Of 2015, Nigeria and Purchase of Forms by Proxy

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Indications that Nigerians would again be taken for a ride by some of their leaders emerged recently with claims by some aspirants that they were literally begged to vie for elective positions even as their nomination forms were purchased for them as ‘gifts’. OMEIZA AJAYI examines the potency of such claims and the inherent dangers for the nation’s democracy.
As the preparation for the 2015 general elections gather steam across the country, politicians who are seeking elective positions are leaving no stone unturned to realize their political ambition.
What however is novel in the build up to the next year election is the new approach Nigerian politicians have added to the political scheming in the country. They have indeed introduced a new twist to their quest to either seek fresh political post or gun for a re-election.
Soon after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) lifted ban on campaign and sale of nomination forms by political parties, news filtered in of politicians whose friends or groups were pleading with to run for one political office or another. 
They not only pleaded but went ahead to purchase nomination forms for such politicians. From former governor of Oyo state, Otunba Alao Akala who is seeking to return to Agodi Government House, whose friends bought nomination form for, to the Senate President, Senator David Mark, the list seems to be endless.
To political analysts, politicians who are the inventors of this political novelty are playing to the gallery creating impression in the minds of unsuspecting electorate that they are being begged to run for elective posts.
Those in this school of thought believe that while this could be a new level of political sycophancy on one hand, it is also a kind of political gimmick by politicians who constantly strive to evolve subtle means to bulldoze their ways into public office.
*In the beginning…
 
The recent trend in the political space is the purchase of nomination and expression of interest form for serving political office holders which some political analysts have now rightly captured as “form by proxy”.
Since the rebirth of democracy in Nigeria in 1999, there has been a seeming lack of preparedness by politicians seeking elective positions into various offices; be it at the local, state or national level.
Many of Nigeria’s leaders, right from independence found themselves in power accidentally, but the phenomenon became even more pronounced when since the advent of democracy in 1999, the country’s leaders had often been begged to assume leadership positions. Consequently, it is a known fact that those who sat down and took time to draft development blueprint and prepared themselves for political offices never really made it. In effect, their misfortunes gave room for accidental leaders. Altruistic leadership, thus becomes a stillbirth.
While the concept of leadership, in advanced democracies, is seen as serious preoccupation, which requires self-conviction, the reverse is, however, the stark reality in our polity. This, perhaps, might be occasioned by the fact that ours is a “primitive” society where culture and democracy, are in perpetual intercourse.
Nothing explains this better than the growing trend whereby political aspirations are, more or less, propelled by sycophants who, acting like court jesters, literally beg aspirants to contest elective positions. This trend, which has made the nation look like a huge circus show, is usually allowed to go on for a period of time, before the aspirants finally “accept” the people’s pleas and then declare their intention.
Arguably, this development is suggestive of our lazy approach to governance; governance is hardly driven by altruistic considerations. In the build-up to next year’s general elections, the public is, again, being treated to a cacophony of: “he is the best person to lead us”, “we are giving him ultimatum to declare or we declare him persona non grata”, “we will mobilize funds to purchase forms and for his campaigns”… Then comes the aspirant, who “buoyed” by the aforestated, and with contemptuous and Herodic (reminiscent of the biblical King Herod) impunity says: “I will not disappoint the call of my people”, “I will run because they have called me”…
*The Buharian Example
 
Just few days ago, former Head of State, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari declared his intention to vie for the presidency in the 2015 general elections. This will be his fourth attempt, having sworn in 2011 to retire from active politics and not take a future shot at the nation’s plum job.
Unfortunately, Buhari’s decision to return to his vomit is only a reflection of the wise words of the philosopher, Nikita Khrushchev who once remarked that, “Politicians are the same all overThey promise to build bridges even when there are no rivers.”

On December 9, 2010, while formally declaring his intention to run for president in the 2011 election, former Head of State, Muhammadu Buhari had said he would not contest the result of the election in court if he lost.

But that was not the only thing he said. For, few months later, at the grand finale of his campaign in Abuja, the “peoples’ General”(as he is called by some of his fanatical supporters) promised that the 2011 presidential contest would be his last as he would not contest for the position again.

Specifically, he had said: “This campaign is the third and last one for me. I will not offer myself again for election into the office of president”.

 
 
However, just before he “offered himself” again on October 8, Mr Buhari said he was drawn to the contest by the need to save the nation from the brink of collapse.
 
 

He said; “Just before the 2011 elections, which I contested, I said publicly, in a fit of pique, that that was my last outing as a presidential candidate. Days after that statement, torrents of delegations, starting with one from Niger State led by Alhaji Umar Shu’aibu, then chairman of CPC, including a serving senator, three members of each House of Representatives and Niger Sate Assembly expressing strong opposition to my intentions.

“Another delegation from Kano State, led by General Abdulmalik Jibrin, consisting of delegates from most of the local governments in the state, came to express similar views. Since then, hardly a week passes without a concerned group or individuals visiting me and arguing that I was wrong to leave competitive politics.

“The stock answer I have always given is that we should first build a bigger party, a viable political platform before I could summon the courage to change my mind.”

Since he was “begged” to contest, it therefore follows that those who did that would also have made available the necessary funds for the purchase of his nomination form. But he said he obtained a loan for the form, since he had made it a point to always strive to raise funds to pick his forms by himself.

While buying the form, he said he felt heavily sorry for himself as he did not want to go and ask somebody to pay for his nomination forms, “because I always try to pay myself, at least for the nomination.

“N27 million is a big sum, thankfully I have personal relationship with the manager of my bank in Kaduna and I told him that very soon the forms are coming, so, whether I am on red, or green or even black please honour it otherwise I may lose the nomination”, he added.

Since, Mr Buhari made this announcement, several other politicians have followed suit. While they were ashamed to copy the General, they came up with their own strategy – using proxies to pick the nomination forms! That way, no one would question their source of wealth. At least, that is what they think.
*Jonathan’s men arise
 
Apparently jolted by Mr Buhari’s tactics, the president’s kinsmen rose from their near-slumber.
The Niger Delta Youth for Jonathan in Nigeria were at the national headquarters of the PDP some days ago to purchase an Expression of Intent Form for the president, but were turned back.
Benjamin Nduka Egbunike, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the group said the president was doing well and needed to be motivated.
“We have the money with us but the party said he is the sole candidate and there is a procedure for that. They said we should write to them and they will acknowledge it. We are coming on Wednesday, October 22nd, with the bank draft.”We undertook this as a way of appreciation to Mr. President that he is leading Nigeria well”, he said.
Curiously, the whole situation took another twist when the PDP subtly turned down the request of the group.
According to Egbunike, his group had submitted a letter to the National Chairman of PDP asking to be allowed to purchase the forms but were yet to receive any response.”We came here again today to present him a reminder that we shall be here on Tuesday, next week unfailingly to purchase the forms,” Egbunike stressed.The group lamented that when they approached a Zenith Bank branch in Abuja to purchase the bank drafts, the bank turned them back, insisting that they needed authorization from the PDP leadership before they can issue the bank draft to them since President Jonathan is the sole candidate of the party.

Even as journalists insisted that banks do not ask questions concerning the purpose of a bank draft before they could issue one, the group insisted that it was the situation, adding that by next Wednesday, “we will be here with the cash if we do not get their approval on the letters we wrote and we will not leave this place if they do not sell the forms to us.

“Last week, we came with the cash. We shall come here with the money since they have blocked us from getting the banks to procure forms for him. We are serious about this matter and I can confirm to you that as stakeholders in PDP, this is not the first time we are showing interest in the affairs of the party,” they maintained.

They presented acknowledgment copy of the first letter they purportedly submitted to the PDP national chairman’s office requesting to be allowed to purchase the forms as well as the reminder letter they claimed were just submitted seeking the national chairman’s clearance.

*Other examples
 

In all the geo-political zones of the federation, nomination forms of both the ruling Peoples Democratic Party PDP and the opposition All Progressives Congress APC are being purchased for those aspiring for different political offices.

According to media reports, a form was purchased for the Senate President, David Mark, by the youth and market women who claimed to have been positively influenced by his person and his leadership style.

Also in Kogi state, a nomination form was equally purchased for the Senate Committee Chairman on FCT, Senator Smart Adeyemi by the seven local government chairmen in his constituency having being reportedly endorsed by some youth groups in the area.

Others include Senator Helen Esuene who is aspiring to take over from Gov. Godswill Akpabio of Akwa-Ibom state and Senator Philip Aduda whose form was purchased by some “political leaders of thought” in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT. Mr Akpabio has also been recently endorsed and a senatorial nomination form reportedly purchased for him.

Last week, it was learnt that various political groups are also jostling to purchase the nomination form for President Goodluck Jonathan before the expiration of the party’s deadline.

As at the last count, there are at least four groups that have indicated their desire to pick the form for the president.
*Implications for governance
 
?Indeed, political sycophancy did not just start now. One is however worried that like the new concept of stomach infrastructure, it has become a trend. Politicians are cashing in on the high level of unemployment and poverty among Nigerians to do whatever they like.
Aspirants who are obviously desperate to grab power want to ride on the wings of popularity by covertly telling their rented and jobless supporters to tell the whole world that they (aspirants) are being ‘begged’ to contest.
Governance or leadership of a democratic state is a serious affair. It is not a primitive or naive-arena for dispirited mediocres. Like one analyst has rightly pointed out; “When they say they are begging you to contest, what do they mean and what does that translate to in science? Practically speaking, it is only in Africa that you see this kind of macabre that defies logic. Again, you see the people they say they are beginning, not putting on a thinking cap and striking a genius. Why do you allow depletion of your country’s resources through all this indirect state-sponsored jamboree called “Urging Mr. President to declare” rally while there are pressing needs: your people are dying because of lack of drugs in hospitals if there are any at all, your current government is deficient in what democracies do for their people? If precious time and resources should be wasted begging you to contest, can any man quantify what could be wasted when you eventually do your uninspiring declaration and campaigns begin?
“This thing is simple: you make up your mind to take up the task or not. It is just sad we do not sit down to calculate what we lose in this kind of a thing. Let us not talk of the propaganda of “millions of endorsements” and look at the direction where all manner of characters and obvious charlatans most of whom have baggages and should have faced trials are the arrowheads of those organizing the multi-million naira rallies. How would the president handle them when he eventually gets elected, having at the back of his mind their deep involvement in his emergence? That is not possible. That means corruption can never go down. The implication is that Nigeria is still not headed towards a glorious destiny and will never emerge a nation of power with this kind of heart-rending comic.”
But should Nigerians really believe the crap about how such nomination forms were purchased? The truth is that this people vying for elective positions are the ones sponsoring people to do their bidding.
It is inconceivable that a Nigerian would use his hard earned money to buy form for any politician.
The problem with Nigerian politicians is that they think they are more intelligent than their constituents. They are just using their puppets to deceive people that they are very important.
This is Nollywood but we could call it poly-wood because of the “politricks” attached to it.
Fortunately, political awareness and participation is gradually increasing, and therefore, those who hide under the guise that their constituents are begging them to vie for office will soon meet their political dead end when such constituents rise up in the nearest future to demand their recall or impeachment.
Perhaps, our dear politicians can continue to fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but they cannot certainly fool all of the people all of the time.
Omeiza Ajayi is an Abuja-based journalist and Media Consultant.

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