We are in the season of war of words as the 2027 general election is gathering momentum little by little. At a time like this, politicians usually employ propaganda as a veritable means of political weapon. In this instance, one cannot rule out the use of verbal attacks against one another.
Therefore, it is not out of place to hear governor Seyi Makinde launching the first verbal missile against the APC at the occasion of the opening of the South West Secretariat of the PDP in Ibadan on November 2, 2024. In that occasion, he fired that the 2027 general elections would be between the APC and the Nigerian people. According to him, the battle would not even be APC versus PDP affairs. What is the governor trying to imply here? The message is that the Nigerian people will reject the APC in retaliation for the economic hardship in the land.
The National Chairman of the APC did not allow the smoke generated by Seyi Makinde’s innuendos to subside before he fired his own bullets. Immediately after his party had clinched the much needed victory in the November 16 governorship election in Ondo State, he took a swipe at the opposition party. He told the press that both Osun and Oyo States are the next target to be captured into the fold of the APC. This punch hit the PDP across the South West below the belt. They criticized Ganduje’s verbal jab to high heaven. But the chairman has passed his message, not minding whose ox is gored.
In apparent reaction to Ganduje’s statement, the Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde last week Wednesday in Osogbo threw another stone. He said that the Peoples Democratic Party would teach the All Progressives Congress a political lesson in the 2026 Osun and the 2027 Oyo State elections. It was at the inauguration of the Stadium Roundabout/ Oke Bale Roundabout/ Ilesha Garage Roundabout dual carriage road. He described the ambition of the APC National Chairman to win Oyo and Osun in the future elections as unrealistic, saying that the Chairman must have been distracted.
The people being referred to by GSM to deal with the APC in 2027 actually voted for the party in 2015 against all odds. They repeated the feat in 2019, and they were even consistent with it in 2023. Contrary to the dream of Mr Governor that Nigerians will reject PBAT in 2027 because of the economic reforms, a big political disappointment awaits His Excellency and his Co-travellers. Nigeria will come out of this economic doldrums stronger and better before the anticipated 2027. There are promising signs for this assertion.
Number one, Mr President is a veteran politician in election strategies. He is highly experienced and has credible antecedents when it comes to using performance as an index for seeking re-election. Number two, just recently, Daniel Bwala, the Special Adviser to the President on Policy Communications said something. “You’ve to be possessed by evil spirit not to have seen the progress in the past one year”. This statement may be weird to some people that never cared to see the positive side of PBAT’s administration.
The students loan, the local government autonomy and now, the tax reform bills are just a tip of the iceberg. The previous administrations did not have the courage to push for something as difficult as local government autonomy and tax reform. It is only a performer like PBAT that can do the unthinkable in a peculiar situation like this. No president has ever been able to exercise such audacity to tackling Nigeria’s problems headlong before in the over all interest of the nation, and doing so at a personal cost.
On the issue of the economy that people like Davido say is in shambles, the blacksmiths handling it this time around are worth their onions. They know that this economy has to pass through the crucible before it can respond to desired shape. Therefore, taking hard decisions, and not minding its consequences on a possible second term ambition of PBAT is a huge personal sacrifice. The end has finally come to the era of window dressing and superficial economic reforms by the past administrations that yielded no results.
At a point like this, one would have expected Gov Seyi Makinde to direct his energy into governance more, and to resolving the crises rocking his party. The PDP at the national level is embroiled in a protracted political crises. It ripple effects in the Oyo State Chapter is like a time bomb waiting for detonation. Charity, they say begins at home.
If the governor thinks that PDP in Oyo State is one entity, he must be making a serious mistake. If he thinks that the Oyo State people are ignorant and not aware of being shortchanged by his style of governance, somebody close to him should wake him up. It is going to be a perfect example of error of judgement for him to be thinking that all is well with his party and his government. The scales in the eyes of the people have already fallen off a long time ago. His dossiers are open to the good people of Oyo State, and the days of reckoning are not far.
However, if this is the season of throwing political jabs as I mentioned at the beginning of this write up, it is a familiar terrain for the APC. When it comes to firing political salvo, no party does it better than the APC. Former president Goodluck Jonathan did not remain in office to tell the story. Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the then APC publicity secretary and co. made a minced meat of him in the build up towards the 2015 presidential election.
Today, the APC parades a crop of seasoned public speakers grinded enough to sell the policies and programmes of the party. The likes of Adams Oshiomole, Daniel Bwala, Bayo Onanuga, Festus Keyamo just to mention a few are on ground. These are the firebrands that Seyi Makinde and his party will have to contend with in the political crossfire of 2027. These gentlemen are capable of firing from all cylinders when the need arises.
Just as I mentioned in one of the past editions of Monday Morning Reflections. There are over a hundred campaign issues to tackle Gov Seyi Makinde when the time comes. Therefore, let Mr Governor continue to throw jabs: “Eniti o ba so oko oro, a fi gba ogulutu”. In politics, nobody has a monopoly to throwing innuendos.
Biliamin Aderemi Ogundele
Former Chairman Ona Ara local government