Like Olusegun Obasanjo, I dey laff o! If I were to be All Progressives Congress, APC, I would be having a hearty laugh. On a thought, I would be having a measured laughter for the realists would not hesitate to remind me that it is not yet uhuru. Why all this talk about laughter, you may want to ask. It is because the under-rated APC has sparked a tsunami in the over-rated Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP. So much so that the supposed underdog has boxed the top dog into a tight corner to the extent that it is now seriously grasping for a breather. You can agree with me that no match up thrills viewers like the one which springs up surprises such as this. I have no aorta of doubt that the road to next year’s general election is a sort for the blockbusters.
All of a sudden, news filtered in that the PDP has rescheduled the dates for its primary elections and national convention. Of particular interest is the party’s shifting of its House of Representatives’ primaries from November 22 to December 6 in a pedestrian move to circumvent the supposed intention of Reps members in adjourning sitting to December 3. The Speaker of the green chamber had announced his defection to the APC just after he declared the adjournment of plenary. The PDP having mulled all politricks to reconvene the House without coming up with any bankable one resorted to readjusting its dates for primary elections as a way of checkmating the unpredictable lawmakers.
Stripped of every technicalities what this simply means is that the PDP is scared-stiff of what the alternative platform provided by the APC can do to it. It brings to the fore the fact that the PDP is losing sleep over the activities of the APC. Alas, the wind has blown frittering away the mystery that had shrouded the anus of the fowl. So, in the face of all its braggadocio and brave face, PDP is mortally afraid of the APC to the extent that it is wetting its panties.
PDP can go ahead and tell us that it is not because of the antics of the APC that they rescheduled the dates for their primaries and national convention. We have no problem with that. We never expected them to tell us anything to the contrary. I had expected PDP to heed the billion-dollar advice freely given them by the master essayist, Femi Adesina, who in his latest column counselled that it was time for the party to quit fighting the bloodying of their nose by the House of Reps Speaker, AminuTambuwal, let me add: even though he fractured their limb in the process. But like the proverbial dog whose self-destructive preoccupation would not allow it heed its masters’ whistle, PDP have chosen to fight on making APC to win in a way.
If only APC would agree, I would have told them that they should no longer worry about winning the 2015 presidential poll. What they had already done to the PDP is big enough a feat to be proud of. They should beat their chest for being able to have stricken the fear of God into the PDP. To the extent they are now running with their tail between their legs like a dog that just sighted a wolf.
I find it hard imagining that the wolf in this case is the APC of yesterday. A party formed barely a year ago is now conveniently instilling so much hysteria in a (mis)ruling party that has been on the saddle for over 15 years. Spot on was the mind which patented the saying: wonders shall never cease! Right from time immemorial up to this present aeon of Jonathan, Buhari, Sambo, Tambuwal, Muazu, Tinubu and their co-travellers, wonders have refused to abate.
Yet, the self-acclaimed ‘largest party in black and white Africa’ closed its eyes to this verity when it declared that we should be ready to put up with its shenanigans for the next 60 years. They made this statement in defiance of the usual accidental spring up of wonders. Now itself has become the wonder, although, it is on the wrong side of it. Unfortunately my supply of empathy is diminished right now.
Dear APC, I have one favour to ask of you for according you this unmerited love. Unmerited because the fact that you appropriate unto yourself the title of progressives does not make you any different from the unapologetic conservatives PDP is stuffed with, for at the end of the day you all worship in the same shrine. Like I was saying, my adopted APC, the favour I demand of you is simply to hand Tambuwal your ticket for next year’s presidential election. That is one move that will better bring out the timidity of PDP and further expose how vulnerable the party is. Moreover, you can be sure he is one politician who can bring thunder to the all-important election.
However, if you trust the peoples’ General enough to do just a term after which he would hand over to a much younger Nigerian. Give him the ticket but after four years let that Nigerian be Tambuwal. I suppose by them he would have upped his capacity for the plume job with the experience he would have garnered from steering the ship of Sokoto State.
Let it not matter that a bloody south easterner like me is the one advocating this arrangement. What should matter to every true Nigerian is what is best for our beloved but over-raped country. Before you call me a traitor, remember that we have had presidents who all through their stay in office never gave a hoot about when they came from. This piece began with Obasanjo, hence it’s not out of place for it to have ended with the same character.
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