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Trick means a crafty procedure or practice meant to deceive or defraud. Crafty means being clever at achieving what you want by using indirect, or slightly deceitful methods. It describes someone who is cunning or sly. Basically, a trick refers to a deceptive action. No doubt, politics involves manoeuvrings to achieve political power, but when such manoeuvrings involve deceptive action, it becomes politricks. The aim of politics is the peace, order, and good governance of the society, while the objective of politricks is state capture for the benefit of the elite class.
Nigeria is the headquarters of politricks in the whole world. The All Progressives Congress (APC) is the largest ‘politrickal’ party on planet earth. This is why we are racing inescapably towards state capture unless something drastic happens in 2027. This party started its trick with the inordinate and corrupt amendment of the Electoral Act, 2022, which produced the Electoral Act, 2026, that was described by Mike Igini, the former Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the worst Electoral Act in the history of Nigeria.
The epicentre of the politricks is in section 77 of the Electoral Act, 2026. From subsections 2-7 provides: ‘A party shall maintain a digital register of its members containing the name, sex, date of birth, address, State, Local Government, ward, polling unit, National Identification Number and photograph in both hard and soft copies. Upon registration, a membership card shall be issued to the member. Each political party shall make such register available to the Commission not later than 21 days before the date fixed for the party primaries, congresses or conventions. Only members whose names are contained in the register shall be eligible to vote and be voted for in party primaries, congresses and conventions. A political party shall not use any other register for party primaries, congresses and conventions except the register submitted to the Commission. A party that fails to submit the membership register within the stipulated time shall not be eligible to field a candidate for that election.’
APC embarked on these amendments to frustrate members of its party who may wish to defect to other parties to contest if they are rigged out from contesting under APC. From day one, immediately after the election of Tinubu, APC didn’t want to organise any primary election within its party. This is why it removed the option of indirect primary from the Electoral Act, 2026 and retained the options of consensus and direct primary. We did warn on this column that this is Tinubu’s strategy to write down the names of the members he wished to become the candidates of his party in his bedroom. Section 84(2) provides that “the procedure for the nomination of candidates by political parties for the various elective positions shall be by direct primaries or consensus.” With this politrick, Gov Sim Fubara’s name was eliminated from the governorship race from Rivers State. Tien Jack Rich’s name was eliminated from the Senatorial race in Rivers State, and Desmond Elliott’s name was eliminated from Lagos State House of Assembly race. With indirect primary, there may be semblance of election, but with direct primary, there is no election at all. In APC’s vote counting method, we witnessed count 100, 500, 1000 as official result of winners. There was no 101. A corrupt tree must produce corrupt fruits. This is why APC as a party has been producing the worst set of leaders for Nigeria, whose only ambition is to capture the state for their personal ambition.
Unfortunately for Fubara, Jack Rich, and Desmond, they cannot defect to another party to pursue their ambition because section 77 has precluded them from doing so. APC understood that they would do that and stipulated that their names must be submitted to INEC by any party they would wish to run on 21 days before election. This time has elapsed before APC organised its dubious primaries. However, recent court judgement which extended the time for primaries in accordance with the Electoral Act, 2026, may offer a glimmer of hope to some APC rigged out members.
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Unfortunately, the most hit by this politrick in APC are the lawmakers who were hoodwinked by APC to make the law. APC initially tricked them to make the law by enticing them with automatic return tickets. Ask Senator Ned Nwoko whether that promise to him was fulfilled. The Senator unleashed war on the governor of his state who was of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) extraction, believing he was doing APC a service. Unfortunately, his governor defected to APC and took charge of APC. Ned Nwoko became a second-class politician in his APC. Tinubu is only interested in power, and not in person. Tinubu abandoned Ned for Oborevwori and produced Senator Okowa as Delta North Senatorial Candidate for the 2027 election. The fear of APC’s dubiousness is the beginning of political wisdom.
The primary elections of APC was also another trick which Tinubu deployed to sack some of his unperforming ministers. The Minister of Power has been giving Nigerians darkness from his inception as minister. Tinubu has always been reluctant in sacking any minister from the South West of Nigeria, no matter how unproductive the person may be. Luckily for Tinubu, the Minister of Power elicited interest in contesting for the governorship of Oyo State. Judging by the closeness of the minister to Tinubu, there is no way he would have left Tinubu’s cabinet without getting a green light that he was the anointed candidate. However, immediately he resigned from the cabinet, after many postponed attempts at rumoured resignation, he threw in the towel to contest for the governorship of Oyo State. He was eliminated at the screening stage, and told he was not even qualified to contest. Tinubu has removed him from office without sacking him. This is politrick 101.
It is not APC alone that is in this politrick. PDP seems to be hotly chasing the APC in this game. After the 2023 general elections in which the G-5 ‘politricians’ of PDP worked for the APC to win the presidential election, they have embarked on politricks that have almost destroyed PDP. They kept dealing with each other craftily until the Supreme Court wiped out the leadership of both factions of the PDP. One would have thought that both factions would have met to sort out their differences, but they remained adamant in struggling with whose side is legitimate or illegitimate. They even called each other 419 politicians.
To prove that each side has lost confidence in PDP, each side is fielding candidates in other political parties other than PDP. The Wike faction is fielding candidates in the APC while the Turaki faction is fielding candidates in the Allied Peoples Movement (APM). Seyi Makinde is now the presidential aspirant under the APM, while Gov Bala Muhammad is now a Senatorial Candidate under APM. All the aspirants in Rivers State who are loyal to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister, Nyesom Wike, are contesting under APC.
The only politician of note that the Turaki-led faction is parading, who is contesting is President Goodluck Jonathan. This is a politician who has not declared any intention to run for the post of president. He was not screened by any political party. The names of the officials who are parading his name as their candidate are not on INEC’s portal as officials of PDP. Someone claimed he purchased form for him and no one saw him accept the nomination. If this is not politricks intended for someone somewhere to make quick bucks from unsuspecting Nigerians who are fans to the former president, what is it? I call for the repentance of these politricians and plead with them to allow the former president to continue the enjoyment of his well-deserved political retirement in peace.
The case of the Labour Party (LP) is even more interesting. Following a protracted legal battle which ended in ousting Julius Abure as National Chairman and the enthronement of Senator Nenadi Usman as National Chairman, people thought the circus in LP was over. But the politricks in the blood of average Nigerian is much. In this period of obtaining nomination forms for party primaries, while Nenadi Usman is selling forms to intending party contestants, Julius Abure, allegedly, is giving out nomination forms free of charge to intending contestants in the name of LP.
The irony of these situations is that people are falling for the trick. Or are they procured to pretend that they are falling for the trick? Some citizens obtained nomination forms from Wike-led faction of the PDP even when his own son and associates would not obtain forms from his faction. Goodluck Jonathan, purportedly, obtained form from the Turaki-led faction even when the serving governors of the party refused to do same. The truth is that the political tricksters know what they are doing, but unfortunately some of their followers are ignorant. They are used as the experimental pawns in the chessboard. Citizens beware is the only caveat that every Nigerian needs in this crafty world of Nigerian politics. If the politicians do not quarrel with one another because of their followers, it must be foolishness for the followers to quarrel with one another because of the politicians. Citizens must not allow themselves to be divided by the politricks of the Nigerian politicians channelled towards state capture rather than the interest of the citizens.
