Nigerian voters don’t have anything like coherent preferences. They vote irrationally and for contradictory reasons.
It’s time again, Nigerians!
2019 seems like it was yesterday in the collective Nigerian memory. It’s time again for Nigerians to meet face-to-face in public forum with 2023 presidential candidates. We have more than three candidates vying for the attention and ballot of the undereducated, underinformed Nigerian voters. Three candidates- Peter Obi, Abubakar Atiku, and Bola Tinubu - were invited to the 62nd annual NBA conference.
Nigerian voters don’t have anything like coherent preferences. They vote irrationally and for contradictory reasons. They make political decisions on the basis of ethnic identities, partisan party loyalties, and religious affiliation, not about honest examination of reality. No wonder, Nigerians end up with grossly unfit leaders. And that’s what Nigerians will get in 2023.
Obi and Atiku showed up at the NBA conference. Tinubu was represented by his vice-presidential candidate Kashim Shettima. Shettima who appeared like a stand up comedian, dressed in a suit made for an enraged visibly inebriated clown.
Contrary to popular assumption of many, BAT was not “half-dead”, or “possibly senile” to attend the NBA conference. The septuagenarian was forced into an undignified fight to defend his MIA (missing in action) status. The mysterious BAT neither a bird nor squirrel, appeared after the conference said: “It’s obviously not true that I’m half-dead, it’s obviously not true that I’m senile … I’m not a place holder for Shettima. Get thee behind me Satan!”
Why Tinubu failed to show up at NBA conference is understandable. As Asiwaju of cow breeders and cow herders of Yoruba land, Tinubu was in search of Fulani cows that destroyed farms in Igangan, Yewa, and other areas of Yoruba land. Tinubu was in the forests in Owo, Ado-Ekiti, Osogbo, Ilesa, Ikare, Kogi, Kwara, etc., to flush out Fulani terrorist invaders in the southwest. In fact, Tinubu had planned to bring the erring cows to the NBA as evidence to support the answer to his question: “Where are the cows?” But he wasn’t so lucky.
Meanwhile, Tinubu has intensified and extended his search for the erring cows. It’s very likely that before the next rounds of presidential debates, Asiwaju would bring the culprit cows and parade them before Nigerians on national TV. The race for 2023 is getting more interesting. Stay glued to the TV!