Some people think the 2019 elections will be only between the broom of the APC and the umbrella of the PDP. It may well be. And it may not. No event in recent times has made this point more poignant than the 2018 edition of the annual Daily Trust Dialogue which, in my opinion, has become a ‘must-attend’ event in Abuja.
On parade were Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu (represented by Wale Edun), former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido and actress politician Kate Henshaw. President Buhari who was billed to be the Special Guest was represented by Boss Mustapha, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. The venerable Prince Bola Ajibola, former judge at the World Court in The Hague, chaired the occasion.
I expected fireworks and I was not disappointed. Tinubu’s paper was rather technical, focussing on good governance rather partisan politics. While acknowledging the achievements of the Buhari administration, he counselled that the issue of petroleum subsidy regime, Fulani/farmers frequent clashes, unemployment and pension arrears ought to be tackled with gusto.
In his view, “We must reform the current fuel subsidy regime… Currently, the subsidy does not benefit the average person. It sweetly profits the elites who manipulate the programme to their own advantage… In addition, we must repair our social safety net. Old people who have given so much to the nation are being shortchanged and forced to live in penury when they should be living in the dignity due their advanced years and their former labours.”
Kate Henshaw proved that she had more than a fine face and acting skills to offer the nation as she made a convincing case for the positive involvement of youths in the affairs of the nation. Reeling through names of many young persons who had made a difference in both local and international contexts, she only stopped short of calling for a generational shift.
Then came fire from all cylinders. Sule Lamido showed the stuff the typical veteran politician is made of. Not one to take chances with how the audience would receive his speech, he came with his own audience. Scores of his supporters were handy to cheer his every guffaw and shout down anyone who as much as jeered at him.
Sule Lamido loathes Buhari so much that he even wondered what a fine man like Boss Mustapha would be doing in Buhari’s government. He said Buhari was a personification of vindictiveness and hypocrisy, pointing out that Buhari served as Chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund under the corrupt Abacha regime. He wondered why Buhari would now say Abacha wasn’t corrupt when hundreds of millions of dollars from the Abacha loot are still being repatriated today.
Lamido took a comprehensive swipe at the governing party, APC. Using the absence of Bola Tinubu to advantage, he said Tinubu was probably queueing for fuel at a petrol station in Lagos, hence his absence. In Lamido’s opinion, President Buhari’s administration is a disaster and the only way open to Nigerians to rescue the nation in 2019 was a return to PDP’s embrace.
“In 2019, there would be no political borders as many of those who are in the APC will likely find space in the PDP to contest the election… Thankfully, wailing will be over in 2019. Today, APC members have joined the wailing wailers. Buhari is wailing. His wife is wailing. Sagay is wailing, Akande is wailing, everybody is wailing,” said the former Jigawa governor.
Lamido could have got away with his filibustering, but lurking in the shadows was Senator Saidu Dansadau who began by professing his admiration for Bola Tinubu on account of the fact that Tinubu had been able to institute a culture of excellence in Lagos State to such an extent that every succeeding governor is better than the previous one. He said that was something the Nigerian nation ought to emulate.
Then he took Sule Lamido to the cleaners. He first told the story of how the military authorities under General Abdulsalam Abubakar decided to co-opt a former General in the person of Olusegun Obasanjo to contest the presidency so that he could watch their back. He said Lamido’s own account was a fabrication. He then told the audience: “Lamido didn’t support Obasanjo at the convention. He supported Alex Ekwueme because he knew that Obasanjo was the candidate of the military. As God would have it, the military had their way.”
Then looking in Lamido’s direction, Dansadau admonished, “My good friend, don’t claim credit for what you have not done!” The applause that greeted that frontal attack was deafening.
As could be imagined, Dansadau was hawking his own wares too – something called National Rescue Movement, a new political party.
Neither APC nor PDP is telling us that they will do things differently going forward. The impression one gets is that they are both in the power game for the sake of (you guessed it) POWER. In these days when there is talk of looking for a third force to save the nation from the relay race between the APC and PDP, Dansadau’s Rescue Movement looks like an offshoot of the selfsame major contenders.
I hear that the real third force is still in gestation and is poised to give the grandmasters of the broom and the umbrella a run for their money. There are dizzying days ahead. Fasten your seat belts.
