APC: From Manifesto To Chatham Surrogates               

“Africans are their own enemies, because, it’s only in Africa that leaders who are clearly exhibiting certain signs of madness are joyfully led to the market square to dance naked by the citizens who are frenziedly clapping and drumming without knowing that they are equally insane.” DSM

Since the manifesto of Labour Party was released to the public, I have distanced myself from commenting on the professional laid down issues, well-articulated for an ordinary person to study.

The document was never written as a secret service analysis, but for all Nigerians to study and digest appropriately.

Severally, Peter Obi has commissioned all Nigerians to hold him responsible if he reneged on any of his promises. TRUST has been his watchword, even as he has openly campaigned against Nigerians voting him on  emotional, tribal or religious sentiment or ground.

The late release of Labour Party’s Manifesto became the hunting campaign to  smear the readiness of Peter Obi to vie for the office of Nigeria president.

APC was in the forefront of the deformation tactic.

As the Labour Party Manifesto surfaced, it became another slanderous issue of campaign and I began to wonder if the real issue was the Manifesto, or a deliberate attempt to ensure that Peter Obi is smeared in anyway possible.

I never wanted to speak after going through the document, but when, RENO, DINO, FFK and KEYAMO left the content and context of the manifesto, and began to rant like children who had seen  ghosts as their shadows, I decided to add my voice.

APC public mourners didn’t see anything else to comment about the Labour Party’s Manifesto except comparing the caption of ……IT’S POSSIBLE..with Labour Party’s, IT IS POSSIBLE. They went ahead to cap it up as plagiarism without a thorough observation on two capital letters, POssible.

As men who have exhibited all-knowing bravado, I thought that these self-acknowledged and learned men understand the true meaning of PLAGIARISM. In a simple definition, plagiarism is an act or instinct, where a deliberate act tends to copy someone’s idea or work without prior knowledge or approval of the original owner of the work copied. It has nothing to do with a phrase of; IT’S POSSIBLE or IT IS POSSIBLE. Before plagiarism is labelled on a work or idea copied, the content and context of the work(s) must be clearly clear, with evidence that it has same semblance to the new idea owner.

There are words that are frequently used in our every day’s communications, such allegation of plagiarism become baseless. We can use different ways to interchange words without it being tagged, plagiarism. For example, HE’S or HE IS has always been a common communicator’s diction.

If APC’s manifesto is not a copy and paste document by most APC’s intellectual insight, what are the benefits of its implementation to Nigerians?

I have read both APC, PDP and LABOUR PARTIES Manifestos page to page…and without mentioning names, most of the Manifestos are more of  academic thesis than any serious strategic governance policies documents.

My problem with that of APC’s Manifesto is because, and probably, the presidential candidate who commissioned experts to write its Manifesto may never have read the document, and hence, he is dodging a public debate, where questions about the manifesto will be asked. Secondly, APC’S manifesto has never given me any idea to believe that good governance must emanate from even a well written manifesto.

As at today, inflationary rate is above 20%. Nigeria is a near  bankrupt nation with a debt crisis of about N42 trillion. Our debt service is over 102.3% on our revenue with corruption already magnified beyond funfair. The Oil sector with the president as the Petroleum Minister, and yet, APC is very much interested in disparaging Labour Party’s Manifesto. As at today, over 133 million Nigerians are poverty ridden with more than 40% of our youths unemployed. Many Nigerians youths who are even working are mainly placed as casual workers. SME have been erased in financial sector, where forex allocations are channelled to banks and influential cabals. Meanwhile, BDC OPERATORS have been suspended for nearly 2 years now. Fuel crisis and cooking gas prices are all part of APC’S 2014/15 Manifesto’s emissions that had polluted the entire country.

There’s no clear-cut economic policy initiative or infrastructural development conglomeration that APC will use as a base to castigate the Labour Party’s Manifesto that has not been tested. PDP Manifesto has equally been degraded because they failed woefully, especially in corruption allegation appraisal during their 16 years stewardship integrity survey.

On the 5th of January, 2022, I watched BAT read his prepared speech, purportedly, a version of his manifesto’s summary, and I was now waiting for questions, where he would elaborate on his Manifesto’s summarized policy initiatives, especially as it pertains to his vision and mission when burdened with leadership responsibilities, but to my surprise, BAT started sharing the assignment of answering questions to others. I couldn’t believe it, and it buttresses my earlier assertion that BAT has never read his much-vaunted Manifesto. Even Buhari, as much as we can describe him, has never assigned a public opinion media chat to anyone else. A presidential candidate, who ought to be in charge of his policy statements are delegating such Executive prerogative duty to Surrogates in a public media option, where the world expected to hear from him directly. 

What a disgrace.

I am beginning to agree with many opinion polls that BAT’S refusal to attend to any public media debate in Nigeria is because he has nothing to offer Nigerians, especially, when there won’t be any prepared statement availed within the interview venue. Can anyone blame his Vice President, SHETTIMA, when he publicly said that he will be in charge of the security while BAT becomes the economic adviser.

It was even more disheartening when he was asked directly to throw more light on how he intends to harmonise the UK defence path with Nigeria. Such a question was deliberately thrown at BAT, because the assumption was predicated on the event that he becomes the president of Nigeria. In that scenario, BAT will be the Commander In Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, and he should have a strong personal security architectural policy initiative on British defence path with Nigeria. Surprisingly, BAT asked El Rufia to answer such sensitive question when he’s supposed to be the commander, leading from the front. This same El Rufia that has no solutions to his state’s insecurity problem, and where terrorists, bandits and kidnappers are rampaging still stood up to an oratory display.

So El Rufia has all the security solutions and his APC party is deceiving all Nigerians?

Few days ago, we woke up to the gruesome murder of a Labour party woman leader in Kaduna state. The same state where El Rufia is in charge, and till date, no trace of the killers has been found. El Rufia has suddenly become the defence strategist when his own state has been in turmoil since he assumed office in 2015.

The insensitivity of our leaders is why Nigerians are being slaughtered by terrorists and bandits in the North and South, APC leaders were in a London banquet, dancing Buga with much funfair.

What many APC’S and BAT’S diehard supporters have failed woefully to know is that they’re ignorantly unaware that a personal question is nothing but an inquest to ascertain the levels of competence, cognitive abilities, communications and mental comprehension of BAT as an aspirant for Nigeria’s presidency.  It has nothing to do with the tag of teamship.

Nigerians are crying of bloated government expenses, the Chatham House conference were jammed packed with many APC’S leaders that travelled with BAT, even at the time when our foreign exchange balance had nosedived. You can imagine how much was expended on such irrelevant trip, and now juxtapose what will happen when BAT becomes the president proper. Buhari foreign trips will be a child’s play.

The misconception of many APC’S supporters is that they are mixing up administrative tasks’ schedules in term of functionality delegation to strategic policies direction of a Chief Executive.  BAT is going to be the Chief Executive of Nigeria if he wins, he must have his personal residual strategic policy initiatives that he MUST INITIATE before delegating to his team. The questions asked were all policies expectations of Nigeria and global community, and they are like an examination questions. You’re not expected to ask any surrogate to answer your questions in an examination venue, otherwise, you’re tagged as a cheater. The questions were to test your suitability for your next level elevation, and where you can’t, you won’t be promoted to the next level or class.

To worsen the situation, even an answer to a question concerning BAT’S personal life has to be written and passed to him by one of his Surrogates.

How can someone tell me the true story of my life time existence and experiences?

That’s just the simplest way I could describe BAT’S tricky idea of team -ship delegation of his core responsibilities to his surrogates. And unfortunately, all the surrogates sounded as if APC is the opposition party by the way they castigated their own party’s policies somersaults. Administratively, there are internal and external duties that can be delegated, but there are procedures to follow.

The APC’S tricky packaged Chatham Town hall titled: ‘Nigeria’s 2023 elections: security and economic development and its foreign policy imperative confirmation’, became a global image blunder for APC in particular and Nigerians in general. A caricature of a drama without the applause of viewers.

When I wrote that, NIGERIA: British Incorporated, many Nigerians didn’t understand my drift. Nigerian leaders are shameless, and as such  believe that the president of Nigeria is still the sole prerogatives of British government anointing. Every would be president of Nigeria has to pay a homage to Chatham House media option, and from research, being hosted by British government in Chatham House means a subtle approval of the powers to be. Indirectly, Chatham House has become more of the Headquarters of INEC’s approval authority, where decisions about who becomes Nigeria president is finalized.

Symbolically, and as a popular African parlance captured, ‘Shame no de catch mad man, even if he go naked in market square… Na only his brethren shame de catch on his behalf…’

Yet, most of us still believe that we are not slaves to British government’s incorporation  – Nigeria. What else could be more dehumanizing, if your leaders inferiority problems could make them to be shamelessly slaves to their colonial master.

But I see a new Nigeria that will break the yoke of satanic bondage of Nigeria in 2023.

If you watched the British Parliament when choosing a Prime Minister, the parliamentarians are not interested in whatsoever document, but your practical expressions of your agenda, verbally and verbatim. Manifesto is never seen as the prowess to good leadership. The town hall meetings are more inclined to appraising candidates than relying on a manifesto that the candidate never studied.

I feel pained when emotions have beclouded all our senses of rationalism.

A man who neglects his home by giving unnecessary excuses to talk directly to us here in Nigeria is not a man. A man who is not proud of what his home provides in term of media coverage and medical treatments is not a man.

Defending Tinubu is like a healthy man asking an unhealthy person to come and rule over his household. TINUBU is a great person no doubt but his time as at present has gone. Tinubu should have been a statesman just like OBJ, IBB, Abdulsalam….age has caught up with him except if we’re just living in denials. The only legacy of the BAT presently is CONTROVERSIES…but if I am wrong, just remember that, I come in PEACE.

 Dr. Sunny Oby Maduka (DSM).