For those who say Nigeria is a country where wonders shall never end, the callous and sycophantic campaign posters flooding cities across the nation, featuring potential candidates in hypothetical 2023 presidential election matchups is a shameful phenomenon that graphically retells the odious rat race, ideological vacuity and mundane craving that typify Nigeria’s political elite. Lacking in any form of public decorum, and a repugnant and reprehensible parody of President Muhammadu Buhari who has almost three years to complete his second mandate, the latest wave of presidential campaign posters with Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai as vice presidential candidate to Transport Minister, Rotimi Amaechi is nothing more than self-seeking, whimsical and disdainful political brigandage, at its worse. Without equivocation, it calls to question the moral integrity and character of the many political scavengers and position seekers flirting around the corridors of power. This is one more embarrassment that Nigerians can do without; it is inexcusable and must stop immediately.
It is bad enough that, El-Rufai has come out to publicly disavow the posters. Fielding questions from newsmen after he met with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Villa the other day, El-Rufai said he had also called Amaechi who denied knowledge of those printing and pasting the posters. “I don’t know who is printing those posters, wasting his or her money printing posters,” El-Rufai said. “I heard about them. I called Minister Amaechi, and asked him whether he knew anything about them; he said he didn’t know. I think we need to trace who is doing it and ask that person. I am governor of Kaduna State; I have job to do. I haven’t delivered on the promises I made to the people of Kaduna State. Until I do that I don’t want to discuss anything,” El-Rufai said.
This is not the first time that El-Rufai is featuring on 2023 presidential election campaign posters. An earlier poster showing him as running mate to Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi which went viral on social media was disavowed by Umahi even though the posters did not bear the political party on which the duo intended to actualize their purported presidential ambitions. In a statement in Abakaliki by his Special Assistant (SA) on Media, Francis Nwaze, Umahi said the campaign posters never emanated from him, nor did he authorize their publication; urging Ebonyi people and the public to disregard the viral campaign posters as the handiwork of his political detractors. “In as much as Governor David Umahi has towering credentials that in any contest make him visible, he has not made public any intention to contest for any position in 2023 as he is presently committed to delivering the dividends of democracy to Ebonyi people,” the statement read, adding: “We, therefore, call on all lovers of good governance, Governor Umahi’s ambassadors and the public to ignore such posters as they are nothing but the handiwork of mischievous elements who are determined to put the governor against his admirers.”
In October last year, similar campaign posters featuring APC national leader Ahmed Bola Tinubu and El-Rufai flooded billboards in Lagos. Last August, posters appeared across major cities in the country featuring Tinubu and former House Speaker, Yakubu Dogara as his running mate. There have been rumblings in the grapevine involving Ekiti Governor and chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) Kayode Fayemi, and his Kebbi counterpart, Atiku Bagudu on a potential 2023 presidential run.
Judging by the antecedents of strenuous denials and proffering of ignorance by the politicians who are featured in these campaign posters, Nigerians cannot help but wonder why people get involved in what arguably is illegal electioneering campaigning, in violation of extant laws. Whether or not the politicians in the posters are culpable, their hollow non-denial denials of complicity do little credit to their images and credibility and public standing.
As embarrassing as it is, it is worth recalling that this phenomenon of shadow election campaigning by proxy traces its root to the Jonathan Presidency in the countdown to the 2015 election, when Nigerians were shamelessly assailed with unsolicited media messages from political support groups alluding to Jonathan’s “transformation” achievements that must be consolidated by retaining him in office. The proxy campaigns then, like the campaign posters today are not only cheap, they did little credit to Jonathan or his supposed credentials in office. But unlike the anonymous 2023 campaign posters, the shame was made more painful because the pro-Jonathan promoters made no secret of their intention to ingratiate themselves to then president Jonathan. At least 10 such promoters, including Defenders of Nigeria’s Democracy, Niger Delta Residents’ Alliance, Goodluck Jonathan Leadership Centre, National Coalition for Jonathan and Sambo Presidency, Dynamic Delta Ladies, The Transformation Network, Goodluck Initiative for Transformation (GIFT) and Jonathan/Sambo 2015 Forum were engaged in the pro-Jonathan campaigns. There were also Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN), Goodluck To Goodluck (G2G) 2015 and Protectors of Nigerian Prosperity. The infamous list also included New Deal and Nigeria Youths for Goodluck Jonathan and 2015 “Voice for the Voiceless.” Ridiculously, one of the groups vowed to “compel” Jonathan to run, even against his conviction. In 2015, these groups failed to secure re-election for Jonathan; hopefully, they will fail in 2023.
For starters, allowing the situation to degenerate to street billboards and media campaigns by political foot-soldiers is a complete debasement of values, and a sad commentary on the character of Nigerian politics and politicians. How close were these groups to Jonathan to determine whether or not he was ready for another mandate, having not satisfactorily availed himself of the first one given to him by Nigerians? It stretches credulity to aver that those involved in these campaigns are spending their own money as they deem fit or arguments that what they are doing now is not campaigning because none of the politicians involved is yet to declare his candidacy for the 2023 presidency are plainly untenable. No one just gets up and decides to put up campaign posters featuring a specific candidate; hence Nigerians are not fooled.
The truth is that these politicians can actually do more to protect their integrity by publicly stopping all these faceless groups. Undoubtedly, they all have the constitutional right to seek the presidency, but at a time the nation is reeling under the economic effects of the Coronavirus pandemic, the political class must set good examples by playing by the rules. These illegal campaigns ought not to have been countenanced in the first place, as it completely exposed the politicians involved as seeking unfair political advantage. It is a sad commentary on the conduct of sitting governors and cabinet ministers, that while the country is suffocating under the Covid-19 imposed economic hardship; and embroiled in a war against Boko Haram insurgents; even as Buhari appears incapable of finding a solution to the life and death challenges facing the country, politicians and their foot-soldiers are undeterred by challenges of insecurity and are squandering scare resources, of course, in anticipation of bigger returns on their investments, if and whenever their “candidate” runs and wins the presidency. This is indeed unfortunate and despicable.
Judging by the frenetic struggle for positioning, it is clear that pecuniary incentives and other scandalous perquisites of office are the prime motivations of these money-hungry political jobbers promoting these invidious campaign posters. In reality, a politician’s record should speak for itself in concrete terms. Put differently, a candidate’s achievements in office as governor should be visible to the citizens who are the ultimate judges and repository of the power exercised by the President. The propagation of non-existent or inconsequential achievements by political jobbers is a fraud. Nigerians must view those behind this shamelessness as potential enemies of the nation who invariably force elected officials to steal public funds in order to recoup their “investments.”
No doubt, these are not the best of times and the stakes are rising. But, if anything, public service should not be reduced to a profit-making business with profit motives. Three years to the next presidential elections, there has yet to be any formal declaration of the candidacy of the men the rent seekers are investing on, their body language notwithstanding. Thus, there is need for a constitutional measure to de-emphasize the monetary rewards for public office holders, in order to dissuade political scavengers. And as the electoral umpire, the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) must rise up to the challenge of keeping political jobbers and parties or their supporters in check as they violate the electoral rules. Political jobbers should not be left unrestrained in pursuit of selfish interests as is being witnessed through these phony 2023 presidential election campaigners and their campaign posters.
