A President Abiola after all?

Minabere Ibelema

When two Sundays ago, I saw the headline “Nigeria not ripe for youth president — Abiola’s son,” it inevitably piqued my interest. I have devoted two recent columns to making the case for the youth in Nigerian politics. And quite a few news stories I’ve seen since then corroborate my perspective.

As it turns out, the key point of the story on Abdulmumuni Abiola wasn’t so much the non-readiness of the youth for political leadership. It was that President Muhammadu Buhari should be re-elected. Curiously, his stance on youth readiness derived from his support of Buhari.

“I do believe that there shall be a time, just like in Canada and France, when we have somebody that is around 30 in power. I don’t just think that time is right,” the story quotes the young Abiola as saying.

“I think there is a reason why Buhari is there and I would want us to be patient to see him through. We should give him another four years and he will hand over power to the youth.”

This declaration begs the question, What will happen in four years to turn the youth from non-readiness to readiness? Will they undergo a crash course in political leadership? Will they experience a eureka moment, when the finer points of political leadership crystalize to them? Or… or… did Abiola II — my coinage, please — sketch a scenario for his near future?

He certainly has the wherewithal. There’s the name that has come to symbolize Nigeria’s struggle for freedom from military rule. There is his flair for political oratory. Above all, there is his ecumenical view of Nigerian politics.

Watching his performance during an extended interview with YouTube’s Flip TV Nigeria, one gets the impression that he is already running for the presidency. And it wouldn’t be terribly off base to say that President Muhammadu Buhari is merely a prop in this endeavour.

Consider first this excerpt from the Punch interview in which Abiola II addressed youth readiness and Buhari’s re-election: “We should give him another four years and he will hand over power to the youth.” Hand over? To the youth? Seriously? Is there something the young man knows that the rest of us don’t? A quid pro quo? You back me for 2019 and I groom you and back you for 2023?

Okay, okay, this may well be an undue inferential leap, the stretching of a young man’s extemporaneous comments beyond its intent. But there is no denying his political astuteness. It is especially evident in the savvy answers he has given to questions about Nigerian politics in general,

“June 12” and his father’s legacy.

Here’s a sampling. On Nigerian unity and his role in it: “We are not really that divided. We are just not focusing on those things that unite us. We are strong together….Daddy died for Nigerian unity. My own is to try to strive for Nigerian unity.”

On fear of disintegration: “What I have noticed about Nigeria is that we are very resilient…. What we need to do is to start to listen to our brothers and sisters wherever they may be.”

On commemorating “June 12”: “After 24 years, it is like beating a dead horse….I’m sure my father is exhausted. He probably wants to rest.”

Referring to the 2017 commemoration: “This money that is being spent here would have been better used for scholarships.”

On his father’s legacy:“Now is not the time to dwell on past glories; it is time to forge forward.”

On Major Hamza Al-Mustapha’s claim that he knows who killed his father, M. K. O. Abiola: “There are pressing issues that are facing Nigeria. People always like to go back; how he lived and how he died, that was his own part. He has done his own part. Let’s leave that one. My own core goal is let’s go away from how he died. That’s just creating more division. Let’s start looking at what he was trying to get across: poverty alleviation, education, religious equality. These things matter.

“Forget about how he died, whether he was poisoned. Let us focus on what he wanted to do. What was he trying to get to? Do something that will impact the masses. That’s how you honour this man.”

Now, if you don’t discern the outlines of a campaign platform, you might not be reading closely enough. In any case, as is often the case with such platforms, Abiola II’s contain some contradictions. In the Punch article, he offered this explanation of why he is backing Buhari: “I do not have anybody else to campaign for. Somebody after 20 years honoured my father and did what other people refused to do, so I am supporting Buhari for a second term.”

It is an overly personalized justification that smacks right into the lofty ideals he expressed in the Flip TV interview. Perhaps, it is the way with Nigerian politics that the personal would override the civic. Let’s hope that that doesn’t get to characterize the hoped-for government of the youth. For then it might not be sufficiently distinguishable from that of the old.

Laughing at Trump

During a citizenship ceremony I attended recently, the newly naturalized American citizens were shown a short documentary on the ideals of freedom, democracy and reciprocity. It ended with a segment in which President Donald Trump welcomed the new citizens. As soon as his image emerged on the screen and he uttered the first few words of welcome, there was buzz of bemusement among the attendees.

It was an involuntary reaction to an image and words that were incongruent with the occasion. But the attendees quickly suppressed it, realizing that a naturalization ceremony was no occasion to express skepticism or derision toward the president.

That was not the case at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. When, during a speech, Trump bragged that he had achieved the most of any US president, the delegates erupted in laughter. In the past, Trump’s officials have threatened to “take names” for lesser affronts. If they took names on Tuesday, it would be a very long list.

Corrections

The second paragraph in last Sunday’s Punchwise states that author Sarah Smarsh grew up “with white and poor in the United States.” What was intended was that she grew up as a poor white person. Later in the story, a quote is attributed to “the late black comedian.” It is a reference to Dick Gregory.

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