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24—SATURDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 26, 2022 It was one of those invitations you couldn’t but honour. It was the engagement of a friend’s child.He is not just a friend. He is more. He is someone whose opinion I cherish because he will say it the way he sees it without mincing words.Our paths crossed when I was twelve and he was thirteen and have remained interwoven since then. I knew about the lady by his side long before she became his wife and the mother of his children. I knew his childrenas they were being delivered into the world including the one whose engagement and wedding invitations lay on the table.Invitations that haunted me with their presence. Ordinarily, attending the functions should be a joy and something to look forward to except that I had shut down on social gatherings since Covid19 -my children say Covid19 is just a convenient excuse since I started shutting down on outings long before Covid19 anyway. But its hardly a tenable reason to give this kind of friend – there is no tenable excuse to give a close friend and brother for skipping his son’s engagement. But every time I saw those cards my heartbeatquickened to the point of palpitation. Yet, I knew the days would pass. Somehow. It didn’t help that the venue for the engagement was Akute in Ogun State. I had heard of the place but never had cause to go there. And in my current semi-reclusive state, I hesitate to go to places I have long been to for fear of changed landmarks.Places I have never visited just fill me with a kind of trepidation which is more than the usual fear of the unknown. The almighty Google map didn’t help as the names of places and streets that came up were unfamiliar to me. I feared what a wrong turning would mean. Images of police checkpoints at every unsuspecting corner; of Local Government ‘Officials’ lurking around to catch ‘unwise’ motorists taking The 'Other Side' of town a newly created ‘one-way’; of undulating roads of craters and gullies that would sometimes lead to cul-desacs flashed through my mind. I asked my driver if he knew the way to Akute. He said he had heard of the name but had no idea how to get there. I sighed. Then some three days to The current Governor would also rely on their votes. It is a shame really because what one sees is an absence of governance. It is not in Akute alone. It is in almost every Ogun State town that spills into Lagos. Those who think the problem is in Aso Rock alone should take a look at Ogun State the time, a n o t h e r childhood friend called to say an airconditioned bus was being arranged for Akute. It would take off in Ikeja. Was I interested? It was God sent. I started l o o k i n g forward to the trip knowing that the bus would be peopled by friends and classmates some of whom I hadn’t seen for a while; knowing the trip would be full of jokes and banters all the way. But more importantly, knowing I had become a passenger and not a pathfinder. I was in an upbeat mood as we passed placesI knew but had not passed through for a while. We passed Ogba industrial Estate. Wide and well tarred, the road was better than I remember it. Acme Road brought some fond memories. Alhaji Jakande’s press where I printed a weekly magazine for a while, was around the place. Ojodu Road had even fonder memories. I had an office off the road some three decades ago. Try as I could, I couldn’t locate the turning to where Prime People Magazine was housed in the late 80s. To think I drove on that road everyday for a couple of years! The sheer concentration of people and shops had overtaken the once sleepy road of the 80s.As we passed Ojodu Berger into Alagbole, the scenery changed imperceptibly but surely. It looked slightly rural. But It did not have the freshness and space of a rural area. Yet, it had its poverty. It was inescapable as it stared you in the face wherever you looked – the dusty roads, the faded wears, the vacant looks, the disheveled mienall led to a general aura of despair. The shops and stalls were tiny and tightly compressed together – yet you had the feeling that people worked, lived and slept in those cubicles. The congested markets spilled into the streets in places. As we moved inland, we felt more than poverty. We felt neglect as we saw people who were trying hard to survive. Our brothers and sisters from the northern part of the country were seen in clusters. Places that looked like ‘home’ to them were not more than sheds for goats or cattle. This caused someone in the bus to pass a comment on the abysmal condition. Another retorted that it was probably better than where they were coming from and that this was their kind of ‘Japa’. Down south, they would find jobs however menial. Up north, it would be nothing but crime. To say the roads were tortuous is an understatement. We got to a point where the road divided into two. More than once, I thanked God that I didn’t have my vehicle on the road. It is hard to believe that this area has a Local Government Councilor. Or thatit has representatives in the two Legislative Chambers. These people come from among them. Next year, these representatives would rely on their votes. The current Governor would also rely on their votes. It is a shame really because what one sees is an absence of governance. It is not in Akute alone. It is in almost every Ogun State town that spills into Lagos. Those who think the problem is in Aso Rock alone should take a look at Ogun State. Most of the inner roads around Shagamu, a major city in Ogun State, are deplorable. Ogun State serves as the poultry basket for Lagos yet most of poultry farms are yet to be connected to the grid. The bad roads and the current cost of diesel take their toll on production costs. Yet government knows how to collect taxes from them.The politicians know how to sweet talk them when they want votes. My trip to Akute was an experience worth having – the journey back was even more tortuous as workers had closed and the tiny roads were clogged with cars and motorcycles. But that is a story for another day. Living in the low density areas of Lagos and Abuja will not give one an idea of how rough life is for those who claim to live in the ‘city’ but who actually live in the satellite towns around the State and Federal capitals. It does not give us an idea of how insensitive and callous our political leaders are to their plight. The electoral cycle is here again telling us that if we want a change in the way we are being treated, we must vote for a change. When two weeks ago Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar bumped into one another at the Abuja Airport, greeting one another cheerfully, some of their ignorant supporters may have been very aghast. How come the men we are fighting for are smiling and sharing banters, the very ignorant supporters may have wondered. But certainly not the knowledgeable supporters who know the secret past deals between two of the most pre-eminent political wheeler-dealers of their generation. That these two men share bonds within and outside the political arena is not in doubt. Their collaborations against Third Term and in the 2006/ 7 presidential campaign of Atiku are historical recollections of their plots against President Olusegun Obasanjo. Your correspondent recollects the presence of officials, and notably media handlers from the Lagos State Government who were embedded in the Atiku traveling party during that 2006/7 election season. The Lagos men and women, however, abruptly disappeared not too long into the campaign and it was only later that we got to learn of a falling out between Tinubu and Atiku over the Muslim-Muslim ticket that the former Lagos State governor desired. However, it has now emerged that despite their political differences and rivalry that the two men remain business partners. So, whatever it is that Festus Keyamo and Reno Omokiri may say about their respective principals, it is something that no one should take to the bank as defining the thoughts of either Tinubu or Atiku. However, when it comes to Peter Obi, it is certain that the same camaraderie is totally absent. Why Tinubu and Atiku are collaborating against Obi Indeed, it is now being insinuated that there may be a collaboration between the PDP and APC campaigns to shoot down Peter Obi at all costs. The insidious attacks against Peter Obi by the Atiku and Tinubu campaigns have been particularly revealing. Both campaigns seem to have taken a particular interest in assaulting the personality of Peter Obi. Reno Omokri, a former aide of President Goodluck Jonathan who had been thought to be a pastor in California appears to the discomfort of some to have developed a new ministry of faultfinding around Obi. While Reno Omokri shoots from the PDP corner, Chief Femi Fani- Kayode another man who has been apt to quote scripture to project his political beliefs has also relentlessly attacked Obi on behalf of the Tinubu campaign. The reason for the relentless assault on Obi was apparent to the discerning and undiscerning earlier this week. An opinion poll conducted by an independent body that appeared to be the most comprehensive poll of the intentions of voters put Obi ahead of Tinubu and Atiku among the rural population. The poll conducted by Nexiter, a policy advisory body, is sobering for the APC and PDP candidates as it not only puts Obi at the lead, it also rubbishes what had been the soothing comfort of many of their supporters that Obi was only popular among urban voters. Some may also ask, if the rural voters are immune to the pains of e c o n o m i c deprivation and s e c u r i t y challenges that have befuddled most of the nation. However, when it comes to Peter Obi, it is certain that the same camaraderie is totally absent. Indeed, it is now being insinuated that there may be a collaboration between the PDP and APC campaigns to shoot down Peter Obi at all costs Besides the erosion of the PDP base in the Southeast and the South-South, Omokri and others in the Atiku camp according to the Nexiter poll would be seriously displeased to find out that Obi has also encroached into the North. Though the poll found Atiku as the preference for the majority of voters in the Northeast and Northwest, Obi on the other hand dominates in the North Central. The Tinubu campaign would also not be pleased to discover that the Southwest base of their man is also being penetrated by Obi who is pulling a strong second in the region. The pains of the Tinubu campaign are not assuaged by the fact that the poll showed that Atiku remains the favourite of Nigerian Muslims in the North. The inclination of the Northern Muslims for one of their own is despite the adoption of the Muslim-Muslim ticket by Tinubu. Tinubu may well see that the choice of the Muslim-Muslim ticket as a costly error given that it may not have won him any serious advantage as Northern Muslims incline themselves towards their own, Atiku. Even more perniciously, Christians would have been peeved by his readiness to adopt the Muslim-Muslim ticket for political expediency. The dislocation of the political permutations of the established political actors in the PDP and APC by the Obidient Movement is no doubt a serious blow that may have led the two forces into the personal attacks that we now see directed against Obi. For your correspondent and many others who had followed the pastoral ministry of Omokri, seeing him huff and puff these days about Peter Obi is rather disconcerting. It is even worse seeing the equally vociferous Obidients reply Reno Omokri with past posts of his endorsement of Peter Obi. Sacrificing spiritual and moral ethos is the painful price some people pay for their temporal political goals.
Cyprian Ekwensi’s Jagua Nana lived in the 1950s Lagos. Jagwa woman, as she called herself to summon her spell, was an ageing but enchanting prostitute who longed to marry an innocent, ambitious young boy. Handsome Freddie, aware that his future didn’t belong to the cougar, yet couldn’t resist her offerings. Jagua professed undying love to the boy but did nothing to hide her lecherousness from him. She didn’t see the hollowness of her apologies. After frolicking the entire Lagos, she would settle down with him. That was her plan. From the proceeds of prostitution, she picked up the bills of his proposed foreign education. A down payment for her love. When she noticed his interest in a younger girl, she unleashed her fury and tore up his travel papers. The wrath of a jilted prostitute. That was the extent she went to prevent him from having other liaisons despite her naked career. Whenever the boy protested her overbearingness and promiscuity by pulling away from her, Jagua would find him and test his fortitude. He never could resist her spell. The spell of ageing but a predatory and voluptuous woman. The domination of the Nigerian political scene by a certain group of politicians in more ways than one seems a replay of the incongruous cringeworthy relationship between Jagua and Freddie. Ageing and illicitly wealthy politicians, against all odds, dominate a space overwhelmingly peopled by loud, vibrant youths. The sagging politicians always make fresh promises to turn new leaves but remain irredeemably dissolute. The infatuation of the youths with the old politicians is inexplicable because they are fed up and ashamed of their Our political Jagua Nanas dissipated leaders. Just as Freddie feared that Jagua would sully his reputation. But Freddy, like the Nigerian youths, did nothing to save themselves. Like Jagua, the politicians look at themselves in the mirror, notice their moral wrinkles and deficiencies and fear the youths, like Freddie, could be on the brink of a rebellion. Jagua thought herself a Jagwa Woman, a conqueror of menfolk. Politicians lionize themselves as thinkers and visionaries, emancipators of the poor. The names are effective because the youths parrot them and come under a spell. Like Jagua, the old layers hold the youths enraptured through propaganda and mere tokenisms. Bits of the proceeds of theft and immorality are thrown back at them with a promise to make those who remain subservient better than their peers. Any attempt by the youths to go into a Like Jagua, most of the Nigerian politicians came from rural poverty. Peel off the first layer of their ancestry, and the next is a palm winetapping generation SATURDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 26, 2022—25 natural political romance with promising youthful prospects is dissidence and is met with fury. Like Jagua, most of the Nigerian politicians came from rural poverty. Peel off the first layer of their ancestry, and the next is a palm wine-tapping generation. Once they arrive in Lagos or Abuja, the political scene, they fall for the lights and cash and a vicious cycle of decadence ensues. Money lies, deceit, subterfuge, thuggery, rigging, prebendalism. Perhaps Freddie is best represented by some Nigerian professionals who embrace seeking to rise through godfatherism. Because that is the finicky cohort that suffers Freddie’s fate to the fullest. Freddie had to show up at the police station to take the prostitute on bail. It was beneath him, but he craved her flesh. The professionals launder the image of stinking politicians so they can drink from the sweet cesspool. Once the professional gains a foothold on the ladder and regathers his conscience, he becomes an ingrate or a Judas. And the political godfather can, in a rage, bring out his protege’s cupboards in the open and shred all his belongings, and set aflame his future political career with damaging revelations. Like Freddie, even after the professionals break free and move to greater heights, they still remain attracted to the rotten political nectar. Ekwensi’s main characters would later get involved in politics and present a slightly different perspective of Nigerian politics of the 50s and 60s to the picture their relationship was used to depict in this article. Freddie returned from London as a lawyer, married with children, to run for election under a new party. Jagua ran into an old politician and found herself mobilizing the womenfolk for the man who had picked up her upkeep and rent bills. New heady opposition parties, always more idealistic, always more structureless, always more vulnerable to the vultures and hyenas. Freddie died in the hands of thugs, leaving his wife and children to bear the consequences of his singleminded patriotism. Jagua wasn’t soulless. She had warned Freddie and the other men that politics and its violence could consume them. Once the ruling party overreached themselves by killing Freddie and fell, Jagua found herself prey. That could be the fate of all cronies of politicians during a rebellion. Jagua was fortunate. When the heat became unbearable, she left Lagos for her village with the loot left in her custody. The luckiest of our old Jagua Nanas will be those who retire quickly and in peace, with some loot. Time will tell. 2023: Politicians plot fresh strategies to win • Deny perceived supporters of opponents PVCs •Suppress votes in opponents’ strongholds during the polls • Devise means to mitigate effects of new Naira policy By Clifford Ndujihe, Politics Editor WHEN the bird learns to fly without perching, the hunter learns to shoot without missing. The above adage captures the plans of many politicians and political parties as they engage a new gear in their battle to win electoral seats in the 2023 general elections. Already, many plans have been executed successfully but fresh and decisive ones must be carried out to corner the electoral mantles. Some plans that have been executed include getting supporters and party faithful to take part in the recently concluded voters registration exercise: and suppressing perceived supporters of opponents from being registered as voters. There were also attempts to pad the voters register by listing foreigners, underage people, and registering supporters multiple times. Recently, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, said some of its staff tried to register voters multiple times and disclosed that the affected officers had been fished out and were being sanctioned. The electoral umpire also delisted 2.7 million underaged and unqualified voters and assured that it would clean the voters register before the polls that will start on February 25, 2023 with the presidential and National Assembly elections. Hoarding PVCs With voters registration over, the next stage is collection of the Permanent Voters Cards, PVCs. Saturday Vanguard gathered that some politicians have devised means of denying perceived opponents their PVCs in collaboration with INEC officials in the Local Government Areas. A source said: “The game plan is to sort the PVCs based on the names on the cards. You know we mobilized people to register during the voters registration exercise. We know those we mobilized. We will ensure that those we mobilized get their PVCs. If you are not one of those we mobilized you are on your own.” •Atiku •Tinubu •Obi •Kwankwanso Stomach infrastructure With rising poverty in the land, some politicians have embarked on fresh welfare packages to win the support of would be voters. Penultimate week, the Rivers State Governor appointed 200,000 special assistants in the various constituencies of the state in addition to 359 state and LGA liaison officers. The 200,359 aides will be given allowances from date of appointment till May 29, 2023 and their allowances are estimated to cost the state N42 billion. The special assistants are expected to mobilize voters for the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, candidates in the state. Speaking on the issue, in a chat with Saturday Vanguard, Prince Ugo Beke, the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Governorship Candidate in Rivers, described the appointment of 200,000 aides as an attempt to buy votes. However, he said the move would not give PDP victory in Rivers, arguing that with the introduction of Bimodal Voters Accreditation System, BVAS, by the INEC, votes would count and riggers would be frustrated in the 2023 polls. However, Saturday Vanguard gathered that many politicians are toeing the line of Wike on a higher scale. A top leader of one the political parties told Saturday Vanguard: “Wike appointed 200,000 aides. We are doing a similar thing on a larger scale. We mobilized over one million people for the voters registration. The 2023 election will be different from past elections because of the BVAS and redesigning of the naira. In the past, an officer in charge of a polling unit may be given N500,000 or one million naira. From the money, he will take care of agents of the other parties, security agents and INEC officials and we will take charge of the process. “With BVAS, things have changed. But we are politicians and we know how to play the game. We have mobilized real people, real voters, up to one million in some LGAs. We have started giving them allowances of N10,000 every month and it will continue till the end of the election.” CUPP kicks, APC counters Indeed, the Coalition of United Political Parties, CUPP, on Monday, alleged that the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, had concluded plans to transfer cash to 10 million voters in over 20 states in what it described as operation wire-wire (digital vote buying) during the 2023 polls. CUPP Spokesperson, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere alleged that the APC had harvested the names, account numbers, voters identification numbers and bank verification numbers of citizens for digital vote buying. Countering, the APC Presidential Campaign Council,. PCC, accused the CUPP of spreading wicked rumours to portray the APC Presidential Candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in bad light. “If you believe this CUPP allegation), you will believe anything. This is .a mere rumour concocted by the PDP and surrogate CUPP to malign our candidate. We are working hard to win this election by a landslide,” Mr. Bayo Onanuga, director, Media and Publicity, APC PCC, said. Obi-Datti Campaign raise alarm over alleged sabotage PVC collection Also, the Obi-Datti Media Office Office raised alarm over reports reaching it that the collection of PVCs was not going smoothly in some centres across the country. It said it’s attention was drawn in particular to Lagos state where in some identified areas prospective voters wishing to collect their PVCs were being frustrated with all kinds of excuses. The office said in a statement: “We are also aware of the large inducement to some personnel of the INEC in Lagos to lure them into the dubious nefarious act. “When we recently charged President Muhammedu Buhari and the INEC Chairman Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu to walk their talk of their promise to conduct free and fair elections in 2023, we expect that they should be concerned about all pre-Election Day activities. “Concentrating only on Election Day activities while the major rigging is taking place ahead of the election is counterproductive and will defeat all the good intentions of the President and the commission. “There should be no preferential treatment of any area or individuals as being reported in Lagos State and where such exist should discontinue immediately and affected commission officials seriously reprimanded.” However, the electoral umpire has assured that votes would count in 2023 and urged people to approach INEC offices to collect their PVCs. It also urged the citizenry to report any officer frustrating their efforts to collect their PVCs.
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