2023 Elections: The Three Messiahs -By Mustapha Sulyman Oluwatofunmi

Elections are here. Very close to us. At this time, every political party is zealously preparing for the days with rigor and vigor to snug it out with one another. The activities that have mesmerized and dislodged them from governance and raptly focused them to campaigning. Of course, that’s a usual practice at every electioneering period!

Undoubtedly, the 2023 elections will be fierce, weird, frantic, keen and heatedly contested, different from that of last elections.
Unlike the last elections where we only had TWO heavyweight presidential candidates under the most popular parties; APC & PDP respectively.

The 2023 Power Jostling is now a THREE-MAN GAME with serious candidates’ viz; Atiku Abubakar of PDP, Bola Ahmed Adekunle Tinubu(BAAT) of APC, and Peter Gregory Obi of LP, an eleven-hour candidate from stunted part.

Going by the above candidates, we now have one from the North, one from the Southwest and the other from the southeast. We have two southern candidates in all.

These popular flag bearers are known to have held one position or the other in the politics of Nigeria. We have two former governors and other one was a vice president of Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Atiku Abubakar, GCON, was a vice president who deputized the former president Olusegun Obasanjo (baba Iyabo) in 1999 and 2003 respectively. He was born 25 November 1946.
An old man but with physical health balance.

He is an old popular politician, a war chest man, and a blunt. The retired custom officer has his political feathers cut across the nation. A politician cum businessman Atiku has unsuccessfully contested for the office of Nigerian President for five times; 1993, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019 respectively. He’s a regular comer and loser. However, he has a convinceable chance to win the coming elections.

Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu(AAT) is another popular presidential candidate, a political foxy and old friend with the former. He’s popular in the politics of Nigerian, beyond, if I may say. He’s sobriquetly called “Jagaban” by his teeming supporters and loyalists. Truly, he’s a Jagaban in politics with his massive investment in human political journey.
Becoming a flag bearer of his party against all odds can emphasis further the above description.

Bola Tinubu is a Nigerian politician and accountant who was a 12th governor of Lagos state between 1999-2007, and also a senator represented Lagos West during the brief Third Republic.

Since his expiration of his tenure as a governor, he has become a political godfather and demon who dictates who and what to happen in Lagos state’s politics. A despotic spell he slightly extended to some other states.

He’s old, with a controversial age. The disputes over his real age, educational qualifications and name continues to be a political discourse in the country due to contradictory documents from Tinubu himself; a mystery that’s yet to be demystified, not even by his deadly defenders.
Notwithstanding, he has an indisputable senile appearance, the nature that cannot be cheated.

Just like Atiku of PDP who had loads of corruption accusation on his head, Tinubu of APC wasn’t also with clean antecedent hands.

Atiku was implicated in an international bribery scandal along with one of his wives, Jennifer Atiku Abubakar. Unsubstantiated rumors also had it that while in office, he sold many governmental properties to his associates. Furthermore, he was alleged because of his dirty hands, that he couldn’t visit the United States, a state he later visited alongside with former Senate President, Bukola Saraki and others, in January 2019, prior to elections.

Tinubu had various corruption ropes tied to his neck, ranging from Conspiracy, Money Laundering, Abuse of Office, and Official Corruption vis-à-vis a sale of V-mobile Network Shares in 2004.

Tinubu again, in early 1990s, while he was in the United States, was alleged and subsequently declared guilty for serving as a bag man for two Chicago heroin dealers. The case that led to forfeiture of his foreign account balance as at the time.

As both of them had/have corruption accusations and conviction, they also have area of their strengths.

Atiku is known to be a businessman and led economy committee during his period as VP. He used his strength to pilot and improve the country in the area of economic growth, relieving the nation from hunger and poverty.

Atiku is believed, if won, would utilize his wealth of personal and people’s growth experience to savage the nation of severe and present unbearable agony.

Tinubu on the other hand, as a successful accountant whose two terms as a governor of Lagos state were marked with modern development of Lagos with his blueprints which continues to be built upon by his successors, believed to roll out his expertise to restructure the country. His restructuring idea has continued to be the campaigning point by his supporters and admirers.

Peter Obi, CON, Born July 1961, is a well-known businessman, successful banker and a politician who served as governor of Anambra before and from 2007 to 2014. He was also a vice presidential candidate to Atiku Abubakar of PDP in 2019 general elections, an election they both lost to the incumbent, President Muhammadu Buhari.

Obi, prior to PDP Primaries, his immediate former party, knowing that he stood no chance to win the ticket had to jettison the party and pitted his tent with lackluster party, LP. The party he has raised and illuminated with nation’s popularity within a little space of time with influx of Obi-dients, his weird supporters. He is known for parsimony with name tagged “Mr. No Shishi”.

Extensively, vis-à-vis Obi’s sudden gained popularity, it would be an underscored statement to say Obi is out of the game. Either he will come distant or close third, it’s indubitable that he has gained hypnotizing momentum through ObiDatti Movement. A movement championed by my Igbo brothers, which has now become a threat to both Atiku and Tinubu. At first, it was believed to be only a movement of tribalism but over the time, the movement is contagious and has now become a revolt against old order which is presently a rallying point of his teeming followers.

The choice of Asiwaju of APC has given the movement the chance to harbour many aggrieved Christians who believed Muslim-Muslim tickets was a wrong choice and also couldn’t pitch their tents with ATIKU of PDP.

I must add that the momentum gained by the newly wedded husband, Obi, wasn’t surprising. My Igbo people have never failed in generating traffic on any products they market. They are good at that very well, though, it may be detected afterwards that it’s a fake product. A charm that has short lifespan!

Obi is portrayed to be a candidate per excellence for his robust antecedent while in office as a governor. His tenures were marked by substantial improvements in state finance, economic production, resourceful management, education and investments, among others.

Another factor worthy to note about Obi is his charismatic eloquence and confidence to communicate his plans to solve the problems causing nightmares to Nigerians. This has also given him more cheers and present him as needed candidate who can rescue Nigeria if become president.

However, Obi, like other previously mentioned candidates, is not left out in corruption allegations.

His hands were sullied in the result of the Pandora Papers leaks. This could be traced to a report by Premium Times on his involvement in offshore companies in tax havens such as the “British Virgin Island and Barbados”, 1990s.

Other corruption allegations like violation of Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act on declaration of properties, assets, and liabilities, among others, can be accrued to him.

Having said little about the trio, our acclaimed messiahs, and contrasting their antecedents with one another, who is really our Messiah?

A question crying for the answer!

M.sulyman98@gmail.com