Politics is like Jujitsu, the Japanese martial art that employs holds, throws, and paralysing blows to subdue an opponent. If your opponent is big and throws his weight around, you skilfully allow him to make a move and use his weight to trip him; his strength thus becomes his weakness.
All that is on display on the national stage right now. Politicians are using whatever variant of the combat form that works best for them with the ultimate aim of knocking out their opponent. And as the tempo of action rises, bystanders and other spectators are recruited into the fray to start proxy wars of their own.
My appeal to all Nigerians is not to lose their friends or cause friction within their families on account of politics. Enjoy the spectacle and drama, and support your preferred candidate, but don’t destroy relationships forged over time. In a fortnight, it will all be over. “Idolising a politician”, says Larinzo Mosley, “is like believing the stripper really likes you”. It’s all in a day’s (or night’s) job.
The spat between Seun Kuti and Peter Okoye is unfortunate and unnecessary; those goading them along the path of continued acrimony ought to be ashamed of themselves. Seun is entitled to his opinion. So is Peter. Both men can disagree without being disagreeable. It is not right that two accomplished musicians would become enemies because of politics. I don’t want to be judgemental because that would lead to falling into the same trap of entering the fray.
Forget all the political talk, Seun is one of the most accomplished Nigerians playing music on the global stage today. His radical views are consistent with his pedigree. It would be a shame if they weren’t. Just as it is natural for a cock to crow and a goat to bleat, one cannot be surprised that a Kuti is expressing radical views. In the same vein, Peter Okoye has paid his dues in contemporary music and is at liberty to support any presidential candidate of his choice. That, however, doesn’t have to degenerate to personal wars and name-calling.
Netizens with an appetite for strife have started lining up behind their favourite musician on either side of the divide. A mere pimple is being poked to break into an open sore. Sheath your swords, Seun and Peter. Let busybodies who want to use your names to wage their own puny wars find another fire to stoke.
When the history of the current political campaign is written, a big chapter is bound to be devoted to the use of vitriol as a campaign tool. Politicians are spewing so much bile against their opponents, most times not bothering to say anything about their manifesto at all. The logic is to de-market your opponent.
But Aminu Kano warned us many years ago to be wary because contestation over how best to serve the people is not the cause of the strife between the elite of various political persuasions. In his view, what usually plays out is a class war in various guises.
Aminu Kano speaks to us even now from his grave: “Nigeria will know no peace until the son of Nobody can become Somebody without Knowing Anybody”.
Most of the campaign speeches of the major candidates can be classified as “Your Wardrobe Is Dirtier Than Mine”. When a thief finds that he can no longer deny who he is because nobody will believe him, he labels his co-contestant a homicidal paedophilic robber! Surely, the devil must be preferable to the deep blue sea!
Already, analysts have noted that this election is going to be distinguished by its seminal lack of distinction. God bless the politicians of Nigeria’s second republic. By this time in the campaign season, the man on the street knew the major programmes of the candidates by heart. Today, it’s all about dancing, bluster, pomp and distribution of ‘Essencos’ (essential commodities).
The current presidential campaign has not had one single debate of note, principally because some of the candidates are scared of closer scrutiny. One wonders, why an applicant for a job would be scared of an interview with his employers. Our politicians love big positions; they just don’t like being interviewed for the slots.
The presidential contest will be a straight contest between Bola Tinubu, Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar. This is the first time since 1999 that we are going to witness a three-horse race. Some analysts will add Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso to the list to make it four. But he doesn’t have the momentum. His attraction as a beautiful bride will come to the fore in the event of an inconclusive first round without a clear winner.
What makes the current campaign unique is not the quantum of vitriol dispensed. That is the traditional fare. Although we haven’t had the benefit of colourful campaigners like the redoubtable Adegoke Adelabu (Penkelemeesi), KO Mbadiwe (of the timbre and calibre fame) or Mazi Mbonu Ojike (‘Boycott the boycottables’), we have been served a fair share of humour and disarming ripostes which tend to neutralise the acid of acrimony.
PDP’s Atiku Abubakar is a veteran of the game. You underrate him at your peril. Bola Tinubu of APC has an extensive network of foot soldiers. He is a political emperor of sorts who must be reckoned with. Peter Obi is the new kid on the block. Obi’s Labour Party was not on anyone’s radar until circumstances thrust him forward. It’s all so surreal and no one can blame the old guard for their unease and concerted efforts to de-market Obi.
I’ve enjoyed every bit of the political jujitsu between the other leading candidates and Obi. As far as I’m concerned, those pings and pongs represent part of the sunny side of the current presidential campaign season.
Before the campaigns picked up steam, Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State had set the ball rolling by attempting to demystify the Obi legacy in Anambra State. His verdict: Obi’s performance as Anambra governor was not spectacular and his political weight is exaggerated. While Obi’s sympathisers went for Soludo’s jugular, the man at the centre of the storm, Obi, simply said:
“He (Soludo) remains my brother, we are very close. I remain prayerful for him. For other things, which I didn’t succeed in, God has given him the opportunity to do it and succeed… I have done my little as a trader, now the professor is there, he will do his own as a professor, the schools I didn’t roof, he will roof them, that’s how government goes.”
When Atiku Abubakar declared that it would take a miracle for Obi to win the presidential elections, Obi replied: “Even if he (Atiku) abuses me publicly, I won’t reply because he is my senior… Some people think politics is about quarrelling and calling people bad names. I am not interested in that.”
Obi was Atiku’s running mate in the 2019 presidential election. On whether or not it will take a miracle to make him Nigeria’s president, Obi recalled that he contested for the governorship of Anambra State under a party that was less than one year old and that he went to court and won and went on to be the only governor to miraculously come back from impeachment. “So, I am looking forward to the next miracle,” he said.
When Bola Tinubu accused Obi of being a stingy person, Obi replied that he was thankful that nobody had accused him of corruption. He drew attention to the generational gap between his ticket and those of his rivals. “Of all the major presidential candidates, two have come (to the South-east) and gone. If you go and check their age, the first one is in his 70’s, and the second one, nobody knows his actual age… But if you compare them with the two of us (Obi and Baba-Ahmed), if you merge our age and divide it by two, we are in our 50s,” Obi stated. “Aso Rock is not a retirement home… Let people who are old look for retirement homes elsewhere.”
Again, Tinubu declared that Obi cannot be trusted because his biblical namesake, St. Peter, had denied Christ thrice. Obi had a ready response: “But Christ still made Peter leader of the Apostles and head of his church”.
In the art of jujitsu, you skilfully allow your opponent to make a move and use his weight against him in such a way that his strength becomes his weakness. Isn’t Candidate Peter Obi a fast learner?
ADIEU, MRS ADESINA
Commiserations to the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, on the glorious home-call of his family’s matriarch, Chief Mrs Eunice Olaperi Folasade Adesina, aged 92. God rest her soul.
- Wole Olaoye is a Public Relations consultant and veteran journalist. He can be reached at wole.olaoye@gmail.com, Twitter: @wole_olaoye; Instagram: woleola2021.
Editor’s Note: LM commiserates with the President, AfDB, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina on the passing away of his mother, Chief Mrs. Eunice Adesina.
