The waters of politics the world over have always been inherently murky. But the Nigerian political waters is especially not only treacherously murky with the threat of physical annihilation as a real accomplice, but reeks of nauseating and suffocating stench, no thanks to its chronic lack of ennobling ideals or patriotic altruism in which the ingredients that advances the socio-economic conditions of the greatest number of people for the greatest good are incubated. Yet, politics, most especially in a democracy, is that art that one who knows what it should produce cannot afford not to engage in either as an active or passive participant.
Because it’s the foundation upon which all the other human constructs that determines those conditions that affects human existence are built, the mastery of the art of politics, as well as its science, becomes of utmost importance. But in a largely primitive hunter-gatherer status of a society such as we have in Nigeria, it should be considered almost criminal for the politically conscious and discerning minds not to intervene and interrogate politics, its processes and its practitioners because of what seems to be the natural predilection of these practitioners for primitive acquisitions and the harnessing of power for its sake rather than to have been drawn by higher ideals that ensures social engineering for the betterment of the people through robust policy interventions and socially and economically-uplifting laws.
This writer found out that Nigeria’s political waters can indeed be treacherously murky following the spate of calls and text messages received in the aftermath of an article that was published in The Nation on Sunday, July 17, 2016 entitled “APC and the gathering storm in Ondo” in which an unscientific but objectively subjective analysis was made about some aspirants in order to deepen the political discourse in the governorship election slated for later in the year, precisely on November 26 in the state. While some of the aspirants who were put under close scrutiny in the article respected my opinion of them even though they didn’t entirely agree with my final submission as they drew my attention to what they thought was my omission that should have been reiterated, some of their supporters who knew how to contact me were not so kind with words.
But I had to also reiterate to them not to lose sight of the kernel of my epistle that predicates on my strong believe in party supremacy that should have the ‘right of way’ to have its preference among the aspirants, my adherence to the North Senatorial district from where the flag bearer should be produced in accordance with the time-tested precedence based on equity and fairness and, more importantly, my conviction that morality should begin to have a place of pride in our body politic from this point on. The other pedestal upon which my analysis that appeared to have favoured Robert Ajayi Borofice rests is my belief that winning and forming the next government of the sunshine state must be the fundamental objective and directive principle of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and nothing should be taken for granted. Therefore, all impediments against the accomplishment of this overarching objective that can be humanly foreseen must be swiftly removed forthwith without fear or favour.
While it’s heartening that there was indication that the piece further deepened the political discourse of the state from which I was issued despite that some so-called loyalists of some of the aspirants resorted to uncouth words probably because they lack the mental depth, if not the cognitive reasoning to think deeper beyond their base and primordial instincts, but I wasn’t prepared for what appears to be very strong resistance to the emergence of Senator Robert Ajayi Boroffice in whom the conclusion of my article had favoured by some of the aspirants and other stakeholders in the state should he become the candidate. It was a rude shock to me. The resistance to Senator Boroffice to fly the party’s flag even if he gathered most of the delegate’s votes in a fair, credible and transparent primary is not only disturbing for me, but that the magnitude of the resistance speaks to the imminent fractionalization of the party after the primaries that the party can ill-afford going into the gubernatorial election.
One of the aspirants that spoke with me was very livid at the mention of the senator’s prospect that I had to remind him if he realised the implication of what he said when he told me that he would tell his supporters to vote for a PDP candidate rather than to assist Senator Boroffice in getting to the Alagbaka government house. It was such a profound statement. Another aspirant said anybody but Boroffice as the party leadership will never be able to convince him to work with the senator if he becomes the flag bearer. There seems to be a groundswell of opposition to Boroffice emergence even when the aspirants will needlessly teach each other apart at every available opportunity. It was such an ominous sign.
It should be stated here that there’s no credible evidence that the leadership is in favour of a particular aspirant, but it’s generally understood that the party is predisposed to someone with political and legislative experience of which Senator Boroffice stands shoulder above all the other contestants as a sitting senator who has also demonstrated his unalloyed loyalty to the party. But the leadership may have arrived at a critical juncture where it must treat the Ondo primary with deft and introspection. This is especially important since the leadership has indicated its unflinching desire to get things right in Ondo this time around because it’s a state that must be won.
While it’s not expected that the party reads the riot act to the aspirants outside the North Senatorial district to accept whoever emerges from the district as that will be considered tacky, those of us who are the independent voices among the party’s committed foot soldiers must not shy from shouting that the interest of the party will be further enhanced if other aspirants outside this district will not only cease and desist their aspirations to the exalted office, but even those aspirants from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) who are from the North Senatorial district should leave the contest to the organic members of the party and should therefore draw down their campaigns from henceforth. It’s also especially important that one continues to shout from the rooftop if we perceive anything more likely to inhibit the chances of the party at the polls. Some of the danger signals are complacency among the APC adherents which may have been exacerbated by lack of pecuniary gains that the polity is used to in a time like this, the lack of rigorous appraisal of the realities in the field on the part of the leadership about aspirants and the working at cross purposes by some of the key players in the progressive party in the state.
Even the political dynamics in the northern senatorial district keeps changing like the weather. While the recent endorsement of Chief Olusegun Abraham by the Akoko Elders Association of the Ondo State All Progressives Congress (APC) is without doubt a major boost to the aspiration of the water engineer who’s also one of the few committed and passionately loyal member of the progressive party, the Elders may have also made it inadvertently known, if not unequivocally clear that aspirants from the other half of the senatorial district, Akoko South, from whence Senator Ajayi Boroffice was issued may have to jettison their aspirations. This posses another political dilemma for the leadership in which tact and moral suasion may be needed for Boroffice to see reason for the sake of the party and the larger objective of winning the governorship election.
Even though one may not have the slightest idea how Senator Boroffice will take it if he were to be persuaded by the leadership to step down once again as he did in 2012, but as a committed loyalist who has always taken his cue from the party before deciding on his political engagement and more so since his emergence as the party’s flag bearer will most definitely polarise the party—which it can ill-afford—more than any other aspirants, a “two-aspirants solution” may have to be adopted going into the primary election. What this solution entails is for Chief Abraham to represent the Akoko axis of the senatorial district especially now that he has been endorsed by the all-important Akoko Elders Association of APC while Rotimi Akeredolu will represent the Owo/Ose axis for the delegates to choose from in the primary election that comes up later in the month.
- Femi Odere is a media practitioner.