2023 elections and a memo to the Yorubas

‘Tope Fasua from PREMIUM TIMES

This missive is directly to Yorubas, the tribe – or nationality – into which I was born. This could also be adopted by other nationalities.

We cannot sit on our hands, complaining and whining about how other nationalities are pushing us out of our own space. We need some daring… We can see the number of young Igbo people contesting for elections everywhere in Nigeria. He who dares, wins. At least sometimes. Our culture of being reserved, quiet, biding our time, hiding away fearfully, and so on, we must push forward positively. We must teach our children to also be more competitive in this winner-takes-all world.

These peculiar times send us all back home to re-examine our Nigerian-hood and even go further. We knew, and I warned, that the 2023 elections would have consequences for relationships, especially as it took on a tribal and religious colouration from the get-go. Politicians did what they had to do to win elections – including coupling a Muslim-Muslim ticket (which could at once burst the myth of the overload and relevance of religion in our politics, when at the end of eight years the religious diversity of Nigeria will still be preserved or even strengthened), the use of religious fanaticism and tribalism (when a certain presidential candidate moved around and sent messages to clerics to the effect that one of his formidable opponents was not Muslim enough, and that his tribe must vote for one of their own), or when another candidate went into overdrive by coldly capitalising on religious anger, tribal anger and youth anger. Perhaps we would have got away with these, but for the fact that unfortunately most Nigerians have not developed the capacity for complex debates and enough emotional intelligence to understand that there’ll always be another time to try in politics. And it looks like the so-called educated and well-monied are far worse than the proletariat.

The fallout of all of this has sent many of us back ‘home’ to get in touch with our roots. For me, it hasn’t shaken my belief in Nigeria, but it has exposed to me the fact that many Nigerians are still not matured for democracy, what with the way many are still praying and working towards the truncation of the success of the President-elect – with some asking the military to take over or Interim National Government and others praying that he should die summarily. The latest drama is of that ‘Obidient’ guy who came on an Ibom Air flight, shouting for people not to allow Bola Tinubu become president, such that he had to be deboarded. It is alarming enough and I warned when some Nigerians set about this slippery slope. Home and abroad, these folks have been working hard at truncating our hard-won democracy, even contributing money for protests and whatever else may happen. Pastors in Nigeria have mounted their pulpits to instruct their members not to recognise a popularly-elected president. They probably need to be reminded about why Nigeria adopted the presidential system of government in the first place, through the 1978 Constitutional Conference. It was because of the dastardly, and indeed gut-wrenching, imbecilic and bestial manner in which Nigeria’s first attempt at parliamentary governments ended in 1966. Because of the lack of popular respect for a Prime Minister, in 1978 eminent Nigerians decided that we should go for a situation whereby a contestant that obtains majority votes with a good enough spread, becomes the president. And, of course, there was no attempt or intention to confer any superiority on people who live in the Federal Capital – even with latter amendments – contrary to what a section of these same unruly folks are saying.