Muhammad Suleiman Abdullahi

There are a lot of good things that should have happened to Nigeria but such good things were and are still averted by Nigerians who feel threatened by others. Our collective psyches teach us to be myopic and to lack reason. These make us to promote selfishness, ethnic chauvinism or even some other worldly material gains at the expense of best public interest.

Now that Kwankwaso/Obi ticket has been ethnically killed, I am happy that it didn’t come to fruition as it would have been disastrous to the nation as Obi supporters are turning into something else. Now that it didn’t happen, it left behind some issues to ponder about, especially on our reasoning that it shouldn’t have even been thought of in the first place. It left us with no hope as to the politicians we see who are a sort of “young” bloods when compared to those whose real age, patriotism, source of wealth and health status are all not certain.

All of us in the North, without an iota of doubt, believe that Kwankwaso is by far, better than Obi. Infact they are not even comparable in whatever capacity. From the academic credentials to practical experience, national spread, political platform and even patriotism. However, one irony about the ticket was that, the way Northerners believe in Kwankwaso is equally the way those South Easterners believe that Obi is better. They believe that Obi is the only answer. In their bid to justify that, they reduced Kwankwaso to pieces, saying that he is over ambitious. This is where they woefully failed. This was what made the thought of bringing the ticket even more worrisome.

Obi’s suporters shouldn’t be blamed, as the country is programed as such. People only know and promote he who they are so much close too, naturally. What will happen if this natural knowledge is mixed with bitter secessionists’ sentiments and arrogance that beclouded their thought of anything if not theirs?

There are some reasons why Kwankwaso shouldn’t have even thought of Obi. Probably Kwankwaso did that out of nationalism and another way of garnering support from the other end, but one thing Kwankwaso failed to realize was that, Obi’s candidature was no long his own. It had long been hijacked by a fake Christiandom, Obidients/OBiafrans and other disgruntled politicians from the other end. However, some points should be considered here.

1) The way Nigeria is; a country with such a vivid religious divide, with Muslims as the majority and Christians with a significant number, the Christians must definitely feel offended if they do not feature as number two, if not number one in the country. In this case, someone may say that, democracy is, to some extent, a hoax. If not, why shouldn’t majority carry the board all the time? But in Nigeria’s situation, Christians are many and they would feel somehow alinieted by Muslim/Muslim ticket.

Therefore, it will be a sort of miscalculation for anyone to ask Obi to deputize instead of being the lead. Christians may not take it lightly. They have already fought the Muslim/Muslim ticket and failed and now the only option left for some of them, shouldn’t be tempted or played with. Therefore, looking at it from this angle it was a very bad idea right from the beginning. Reuben Abati confirmed this in an interview when he opined that, during one of their talks about Kwankwaso/Obi, he asked one single question! And the answer to that question, given to him by the NNPP representatives convinced him that the Kwankwanso/Obi arrangement was dead on arrival.

According to him, he asked them, is it fair, that after a Northener – and may be a Muslim – finishes his 8 year tenure, for another Northerner to rule again immediately? He said the Kwankwanso/NNPP representatives responded that, that is not an issue to be disturbed with. This is their point of reasoning which should be understood.

Another point is the regional affiliation. This doesn’t give much but many Southerners may prefer to have someone healthier than Tinubu, not minding his religion the way the Northerners do. Here, Obi as the lead may be more appealing to them.

On the other hand, there is an issue of Igbo presidency. In real sense Igbo politicians have been too stubborn, divisive and too much regional in their approaches to national discourse. They always create problems for themselves, to which Obi’s candidature is part of. You can’t disown your country, engage in series of treasonable felonies, condone crimes and support terrorism against your nation and then think you would be trusted. The idea of rallying behind Obi as the only source of salvation is another mistake made by the Igbos. It will make them more stubborn or more alienated. If Obi fails – which will likely happen, some of those overzealous OBiafrans who now threaten all those who talk against Obi will surely be more stubborn and restless. And the mainstream politicians would put them aside as they know they are inconsequential.

Now that the ticket has been killed and most commentators agree that even if it had happened, it wouldn’t change anything. The real fight is seen to be between the two giansts. Now both camps should sheath their swords and forge ahead.

Kwankwaso and his supporters should continue to aim high. Merging with anyone among the two major parties cannot produce result and going alone is not the solution. Madugu and his team should think within and outside the box and come with real solution.

As for Obi’s real supporters, the real Obidients, they should learn tolerance and know that Nigeria is not Imo, Abia or Enugu. Two state’s votes in the North can be equal to the total number of states in the entire South East region in terms of everything and more. This is based on the latest voter statistics released by the Independent National Electoral Commission which showed that the North has more voters registered in the Continuous voter registration that ended last Sunday.

Therefore, these #OBidients, including the OBiafrans among them, should be more civil, tolerant and open minded. They should interact well with others and show decorum in their manners and shouldn’t allow the #OBiafrans to always lead them.

@muhammadunfagge
muhammadunfagge@yahoo.com