I find something in common with what Yinka Odumakin and Tunde Bakare are saying about the February elections. They sound like voices of reason.
I listened to separate interviews by two notable south west politicians – Yinka Odumakin (the activist) and Tunde Bakare (the pastor.) Both are being “accused” of discretely or openly supporting Candidate Jonathan in the 2015 presidential elections. The interviews provided them a platform to respond and to defend their positions. I found something in common with the position of both men.
Odumakin, Buhari’s spokesman in the 2011 elections, says he is
not the spokesman for Jonathan for the 2015 elections, but that he has been presented
with an option that makes it difficult for him to choose Buhari for support.
According to him, Buhari belongs to the APC, a party that does not have the
restructuring of Nigeria in its manifesto or as a matter of urgent national concern. Odumakin is interested in the
implementation of the National Conference Report. Since Buhari's APC did not believe in
the conference, did not make recommendations for and was not represented at the
meeting, and since the party has so far said nothing along the lines he needs
to hear about how this country might get it right before the February election,
he is forced to think that electing Jonathan gives him a better chance to hold the
President responsible for implementing the report – as he promises to do.
Therefore, to Odumakin, what will determine his vote is the readiness
of any of the candidates to commit to implementation of the Constitutional
Conference Report. Then he added an important caveat – if tomorrow Buhari or his
APC begins to talk about what Odumakin considers important for Nigeria right at
this moment – how to restructure the polity to introduce equity, justice and
peace – he is most likely to “move to the centre (become neutral.)”
Tunde Bakare, Buhari’s running mate in his 2011 run, says he
still supports the candidate “100%.” However, this support does not stop him
from wondering what will become of Nigeria - after the election is won and lost
in February 2015. Will the North be at peace if Jonathan wins in 2015? Will the South
South be at rest if Buhari wins in 2015? Such questions, he said, transcend the
power struggles of the moment.
According to both, it makes sense for the political
elite to consider coming together and deciding, for instance, to postpone the February
2015 election in order to put the right structure in place, which would give
Nigeria a fighting chance for survival as a united country.
I would suggest that
these are alternative voices of reason, which deserve a proper hearing.
Unfortunately, we have entered propaganda mode. Therefore it
makes sense, in the madness of the moment, for politicians to
seek to recruit any and everyone who has ever had anything to do with any of the two candidates
and their camps, and to castigate any potential recruit that dares to
present a sober reflection of where we are today and where we are heading to tomorrow.
The bulldozer of ambition is rolling across our land, in
search of naked power. And it is crushing reason and common sense along the
path.
Happy New Year.
