Of Migrant Politicians And Political Prostitution

By Anthony Akinola

Quite a number of Nigerians are politically aware, even if their level of political participation hardly goes beyond voting in an election. They could be heard taking sides at election time, arguing vociferously as to why they would support one candidate against another. My recent visit to beloved Nigeria, coinciding with the Ekiti gubernatorial election of June 14, 2018, reinforced my insight into the thinking of the locals as to the possible direction of their votes in the election.  

*President Buhari 

At the highly-impressive Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, I encountered a local chief and another lady visitor to the institution who talk animatedly about how they would rather vote for the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), than that of the rival All Progressives Congress (APC). In praising Aare Afe Babalola for founding a university that has provided job opportunities for hundreds of Nigerians, they said Dr. Kayode Fayemi of the APC would rather build his own university in Ghana, providing jobs for the people of Ghana instead of Nigerians.

Muhammadu Buhari Vs Aisha Buhari

By Julius Oweh
The relationship between a husband and a wife is so iron clad that no person or matter can come between them especially in a blissful atmosphere.  Wives are known to protect the interest of their husbands especially in the public domain and the stakes are even higher should the husband be a politician and a president at that. Aisha Buhari, the spouse of President Muhammadu Buhari cuts a perfect picture of a dutiful and obedient spouse.

*President Buhari and wife, Aisha

The highly urbane and articulate Aisha was initially not involved in the soap box oratory and campaigns until Madame Patience Jonathan drew her into the arena. Since then, she has continued to distinguished herself as a proud wife and mother both to her children and husband. She has brought intellectualism and dignity to the office of the First Lady even though she has refused to bear the title and preferred to be to as the wife of the president. A case of six and half a dozen!

Courting the mass media is a dangerous terrain to those not aware of its enormous power and influence. The mass media can make or mar any personality depending on the level of interaction. That is why those who know the power and influence of the mass media tread carefully. It is one civics lesson Aisha Buhari may learn rather too late. Speaking to the Hausa service of the BBC, Aisha Buhari lamented that the government of her spouse has been hijacked by a cabal, adding that those who worked for her husband’s victory have been left in the cold.

Listen to part of that interview: "He is yet to tell me but I have decided as his wife that if things continue like this up to 2019. I will not go out and campaign again and ask any woman to vote like I did before. I will never do it again… The president does not know 45 out of 50.I don't know them either despite been his wife for 27 years. Some of them don't even have voters card and those who made sacrifice have been reduced to nothing and certainly, I ‘m not happy with the way things are going."

The Aisha Buhari assessment is full of candour and the best description yet of the Buhari administration. It has nothing to do with the partisan views of Peoples  Democratic Party, PDP, or that of Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State. Coming from a better half of the president, it is really on the mark. It is more of a struggle between spouse obligations and the spirit of patriotism. In this case, patriotism seems to have the upper hand.

Is South East Still In PDP?

Oguwike Nwachuku

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), once a political behemoth that loomed large in Nigeria which boasted as the largest party in Africa – but now in the opposition – is at it again.
It is working to recover from what hit it in last year’s presidential election when, surprisingly, it succumbed to the All Progressives Congress (APC), which is now in the national leadership saddle, basking in the euphoria of change.
Last week, it released its new zoning arrangement ahead of the 2019 presidential election which its leaders have bragged they will win with ease.

It appears the PDP is yet to learn from its mistakes and from its new zoning formula, another fresh seed of crisis has been deliberately sowed or about to be sowed. And that is the thrust of my argument today.

Those who analysed the exchanges between Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State and a chieftain of the PDP, Olabode George, on Politics Today on Channels Television last week will easily conclude that the PDP is still far from being cured of the disease that befell it in the build up to the 2015 general election.
The disease that afflicted the PDP in the past? Selfishness. Greed (Avarice). Inordinate ambition. Hatred. Ethnic and tribal bigotry. Godfatherism. Politics of imposition.
These and others were the problems the APC saw as a window of opportunity and leveraged on to sell the dummy of change to Nigerians.

It is said that a man who does not know when rain started to drench him may not know when it will stop.
Most PDP watchers are looking forward to the so-called zoning arrangement and by extension, the party’s ward, council and state congresses to see if what the leaders are saying about their preparedness to return to power is real or a fluke.
Feelers from across the nation on its recent congresses are hardly encouraging. The stories we hear are not different from the ones we used to hear before which are reminiscent of the characters that most PDP leaders exhibit during election.