Triumph Of The Comrade By Emeka Odikpo

In Nigeria’s contemporary election history, the challenge has been whether the election of candidates can proceed from bottom to the top instead of the other way round. Democracy by its traditional definition envisages a situation where the people freely chose a leader from one of them to superintend their interest over a period of time. This choice is ideally supposed to be made free from any inducement or coercion. Unfortunately in General Obasanjo’s garbled period of democracy, every such ideal was destroyed.  Thus candidates for positions in states sometimes throng to Abuja to felicitate with political god fathers instead of campaigning to the masses in their communities.   One of the first people to buck this trend was the indefatigable Comrade Adams Oshiomole. He commenced grass root mobilization of Edo people in 2005. The man is schooled in the art of trade unionism and acutely understands the power of the tongue and the effect of practical and pragmatic reasoning on the people. He worked his way across the entire state addressing all types of audience ranging from the hoi polloi to the ultra rich. Going for him was the infamy in which the previous government of Lucky Igbenedion was held by the general populace. The result was predictable; he built a formidable mass movement that held Edo State spell bound. Even though the powers that be attempted to steal his mandate, he ultimately triumphed through the court system.   Dateline 2013, enter another Comrade; Dr. Tony Nwoye. This young comrade is a medical doctor and born hell raiser. He has held the enviable position of President of National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS). A position that at the very least entails intense mobilization of students of the University you are attending. One of the many sad aspects of Nigerian democracy has been the failure of Students Union leaders to transform into community leaders and National Leaders. In the United States, a man like Barack Obama, who was the President of Harvard Law Society, used that position to lay down the marker. His Harvard professors and fellow students were definitely not surprised when he emerged the President of the United States.   In Nigeria, the era of notable students’ union leaders was during the Military era. Men such as Lanre Arogundande, Emma Ezeazu, Chima Ubani, Ogaga Ifowodo and Omoyele Sowore gave the University Authorities and the Military Governments sleepless nights in their fights for the welfare of Nigerians and Nigerian Students. Post qualification from their various Universities, the momentum was not sustained. They have remained outsiders in the theatre of party politics in Nigeria. This development is a by product of the military era that they opposed the government in. Many of them found residing in Nigeria too dangerous to contemplate after graduation. The natural aftermath is that many of them are living abroad, actively contributing to discourse in Nigeria, but are totally absent in Nigeria’s politics.   The nomination of Comrade Tony Nwoye as the authentic PDP’s gubernatorial candidate for the Anambra State election may serve as the turning point of this untoward development.  This veteran University mobilizer is definitely no money bag.  He has so far run a very organized grassroots campaign that goes from village to village. The refusal of the Speaker of the House of Representatives to swear him in as the representative of Anambra East/West constituency in the House of Representatives has served him well. He has remained in Anambra State mobilizing fellow young men into his gubernatorial cause.  By the time his opponents came back from Abuja and Lagos they discovered that the young man has built an insurmountable lead.     The youth in Anambra State clearly understand this young man. He has promised that job creation will be his number one priority. Probably because he comes from a generation in which many of his peers are either unemployed or under employed, so he understands the indignity that joblessness can cause. He also understands that societal vices such as armed robbery, kidnapping, prostitution and even resort to sorcery for money making are by products of this malaise. He also understands that these vices, especially kidnapping are hindering development in Anambra State and most of the South East. He has committed himself to revamping the economy of Anambra State through this medium of job creation. Infrastructural deficits and their urgent renewal are also high on his professed agenda.    From his past record of mobilizing youths and representing them at various for a, there are many reasons for believing that this generation shift of power will do Anambra State a world of good. The road blocks between him and Government House Awka are still enormous. Hard work and intense mobilization of the young and the old must remain the portion of himself and that of his campaign organization. My prayer is that if he emerges victorious at the end of the day, he will remain true to his primary constituency; the pauperized masses.     Emeka Odikpo Legal Practitioner and Public Affairs Commentator     The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of SaharaReporters   

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