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The Post Obasanjo Era: It Should Have Been Duke, But We Will Accept Yar’dua By William Ernest Etim-Bassey william_etim-bas@canada.com
To Clara: For your Nurturing Friendship
Introduction
The People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP) convention that consensusly elected the incumbent Governor of Katsina State, Alhaji Umar Musa Yar’adua, as its Presidential candidate for the 2007 Presidential elections setback many political ambitions especially Donald Duke’s.
From Abuja, I heard one version of events at the convention, argued with detached passion and unfailing in logic. From Enugu, Port Harcourt and Calabar, I heard the same events recounted from a south-south perspective: historically consistent, vigorously argued. Each version of reality, of course, jarred with its mirror image on the other side of the looking glass.
Regardless of which side’s version makes the perfect internal sense, realpolotik obviously carried the day. On a personal note, I am left with a mindset struggling to balance two mutually exclusive versions of occurrences at the 2007 PDP convention. Tired of trying to be scrupulously even handed, even as I am still left in a sulky grey fug of ambiguity. I am sure of only one thing: the “PDP wise men” were unfair to Donald Duke.
Assumptions
Far from dwelling on Alhaji Umar Musa Yar’adua’s Presidential candidacy and spewing out the most predicable of Nigerian clichés, I am more concerned about the intolerable pressure that led to Donald Duke’s forced capitulation at the PDP convention. Obviously, the qualities Nigerian’s admire about Duke, and his achievements as governor in Cross River state inherently counts for nothing when placed in the context of realpolitik. Or, did the PDP “wise-men” mistake Duke’s deterministic vision for over-ambition and compromise dynamism and savvy for personal preference?
Consider that before Dukes tenure as governor, Politically, Economically and Psychologically, Cross River State was dead. “The adage: “Cross River state was dying on the vine” was a valid description of the local situation.
Do not get me wrong, should the PDP win the 2007 presidential elections, and Umar Musa Yar’adua become president. Favored political appointments will smooth frayed political nerves and egos, and the oppositions assumed logic of: my opponents disgruntled partners are my new partners” will not reign supreme.
But then, even the most determined optimist must question the intolerable pressure that forced Duke’s capitulation. Especially in an instance when one realizes that the democratic values and system we all sanctify is more sinister and intrigue filled than we care to readily admit.
Personally, I have found myself wondering back to Duke’s forced capitulation. “How could he, rather, how could they” I often ask myself. Then again, everyone that experiences political disappointment is defined by how he or she assimilates it. I am unable to fully internalize Duke’s “loss”, even though the cold-blooded logic of strategy clearly points to a political masterstroke in the choice of Musa Yar’dua and Dr. Goodluck by the “PDP wise-men”.
Nigerian Political History
The evidence of political history warns us that you do not make your “political bones” in Nigeria enjoying the creature comforts of your ethnic community or state. Chief Enahoro and other front line nationalist of the 1950’s and 60’s, and their contemporaries of the 1980’s and 90’s will attest to this fact.
Reputations are earned and salvaged by being able to handle the vagaries of the national geopolitical terrain, and its accompanying travails.
For 8yrs and counting, Donald Duke has taken knocks, lumps, bumps and bruises to put himself in a position where based on merit, he was the best candidate for presidency at the recent convention of the PDP. In addition, Duke’s campaign theme was based on the same socio-economic philosophy as that of the current government. Besides, his aspirations were based on sincerity and not borne out of “native dishonesty” like so many of his fellow politicians.
Analysis
“Whatever sun rises in the morning is our sun, and whichever king seats on the throne is our king,” runs an old Eritrean proverb, which summarizes the bittersweet philosophy of a people accustomed to having things done to them. I guess this proverb should now become the mantra for all indigenes from the south-south, after the forced capitulation of Duke.
In not electing Duke as the PDP’s presidential candidate, the “True Democrats” within the PDP must have faced intolerable pressure. On the other hand, they might have just missed the point. Plausibly, they failed to properly consider or properly analyze socio-developmental facts emanating from Cross River state, drew naïve conclusions, and misinterpreted key economic and political indicators and events.
Questioning the criteria used to consensusly elect the incumbent Governor of Katsina State, Alhaji Umar Musa Yar’adua, as its Presidential candidate for the 2007 Presidential elections posses the risk of endangering the PDP superstructure. Therefore, Duke, ever the party man, will remain ever faithful. Besides, true democracy indeed is his generation’s greatest challenge.
Conclusion
Arguably, President Obasanjo’s “anointing” of Alhaji Umar Musa Yar’adua his heir apparent is based on astute geopolitical calculations, and what I consider “subjective good intentions”. Nevertheless, it also could have turned out a recipe for national socio-political upheaval, and intra-party friction.
On Shehu Musa Yar’dua, I would argue that the political hermits life that shielded Shehu Musa Yar’dua from temptations and scrutiny could have stunted the development of his overall political career. Even he convinced himself, that political solitude is a proof of moral superiority. True democracy, with its tolerance of political mavericks and “basketmouths” has no place for political hermits. One now hopes that Shehu Musa Yar’dua’s emergences from his hermitic political hole in Katsina will definitely bring good tidings to Nigeria. Assuming the PDP emerges victorious in the presidential 2007 elections, that is.
In the case of Donald duke, I must confess that my assumption that he would be nominated as the PDP’s presidential candidate at the 2007 convention was based on the appreciation of statistical probabilities that is vulnerable to the ubiquitous “Nigerian factor”. But then again, people who have been unwillingly compromised politically develop long memories, and nurse utopian political hopes even when others are snoozing in complacent forgetfulness. I only hope that the “PDP wise men” find a suitable role for him in the next political dispensation. Ii would be a total waste to let him drift into the political abyss.
Aurora, Ontario, January 2007
William Ernest Etim-Bassey
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