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….2019 – A boring dance

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….2019 - A boring dance

By Joseph Edgar…

So the dance has formally started. The President has declared his intention to seek a second term on the eve of his departure to the UK where, upon arrival, he stated to his very good friend the Arch Bishop of Canterbury his reasons for seeking re-election. He was reported to have said that Nigerians remain appreciative of the efforts of his government in providing succour to them. He further opined that in the second term they would be looking more at security, agriculture, amongst others.

Well, that is the agenda right up our faces. An agenda that in itself speaks volumes of the abstract detachment the President has of things on ground. Agriculture is seemingly stable. Even during the height of the recession, it recorded impressive growth trajectory. The narrow outlook of the President regarding the urgent needs of the Nigerian screams of total disconnect with the yearnings of the people.

The landscape looks quite boring and despite the very stringent challenges we are facing as a people, we would be left with a drab electioneering season with no exciting opposition to the President. At this juncture one can safely say that we should just brace up for another four years of Buhari.

But then again, would that be such a deafeningly smog episode. What would a second term Buhari be like for us? Will we find a President suddenly not held down by the influences of despotic tribal overlords who continue to blackmail him into submission as a result of their performance during the elections? Or will we get a Buhari with a more universal outlook, a more statesman Buhari throwing away the garb of perceived sectionalism.

That would be an analysis for another time but for this piece let me look at the cowardly opposition that we are faced with. My first choice for opposition, the Senate President seems to rely on testing the waters by allowing people throw his perceived candidacy into the pool and then he gauges. Just last month, veteran self-serving journalist and friend to all in power, Dele Momodu threw in the bait of a Saraki candidacy. As expected it received mixed reactions and then it died off. I guess his masters did not get the kind of response they expected. Where I am seated, this candidacy is the only one that I am seeing that can muster the kind of vigor needed to give Buhari a tough fight for the Presidency.

Atiku seems to have lost steam. His candidacy is stale and his image weakened by all sort of scandals and fights that seem to have finally slowed down his train. I pity him because he genuinely cares but if you ask me I will say it is over. Kwakwanso remains a Kano tiger. Of course, he can use that leverage to build alliances across the nation but there has to be a general consensus across a wide bridge in the opposition to topple Buhari. The type that was built around Jonathan. I do not think they have the time nor the resources to do that anymore.

Then we now have those ones I will call the mid-tier candidates. Donald Duke and Moghalu.. I call them mid-tier because they have some form of national elitist recognition having held public office. Not known on the ground and have not really ingratiated themselves to the masses. They carry themselves with intellectual arrogance almost with disdain not wanting to be smeared by the wanton poverty around them. These ones are light weight with only the big english and high faulting ideas which will never resonate in the ears of the masses as their weapon of choice.

The last group are the ones I will call the ‘’alawada’s’’. These are the comedians of the pack. Sowore and Fela. The other day, I saw a picture of Fela in a suit but in a pose of a sprinter getting ready to run. The other day he appeared in green tights displaying a well toned body. Why someone would choose to expose himself to this kind of ridicule beats my imagination. Signs up with a no name party structure, throws out the meaningless but flowery words that captures the widows and single women seeking partners which are really his market into a much more serious space hoping that some kind of miracle will come to his aid. I also want to believe that the population commission report that there are more women than men would have misdirected him to believe that he has a chance because of his popularity with the pentecostal flock of frustrated female demography.

His brother in slapstick comedy, Sowore, tagging along with his Mohawk haircut completes the picture of national viscosity. A lack of seismic direction and a one way traffic towards a Buhari victory.

Well, I have started preparing my mind for an incumbent second term. I think we should concentrate in strengthening our institutions and structures for this second term ride will really be wild. I have spoken.

 

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