Politics

Third Force:The Farce And Fiasco Of The Fight

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Past Nigerian leaders

<p><&excl;-- BEGIN THEIA POST SLIDER --><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad4" id&equals;"quads-ad4" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p><div class&equals;"pfcZj24B" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<&excl;-- TV --> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"4399361195" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"auto" &NewLine; data-full-width-responsive&equals;"true"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>By Bala Ibrahim&period;<&sol;p><div class&equals;"UEqmSsoW" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<&excl;-- TV --> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"4399361195" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"auto" &NewLine; data-full-width-responsive&equals;"true"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>The Third Force is claiming to be a movement that is coming as a political alternative to the All Progressives Congress&comma; APC&comma; and the Peoples Democratic Party&comma; PDP&period; The aim they say&comma; is to rescue Nigeria from the mis-governance of the two major parties that have been in control since 1999&period; To achieve that&comma; the movement is going into alliance with prominent people across different political parties&comma; amongst whom are Prof&period; Attahiru Jega of the People’s Redemption Party&comma; Prof&period; Pat Utomi of the Labour Party&comma; Senator Saidu Dansadau of the National Rescue Movement&comma; and Eng&period; Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of the New Nigerian People’s Party&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>With the exception of Prof&period; Attahiru Jega&comma; who migrated from the classroom to the national electoral umpire&comma; before mutating to the new status of a practical political actor&comma; the rest have all had attempts at contesting elections&comma; with Eng&period; Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso as the most tested among them&period; Yes&comma; Kwankwaso was a Deputy Speaker House of Reps&comma; Governor&comma; Senator and now the Presidential candidate of the New Nigerian People’s Party&period; So as far as political positions are concerned&comma; he has more mileage than all of them&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But how far can they go&comma; looking at the complexities of the Nigerian political terrain&comma; especially as some of them are just theoreticians&comma; who have been looking at Nigeria’s political problems from the text books only&quest; Do they have the capacity to change the narrative&comma; or is it going to be a farce that may end up as a fiasco fight&quest;<&sol;p><div class&equals;"aYZoxPrl" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block&semi; text-align&colon;center&semi;" &NewLine; data-ad-layout&equals;"in-article" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"fluid" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"6550225277"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;nigeriantracker&period;com&sol;2022&sol;05&sol;24&sol;ipob-its-not-too-late-for-the-south-east-to-fight-terrorism&sol;">IPOB&colon; It’s not too late for the South East to fight terrorism<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad4" id&equals;"quads-ad4" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>With the exception of Kano&comma; where Kwankwaso is waxing strong&comma; almost everywhere&comma; the alliance is yet to attract the needed traction&comma; or the ambience of a political force that can change anything&comma; despite the engagement of the leadership of the Labour Movement and the Labour Party&comma; including the NLC President&comma; Mr&period; Ayuba Wabba and the President of the Trade Union Congress&comma; TUC&comma; Quadri Olaleye&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad1" id&equals;"quads-ad1" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Through alliances and mergers&comma; especially with the NLC&comma; the third force is having the ambition of benefitting from the coming together of various political interest groups and supporters nationwide&comma; who&comma; if things work according to plans&comma; are expected to combine their strength to rescue power at the centre and the periphery&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We are particularly enthused by the nonpartisan strategic nature of the Labour Party&comma; as a People-centered&comma; Pan Nigerian political platform that can inclusively serve the interests of all Nigerians irrespective of their ethnic&comma; religious and social inclinations&semi; in uniting the country towards a momentous development that can accommodate and serve the diversities of Nigeria&period;”-a member of the third force&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>If we go by previous experiences of such alliances&comma; particularly with what had happened in Kano&comma; which is a good political laboratory for many experiments&comma; only the naive&comma; with evident lack of experience&comma; wisdom&comma; or good sense of judgement&comma; would submit to the likelihood of success in such an arrangement&period; History has always made such alliances to end up as a farce and fiasco of a fight&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>There is a particular cliché that is circulating in the social media&comma; perhaps embellishing the weakness or authority of such alliances and their relevance to successive elections in Kano&period; The cliché says&comma; if you’re not from Kano&comma; it will be difficult to understand Kano politics&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;In 2015&comma; it was Kwankwaso &plus; Ganduje against Shekarau&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In 2019&comma; it was Shekarau &plus; Ganduje against Kwankwaso&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In 2023 it’s going to be Kwankwaso &plus; Shekarau against Ganduje&&num;8221&semi;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>If we go by the antecedents of the above arithmetic&comma; we can see that where there is no crisis of confidence and credibility&comma; no matter the collective power of the coalition&comma; the people always vote according to the dictates of their conscience&comma; which is always in support of credibility&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>With the choice of Gawuna as the candidate for governorship in Kano&comma; and his commendable credibility&comma; humility and attested modesty&comma; the force of the third force against him may turn out to be a farce&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But&comma; depending on who emerged as the candidate for the Kano central senatorial zone in the APC&comma; where Sardaunan Kano&comma; Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau is going into the contest for the second time&comma; this time under the platform of the third force&comma; with his huge credentials of credibility&comma; yes&comma; the force of the third force may force a pre-eminence&period; It would only take a candidate of high moral and ethical credentials to defeat the Sardauna at that election&period; Anything to the contrary&comma; is a goal for the third force&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>However&comma; unless Kwankwaso is banking on something out of the ordinary&comma; if we are to work with the visible and conventional electoral indices&comma; the chances of the NNPP wrestling power at the presidency can at best be described as a farce&comma; and at worse a fiasco&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But again&comma; there is always the silent factor in Nigeria’s elections&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Bala Ibrahim is a Journalist and public affairs commentator<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><&excl;-- END THEIA POST SLIDER -->&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad5" id&equals;"quads-ad5" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"autorelaxed" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"1004305389"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad3" id&equals;"quads-ad3" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;

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