By Barr. Elabor Joe Agbebaku

As we approach the 2023 general elections, and as expected, different narratives and propaganda have been released to dissuade and or persuade the voters for and or against the candidates, we have been here before, therefore it is nothing new. Howbeit, we should be skeptic and reactive as they come to us, and endeavor to ask germane questions.

First, we have to understand that in our country, individuals under a political party in power determine the level of progress or retrogression of a government.

This is so because our political system doesn’t operate on party ideology (like you have in other nations), but on individual ideologies. That is why you have a notable Capitalist for instance, contesting under the platform of a Socialist Political Party in Nigeria today.

It is the reason also that you see politicians moving from a political party to another at ease. For instance, few months ago I was in PDP, today I am in APC, does that change my personal ideology or political intention? The answer is NO, it only change the route to achieving my political goals and purpose which is and remains to preserve and protect the interests of my people and my constituency. But that is by the way.

We are faced with a major crisis presently in this country which I would touch more on later herein. Was this crisis caused by a political party? The answer is NO, but by some individuals.

So, there is no too much of an attachment of political parties and the actors in Nigeria. What voters should look at, are the intentions of these individuals and how they would be able to affect their interests going especially by their antecedents.

With the election at hand, I wouldn’t want to bore you with candidates who within themselves know that they are not contenders, but to restrict the space to the very serious contenders in the forthcoming election.

Let me talk about the cabal in (men in high place). They are few individuals whose identities are rather unknown, but their impacts are highly felt and controls the powers that be in this country. They are of Northern extraction, operating with support of few persons from the South. I wrote about them in the build up to the 2019 general elections.

Their main purpose is to hold on to power, and use same for their personal benefits and interests. They originate propaganda, cause crisis, etc. to achieve their electioneering purpose, and make the people vote in accordance to their narratives.

In this election, they are determined to have the power remain in the North, and they are working assiduously to achieve that purpose.

Let’s recall a bit, there was an understanding to have the power return to the South after spending eight years in the North, but some how the PDP gave their ticket to a Northerner disregarding the understanding.

There was a stronger understanding within the APC governors, to have the party ticket taken to the South. However, at the eleventh hour, there was a strong objection to the understanding, coming from some powerful individuals from the North (the Cabal), which insisted that the ticket must be taken to the North, this brought about the abrupt and adventitious emergence of Sen. Ahmad Lawan (the Senate President) at the eleventh hour.

At this time, it became apparent that the cabal wants to retain the power in the North.

Thankfully, there were Northern Governors who chose to stand by the foremost understanding of returning power to the South. They came together to endorse the candidacy of the Asiwaju, and were able to defeat the cabal’s agenda in that respect.

Going into the election proper, the cabal not been satisfied, and to still achieve their purpose of retaining power in the North, have taken their armory to the main opposition which has a Northern candidate.

They came up with some policies, the notable one is the Naira Redesign Implementation Policy, which many have termed “the satanic policy”, through the CBN Governor who is dissatisfied with the candidacy of the APC after loosing out on securing the ticket for himself.

They came up with the propaganda that they are aiming to suppress vote buying in the forthcoming elections, whereas the policy has brought untold hardship and suffering on the people.

The APC Governors who understand that it is the game plan of the cabal to besmirch and smear the name of the party APC and thereby ruin the intention of the foremost understanding to have power return to the South, came out openly to condemn the policy, and went further to institute a legal action in the highest Court.

As expected, the opposition with the Northern candidacy came out in support of the policy even when it is causing hardship on the people, some of the Governors like that of Edo State, went further to file an application to be joined as Respondents in the action. Many who are sensitive ought to have wondered why it was so, given that it was an APC government policy, but it is PDP governors and candidate that are defending it, isn’t it?

I’m currently in my community in Edo State, the PDP are campaigning to the people that it is APC who caused the hardship and the unavailability of cash flow, whereas the Governor of the state (Obaseki) is fighting the APC Governors and the Presidential candidate who are against the policy, the game plan should be getting clearer to you by now.

And then, there is this set of people who believe that the policy is actually to reduce vote buying and corruption, even if we are to believe that, truth is there are some candidates that can’t win the Presidential election with or without vote buying, so why should people have to suffer? Just yesterday, I heard a woman complaining that she took her sick twin kids to a clinic in my community, but was told that she would have to pay with new Naira notes before she could be attended to, but she doesn’t have new Naira notes. I asked if they don’t accept transfers? She said they refused transfer . I went to the clinic and asked why they don’t accept transfer, they equally complained that they have encountered so much loss through transfers, that sometimes the transfer doesn’t come even after they see debit alerts from customers. I also saw how my community people were returning their farm produce from the market, as they couldn’t sell for lack of cash. These are just to show you the nature of hardship people are going through, and the level the cabal can go to achieve their purpose.

Now, let me talk briefly about the candidate of the PDP, Alh. Atiku Abubakar. It would be recalled that in the build up to the 2015 general elections, this man told Nigeria that it was the turn of the North to produce the President, and that power should rotate to the North. Many persons from the South agreed with him, and eventually power shifted to the North.

After eight years of the Northern rule, the same man Atiku has moved to the other side of the goal post to say that the power should remain in the North, and not return to the South.

With the support of the cabal, the game plan is working in his favor. Should this be allowed to happen, it would set a precedent in our political history which the South would live to regret. This is because the Northerners would see it that they could always hold on to power at will and at any time they so desire, and can’t be challenged.

Howbeit, only one man is capable of stopping this avoidable political misadventure right now, his name is Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The cabal know this fact, that is the reason they are doing everything to stop him, and incite the people against him and his party. Before you disagree with this, first travel away from social media, to your village (grassroots) where the true voters are and carry out sample polls. Election is very close, we shouldn’t be seen deceiving ourselves.

This very election would go a long way in defining the political position of the Southerners in the coming future.

It is not time to be political and economical with the truth, decide where you belong, whether for Pro-South or for Pro-North. It doesn’t matter the political party you belong or affiliate to, it is a personal decision.

These and more are the reasons we are voting the Asiwaju in February 25th, 2023.

Elabor Joe Agbebaku, Esq.

(Edo State, Nigeria).

([email protected])