The debate is still very
much needed…Gbam!!!
Article not written by me
ooo, I culled it from Sahara Reporters. Enjoy it after the cut…
Few weeks ago, it was safe
to say that the winner of the February 14 Presidential election was anyone’s
guess, bearing in mind that the two frontrunners in the elections were – and
still are – neck-and-neck in terms of the number of core supporters they have
been able to amass. Both, however, would have – and may still be – banking on
the support of millions of undecided eligible Nigerian voters whose minds were
yet to be made up on who to support and who not to support.
At some point it all
looked like Gen. Buhari and his All Progressives Congress (APC) team would pose
a deadly serious threat to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and wreck their
chances of returning the incumbent President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to power
come May 29. But all the early good works and concerted efforts to win the
sympathy and support of the masses, and gain their votes have been undone,
almost single-handedly by the party itself.
Few weeks ago, it was safe
to say that the winner of the February 14 Presidential election was anyone’s
guess, bearing in mind that the two frontrunners in the elections were – and
still are – neck-and-neck in terms of the number of core supporters they have
been able to amass. Both, however, would have – and may still be – banking on
the support of millions of undecided eligible Nigerian voters whose minds were
yet to be made up on who to support and who not to support. Unfortunately, it
now seems that the bulk of those erstwhile undecided voters are moving further
away from the Progressives, if online sentiments and those in the streets are
anything to go by.
I’ve come across several
previously undecided voters, both online and offline, who are now almost
certain that they will camp under the Umbrella. I went ahead to require of them
what informed their decisions and almost all of them were united in their
rationales for settling for the PDP. Assuming that I queried 50 persons about
their reasons for shifting to the PDP, 45 of them told me that the APC and
Muhammadu Buhari have played into the arms of the PDP.
Now, how has the APC and
Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) played into the hands of the People's
Democratic Party?
The PDP in their campaign
trails and in their online push for reelection have never failed to remind us
of how intolerant of any form of opposition, ideological or otherwise, GMB has
been. They went as far back as his 1983-85 military regime where he put a host
of opposing voices behind bars to buttress their point. One would have expected
that the general, as a seasoned and elite politician that he is, would in
response guard his utterances and be more watchful of what he says or does in
the public and to the media, but the reverse has so far been the case.
In a protest letter
recently channeled through the legal director of the APC Presidential Campaign
Organization, Chukwuma-Machukwu Ume (SAN), General Buhari threatened to file a
lawsuit against the federal government-owned Nigerian Television Authority and
the privately owned African Independent Television for what he described as
“hate documentaries” against him that were aired in the tail end last month by
the stations, unless they retract them and issue a formal apology. Such threats
and disposition by an aspiring office holder (or even a serving office holder)
are rather uncalled for in a democratic setting. The world over, leaders and
politicians are scrutinized and castigated by the media on a daily basis and
it’s seen as part of their obligations as watchdogs in the society.
If world leaders should
file a lawsuit for every alleged calumny or supposed act of “hate” they've been
subjected to, then the mountain of lawsuits that would be filed by the likes of
Barack Obama, David Cameron, Vladimir Putin or even our very own Goodluck
Jonathan will take several generations of humanity to tackle. These leaders are
lampooned on a daily basis yet you rarely hear them threatening to sue anyone
for it. His own case shouldn't be any different. So my advice to the General is
that the sooner he develops a thick skin to withstand all the media
"assault," the better for him, because he will be receiving a
truckload of it should he eventually win.
In like manner, the
leadership of the APC is doing their presidential and vice presidential
aspirants and their image as a whole no good by backing out of a series of
debates organized by different corporate bodies and organizations within the
country in the run-up to the Valentine’s Day polls. Their no-show at the Nigerian
Elections Debate Group (NEDG)’s Vice Presidential debates and their anticipated
no-show at the presidential debates to be organized by the trio of the
Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN), Arise News and ChannelsTV
do nothing to gainsay the allegation leveled against them by the People’s
Democratic Party of being fight shy of a public face-off in which they will
have to tackle tough questions and defend their manifestos and party agenda
before Nigerians.
Though the APC has come
out to deny this allegation and have done their best to repudiate the
"dodging theory" of the PDP by citing perceived bias on the part of
the organizers of the debates as their reason for backing out, the average and
neutral Nigerian on the streets is not buying it. The rebuttal has done very
little to convince neutrals who are beginning to toe the PDP’s line. My advice
to them is that they should vet their options and come up with a positive
decision in time, before the election sets in.
For the sake of time and
space, I will stop at these. These and many more PR missteps and political
miscalculations have conspired to put the party in a precarious position and
rob them of the people's goodwill which they once owned. In an election that
will likely be decided by the undecided voters, the APC are fast losing speed
and direction. Concerted efforts must be made to repair what has already been
damaged and put their push for the country's top job back on track, else they
run the risk of losing by a wide margin at the poll.
Written By CHINEDU
RYLANFEB
Culled: SR
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