David versus Reno: and the loser is …

We should be careful not to lose ourselves this election season, urges Ayodele Okunfolami

Showdown is twitter where they have a combined following of over two million. On the right corner, weighing 77kg and standing five feet and 11 inches is a lawyer, aged 48, author of half a dozen books, self-acclaimed table shaker, and ever ready to tackle anybody on cyber space is the one and only Reno Omokri. Reno doesn’t shy away from controversial issues be they political, religious, social, or cultural. He never sits on the fence and makes his position known to all.

On the opposing corner is a much younger opponent. Aged 32, investigative journalist and author of books that have confronted and uncovered the principalities of Nigeria. In addition to his activism, he has this day publicly identified the presidential candidate he supports like his older challenger.

Having served as aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Reno has been more inclined to the Peoples Democratic Party and had openly stated his support for Atiku Abubakar months before the primaries. He had even gone as far as telling Peter Obi to step down his ambition for a repeat joint ticket with Atiku in 2023. But Obi left PDP for the Labour Party. Reno criticised the move and the battleline against Obi-dients was drawn. It was in one of the many twitter back-and-forths that Reno described Obi-dients as online bullies who told him that if he didn’t shut up they would get David Hundeyin to expose him. Which Reno took as an “exposure challenge”.

David, who has a history of boxing above his weight like his Biblical sake, took up the challenge, counterpunching with well worded threaded tweets enough to reduced anybody to size. This got David’s corner excited as his rebuttal with Reno went viral. The Obi-dients had seen a champion to match Reno’s defying and ravenous rants.

I doubt if there is a more exciting social media community than Nigeria’s. From skits that now outnumber skit makers to gossips to crowdfunding. These youthful netizens knocked off the tag of being interested only in entertainment and not governance and politics when they shock the world with #EndSARS. They have carried this momentum into supporting their various candidates leading to next year’s presidential election. They are Obi-dent, Atikulated, Batified, Kwankwasiyyan and different other demonyms. They want to prove that their demography cannot be overlooked or taken for granted and that they are the structure that will enthrone the next president.

As encouraging as this, I took my gaze off the ring where the two goateed pugilists were slugging it out, to the ringside and further into the excited watchers as they retweeted Reno and David’s gbas gbos. I paused. Looked into the ring again. Both Reno and David are privileged. Schooled in the best of Nigerian schools, graduated from UK universities, comfortably living abroad and won’t vote next year yet giving victims of ASUU strike project topic to develop back home.

Reno and David would enter time-predictable public transport from one end of UK to another at any time of the day or night without praying for journey mercies but the youths taking sides on Whatsapp will speak in tongues and count the rosaries from wọle to sọkalẹ in intercity commuting. Reno and David have unlimited Wi-Fi everywhere for free. Enter public bus or train, free and unlimited. Enter library, free and unlimited. Enter shopping mall, free and unlimited. Whereas the Nigerian pays 10 times what Indians pay for internet services and keeps wondering what he pressed that he has 200mb left. Reno is raising his children where light doesn’t blink, the young Nigerian parent grumbles because his baby’s first word was “NEPA” and not “Dada”.

As much as we cannot fold our hands and lose our nation to the hawks that have mismanaged our collective patrimony, we should be careful not to lose ourselves this election season. There is life after the polls and we should be mindful not to create enemies. We should not look at those not supporting our candidates as unpatriotic, primitive or wanting to maintain the old order. If our preferred doesn’t win, we should not assume the collective choice of the majority was a mistake, attempt to delegitimize the winner or that “suffer neva tire us”. Let us stop all this toxicity.

Truth is that politics like love and religion, is illogical. How would you explain admired democracies like France where a centrist president was voted and in a space of a fortnight, the same electorate voted in extreme right and left legislators handicapping the same president they voted for? Or is it in America where the same pro-life divide is overruling half a century abortion rights yet upholding rights to own guns that keep killing hundreds. Or is it in the UK where the ruling party is losing public confidence and suffering by-elections that could mean bye to their parliamentary majority, yet that same party is voting to keep its leadership whose misbehaviour is the cause of everything. 

Life’s choices are not black and white. They are not even grey; they are often all black options, and a choice must be made. Those that want power to shift may be put off by a same religion ticket. Some like a political party but are uncomfortable with the standard bearer. Those that want an unorthodox politician may be asterisked by a weak political base and wonder how he might lead a minority government. Some in fact want to waste their vote. What takes us to the polls are as diverse as punishing a failed party, rewarding a politician’s previous performance or simply because your family votes a certain way. That is why we should not see anybody’s choice as awkward and shouldn’t be blackmailed.

Even you that think you are being commonsensical with your vote, the politicians you are voting for are considering mundane things like religion, ethnicity and gender while choosing their running mates and eventual cabinet if they win. Let’s not kill ourselves over any politician. Almost all of them have crisscrossed all the parties and those that remain faithful to theirs have welcomed perfidious politicians from outside. So, looking for ideology as a basis to vote is not even as straight forward. The only ideology you should be looking for is if your life is better off.

Although our leaders have failed us, they never failed themselves. They have bipartisanly rallied around the former deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, in his travails but not a single word of support for the said donor while the ailing daughter is mentioned in passing. That is how they roll, without us. Even if we strip them of their political positions, Ekweremadu for instance, because of what he got himself into, has been barred as visiting professor from two foreign universities. Ditto all of them. No matter what we say about them, they have life outside politics. They have submitted their credentials with the Independent National Electoral Commission, for those that can produce theirs. They are either former military generals, top academics and civil servants, doyens of their respective industries, etc. My point is what have you achieved for yourself?

As immoral as vote buying is, at least, some people put a price on their vote. What is yours? Your personal progress is more important than breaking your head and relationships over politics. David and Reno are doing well for themselves where they are. So is Deji Adeyanju, Segun Awosanya (Segalink) and Pastor Poju that was recently cyber bullied to delete a perceived political tweet.

Just as your personal progress is not in the hands of any body or future president, so is Nigeria’s redemption. I have repeatedly said we will be voting in a president that would be bound by the constitution, legislature, rule of law, and other red tapism of governance and not a potentate with a magic wound. One man, no matter how good intentioned cannot change Nigeria alone and no man, no matter how ill-willed will be allowed to destroy Nigeria alone. We will all work together, through the instrumentalities of the constitution and democracy to ensure Nigeria works no matter who dwells in Aso Rock. Pending May 29 next year, the current occupant still has a contract with us and we must ensure he fulfils it while we don’t become the loser in some spoilt children’s prejudiced bouts.

Ayodele Okunfolami

Festac, Lagos