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INDIGENESHIP VERSUS RESIDENCY: Nigeria’s Rising Political Realities, by Progress Godfrey
Quite a bit has been stated already concerning the just-concluded 2023 Presidential and the Governorship Elections. Nonetheless, past the rhythmic concord about faith, ethnicity and get together affiliation which has been sung because the pre- and post-party primaries, there are salient and existential points that the political institution should take cognizance of, within the post-election season.
On the crux of such points is the negligence of the yearnings of the voters by our leaders, which ready the grounds and offered a viral environment for the rise of the Obi/Datti wave, a wave that swept throughout many conventional strongholds of the Peoples Democratic Social gathering (PDP), and the All Progressives Congress (APC). To set the report straight, I wish to state that this piece will not be in any approach meant to push for an Ndigbo agenda, however to attract the eye of the political class to classes that have to be learnt, as we push for a greater Nigeria.
The marketing campaign season noticed a drastic paradigm shift – it confirmed simply how drained the persons are of the rhetoric of merely campaigning to win elections, and it uncovered the present disconnect between authorities and the ruled. This was evident with the strides of Mr Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Social gathering (LP). Certainly, solely misguided Nigerians will dismiss the large strides of Obi, as has by no means been seen, at the least since Nigeria adopted the democratic system of presidency in 1999.
For too lengthy, we have now had leaders who received elections with a number of marketing campaign guarantees that have been jettisoned the second they (the leaders) have been declared winners, just for them to resurface with one other set of empty guarantees 4 years later.
My first occasion is Lagos, the epicentre of the indigene versus residents debacle, the place the best shock ensued with battles and counter-battles of possession. It stays an error for anyone to attribute the reelection victory of the incumbent governor, Babjide Sanwo-Olu to possession of Lagos. Sanwo-Olu couldn’t have owned Lagos greater than Nigeria’s President-Elect and former governor of Lagos state, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who misplaced Lagos to Obi within the presidential election.
Tinubu’s loss slightly uncovered the lapses within the management model in Lagos that didn’t think about the reputable considerations of non-indigenous residents sufficient. It’s broadly believed that the ruling class in Lagos didn’t make sufficient efforts to curtail the excesses of the ‘Agberos’; to the utmost chagrin of huge sections of residents. This, and plenty of related unattended considerations paved the way in which for the Obi/Datti wave to prevail. It might suffice to say that the teachings from the presidential elections opened Sanwo-Olu’s eyes, as a result of that continues to be the one rationale behind his uncommon frequency of social media engagement. He all of a sudden engaged Lagosians, with a eager present of consideration to non-indigenous residents in his final marketing campaign endeavours earlier than the March 18 governorship election.
The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) was not unnoticed; within the 2019 normal election, the main opposition get together, PDP, swept by way of all nooks and crannies. On the time, we noticed how PDP’s presidential flag-bearer, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, defeated the incumbent Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari of the APC, within the FCT; a present of simply how a lot change the individuals wanted from the perceived failure of the federal government. Regardless that President Buhari had his scorecard in infrastructure amongst just a few different areas, residents of the FCT knew higher what they deserved.
Equally, PDP’s shine prolonged to profitable all three seats within the Nationwide Meeting – Philips Tanimu Aduda received the election for Senate; Hassan Sokodabo Usman and Micah Yohanna Jiba additionally clinched their bids for the Home of Representatives seats, it was a candy victory. However as normal, after profitable, our flesh pressers abruptly turn out to be unreachable, they overlook that election victory solely lasts for 4 years. They pay lip service to the individuals’s wants, solely to come back again for marketing campaign throughout one other election season. Aren’t the individuals drained?
It ought to have been a simple feat for the PDP to take care of its stronghold on the FCT, however its leaders did not pay due consideration to the residents versus Indigenes dynamics staring them within the face. This proved their undoing. Obi’s marketing campaign, which many have described as unprecedented, got here like a hurricane, introducing an “Obi impact” that gave LP victory within the FCT in each Presidency, Senate and Reps. Might Obi have received the hearts of FCT residents by mere marketing campaign technique? The obtrusive reply is not any. In opposition to the backdrop of ethnicity, faith and partisan politics, residents of the FCT noticed hope, they noticed a platform which related with the wants of the individuals.
The APC didn’t fare a lot better. The current ‘Governor’ of the FCT has earned his criticisms by his sheer aloofness and apathy, leaving his Minister of State, Ramatu Aliyu with no again to face on. Regardless of her finest efforts, the APC barely wrestled one out of the 2 Reps seats, else, Obi, a person with a marketing campaign tagline “we no dey give shishi” would have floored the institution with nearly a top-to-bottom win. It’s a clear-cut show of the individuals’s will in opposition to what the PDP thought was a routine train.
Taking place South, to Abia, the result of the governorship ballot might be foreseen earlier than it was formally introduced; the individuals have been drained and wanted a shift. What may the incumbent governor, Okezie Ikpeazu of the PDP, inform anyone in Abia to make them vote for his ex-chief of employees and governorship candidate of the PDP, Okey Ahaiwe as governor?
Ikpeazu might have wished for get together continuity by way of Ahaiwe, however his wishful pondering couldn’t have put a smile on the faces of the individuals he ruled for eight years, solely a radical supply of fine governance may have achieved that. Alex Otti of the LP received by a large margin, almost doubling Ahaiwe’s votes. Once more, it exhibits how deeply uncared for the wants of Abians have been for eight years.
Not far-fetched was Rivers State, whereby within the runup to the governorship election, we noticed how a former governor and ex-Minister of Transportation Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, promised non-indigenes within the state heaven on earth, all in a bid to safe the win for his get together man, the APC candidate within the state, Tonye Cole. Maybe, Amaechi will need to have learnt his classes from the daring assertion made in Rivers in the course of the presidential election – the ballot mirrored the truth that residents additionally represent the voter register of each polling unit, not simply indigenes.
In the identical vein, the incumbent governor, Nyesom Wike romanced the Igbos in a number of engagements, canvassing for votes for his anointed candidate, Siminialaye Fubara who ultimately received. The primary query that involves thoughts is: did they simply realise that the politics of indigeneship is a politics of failure? If Wike spent his eight years in workplace, recognising that not solely indigenes make up the voters of a state, clearly, he wouldn’t have to attend till marketing campaign time to determine with both the Igbos or different residents within the state. I wager the presidential election proved some extent to Wike; that whereas the indigenes have their rights to the dividends of democracy, each different resident and tax-payer within the state deserved to be offered for alike.
Kaura federal constituency in Kaduna State was widespread for producing a reps candidate from the LP, Mr Donatus Mathew, who was stated to have been an “Okada rider” earlier than the February 25 presidential and nationwide meeting election that gave him victory over the incumbent reps member and candidate of the PDP, Hon Gideon Lucas Gwani, who got here second. How may an Okada rider defeat an incumbent reps member if his incumbency made lives any simpler for his constituents?
Now that Nigeria has rounded up its 2023 normal elections and leaders have emerged from numerous ethnicities, tribes and religions, in my submission, I need to stress the necessity to govern for all. Our leaders should now, greater than ever, put the wants of the individuals on the forefront of their plans, devoid of undue emphasis on indigeneship. Their olive branches have to be prolonged, such that it advantages all.
Clearly, the consciousness of the voters has risen exponentially and have to be taken severely. Let’s hope the precise classes have been learnt.
