How Atiku, Tinubu, Obi, Kwankwaso Shaped 2022/2023 Politics

With the amalgam of their support groups operating under different names , KUNLE ODEREMI writes on how the political movement under different nomenclatures have impacted on 2022 preparations for the 2023 general election.

When 2022 comes to an end, it would go down as one of the years the country witnessed a remarkable and dramatic twist in the political space. Frenetic moves by major political actors have fired the furnace resulting in varying coinages that have expanded the political lexicon of the country. The enhanced involvement of the youth that had shown passing interest in the electoral process has raised the bar in the preparations in 2022 for 2023 general election.

Kwankwasiyya yesterday, today

As sitting governor of Kano State, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, had launched a renaissance by forming the Kwakwasiyya Movement. With red cap as its symbol, the movement orchestrated his political inclination. The structure of the movement is revived and reinvigorated to serve in good stead each time he throws his hat into the ring to lead the country. Recently, Kwankwaso shed light on the philosophy of the organisation, as he intensified his bid to be the next president of the country on the platform of the hitherto dormant New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in 2023. He said: “The way we operate in Kwankwasiyya movement is completely different. We believe in building people. From 1999 to date, no one can tell the exact figures of those that benefitted from Kwankwasiyya; it’s only when the election comes that you can see figures.” According to him, “The only thing we are doing now is to re-strategise and ensure whoever wins in 2023 is given the seat and I am confident that that will be Kwankasiyya man.”

Hurricane Obidient Movement!

As horse-trading began to gather momentum in 2022 ahead the 2023 general election, loyalists of a former governor of Anambra State, Mr Peter Obi upped the ante of a mass movement. Deploying various media platforms, they wormed themselves into the subconscious of the populace as apostles of the 61-year old politician in his quest to become the fifth president of the country in 2023. Having stumbled out of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) where he had tried to pick its presidential ticket after he contested in 2019 as presidential running mate, Obi fortuitously secured the presidential ticket of the Labour Party (LP) for next year’s general election. With time, his promoters transformed into the Obidient Movement, which like a hurricane, swept across the length and breadth of the country and even beyond the shores of Nigeria. Thanks to the social media, where a preponderance of the youths electrified his campaign for the exalted office of president. The burgeoning number of his admirers, supporters and promoters soon recalibrated the nation’s political barometer and moved to alter the status quo ante, especially on gerontocracy and politics of godfathers. With the activities of the Obedient Movement fast gaining ground, it became obvious that other dynamics other than those that had characterised political participation, involvement, awareness and outcome will influence the 2023 general election. Enthralled by the development, the Kaduna-based mercurial Islamic cleric, Sheikh Gumi, counseled Obi to sustain the movement he started among young Nigerians beyond 2023. “Beyond the 2023 elections, don’t let the Movement you have started to end,” Gumi said. The LP candidate believes he represents the change from grimace, decadence and hardship to boom and prosperity Nigerians have been yearning for, as he declared: “The system they’ve operated over the years has brought us to where we are.”

Talks about the need for a Third Force at the dawn of general election were most pronounced in the buildup to the 2019 elections. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo tried to midwife the process, which had, before then, been the baby of pro-democracy and human rights organisations. The attempt for it to crystalise by adopting the African Democratic congress (ADC) one of the oldest political parties, failed as it collapsed almost at conception. The Obi phenomenon seems to have revived the Third Force agenda with Obasanjo inarguably, the alter ego. Another leading light in the Third Force movement that is neck-deep in the Obidient Movement is Professor Pat Utomi, who said a new dawn was in the horizon based on the increasing level of political consciousness arising from the Obi candidacy. “Right now, Nigeria’s democracy is not working because of the transaction costs that are involved, the tradeoffs that have to be made such that eventually when people get to power they find that what is wrong with power is not the purpose. They forget the purpose because there are so many deals, IOU to win the election and in the end we get the politics of politicians for politicians by politicians and not a democracy that is for the people and by the people,” he said.

BAT and emi lokan slogan

The multifaceted campaign strategy adopted in 2022 by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu crystallised in the abbreviation, BAT. The coinage is derived from the initials of the name of the former governor of Lagos State. His supporters now bear the sobriquet, BATIST, to underscore his political philosophy and score card as a former governor and political strategist. Of course, the unity of purpose among the apostles of BAT in analysing issues pertaining to the ticket of the APC, manifesto of Tinubu and the choice before the populace in 2023. But in a fit of irony, his traducers have likened BAT to the flying animal called bat. Nonetheless, the most intriguing addition to the nation’s political lexicon by the APC candidate is the expression, “Emi lokan,” which he espoused during one of his consultations at the threshold of APC presidential convention. Sounding esoteric during the consultation with some APC stakeholders in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, Tinubu recalled the huge sacrifice he made to pave way for President Buhari becoming president and how some forces were trying to deny him the opportunity of reaping the benefits of his efforts. He had also teased a sitting governor with the expression, “Eleyi” to underline his anger and near frustration over the perceived move to checkmate his presidential bid for APC ticket.

Atikulate on the move

It is a coinage by the supporters, friends and associates of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in 2022 buildup to the 2023 elections. Atikulate symbolises the political essence and philosophy of the Adamawa State-born politician. It is a mass movement that also comprises hordes of Atiku support Groups, many of which date back to 1992 when he first indicated interest to be president of the country. It perhaps has the largest network in terms of spread across the six geopolitical zones, as some of its members include chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) with satellites in the six geopolitical zones in the still-birthed Third Republic. Since the convergence of the groups under the Atikulate Movement, the members have been taking the advantage of different media platforms, the social media inclusive in propagating and promoted the contents of Atiku’s ‘Covenant with Nigerians,’ a comprehensive package on his vision and mission if elected president in 2023. So, to his supporters, to be Atikulated is for one to have a full grasp of Atiku’s philosophy, share his ideals and profess unalloyed loyalty to the cause of the PDP candidate in the 2023 presidential election.

Change in dynamics

The emergence of the different movements has rubbed on the preparations for the 2023 elections. There is a sharp rise in political consciousness among the people, especially about their right to vote and make the right choice on the Election Day. There is also new spirit and commitment towards effecting a positive change in leadership through the ballot box, with the youths and women showing keener interest in the nation’s electoral process. They are believed to have the potential, capacity and number to bring about a paradigm shift in political power based on demography. According to the data of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), majority of those who partook in the voter registration held this year are the youths. As 2022 gradually draws to a close, it is evident that the activities of the various movements have impacted on the politics with the 2023 elections just weeks away. They have become the veritable platforms for discourse on the variegated issues surrounding the emergence of presidential candidates and their running mates, as well as the manifestoes of the candidates for the February 25, 2023 elections. And the youths appear to be leading a renaissance and building bridges through the movements towards evolving new political behaviour and culture in the land.