubu gained a landslide victory as a result of many delegates believed he has the expertise, political and nationwide community to beat different candidates from the opposite events and succeed President Muhammadu Buhari. Tinubu, as a candidate, noticed himself as a nationalist. It was the myopic and parochial political opponents that attempted, in useless, to outline him by his religion. The opposition should have recognized {that a} man whose spouse is a Christian, whose kids are allowed to observe their religion, can’t be stereotyped by his religion.
This worldview of the candidate explains why all through his marketing campaign, he didn’t enchantment to the bottom sentiments of his faith, he didn’t see himself as a Jihadist, not like one other candidate who rallied clerics to see the election as a ‘spiritual battle’. Tinubu bought his programme of motion to make our nation higher to voters, even when he was the goal of unprecedented vitriolic assaults by opponents, the worst political behaviour ever witnessed in our political historical past.
When Tinubu selected Kashim Shettima, as his operating mate, he was reawakening the spirit of June 12, 1993 presidential election, wherein an Abiola-Kingibe mixture resoundingly gained the election. The victory was cruelly annulled by the navy junta, led by Common Ibrahim Babaginda.
When Tinubu selected Shettima, faith was not a part of his political calculation. He was targeted on a better supreme, inserting components reminiscent of competence, innovation, compassion, integrity, equity, and adherence to excellence, above spiritual sentiments.
Tinubu’s assertion after saying Shettima’s nomination as his operating mate is price recalling:
“I am conscious of the energetic discourse in regards to the doable faith of my operating mate. Simply and noble individuals have talked to me about this. Some have counselled that I ought to choose a Christian to please the Christian group. Others have stated I ought to choose a Muslim to enchantment to the Muslim group. I can’t do each.
“Either side of the talk have spectacular motive and passionate arguments supporting their place. Each arguments are proper of their method. However neither is correct in the best way that Nigeria wants for the time being. As president, I hope to manipulate this nation towards unusual progress. This can require innovation. It should require steps by no means earlier than taken. It should additionally require selections which are politically troublesome and uncommon.
“If I’m to be that kind of President, I have to start by being that kind of candidate. Let me make the daring and progressive resolution to not win political factors however to maneuver the nation and our get together’s marketing campaign nearer to the greatness that we have been meant to realize.
“Right here is the place politics ends, and true management should start.
“As we speak, I announce my choice with pleasure as a result of I’ve made it not based mostly on faith or to please one group or the opposite. I made this selection as a result of I consider that is the person who may help me deliver the very best governance to all Nigerians, interval, no matter their spiritual affiliation or concerns of ethnicity or area”.
The results of the election in all of the six zones confirmed that Tinubu’s political calculation labored. Similar to it labored for Abiola-Kingibe in 1993.
It was not true that Tinubu ‘roundly misplaced the ‘Christian South’ as Amanze wrote. Certainly there isn’t a such geographical or demographic division in our nation. Whereas now we have a preponderance of Christians within the South-East and South-South, we can’t say the identical of the South-West the place the 2 predominant faiths have adherents. Tinubu gained the South-West and had very poor numbers from the South-East as a result of the voters erected an iron curtain towards different candidates, besides Peter Obi, who belongs to their ethnic inventory. Tinubu additionally had an excellent displaying within the South-South states of Edo, Delta, Cross River and Rivers, the place he had, no less than the obligatory 25 per cent of the votes. Once more, Amanze was incorrect to say that Tinubu didn’t have ‘the precise enchantment’ to the voters in your complete three zones in Southern Nigeria, because the info above have demonstrated. The one place the place the voters have been blinded about Tinubu was within the South-East and all Nigerians know why that was so.
Within the second a part of Amanze’s article that I learn, it was stunning that Amanze was nonetheless peddling the egregious lie that Peter Obi and never Bola Tinubu gained the election, even when third-placed Obi nonetheless has second positioned Atiku Abubakar to surpass to say the trophy.
Let me say loud and clear. Obi misplaced the election. INEC didn’t scheme him out. The so-called common impression about his purported victory was the product of an echo chamber of Obi’s supporters. You all hoped Obi would win, you even performed pretend polls, however the actuality of Nigeria’s electoral map made all of the pre-poll projections unrealistic.
Of the three main candidates, Obi had the narrowest path to victory. Exterior his dwelling base within the South-East, a part of the South-South and Lagos, the place he sprang an electoral upset, Obi solely confirmed presence within the northern a part of the nation within the predominantly Christian states, reminiscent of Nasarawa, Plateau and Benue, the place he was checkmated by Governor Hyacinth Alia, in favour of the APC candidate, now President Tinubu. In additional populous North-West states, Obi was not in competition. He was a political paperweight. Equally, in Kwara, Niger and Kogi states, Obi had scant enchantment. He suffered an identical destiny in Adamawa, Gombe, Bauchi, Borno, Yobe and Taraba.
It’s uncharitable and malicious for Amanze to attribute Tinubu’s victory to different components apart from his reputation with the voters. Within the three-horse race, Tinubu was the pre-eminent favorite of the Nigerian individuals.
Obi’s supporters who typically adduce extraneous causes to Obi’s political Waterloo, typically neglect the APC was in charge of 21 states earlier than the election. Polls by the APC earlier than the election confirmed that our candidate was destined to win on the first poll, regardless of all of the obstacles of foreign money and petrol shortage and the incumbent’s unpopularity in some elements of the nation.
The election end result was an upset of kinds as we didn’t anticipate a decent race.
Nobody in his proper senses would have anticipated Tinubu to return again empty-handed in states underneath the management of his get together. Regardless of the upsets in a number of states, our candidate was in a position to muster the votes that matter, pulling 25 per cent of the votes in 30 states, main in 11, recording a decent race in Katsina, Sokoto, with the presumed ‘northern candidate’. To not neglect, our candidate reaped a political windfall from the disaster in PDP, which boosted his votes in Rivers and Oyo.
Amanze Obi ought to desist from spreading fantasies in regards to the final election. Tinubu gained it free and truthful. “Common impression” not based mostly on onerous info, doesn’t win any election. Any candidate who needs to win a basic election should work onerous to win plural votes in 4 of the six areas that make up the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Peter Obi succeeded solely in two and fell critically quick within the different 4.
I’ll finish with this story in regards to the 1979 election, which Shehu Shagari gained. In Ogun State capital, Abeokuta, the favored impression was that Shagari’s Nationwide Celebration of Nigeria would sweep the polls. The get together was the noisiest, essentially the most seen within the metropolis because it had in its fold many distinguished sons of the city. However an opinion ballot performed by the PUNCH newspaper confirmed contrarily that Awolowo’s Unity Celebration of Nigeria was headed to victory. The election end result affirmed the pre-poll prediction and in addition affirmed that Shagari and Awolowo would emerge as the 2 main candidates.
The PUNCH ballot was not like the ‘arrangee’ polls performed by Peter Obi and his associates earlier than the election. The latter gave Obi’s supporters false hopes, false expectations of a forlorn victory. Amanze, it’s time to shake off your disappointment and give up the enterprise of election fortune-telling.
Onanuga is Particular Adviser to President Tinubu on Info & Technique
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