Dr Oby Ezekwesili has taken a shot at Nigeria’s established political structure, noting that the political influence of godfathers such as former Lagos governor, Bola Tinubu, is overhyped and without substance.
Tinubu is the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and acclaimed political godfather in Lagos who’s practically handpicked two successive governors and was influential to President Muhammadu Buhari’s victory in the 2015 presidential election.
In a statement signed by Ezekwesili on Monday, November 5, 2018, she said the doubts about her party’s structure are unimportant because the supposed established structures are not as influential as people believe.
Citing data from the 2015 presidential election, Ezekwesili said Tinubu’s influence was only able to win Buhari a fraction of votes in Alimosho, the largest local government area in Lagos.
She said, “The truth is that you, my fellow citizens, are all the structure that we need to make this happen and this isn’t some lofty ideal. It is very possible through difficult but practical steps.
“Let us look at the data. Data is something these old order politicians who want to rule forever haven’t bothered to engage with.
“Alimosho for example, is the largest local government in Lagos state with over 1.2 million persons resident according to official census figures. In 2015, only about 650,000 of these people registered and obtained their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs).
“Faced with the rather unattractive choice of voting for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s Goodluck Jonathan, or the anyone-but-Jonathan candidacy represented by Muhammadu Buhari, a great many voters chose to abstain.
“At the end of the day, the #APCPDP, the twin terrors of Nigeria, only managed to conjure up 140,000 votes between them. In Almighty Alimosho. This says something loud and clear, that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu with all of his ‘might’ and experience in so-called grassroots politics could, at the end of the day, deliver only 86,897 votes for his candidate Buhari and their party.
“Where then does the source of this his widely reported power come from? Isn’t he grossly overestimated? Asiwaju Tinubu and his like in #APCPDP control only as much as we let them. And the situation is the same in every other part of the country – from Kano to Ilorin – where any godfather claims to hold sway.
“These men are only as powerful as we, the citizens let them be. They have been getting away with this for so long because we outsourced our responsibility as voters to people who do not necessarily represent our best interests.
“The biggest trick that these entrenched politicians have played on us is to convince us of their invincibility, and we permitted them. This stops NOW!”
The former Minister of Education further disclosed that data has shown her that the unimpressed portion of the electorate who failed to previously vote for the APC and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is the base she’ll target to achieve victory at next year’s polls.
“The 500,000 persons in Alimosho who were so unimpressed by the #APCPDP that they refused to come out to vote are the numbers who will probably decide the 2019 elections. They are the numbers my campaign is seeking to activate
“Everyone has one vote only and we would work hard to earn the votes of these Nigerians who care enough about their country to be wary of giving their votes to a bunch of self-preserving and recycled polo-trickians who have had several years to deliver dividends to the people but failed woefully,” she said.
“At the end of the day, 2019 will be decided by the incredible hard work and community that we create together, not the godfathers and their impoverishing brand of politics,” she added.
Support InfoStride News' Credible Journalism: Only credible journalism can guarantee a fair, accountable and transparent society, including democracy and government. It involves a lot of efforts and money. We need your support. Click here to Donate