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From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Ahead of the 2023 presidential election, London and other European cities have gradually turned into a Mecca of sort to almost all the presidential candidates of the various political parties to hold strategic meetings, network and also reconcile political differences by major stakeholders.
In the current dispensation, the three frontline presidential candidates of the major political parties, comprising Peter Obi, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and Atiku Abubakar, have not apparently keyed into this traditional strategy, but have also been caught in the web of deploying it to their advantages.
However, such offshore meetings may not come as a big surprise to many political watchers and those with sense of history of Nigeria’s political trajectory.
The method has perfectly worked well for almost all the successive presidential candidates that have used it as instrument of intimidation to their contemporaries by showcasing the quality network of international connection at their disposal.
In the successive democratic dispensations, history is replete with the candidates embarking on such trips to prove to the Nigerian electorate how much international towering height he has attained.
For example, in the build-up to the 2015 presidential election, President Muhammadu Buhari, then candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had visited London Chatham House among other reasons to perhaps attempt to bury the ghost of the past and other hatchets with Great Britain.
He had used the then hastily arranged talk at the London’s Chatham House to briefly outline the sketchy architecture of his foreign policy, it was also seen as an attempt to confirm that Nigeria will maintain its status quo, looking Westwards for patronage and not upset any apple carts with good old Britain.
Whether it was deployed as a winning strategy to brighten his chances ahead of the presidential poll and confer legitimacy and credibility on him, the London trip became the powerful symbolism registered in the minds of the Nigerian electorate, resulting in his emergence.
The strategy was equally deployed in the 2019 presidential election when the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, made the United Arab Emirates (UAE) a second home, where PDP stalwarts met to plot the downfall of the current Buhari-led administration. The strategy could only guarantee him millions of votes that helped him finished second.
It will not, however, come as a surprise that the trend has continued among the major gladiators in the build-up to next year’s presidential elections as trips to Europe have become a perfect ground to plot and firm up their winning strategies.
There is, however, a slight departure from the usual trend in next year’s poll as the trips to Europe now combine strategic plots with reliable ground to mend fences and settle scores from the fallout of the bitterness from the conducted presidential primary.
Above all, the foreign trips have become fertile ground to intensify lobbying for the endorsement and blessings of the man gradually becoming the 2023 general elections beautiful bride, and the governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike.
Since the conduct of the presidential primaries by the political parties, no week passes without celebrated media reports of the candidates meeting one political stalwart or the other either in France, London and or other parts of Europe.
Call it colonial mentality or deliberate deployment of psychological tactics to confer gratuitous advantage to the gladiators; many political watchers believe that holding such meetings at neutral grounds could be an attempt to showcase the qualities and capabilities of the gladiators.
“Imagine the status symbol meeting in London or France will confer on the presidential candidates. It comes with psychology that they have international clout. Take, for instance, the case of Atiku meeting with the governor of Rivers State in London, which comes with the interpretation to Nigerians as a mark of honour and respect,” an observer noted.
But in reality, it has become a disgusting development that they spend tax-payers’ money on such trip and case that could have been easily sorted out in the country.
“Many Nigerians now feel that beyond show of international clout, the country is no longer comfortable enough to host such high-profile meetings or perfect such networks,” an APC chieftain told Sunday Sun in confidence.
Reacting further to the development, the chieftain said: “Don’t also forget that outside the country like London or France is a neutral venue that will place the gladiators at par with each other and give them the freedom to discuss freely. Yes, it can be interpreted as neo-colonialism, but it did not start with the current candidates for next year’s presidential election.
“Such strategic meetings have always served as a psychological instrument for manipulations of the Nigerian electorate by one presidential candidate or the other. What I cannot, however, guarantee is whether it can still work now as it worked in the past. It could also be interpreted as possible continuation of the trend where Nigeria presidents feel more comfortable talking to citizens outside the country,” the chieftain noted.
Although information is still very sketchy on whether Governor Wike actually met with the APC presidential candidate, Tinubu, such meeting if any may have little or no influence on the outcome of the presidential election.
“We have continued to see the romance between Governor Wike and certain APC stalwarts, but I don’t see it translating into any electoral gain to the Asiwaju presidential ticket. Wike cannot certainly leave the PDP to join the APC. Wike meeting with Asiwaju can only mean making himself politically relevant,” another chieftain argued.
In his own reaction, APC chieftain and Director General Voice of Nigeria (VON), Osita Okechukwu, dismissed the meeting yielding any meaningful outcome.
Okechukwu rather advised Governor Wike to tilt towards either Asiwaju or Peter Obi, warning him to be wary of the dangers of Dagger’s Syndrome in his hobnobbing with Atiku.
Commenting on the development, Okechukwu said: “My take is that Governor Wike is just enjoying the moment or what one could easily dub Wike’s wave. Methinks it is better enjoyed abroad with less distraction. Is it not Nollywood characteristic that he met with the leading big three presidential candidates – Asiwaju Tinubu of APC, Peter Obi of LP, and lastly Atiku Abubakar of PDP?
“My candid advice is that Wike should not make the mistake of rewarding Atiku who betrayed the South and by extension himself, who could have won the PDP presidential primary election.
“This is the same Atiku who cruised to victory when only northerners contested in 2018 in Port Harcourt, and deliberately rubbish the rotation convention of president from North to South and South to North, which governed the 4th Republic of Nigeria from inception in 1999,” he noted.
Okechukwu warned: “The grave danger of Wike making the gross mistake of going back to Atiku, who is now the new Sheriff in charge of PDP, take my bet, is that he will definitely suffer from Dagger’s Syndrome.
“Dagger’s Syndrome states that in the heat of bitter battle, if one draws his dagger, he better pierce it through his opponent. Otherwise, he will pay dearly, if he sheaths his dagger. This occurs mostly to men who are lily livered.
“Atiku himself is a victim of Dagger’s Syndrome, which he is yet to recover from. Recall that on the eve of the 2003 presidential primary election the young turks, led by then Governors James Ibori, Orji Uzor Kalu, Ministers Dubem Onyia, Yomi Edu and co, prodded him to run for president.
“In the wave of the moment, crafty Olusegun Obasanjo then president yearning for second term pulled a fast one; according to impeccable sources prostrated, knelt down and furiously begged Atiku, promising future Eldorado, to a man who had already pulled his sword to sheath it.
“Atiku fell to the trick and lost a golden opportunity, which is near impossible to recover. Dagger’s Syndrome will be the fate of Wike, if he dares pull back his Dagger, which has been drawn; therefore, he either aligns with Asiwaju or Peter Obi.
“On whom between them to choose, it is left to his inner circle. Each has his own advantage, for Asiwaju he will harvest from our spread. For Obi, his constituents and allies may be more comfortable.
“The truism is that patriots of both North and South are not so happy with the betrayal of the rotation convention by Atiku, this made a lot doubt his proclamation of being a unifier.
“He is not a unifier, for a unifier cannot breach the constitution of his political party and the federal character principle enunciated in 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
Head or tail and regardless of the side you belong, the response of the beautiful bride, Governor Wike, that the trips are consultations for a better Nigeria will raise one’s curiosity.
Speaking on arrival from London at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Governor Wike confirmed the meetings with Atiku, Bola Tinubu, Obi and former president, Olusegun Obasanjo in London, explaining that topmost on the agenda is how to make Nigeria better than what is it currently.
Since the perception of Nigerians will not make any difference to the strategic resolve by the candidates to continue with the trend, such foreign trips may not have any positive impact on the outcome of next year’s presidential election.
