A RESPONSE TO SENATOR SHEHU SANI by DELE MOMODU

“My dear Comrade @shehu.sani , good morning Sir. Let me confess to being one of your addicted followers. Your interventions are usually very succint, poignant and witty. While I sometimes find them hyperbolic, I still enjoyed them, even when I disagreed with you vehemently. Today is one of such occasions.
I will start by saying this piece is one of your worst ever. It is quite jejune and illogical. Worse still, it stands Nigerian history on its head and attempts to give justification to the worst election in the history of our country. I will easily and readily forgive you if you admit that you’re battle weary. I was one of your sympathisers when your former Governor, Nasir el RUFAI, was demolishing you, installmentally, and eventually, he obliterated you from the political landscape of Kaduna State. From this narcoleptic perspective of yours, it is obvious to me that you’re finally fatigued, and in all honesty deserve an urgent retirement from activism.
I wish to correct only one of your dangerous postulations here, as it may pollute the minds, and kill the souls of some unwary Nigerians who may be hypnotized into believing that you’re an authority on Nigeria’s political history. This will be a tragedy.
There’s nothing that happened in the 2023 Presidential election that departed largely from those of 1979 and 1983. In the earlier elections, we had very popular iconic candidates from the South, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, from the South West, and Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, from the South East, just like we had Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, from the South West, and Mr Peter Obi, from the South East, in the “inconclusive” 2013 election. The dark horse in the earlier electons was Alhaji Shehu Shagari, from the North West Region, just like we currently have Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, a seasoned politician and business colossus, from the North East. We had a dominant figure, Malam Aminu Kano from Kano, just like we had Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, at this present moment. The scenario is quite similar and almost surreal in its natural spread.
Now, we all know that Mathematically, to be successful, each candidate must lock down minimum of four regions…

…The critical factors also include ethnicity and religion. It is very obvious to me that the more disadvantaged people, technically, in the most recent Presidential election were the Southern candidates, who like Awolowo and Azikiwe had their Southern regions to split, to begin with. In fact, Tinubu was the worse hit as Peter Obi dominated the Southern hemisphere, while Tinubu managed to struggle along in the South West and Atiku Abubakar picked his mandatory 25 percent from some states in the South, as awarded by the almighty INEC. As at the time of this last election, Buhari had virtually collapsed the nation and the unruly APC apparatchiks were openly attacking themselves and firing salvos at even the President. Tinubu personally supervised the open rebellion against Buhari, and was ably assisted by Governor Nasir el Rufai. Why then is our Comrade Shehu Sani trying to give the impression that only PDP had crises in its fold, when APC was the original “FUJI HOUSE OF COMMOTION.” The only reason PDP appeared bad was because of the ubiquitous presence of Governor Nyesom Wike who had too much of Rivers money to burn on his vengeful mission, via daily press conferences. At the end of the day, three of the co-conspirators burnt themselves to ashes… Is it not curious that in the aforementioned scenario, Tinubu, a Southerner, suddenly became the dominant figure in the long-suffering Northern regions where Atiku Abubakar comes from. I’m reasonably convinced that APC merely resorted to self-help, under the avuncular last minute decision by, and support from, Buhari and company. Where else except Nigeria that a President of a country will vote and openly, and illegally, display his ballot paper to reveal who he voted for, thereby sending subliminal messages to very powerful agencies of state!!
The worst crime against humanity and the Nigerian State, was the prodigious waste of the INEC budget on a dubious and duplicitous exercise, in which the technology that was purchased at mindboggling costs suddenly developed epilepsy, only during the Presidential election, but worked wonders in the National Assembly elections.
Yet, our own Shehu Sani wants to sell us a cast-iron alibi, by giving clumsy excuses for a pyrrhic victory… How sad and unfortunate…”
– DELE MOMODU