THE CPC/ACN ALLIANCE THAT NEVER WAS, HIGHLY REGRETTABLE!

 Just when you think they have got their acts together and now gets it - the need to close ranks among themselves and for the greater good of Nigeria's democracy, here they come again, fumbling or should Icheoku say, fumbled? As the 2011 journey for Aso Rock and other satellite seats of power in Nigeria begins, it is now obvious that Nigerians have once again been shortchanged by her political class - selfish politicians who are in it for their own good only. A bunch of individuals who severally wants to wear the pants and in the colors of their own political parties, notwithstanding their regional and sometimes zonal pigeonholed existence and lacking in national spread and outlook; instead of unifying under a broader banner and for a purpose greater than themselves and in what would be in the best interest of the country.

Icheoku says Imam Muhammadu Buhari screwed up big time in not utilizing an opportunity of a lifetime which would have put him in a serious contention for the Aso Rock prize; by choosing to go it alone with his Sharia-driven Conference for Progressive Change (CPC) instead of joining forces with the much entrenched Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in a broader alliance that would have kept the Peoples Democratic Party sleepless as they strategize how to overcome such awesome political force. But no, the stubborn Buhari would have none of that and today, Nigerian political landscape is once again left with no strong opposition to the dominant PDP and in essence guaranteeing their victory in the forthcoming April 2011 general election. To make matters worse and as if he is not already in enough deep waters politically, Imam Buhari settled for a political no brainier, his fellow extremist of the other side - the christian far right as his running mate. Icheoku wonders what religion got to do with Nigeria politics in 2011 that made Imam Buhari think that Nigeria is now ready for their extremist duo; or is it a case of those about to die that are struck deaf and dumb by gods of politics? Better still, it may be the gods of Goodluck Jonathan that is sarcastically paving his way in this manner by making his potential challengers fall by the wayside in this manner. First to go was Umaru Yar'Adua who death took away; then followed by Ibrahim Babangida who Adamu Ciroma Consensus arrangement took care of and now Buhari another would have been strong opponent is being taken care of by the collapse of the CPC/ACN alliance as well as his mediocre choice of a running mate.

Like so many other well intentioned Nigerians, Icheoku thought that with the Otta deity Olusegun Obasanjo now gone and out of the way, that 2011 would have provided a good opportunity for the so many mushroom opposition political parties, currently in the wilderness of power in Nigeria, to come together as one strong opposition party and effectively challenge the ruling PDP. But to the greatest chagrin of many political observers and watchers alike, this did not materialize as the present crop of selfish politicians Nigeria is now cursed with, whose personal interest always conflict with the national interest, refused to make necessary sacrifices required to give the ruling PDP a run for their money. By their selfishness, another golden opportunity of having a truly contested democratic election in Nigeria have once again gone up in smoke; and  what a wasted chance at further entrenching democracy in Nigeria. They are all aware that a party winning election requires a broad geographical spread, logistics, money and a well-oiled campaign machine that does not sputter but continuously churns with a message that the electorates can relate with. Imam Muhammadu Buhari does not have any of this and wasted a great opportunity to leverage on some of them through an alliance with ACN but he blew it anyway; yet he is running, hoping to file lawsuits but not necessarily to win.

If the over sixty registered political parties in Nigeria were pregnant mothers, only six of them would be allowed to carry their gestation to full term; as the rest would have been aborted for lack of fetal viability. These six viable parties include the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Labor Party (LP), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), All Peoples Grand Alliance (APGA) and the latest Buhari contraption, Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). Until very recent inexplicable development, Icheoku and millions of Nigerians expected these parties to unite or forge a formidable coalition to challenge the ruling PDP and peradventure stop President Goodluck Jonathan’s PDP now almost assured victory in the April general election. Prelude to these parties decisions on who runs and who does not run, some of them held marathon meetings aimed at breaking whatever wall that stood in the way of a formidable alliance; but their respective principals' egos stood in the way. Today, they are all going it alone as political Lilliputians and one is forced to wonder whether those people who invented the statement "people are stronger when united" did mince words? 


Icheoku thought that 2011 would be a good year for the opposition to step forward forcefully on the Nigeria political landscape but they fumbled and flopped as their prospective alliances collapsed and it was deja vu to your tents all opposition parties once again. These mushroom parties are already operating on a position of deficit, so much weakened by not being in power since 1999 and looking vanquished before the fight, and you wonder what chance they have,  standing by themselves and going it individually into the April elections. Icheoku says if only these political parties knew better and really in it for a change - to change the party in power, the PDP. But unfortunately the sponsors and principal officers of these parties are in it for the road-show and name of an also-ran presidential candidates and governors etc. It is very obvious that Nigerians have become tired of the ruling PDP uninspiring leadership of the past twelve years and hunger for a change, but the opposition parties have not given them an alternative they can count on and have failed to provide them with a meaningful exit from the lost in the wilderness PDP to enable them vote the PDP out of power. Just an off-cuff, assuming there will be an election this time around; admitted PDP were never voted for in the first place but out-rigged other riggers into office!


Now back to the parties presidential candidates and their running mates. The biggest story in this 2011 unfolding political drama by the legion of irreconcilable opposition political parties is the manner of people they chose as their presidential candidates and vice presidential candidates respectively. Icheoku is particularly miffed by ACN's choice of Mallam Nuhu Ribadu as its presidential candidate, a matter made worse by the later's choice of one Sunny Ugochukwu as his vice presidential candidate and running mate. Imam Muhammadu Buhari's vice presidential pick of Tunde Bakare is equally ridiculous and Icheoku wonders whether these parties never had the great fortune of having a vice presidential candidate search/select committee do this job for them as is done in civilized democracies the world over. Governor Shekarua of Kano State and former Governor John Odigie Oyegun as presidential and vice presidential candidates of the ANPP will not factor much in this discussion as they stand second to zero chance of ever winning the election; so Icheoku shall concern itself with more serious contenders.


Mallam Nuhu Ribadu as a presidential candidate is laughable and the butt of rude jokes the world over as an "Nza" the bird which after eating belly-full, challenged its gods to a wrestling match. Icheoku asks what makes Mallam Nuhu RIbadu suddenly viable as a party's presidential candidate or is fighting crime now tantamount to building a strong economy or having necessary foreign policy experience required of present day leaders? Icheoku simply rejects the notion that Mallam Nuhu Ribadu is qualified to be president of Nigeria just because he selectively pursued Olusegun Obasanjo third term agenda; hounding people who were opposed to Obasanjo third term in office. If only this mallam could explain to Nigerian electorates what suddenly changed that he now cavorts with his then EFCC's enemy numero uno, Bola Tinubu; or has Tinubu's economic and financial crimes now been forgiven just because he has bankrolled Nuhu Ribadu's presidential campaign, after first foisting him on the ACN? What manner of man is this Mallam Nuhu Ribadu anyway?


Icheoku says this particular mallam is too full of it as he now thinks himself as a very important politician in Nigeria just because he selectively pursued a vindictive war on corruption against his mentor's opponents and vocal critics? Mallam Nuhu Ribadu as a presidential candidate is a blind man leading another blind man; a matter made worst in his choice of a vice presidential candidate. A blatant political neophyte presidential candidate, whose first ever decision as a "potential president" exposed his underbelly as a non-starter, with his choice of a political-nobody as his running mate? Icheoku wonders aloud whether Mallam Nuhu Ribadu's selection of Sunny Ugochukwu as his vice presidential running mate ever had the benefit of any vetting or politically informed decision. If so, what were the high-points and strong selling points or criteria for choosing Sunny Ugochukwu and who is this Sunny Ugochukwu other than being an educationist residing in America? A somewhat complete stranger to the Nigeria political scene who is hardly known in his Anambra State community in Nigeria; talkless of the Nigerian American Diaspora is running as ticket with a skinny mallam from Adamawa State and you wonder what derivatives these two green horns bring to ACN chances at the April 2011 election.


Icheoku says if this selection is a test-case for the kind of policy-decisions a "president" Mallam Nuhu Ribadu will make, then Nigerians do not deserve such embarrassment from her "president" and might as well have late President Umaru Yar'Adua resurrected instead. Icheoku concedes that Mallam Nuhu Ribadu is not too ambitious by running for the office of the president; but it is arrogant, foolish and stupid for him to to think that he has solid grounds to offer himself for the office. It is also incredulous for Mallam Nuhu RIbadu to compare himself with America's Barack Obama, admitted they both are youthful; but Nuhu Ribadu was never his law school journal's editor in chief; was never a keynote speaker in his party's national convention; was never his State's legislator; was never a Federal Senator representing his state and above all, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu was never a community organizer nor is he endowed by the creator with oratorical prowess. So it infuriates Icheoku very much whenever the comparison is made about Nuhu Ribadu with America's President Obama; needless to say that even a fourteen year old American is usually more exposed than a 45 year old mallam in Nigeria's police force. Icheoku borrowing a phrase from one American politician reiterates " Barack Obama I know, but Mallam Nuhu RIbadu ain't Barack Obama"! The consolation however is that Mallam Nuhu Ribadu will not make any dent in the outcome of the April 2011 election as he would not even win his hometown or local government or his Adamawa State or any other northern States for that matter; that one wonders why Ashiwaju Bola Tinubu is even wasting resources on him, instead of running himself as the presidential candidate since neither of them would win anyways. So the question that still remains unanswered is who and what sprang Nuhu Ribadu on top of the ACN ticket?


As for Pastor Gbolahan Sindiku Babatunde Bakare, Buhari got himself a poodle for a dogfight as this vice presidential candidate has no electoral value or political capital for Buhari to mine, in his uphill battle to sell himself to Nigerians as fit and proper person to be their president. His choice of Tunde Bakare is another lost cause as Bakare brings nothing to the Buhari ticket other than being just another religious extremist bigot and will not win any state for the ticket; not  even in his catchment South-West. Icheoku concurs that “Bakare has no business in politics; the kind of politics that he should be playing is  to reshape people in the way of the Lord; to make them follow the path of honor and integrity” but not to formulate policies. Another commentator also described Bakare's choice as vice presidential candidate as that which only an extremist, fanatical, maniacal, religious zealot like Imam Buhari could make and Icheoku agrees. Imam Muhammadu Buhari further alienated the Igbo South-East by not choosing his running mate from the region and as a result will not win any State in the South-East. Buhari will also not win any state in the South-South either, it being President Jonathan's bastion and likewise the North Central Middle Belt states. Eventually Buhari will be left with only his five northwestern sharia states which he has to fight with PDP for; creating a scenario of a quick game-over for Buhari in the forthcoming April election. Icheoku says a Buhari/Tinubu ticket would have been the most formidable to challenge the institutionalized PDP's Jonathan/Sambo now seemingly unassailable ticket. As it stands, President Goodluck Jonathan and Vice President Namadi Sambo are still the party to beat in the April election, with well-secured stronghold in the South-South, South-East and North-Central zones added to a strong governors support in others. Icheoku wonders what hope really exists for the other opposition political parties in their attempt to wrestle power from the PDP in the forthcoming April election.


Be that as it may, Icheoku says Nigeria does not need and will not have a theocracy which the government of Imam Muhammadu Buhari and Pastor Bakare would portend; hence the duo must be handily defeated. The good news is that both zealots do not stand a chance in hell of being elected as president and vice president in Nigeria and they will not be elected in April either. Both men are religious fanatics, representing fringes of both religions as typified in Boko Haram branch of Islam and some sliver of Pentecostal Christianity respectively. So if this ticket is elected "elected", other denomination as well as none-denominated Nigerians including animists and atheists alike, will feel completely alienated, encumbered that they are being ruled by zealots who do not understand them and will not be their best advocate. Anyway theirs is a losing ticket and for all intent and purpose, dead on arrival.


Imam Muhammadu Buhari is an unapologetic religious extremist and Icheoku is still haunted by the knowledge of his extra-judicial murder of Bartholomeo Owo and three others for an offence which was not a death-penalty offense when it was committed; but which the blood thirsty Islamist made punishable by death through a retroactive decree just to shed their innocent blood. That Buhari has till date, not considered it right and proper to apologise to Nigerians, particularly the families of his draconian-decrees victims and for his arbitrariness in office offends Icheoku's sensibilities and baffles our sense of decency. Islamist Buhari blew it when he did not pick Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as a formidable running mate notwithstanding their alleged Islamic angle; afterall Abiola and Kingibe ran a joint Muslim ticket and they won on June 12th? Anyway even a messianic vice presidential candidate would not have made any difference in the matter of Imam Muhammadu Buhari as he is simply too extreme with his religious views to be freely elected president of Nigeria. Nigerians have not forgotten Buhari's extra-judicial murders of Barthlomeow Owo, Bernard Ogedengbe and Lawal Ojuolape; those 53 suitcases allegedly stuffed with currency which were smuggled into Nigeria by Buhari's ADC Major Jokolo in 1984 despite Buhari's ordered boarder closure; the very subjective draconian Decree 4 as well as the mother of all his offenses - the overthrow of a then democratically elected President Shehu Shagari's government in December 1983. And this skeletal and gaunt-looking religious fanatic that is now posturing and presenting himself to be democratically elected as Nigeria's president in 2011? Therefore it does not really matter who Buhari might have picked as his running mate, he simply has too much baggage and is unelectable and cannot be elected president in Nigeria, not in 2011 and not anytime ever.


But had there been a successful alliance and Buhari chose Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as his running mate, may be he would have stood some chance at putting up some fight against PDP's President Jonathan in the April election. With Buhari's stronghold in the core Northwestern Nigeria Islamic Sharia states of Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Kano, Zamafara and Bola Tinubu's bastion in the Southwestern states they could force a coalition government with the eventual winning party with their nine states? But no, he settled for a mediocre vice presidential candidate, a fellow religious fundamentalist Tunde Bakare for a running mate. A man who brings nothing new nor adds anything of value to a ticket already encumbered by Buhari's personal excessive political negatives. Muhammadu Buhari is an irreparably, politically, damaged goods in Nigeria; he is not marketable to moderate Nigerians who happen to be in the majority and therefore cannot be elected in a general election as president. Tunde Bakare is  a political nitwit who cannot even guarantee his Later Rain congregation's votes for the ticket of two religious radicals; talkless of his Egbaland or Ogun State or the greater Yoruba Southwest. So what use is his choice one may ask; but Imam Buhari knows best. Like Wole Soyinka, Tunde Bakare has no business dabbling in politics and should have remained the society's conscientious objector and a credible voice among the rambling voices of so many rabble-rousers that abound in Nigeria. Unfortunately however, his acceptance of Buhari's offer to be his running mate has now perpetually marked him as a partisan who used the SNG for his personal aggrandizement and to achieve some iota of political relevance. Henceforth, whatever action Pastor Tunde Bakare takes will be viewed by majority of Nigerians through the prism of a person with an agenda - scheming to preserve his self-interest. 

So this is how the cookies crumbled for Nigerian opposition political parties whose quest to wrest power from the PDP has suffered yet a major blow. A setback  caused by their inability to unite for the common purpose of providing a viable alternative to Nigerians in place of the discredited PDP; thereby leaving PDP coasting home to an assured victory in the forthcoming April  2011 elections. So just for the heck of furthering this discussion, assuming the Islamic party CPC wins the five northwestern Sharia States of Zamfara, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto and Kano; the ACN wins four states out of the six Yoruba South-Western States, the ANPP retains or wins three states of Bornu, Yobe and Gombe States and APGA retains its Anambra State, the PDP still wins in about 23 states - six South-South States, five South East States, six North Central States and minimum of two South-West states of Ogun and Oshun States as well as another two North-Eastern States of Adamawa and Bauchi and may still also win Niger and Kaduna States.

Admitted that so many Nigerians crave for an alternative to the uninspiring PDP leadership of the past twelve years, but in the absence of a formidable alternative, Nigerians will come to terms that the available even though detestable PDP, might as well become the desirable party. Or could it be the proverbial goodluck of President Goodluck Jonathan that is at play here - using the irreconcilable squabble amongst the opposition parties to solve the potential Buhari challenge; just like it used Adamu Ciroma's consensus arrangement to solve the Babangida problem? May be Godwin Daboh of the "You Tarka me I Daboh you" fame was right that President Jonathan's rule was destined; and that any and all those constituting stumbling blocks on his way shall be bulldozed by a higher authority? Nigerians are increasingly becoming believers and soon it shall come to pass as April is just a few more weeks down the year. Since the opposition have failed to give Nigerians a meaningful alternative, come April, Nigerians will go to the poll, even if it means with their noses covered, to elect PDP's President Goodluck Jonathan to a four year completion of tenure term. As usual and after the fact of the election result, some of the opposition parties will grumble and possibly head back to court to contest the election result. But now that the opportunity of fairly winning the election themselves by presenting a strong joint ticket called, they have refused to make use of it by disagreeing on a joint opposition ticket. Icheoku wonders what manner of uncalculating politicians these opposition parties are constituted of - may be some weakling cry babies!