JKF Essay: A million naira entry not shortlisted
Building A Winning and Sustainable Political Culture in A Secular System: A Case For 2023 Presidential Elections in Nigeria
Structure does really matter. Within the context of the built environment, the term ‘structure’ refers to anything that is constructed or built from different interrelated parts with a fixed location on the ground, according to Designing Buildings (the self-acclaimed Wikipedia of construction).
Politically, when setting up a structure, there is a need for intrinsic values and principles to be properly built for an undaunting architectural design. Taking a cue from Architecture, seven principles fence in an aesthetically structured design. Namely; the balance, rhythm, emphasis, proportion/scale, movement, contrast and of course, unity.
For the general elections holding in 2023, there are 18 political parties registered by the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) to slug it out at the polls. Of these 18 parties are the ruling party, All Progressive Party (APC), the major opposition, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and another brewing opposition, Labour Party (LP). Labour Party, Peter Obi and the entire ‘Obidients’ are gathering momentum, albeit with question mark (do they really have the structure to oust the ruling party?).
In 2006, Action Congress (AC) was set up by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to serve as a major political opposition to the then federally dominating party, PDP and Northern Nigeria-based party, All Nigeria’s People Party (ANPP). At the onset of the struggle, AC had members who decamped from Alliance for Democracy (AD) with their seats. On the verge of general elections in 2007, the party experienced a major transfer; the party welcomed a political heavyweight into her camp, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar who was serving as Vice to President Olusegun Obasanjo. Atiku so desired the top seat.
However, it only took INEC’s disqualification (which was later overturned by the Supreme Court) and late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua emergence as winner of 2007 presidential poll to deny Alhaji Atiku the desired seat. In the same election year, the party won 32 out of the 360 seats in the House of Representatives and six (6) out of 109 seats at the National Assembly polls, with Comrade Adams Oshiomole, Rauf Aregbesola, Barrister Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) and Dr John Kayode Fayemi emerging as governors of Edo State, State of Osun, Lagos State and Ekiti State respectively. While Barrister Fashola easily cruised to victory at the gubernatorial polls, Dr Fayemi, Comrade Oshiomole and Alhaji Aregbesola were initially deprived of their mandates, and it took the judgement of the Appeal court to retrieve the stolen mandates for them.
Dr Fayemi’s victory laid one of the building blocks of winning and sustaining a political culture to unsettle PDP, and this duly sent out a statement of intent to the camp of the ruling party, PDP. On October 15, 2010, Dr Fayemi became the executive governor of Ekiti State after the Court of Appeal ruling in Kwara State declared him winner.
Fast forward to the change of name from AC to Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in 2010, the party has had to choose between former chairman of the Economic Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Ali Nuhu Ribadu and ex-governor of Sokoto State, Attahiru Bafarawa, but the party eventually fielded Ribadu as her flagbearer in the 2011 presidential poll.
Despite coming third behind PDP’s Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari of the defunct Congress of Progressive Change (CPC), Nuhu Ribadu had bragging rights with major votes from the State of Osun, Ekiti State, Lagos and Edo States, as the percentile mark indicated 44% of votes from a possible 100% in Ekiti, 58% of votes from possible 100% in the State of Osun along with formidable figures from Lagos and Edo States. These are all ACN-governed States and it all boils down to the strategic influence of the founding fathers of the party.
In 2013, a substantial idea to have a formidable force and totally oust the ruling party, PDP, presented itself; the leaders of ACN, CPC, ANPP and All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) which had massive followership and big structure in the Eastern part of Nigeria and some other political parties (one of these parties were a fractional part of the PDP) agreed to have a merger. The merger birthed the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC). APC had a mantra, Change, and it resonated with the electorates’ demand for a change in government for better governance.
To lead this charge was then General Muhammadu Buhari, a man who had contested for the top seat on three occasions (starting with his sojourn in 2003 against Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, 2007 against late Yar’Adua and 2011 against Goodluck Jonathan). Prior to the consensus of the party members to nominate Buhari as the flagbearer of the party, five sitting governors (Rabiu Kwakwanso of Kano State, Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State, Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State, Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State and Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto State) decamped from PDP to APC. Through this, APC were strategically winning the battle through the defection of these major State governors.
To put it in better context, presidential election results are determined by these five states, due to the larger number of eligible voters they possess. Elections have always been won based on the result from Kano, Kaduna, Kastina, Sokoto, Niger, Jigawa, Delta State, Rivers and Lagos States. In the early part of 2014, a year before the general elections of 2015, Senator Bukola Saraki of PDP defected to APC. A month after, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar followed suit to stage a comeback to APC after a stint with the now defunct AC in 2007. Several other heavyweights joined the party to create a formidable force to oust the ruling PDP. The final nail to the coffin of ruling PDP was the defection of about 50 legislators from PDP to APC, and notably is the Speaker Aminu Tambuwal.
The social media influence also swayed into the hands of APC, as formidable voices on Twitter, Facebook and other digital platforms (where information can be disseminated) strongly pitched their tent with the party. Japheth Omojuwa, Tolu Ogunlesi, Debola Williams and Chude Jideonwo of RED Media Africa all influenced the social media visibility of APC, prior to the general elections in 2015.
The outcome of the presidential election saw the incumbent President being defeated for the first time in the history of Nigeria’s democracy. General Muhammadu Buhari garnered 2.5 million votes more than Goodluck Jonathan of PDP. The party won the presidential elections by 15 million votes (53.96%), secured 212 House of Reps’ seats out of 360 seats, 60 senate seats out of 109 and also won 26 out of 36 States. Same feat was replicated in 2019 with 1.64% increase to cater 55.60% of the votes. While APC lost six seats from the 2019 gubernatorial, there was a significant increase in the House of Reps and Senate seats.
There is so much to learn from the antecedents of APC by Labour Party, Peter Obi, the Obidients followers and every other political party in Nigeria.
From the formation of AC to the merger which birthed APC, it all oozes the seven principles of balance, rhythm, emphasis, proportion/scale, movement, contrast and of course, unity. The formation of the parties from the grassroots before the merger speaks volume on balance. The sheer resilience and will power to retrieve stolen mandates speak volume on rhythm and emphasis. The enticement of political heavyweights to decamp to the APC before 2015 general elections speaks on proportion, scale and movement. While the bond shared between members and bravery shown by members for each other in the face of adversities, and also when it comes to withdrawal from a political position for a fellow member for the larger benefit of the party; this has got a lot to say on unity.
All these aforementioned, by political structure, have created a winning and formidable political culture for APC. The 2023 general election is upon us, ceteri paribus, the party with the best structure will emerge victorious. Truly, structure does really matter and let’s not be precarious.
Congratulations to Awe Similoluwa, the winner of Dr John Kayode Fayemi Annual Essay Competition, 2022.