Amaechi said: “The politician is there in Nigeria to steal, maim, and kill to remain in power.” Alhaji Bello Matawalle, minister of state for defence, has quickly countered him, describing the statement as reckless, inflammatory and dangerous, warning that the security agencies were on high alert against those planning to use violence to win elections. Initially, I was wondering what Matawalle was saying, but the undertone of Amaechi’s statement was that Nigerians should be ready to die if they are to unseat an incumbent. He cited an example from the 2003 governorship election in Kano, claiming 500,000 people were on the streets ready to die if it was called in favour of the ruling party.
However, Amaechi spoke the truth when he said the Nigerian politician is ready to steal, maim, and kill to remain in power. I would add: to gain power as well. There should be a caveat though: not all Nigerian politicians choose violence as route to power. Many are decent. A major problem is that politicians who fail to play the game of violence are often muscled out. Many decent people stay off politics because of this culture of violence. Since the 1950s and 1960s, violence, in varying degrees, has been part of our political culture. No need to deny or deodorise that. Politicians do it to intimidate opponents, to rig the votes and to entrench themselves as the kings and queens of terror.
It is a common practice for politicians to have youths and transport unionists in their corner. Conventional wisdom is: if you control the streets, you control the thugs; if you control the thugs, you control the ballot; if you control the ballot, you control power. The recruitment pool for terrorists and bandits in the north is traced to politicians using youths at election times and dumping them thereafter. In the Niger Delta, militancy mutated from organised political violence. In the south-west, transport unions breed the Rottweiler thugs for elections. Generally, many political thugs end up as billionaires and get celebrated as freedom fighters out to liberate their people from oppression.
My second take from Amaechi’s remarks is on the nature of opposition politics in Nigeria. He stylishly upbraided those clapping over the rousing statements being made by the speakers and discussants. “All we are hearing here is typical Nigeria and you are clapping,” he said. I understood his comment to mean the opposition must do its homework and organise itself to gain power — beyond talking a good game. This is interesting. Many of us made a similar point for years until the opposition parties finally came together in 2015 to unseat the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which had been threatening to rule Nigeria for 60 uninterrupted years. The PDP fell to a much stronger opposition.
This really makes sense. I have looked at the 2023 presidential election results like one million times and my conclusion has always been that if the opposition had not been balkanised, the APC would have been torn to pieces. While APC’s Tinubu garnered 8.79 million votes, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and the ex-PDP duo of Mr Peter Obi and Dr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso polled 14.58 million in total. Tinubu would not have won if the opposition was united, but his rivals chose to blame iReV, Chicago and everyone apart from themselves. Not one contender produced evidence at the tribunal to prove they won. If they really want to unseat APC in 2027, they must change tact and up their game.
My third take is on the role of vote protection in fostering credible elections. Amaechi gave the example of the 2003 election in Kano between Kwankwaso (then of the PDP) and Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau (then of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP). Amaechi claimed that then-President Olusegun Obasanjo (PDP) wanted INEC to declare Kwankwaso as the winner but when he realised that Kano people were ready to “defend” their votes, he retreated. I remember Obasanjo eventually appointed Kwankwaso as minister of defence obviously as compensation for losing the election. Shekarau went on to do two terms and Kwankwaso returned in 2011 to do a final, second term.
I have been hearing this “defend your votes” campaign for decades. Some call it “rig and roast”. That was what led to the violence in the Western Region in 1965 and, many would argue, the end of the first republic. This hits me in two ways. The first is that yes, let the riggers know that people are watching them in order to put them in check and pre-empt their ploy. This is fine. The other part, though, is that there is the danger that someone who loses an election can mobilise mobsters to wreak violence under the guise of defending their votes. I find it this particular possibility disturbing. It takes only a few mobsters to set a town on fire even if their candidate truly lost the election.
My fourth take is on Amaechi’s confession on poverty and politics. “Poverty has made me part of the political system since I left university in 1987, and I’ve been part of the process till today,” he said, bluntly. How many politicians, political appointees and other public officers can sincerely admit in public that they are in government for economic reasons? They will normally give us soundbites like “I’m here to serve my people”. The late Godwin Agbroko once wrote that some politicians and political appointees stay so long in government that if you ask them their state of origin, they will instinctively reply: “Government House.” The only business they have ever done in life is politics.
Also, there are people who did other businesses before joining politics but get stuck with it for life. When they compare efforts and rewards in the public and private sectors, they know where to pitch their tent — especially in a society where there are hardly any consequences for poor performance and unexplained wealth. I have nothing against career politicians but it is an easier choice in Nigeria because it fosters wealth without work. There is so much access to public resources with little or no accountability. Who can afford the choicest things of life? Dig deep and you will discover that it is disproportionately those who treat politics as business. But most of them will not admit this openly.
My fifth and final take on Amaechi’s confession is directly related to the fourth: just like many politicians, there are ordinary Nigerians who participate in politics just to address hunger. They do not care about free or fair elections. Amaechi narrated how he released money for protesters to be mobilised for the APC ahead of the 2015 general election only for marchers to come to the protest ground in pro-PDP attires. For all you care, they might not even know the difference between APC and PDP. They might even know but did not care. They were only interested in making their “daily 2k” to eat before going to bed. Many voters do not have allegiance to any party or politician.
Atiku, in buttressing Amaechi’s point, gave the example of when he went for a rally in Rivers state when Dr Peter Odili was governor. He said after two hours, the ground became empty. What happened? “We paid them for only two hours,” Atiku quoted Odili as saying. This elicited laughter in the hall. Nigerians know that politicians are the ones with the free money and are ready to splash it to get people to attend their rallies. If they don’t go, somebody else will attend and collect the 2k. Thus, voters eagerly look forward to the election season: that is when they can get their own “dividends” from politicians, many of whom have amassed colossal wealth “serving my people”.
Always, the masses get blamed for selling their votes. We make it look like they are in a position to make rational decisions, but poverty damages both the body and the soul. Someone struggling to get a decent meal is expected to turn down 2k and a mini bag of rice. May our stomachs not be tested. It is easy to blame the victims of misgovernance for selling their birthright. Some are actually clear-headed and calculative: they know politicians are stealing and don’t care about the people. They take election period as the only time the politicians will come to them. It is their only opportunity to get something from the politicians. It is a cynical view of politics but it is certainly not a baseless view.
To be clear, I do not support or seek to justify vote trading. Actually, I condemn it. However, you cannot solve a problem through condemnation alone. You have to understand the root causes, the factors that sustain it as well as its dynamics before you can think up a solution. The dynamics are more nuanced than simply blaming the voters for exchanging their birthright for a mess of pottage. We say they get the kind of leader they deserve because they sell their votes. Of course, we often assume that politicians who don’t share 2k will perform well in office. There is no such evidence yet. You can be an honest, tight-fisted politician and still be an incompetent leader. Examples abound.
We should dissect Amaechi’s confessions thoroughly. As an insider, he gave us important leads. One, we have a political class that kills and maims to gain and retain power. Thugs don’t recruit themselves for elections. Somebody does. Two, we have opposition politicians who are more into media war than mobilising voters. There is a place for issuing press statements on everything that happens and jumping to tweet all sorts at the slightest opportunity, but that cannot substitute for a solid election-winning strategy. Three, we have politicians whose interest is to address their own poverty while the masses feast on crumbs. How can we fix Nigeria if we don’t fix our politicians?
AND FOUR OTHER THINGS…
MIND SHIFT
I have undertaken quite a number of leadership training home and abroad, but I am still excited about the upcoming SHIFT conference to be hosted by Dr Sam Adeyemi on February 8 at Eko Hotel, Lagos, Nigeria. Many people know Adeyemi more as a cleric, but he actually has a PhD in strategic leadership from the Regent University, Virginia, USA, and regularly serves actionable strategies for personal and professional growth. For entrepreneurs like me, I want to be equipped with tools and insights to thrive, to reset my mindset, to align my vision with action and drive impactful change. We cannot take impactful actions if we don’t have a proper understanding of the dynamics. Instructive.
OBASA DRAMA
As I was saying, Rt Hon Mudashiru Obasa, the ousted speaker of the Lagos state house of assembly, is so full of himself. After being removed from his high horse by 32 of the 40 members while he was in the US, he returned to the country boasting that he remained speaker. He resorted to semantics on the difference between impeachment and removal (the constitution actually uses the word “remove”; “impeach” is reserved for governors, presidents and their deputies). Obasa said: “I believe strongly that I’m still the speaker until the right thing has been done.” It’s like common sense eventually prevailed. If he thinks he is too big to be an ordinary member, he can go home. Conceited.
TAME TRUMP
Many Nigerians who, out of bigotry, supported the election of President Donald Trump must be questioning their choice now, assuming they care. Trump has been on the rampage. He even ordered a freeze on grants — a decision that would have terrible impact on the war against malaria, HPV vaccines and HIV treatment in Nigeria. A judge has temporarily blocked the order because of a lawsuit brought by grant recipients. However, this applies to only grants that have been approved. If the recipients win the case, Trump can still decide to scrap the grants from 2026. The man is trying so hard to please his excited fanbase but something tells me he will soon overreach himself. Unhinged.
NO COMMENT
You must have read the report of a magistrate court in Ilesa, Osun state, that ordered one Rhoda Adu to pay her boyfriend N150,000 as damages for failing to show up at his place after collecting N3,000 for transport. The report went viral. The name of the magistrate was given as Akogun Oludare. It was such an enjoyable story. The only problem is that it was fake news. The first red flag for me was that a similar story had been circulated in March 2024 but it was attributed to an Enugu magistrate. In any case, the Osun state judiciary has issued a statement denying both the judgment and the imaginary judge. How can you be asked to repay N3,000 with N150,000? In this Tinubu economy? Wonderful.
