2019 campaigns: Another season of half-truths, lies

Electioneering period in a sane society is a period when the electorate scrutinise candidates seeking elective positions. Unfortunately, here in Nigeria, the campaigns for the 2019 general elections are packages of propaganda. Surprisingly, the two leading political parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), through their supporters, have made it a hobby to use propaganda against one another. In this analysis, ABDULRAHMAN ZAKARIYAU takes a look at the ugly trend and how it can affect one ofthe most important aspects of democracy, electioneering.

Cloning: Jubrin and Buhari

Like wild fire, the issue of a cloned president in the corridors of the nation’s seat of power dominated the political airspace. Many, especially through the social media, alleged that President Muhammadu Buhari had died during one his medical trips abroad. In stages, the propaganda of the death of the president started sometime around May 7, 2017, when he embarked on medical trip to London, which lasted exactly 104 days. Opposition party stalwarts, former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, and especially the former governor of Ekiti state, Ayodele Fayose, were some of those who championed the propaganda. Fayose went to the extent of even placing an advert in which it was deduced that some persons wanted the president dead. Many Nigerians asked the then Governor Fayose and his likes why they wished the president dead? A question they all never answered till date.

Consequently, after the arrival of President Buhari from his multiple medical trips and his miraculous recovery, the propaganda was moved to another stage. Many also alleged that the president had died during one of his medical trips abroad, but due to the desperation of the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), someone, Jibril, and to others one Jibrin from Sudan was brought in to lead the most populous black nation on earth. Supporters of the opposition parties and even the international community made a mockery of the president over the situation. In fact, at a function when the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), former vice-president Atiku Abubakar was about to speak, the shouts of “Jibril must go” rented the air, and the Wazirin Adamawa jokingly said “is it the Jibril of Sudan, or the one in Abuja.”

Buhari’s declaration
In an attempt to douse the tension and to fight the propagandists, President Buhari described the author of the confusion as “ignorant and irreligious.” He said: “It’s real me, I assure you. I will soon celebrate my 76th birthday and I will still go strong. A lot of people hoped that I died during my ill health. Some even reached out to the Vice President to consider them to be his deputy because they assumed I was dead. That embarrassed him a lot and, of course, he visited me when I was in London convalescing… It’s real me; I assure you.”

Analysts have described this as the worst propaganda against a seating president in the history of Nigeria. According to them, how can a right-thinking Nigerian believe such propaganda? They said: “If the president is dead, for religious reasons it will be made known to us and for political reasons many Nigerians close to him will also speak up. Just like former President Goodluck Jonathan and others benefitted from the death of President Umar Musa Yar’Adua, many will also want to take advantage of that; so politicians like that will never shield the death of a president. This propaganda shows how cruel and gullible we are as people.”

 

Corruption and visa

Like Buhari, like Atiku. The two leading presidential candidates’ campaigns have been smeared by propaganda. The former vice-president, the Wazirin Adamawa, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, was accused of corruption in the United States of America (USA) and consequently banned from entering the States or will risk arrest upon entering. Even his former boss, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, also accused him of corruption in the USA and Nigeria. However, since his emergence as the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), his visa saga has taken a new twist. Many Nigerians who are perhaps sympathetic to President Muhammadu Buhari and his party, the APC, have used this against Atiku. They mostly propagate that he is corrupt and cannot travel to the USA and that he hired a lobbyist to subtly engage the US government to grant him visa; all these were used against him without any proof.

In recent times, the Minister Information, Culture and Tourism, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, seems to be one of those propagandists against Atiku. Lai had said: “We understand and appreciate the fact that it is the prerogative of the U.S. to grant a visa to anyone who applies. However, we want the U.S. to be neutral and be wary of taking any decision that will give the impression that they are favouring or endorsing one candidate over the other. Impression must not be created that the U.S. government is endorsing one particular candidate over the other.” This was backed up with series of protests by some civil society organisations. This, to many, is propaganda taken too far.

 

Abdulsalam calls for calm

On his part, a former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd.), called for calm and warned politicians against endangering the lives of Nigerians ahead of the 2019 general elections.

Abubakar, who is also the Chairman of the National Peace Committee, gave the warning recently, saying “let us do the right thing and ensure we do not endanger the lives of citizens of this country in trying to avoid violence during the elections.”

“And let us campaign on issues and not on personal (basis). I believe these gentlemen who are front-runners are decent people who will avoid violence, who will not allow their followers to take to violence. We are too happy with how the campaigns are taking place. We want to make sure that the campaign should be focused on issues, not on personalities.

“A party has a manifesto; candidates should try to sell the manifesto of his party. What we have seen of recent is that some people have started using some abusive languages, people carrying weapons, big sticks and so on. And I think this has no role in democracy,” he said.

 

Lai on fake news

Speaking on the how all these pose danger to the forthcoming elections, the Minister of Information, Culture And Tourism, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, alerted that fake news and hate speech, if left unchecked, constitute the biggest threat to the general elections.

He said: “A recent study by researchers at the Ohio State University in the United States concluded that Russian interference and the fake news it promoted probably played a significant role in depressing Hilary Clinton’s support on the day of the country’s 2016 presidential elections. Among the fake news circulated ahead of the election were: that Clinton is in poor health due to a serious disease: Pope Francis endorsed candidate Trump, and Clinton approved weapons sales to Islamic Jihadists. Even the winner of that election, President Donald Trump, is still reeling from the impact of the alleged Russian intervention.

“Right here in Nigeria, you are all aware of a recent report by the BBC, that fake news circulating in the social media is fueling the farmers-herders crisis in Nigeria. Disturbing pictures from other lands are circulated freely via Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter, purportedly being from the killings in Plateau or Benue. The efforts have brought the issue of fake news and hate speech to the front burner of national discourse, which I consider a positive development.”

Expectedly, the national chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, on behalf of the former vice-president, slammed the APC-led federal government, that what is there business over the visa. “What is their own in the visa that they are calling on the authorities of another country not to grant a private citizen? The fact is that the APC government has failed. They are already jittery. They know that the game is up and that’s why they have been running from pillar to post. Tell them that their days of deceit are over. Nigerians are tired of them and they can no longer lie or take the people for a ride,” he said.

The former vice-president has not travelled to the USA since this propaganda broke out. Some political pundits lambasted the protesters and the federal government for urging the US not to issue visa to him, noting that since they alleged that he is wanted for corrupt practices in the USA, they should not be bothered “because if he goes there, perhaps, he will be made to face the wrath of the Law.”

Religious bigot, tribal jingoist

This is another propaganda that many politicians have used against one another. As a result of the complexity of the country, many politicians have suffered from this, as they are either called tribalists or religious bigots. However, in recent times, President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) remains a candidate whose image has been dragged to the gutters. Many Nigerians, especially those from other religions, have accused the president of being a tribalist and/or a religious bigot.

These politicians notably, those from the opposition parties, have always promoted the propaganda of tribalism and religious differences. Their arguments have been on the grounds of appointments, actions and inaction. Informed observers have noted that these opposition politicians seem to have forgotten that there is a quota system in appointments. According to them, some appointments are his personal constitutional rights. The opposition politicians always claim that the president only appoints northerners. They also tell the Christians that he appoints only Muslims. This has been described as “a divide and rule mechanism” that has over a long period of time become part of our electioneering process.

PDP, APC parties of criminals, poverty

Just like their candidates, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have also used propaganda to tarnish each other. Since 2015, when the PDP lost power to the ruling APC, many politicians who are not members of the PDP have continued to confuse Nigerians with the notion that the ruling party is peopled by criminals. At a point, the propaganda against it became so brutal that the party considered changing its name.

While this lingers, the APC is also being coloured as ‘a poverty party.’ This, according to some analysts, “is aimed at making Nigerians believe that it brought hunger and poverty to the country, even though the hunger and poverty we are witnessing today outdate the ruling party.” Many Nigerians who believe this argue that since the party came on board things have been extremely difficult.

Obviously, the two parties created the criminals and poverty propaganda to deceive Nigerians, as many pundits are of the opinion that individuals in a party could be criminals, but not the party, since it is just a platform. On the other hand, they also note that poverty in the country is as a result of cumulative bad government policies and the general attitudes of the citizens, and certainly not a party’s fault.

Peace Accord to the rescue?

In an attempt to douse tension and prevent crisis that could result from the propaganda, the National Peace Committee, headed by a former Head of State, Abdulsalami Abubakar, ensured that all presidential candidates sign a document that binds them to base their campaigns on issues and not on propaganda.

Director of the Kukah Centre, Fr. Atta Barkindo, who explained the process, disclosed that the candidates signed thus: “We, the undersigned presidential candidates of the underlisted political| parties for the forthcoming elections in February 2019, have attended a one-day Conference in Abuja under the auspices of the National Peace Committee (NPC). In the course of the Conference, we listened and discussed extensively on the need to ensure that we, politicians, create a favourable and conducive environment for the conduct of free, fair and credible elections in 2019. Furthermore, we discussed the theme of Trust as a key ingredient in the conduct of our affairs. In the end, we have resolved to adopt the same principles that guided the very successful 2015 elections and, therefore, commit ourselves to the Peace Accord for the 2019 general elections.”

The Peace Accord signed contained the following: “To run issue-based campaigns at national, state and local government levels. In this, we pledge to refrain from campaigns that will involve religious incitement, ethnic or tribal profiling, both by ourselves and by all agents acting in our names; party, any public statements, pronouncements, declarations or speeches that have the capacity to incite any form of violence, before, during and after the elections; to commit ourselves and political parties to the monitoring of the adherence to this Accord by a National Peace Committee made up of respected statesmen and women, traditional and religious leaders; to support all institutions of government, including INEC and the security agencies, to act and be seen to act with impartiality; to forcefully and publicly speak out against provocative utterances and oppose all acts of electoral violence whether perpetuated by our supporters and/or opponents.”

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