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11 – 2 – 2019

This is Zikoko’s Game of Votes Weekly Dispatch. We share the most important things leading up to the 2019 General Elections, and why they matter. 5pm. Every Monday. Stay woke. 

IT’S 5 DAYS TO THE GENERAL ELECTIONS
And it’s raining PVC barbeques. Who did we offend?

WE SHUTTIN’ IT DOWN.

On February 7th, the APC announced that the Buhari campaign train would be making a stop in Lagos for February 9th. It was finally time to appeal to the city’s 6 million plus voters to give the APC broom, a sweeping victory, come election day.
Oh and to make this happen, they’d be shutting down the city for the day. Fire rocks be damned.
Thankfully, someone intimated the government on the heart-attack seriousness with which Lagos people take their weekend plans, so that idea was quickly scrapped.

How Did Bubs Do In The Big City? 

Well, not so hot. Either the people of Lagos were still seething that anyone dared threaten their weekend plans, or the city has the most jaded electorate in this election cycle.
Where the APC was able to pull mammoth crowds as seen in Kano, Jos etc, rented or no — Lagosians just really weren’t about that life.
Videos surfaced of people yelling their church-mind on Buhari’s performance for the past 4 years, an early indication of their displeasure in his visit.
The 24,325 seater Teslim Balogun Stadium where the APC rally was held, was barely filled to half-capacity at the time Buhari came out to speak, though it was substantially filled up at the start of the rally.
But if it’s any consolation, his Twitter BFF- Ambode and the whole Oba of Lagos assured him of a victory in Lagos, come February 16th, so there’s that.

We Have To Talk About ‘Those Things’ Now?

Breaking a record nobody wanted, needed or even contemplated — the world’s largest brooms now reside in Abuja, spectacularly defacing the beautiful city gate and Unity Park, Transcorp Hilton. This monument to the APC’s government has been linked to everything from witchcraft to Nazi Germany and personally, worsening my cramps this month.
While the APC, through its publicity secretary — Lanre Issa Onilu has denied being involved with the monument, ascribing it to zealous volunteers — how handy is it to have supporters with enough might to prominently construct a single party symbol in a widely multi-party state? And let’s not forget the pretty penny it must have cost.
Did Nigeria really need this addition to its history of butt-ugly statues? The answer is no.

 

WHO FORGOT TO INVITE DONALD DUKE TO THE SDP GROUP CHAT?

On February 7th, The SDP, at the end of its National Executive Committee, chose to adopt Muhammadu Buhari as its presidential candidate for the February 16 elections. They cited the protracted legal battles that have followed the party on the road to the presidential elections as reason.
Now this would have been an understandable, welcome decision almost, if anyone had thought to iron it out with the guy parading himself as the party’s candidate  — before the fact.

How Is Donny Taking It?

Not so well. Infact, he’s not taking it at all.
In a statement released on February 8, Duke let errbody know he was still very much in the running for the presidency and would be front and center on the ballot as candidate of the SDP, come February 16th.
While the SDP cited protracted legal battles for its decision to adopt Buhari, Duke let it be known that the real root of the issue lay in the aspirant  who unfortunately could not take his defeat at the party primaries, lying down ( that’s Professor Jerry Gana btw).
We’ll wait to see how this plays out. But can somebody tell the SDP, nobody wins when the family feuds?

KINGSLEY MOGHALU: THE LION AND SHOYINKA’S JEWEL.

After a string of approvals from personalities like The Nigeria Disapora Group for Growth and The Northern Christian Group, Kingsley Moghalu on February 8th, got the nod Yele Sowore had hoped for, when Nigeria’s foremost afro icon and Nobel Laurete — Wole Soyinka endorsed his candidacy for presidency.
Explaining his choice in a statement, Soyinka revealed that consideration had been given to the “careers , experiences and track records of most of the presidential aspirants , and most intensely those actually shortlisted by the opposition parties themselves .”
Random news: did you know Kingsley Moghalu has Funmilayo Ransom-Kuti as Godmother and she christened him Ayodele? Shooketh.

 

 

OBY EZEKWESILI IS SETTING THINGS STRAIGHT.

Oby Ezekwesili – the erstwhile candidate of the ACPN had a lot to get off her chest this week. And she wasn’t afraid to hold a press conference to offload a little.

Speaking On Her Resignation.

On February 4th, Mrs Ezekwesili held a press conference to announce her resignation from the ACPN. While she had previously exited the presidential race for reasons she first ascribed to needing to form a coalition, she added a little teeth and admitted that party politics led to her stepping-down. These same politics informed her decision to leave the party.
She revealed that things started to unravel when the ACPN realised she truly had no looted funds with which to enrich the party, and was equally unwilling to seek funding from her international connections, a route the party had pressured her to take.

I Work With Facts And Figures.

Unlike some people…
In keeping with maintaining a sterile record, Oby Ezekwesili published a detailed breakdown of the income and expenditure of her campaign between October 1, 2018 and February 2, 2019 on her website.
It showed how she raised  ₦48 957 416, $17 645 and £200 for the campaign while leaving a total of  ₦2 435 609.81, $12 634.50 and £200 in the campaign bank account.

What Does The ACPN Think About This?

They want their money.
The party, having already disowned Ezekwesili for one Muhammadu Buhari, is more concerned with their coin, and are not above taking her to court over it. They really said that too.
Alhaji Ganiyu — the ACPN chairman, who we should remember was her running mate until very recently — expressed his dissatisfaction with her having raised only ₦43 million in 3 months, and spending all of it. He disclosed this to pressmen on February 8th. Subject to her being more transparent with the figures and sources, he wasn’t above them having their day in court.
Tut-tut, all this distrust. What happened to Mrs Ezekwesili being one of the brightest economic minds in Nigeria?

EL RUFAI, THAT WASN’T VERY GOVERNATORIAL OF YOU.

 

Nasir El-Rufai, speaking at the NTA’s Tuesday Live Programme, made a statement that could have come straight from the mouth of a 5’3 mob boss and not the governor of the 4th most populous state in Nigeria.
He threatened that any members of the European Union, The United States or The UK who attempted to interfere in Nigeria’s upcoming elections — rather than let the country handle it independently — would leave in body-bags. Watch out for my exact reaction to this in the 0:16 mark.

Managing The Blowback.
 

In a spin that would make any rational person dizzy, the governor’s statement has been re-worked to make it sound more patriotic and less homicidal-aside.
As explained by his spokesperson — Samuel Aruwan in a press release — the governor’s comments ought to be interpreted as a passionate refusal to allow the country devolve into a colony, like many an opposition party would prefer.
                                                                                                                          

WETIN GOVERNMENT DEY DO?

With El-Rufai’s statements on sending our foreign friends and observers in body-bags out of Nigeria should they step out of line, it would be remiss if we didn’t point out that as head of the country, the President plays a key role in receiving and recognising foreign diplomatic and consular representatives to Nigeria. So can the international observers, come into the country and leave wholly, plis dear?

 

 

Ministry is moving

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