THE-TALE-OF-THE-AGBADO,-THE-UNIFIER,-THE-MESSAIAH-COMPLEX-AND-THE-STUDENT-UNION-PRESIDENT

The Nigerian political arena had always been a bloody warfront, with opponents playing different games, strategies, and techniques. The recent election, though, might have been arguably the hottest game to go down in the history of Nigeria.

The top three candidates; Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, representing All Progress Congress (APC), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and Mr. Peter Obi, the candidate of The Labour Party (LP), were from the three major tribes in Nigeria. These opponents played on ethnicity, religion, and emotions. The fourth candidate was Mr. Omoyele Sowore, a human rights activist.

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT) is an old Yoruba politician, no stranger to the arena of Nigerian politics. He was a master strategist and held a lot of power. However, he was aged and frail. His favorite word seemed to be ‘agbado’ - the Yoruba word for corn. He had been seen several times on national TV, spouting unintelligible utterances, many of which had been turned into skits.

BAT had also been seen several times, unable to lift his agbada without assistance. A lot had brought into question his capability to rule, but many were his ardent supporters because of tribalism and ethnocentrism, forgetting that at the end of the day, every choice had a consequence.

BAT’s decision to appoint a fellow Muslim as his vice also raised a lot of eyebrows. The Christians felt excluded and viewed it as a plot to ‘Islamize’ the nation. Some supporters of BAT- the Batified, turned a blind eye to that and even wrote long unintelligent epistles to justify his actions. The traditionalists had a good laugh at that as they had long been shoved aside and ignored, even as the original owners of the country.

Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is a northern man with several wives, which earned him the title, ‘unifier’. That was hilarious because in the many years of his political endeavors, only his serial marriages got him the title. Many supported him because he was a northerner and/or Muslim. His supporters called themselves Atikulated.

Peter Obi, amongst all candidates, adopted a fresh technique that appealed to the youths and Nigerian neoliberals. He put on the cloak of the messiah - the Moses that would take Nigeria out of Egypt. He attended several interviews and had a supportive crowd called The Obidients, who at times, could be mindless zombies.

Most Nigerians had forgotten that he was in the same party as Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and the only reason he came out of PDP was that he was not selected as the running candidate.

He had proclaimed that the people were the structure of his structure-less party, running around, taking pictures, and traveling around to learn how to supposedly develop Nigeria. His approach to tackling Nigeria’s problems was to micro-manage, which did not really solve anything.

Thanks to Peter Obi, the IPOB had relented their voices and were willing to endure a united Nigeria, but only if Peter Obi were the president.

Omoyele Sowore, on the other hand, is a human rights activist with no prior experience in politics. He loved to criticize the present government. In an idealist country, he might have made a good leader, but if wishes were horses, everyone would ride.

He was the closest candidate to being socialist. He seemed passionate about the country, but he had hung his activism cloak. He wanted to change the system, but he was quite naive. He was arguably the most liberal candidate, but he could not survive the heat of Nigerian politics. Many thought he was reaching too far for the Presidency without climbing the political ladder.

The recent election was bloody and revolutionary, as predicted. It marked a change in the entire history of Nigeria, both negative and positive, depending on the side of the coin.

Everyone was tensed and hopeful that their preferred candidates would win. The political cabals plotted beneath the scenes to pave a path for their candidate.

In the long run, almost all these candidates were in the same social group, protecting their interests over the citizens as the power was and had always been in their circle.