“The Muslim-Muslim or Christian-Christian ticket is a difficult and slippery area. So, what I will say is that the political office holders should look at the heartbeat of the country as well as the desires of the people. Politicians should know that they are not there for themselves. They are there for all of us. They should ask and make their researches about what the nation wants. They should ask and make their researches on what the country wants, what the people want; if they listen to the people, we will be confident that they will listen to us when they get there …,” – Pastor W. F. Kumuyi, Daily Post of 22nd June 2022
There was sometimes a discussion around a highly controversial subject while studying at the then University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Nigeria. It was in the early eighties. One of my classmates at the then Civil Engineering Department of the great citadel of learning waded in with a whimsical saying of Igbo origin by saying: “it is only a man with a one-legged wife that knows how he sleeps with his wife.” This succinct and salient statement abruptly sounded the death knell of whatever argument on the hot topic as virtually all of us began pondering and reflecting on the profound proverb. This brings me to the hot subject streaming in the social, print and electronic media space as well as within the country’s political circles regarding the issue of picking the vice-presidential candidate of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the presidential flagbearer of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). It is interesting and intriguing that when his counterpart in the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, made his own choice publicly known, there was such hoopla to the extent some tagged and termed Governor Ifeanyi Okowa as a betrayer. Are there some things these political leaders and their inner caucuses and circles are seeing and the rest of the followers are not perceiving? The hoopla and hullabaloo that heralded the unveiling of Senator Kashim Shettima as the vice-presidential flag bearer of the APC was much more than that of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa. Muslim-Muslim ticket is both sickening and sourly to some sections of the citizenry who are still bugged, burdened and bothered with so much religious reservations even in matters of politics.
The Tinubu That Tinkers …
Aftermath of the memorable June 2014 gubernatorial election in Ekiti, this columnist was conferring with my brother and friend, Segun Ayobolu, erstwhile close aide of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He was so enraptured with my ethnographic capturing of the election that he demanded that I accompany him to Bourdillon, the house of Jagaban Borgu, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as he would be there that weekend. However, he pointedly stated: “Would you be able to say all these when you get to Bourdillon?” I retorted in the affirmative. Expectedly, Ayobolu called me and off we set from different locations in Lagos. We met there. There were many coming and going out with more people streaming in than out! To my surprise, he would come out at intervals to apologize for keeping us waiting and that he would attend to all of us. As a researcher, I was not only waiting but watching ethnographically. At one point, he looked round and my face was the only seemingly strange one to which I quickly responded that I was there at the instance of my friend, Ayobolu. It was getting to around 6pm, Asiwaju came out from the inner room and said, it was time to eat and I was surprised that he invited all of us remaining in the big sitting room to join him at a big oval dining table that up to around 14 to 16 people could sit round. Chefs came demanding our choices. I was pleasantly surprised! Then, we, as Asians do, for this columnist sojourned among them for seven years, were eating and talking serious stuff with many notable figures on that table, even still relevant in the political calculation of today. The Ekiti election came in.
This columnist listened with rapt attention to leaders speaking one after the other, Then, I interjected unexpectedly, albeit with much reference knowing the calibre of men within the context I was emplaced. Immediately, Asiwaju’s listening instinct was aroused and activated as signalled by his body language. Then, I saliently and succinctly stated: “It seems in Nigeria, nay Africa, leaders think for followers thinking the followers’ leaning, longing and yearning are not vital!” He cast a furtive glance at this columnist and responded swiftly that in the context of Ekiti, he actually sent in men to conduct a survey and the report he got, which would not be divulged here, was not really depicting the loss recorded by the candidate of the APC in that election. Nigerians later knew all the rigmarole that played out during the President Goodluck Jonathan era in ensuring by all means that the PDP candidate won that election. All have been consigned to history. However, why go this route and how related is it to the topic of this piece?
Muslim-Muslim Mandate
There are seemingly many discordant and deafening voices vehemently raised against the Muslim-Muslim ticket adopted by the ruling APC. The main vociferous and vehement voices of the Christian faith had overtly opposed this move severally. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) would not tolerate such a “match-making” at the apex of leadership for any political party as they consider it demeaning and denigrating to their faith. In all the much ado about the choice of a vice-presidential candidate within the ruling party, there has been three voices of reason, within the Christian leaders, in the seeming unfolding scenario. As at June 22nd, General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church, the highly revered Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi stated inter alia: “The Muslim-Muslim or Christian-Christian ticket is a difficult and slippery area. So, what I will say is that the political office holders should look at the heartbeat of the country as well as the desires of the people. Politicians should know that they are not there for themselves. They are there for all of us. They should ask and make their researches about what the nation wants. They should ask and make their researches on what the country wants, what the people want; if they listen to the people, we will be confident that they will listen to us when they get there (sic),” – Pastor W. F. Kumuyi, Daily Post. In essence, the revered clergy and mathematician was calling for possible research study to be conducted to mine the mood and mind of the followers (electorates) and not just thinking for the followers the aspirants aspire to lead. Secondly, the highly referred Bishop of Sokoto Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church, Dr. Matthew Hassan Kukah, opinionated that Asiwaju Tinubu’s choice should be viewed as a team selection and, logically, people will take responsibility for their choices. He stated simply and squarely in his own words: “This is what you call team selection and everybody will choose depending on what they think will give them a fair chance. So people will take responsibility for the choices they have made. For me, it is not something to lose sleep over, …” Thirdly, the seemingly controversial pentecostal pastor who is the founder of Embassy of the Blessed Kingdom of God for All Nations Kyiv, Ukraine, Europe, Pastor Sunday Adelaja, glossed past the hotly debated topic fixating on the Muslim-Muslim ticket of Tinubu and Shettima. Pastor Sunday Adelaja, in a widely publicized piece, adduced ten reasons that would enthrone the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as the sixteen President of Nigeria come 29th May 2023. In his own words, he stated inter alia: “During the APC convention while younger men were falling asleep, Tinubu was agile all night. Following his victory at the convention we can all see how he has been galloping from one state to another. No one out of the candidates have been as hard working and busy as he is. His close associates talk about how Tinubu outworks all of them, working 14 to 20 hours every day. What else do people want for Christ’s sake? My take is this: as long as Mr. Tinubu is sharp mentally, so long as he can see clearly as a visionary, we need his leadership before he leaves us to a better world. We shouldn’t waste the huge potential and life experiences that he carries inside (sic).”
Time To Task Tinubu
In concluding this piece of the “Followership Challenge”, it is imperative and instructive on the part of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to make some strategic, smart and savvy moves. In my earlier televised appearances on TVC and writings in this column, I had harped on the need to consult widely, especially zeroing on Christians leaders. Asiwaju has many positive attributes in this direction if strategically and sagaciously pursued looking at his antecedents in Lagos. He had array of savvy minds in his cabinet of both faiths – Christians and Islam – and many of multiethnic background. He was the first helmsman in Nigeria to initiate Annual Thanksgiving Service yearly in which virtually the highly revered General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye preaches. This bespeaks magnanimity, large-heartedness and tolerance. It has not ceased; in fact, I was present with my wife in the edition of this year where Baba Adeboye gave a short but powerful exhortation. Moreover, the wife of Asiwaju, the distinguished Senator Oluremi Tinubu, is an ordained Assistant Pastor (minister) in the RCCG and one that is very close to virtually all top-ranking ministers of God nationally. What is Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to do? In Yoruba common parlance, it is said by elders that: “elegbo lo se lanka-lanka to alabe lo” (meaning: it is the man that carries a putrefying or odoriferous sore that saunters towards a medicine man (surgeon)). It is high time Asiwaju Tinubu ate the humble pie in initiating a frank tête-à-tête with the leaders of CAN and PFN regarding his choice and mandate. There is the need to douse the tension and correct the notion that Christians would be marginalized; terrorism would be heightened, and there is virtually nothing in it for the Church if he eventually emerges as the next President of Nigeria. The discourse and dialogue should be frank and end in what Asians referred to as a win-win scenario, after all, after the Vice President slot, if he eventually wins, there are other positions that Christians could be placated or pacified with provided there is a display of sincerity, humility and empathy in the tête-à-tête, and not just in circumventing the Christian faith with a view to win election especially in the midst of escalating and excruciating insecurity hurting the country even though the present Muslim-Christian ticket of the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Pastor Yemi Osinbajo could not resolve the seemingly intractable killings, kidnappings, farmers-herders clashes, destruction of homesteads and farmlands, etc. Asiwaju Tinubu should not wait but watchfully waddle through the waters to cross over to the other side. The time to act is now, delay is dangerous!
John Ekundayo, Ph.D. – Harvard-Certified Leadership Strategist, and also a Development Consultant, can be reached via 08155262360 (SMS only) and drjmoekundayo@hotmail.com