WHY THEY FAILED.

WHY THEY FAILED

2011 general elections have come and gone. Winners have emerged and have taken oath of office and allegiance and losers have taken their defeats in good faith (those who have not, are already in various Tribunals spread across the country, contesting the election results). Need we tell the winners to perform and deliver on their campaign   promises? Need we tell them if they do not perform, the same fate that befell some of their colleagues who failed to be re-elected in the 2011 April poll awaits them? Well, they do not need to be clairvoyant or possess Ivy League degrees under their belts to know just that. It is a no brainer! Nigerian voters are becoming increasingly intelligent by every election year. From the pattern of voting in the last general election, it is clear to all that in a free, fair and credible election, Nigerians know what to do to politicians that will not serve their interests.

Meanwhile there are some vitally important lessons to be learnt from the four–week long exercise. Yes, some lessons to be learnt by the losers (I wish I had better names to call them). First and foremost let me start off by reminding them what late Chief Obafemi  Awolowo said after the 1979 Presidential election which he lost to Alhaji Shehu Shagari : ”The greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising each time you fail”.
Again, I will remind them of what E.W Kenyon (1867-1948) says in his book, SIGNPOSTS ON THE ROAD TO SUCCESS: “Never lose heart because the first effort fail. Go back and find the reason. Pick up the wreckage of old failures and build them into success”

 I can understand if Gen Mohammad Buhari says he is not going to stand for any election in Nigeria again. But, I do not expect politicians like Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, Mr Fola Adeola, Pastor Tunde Bakare, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, Dr Ade Dosumu and a host of others who still have age on their sides, the cardiovascular wellness and musculoskeletal fitness to withstand the rigour of governance in the next 8 or 12 years, to say goodbye to politics too soon. As a matter of fact I write this piece for them and their likes. I will like to highlight where some of them got it wrong in the build up to the April 2011 general elections and proffer solutions to their mistakes.

The first mistake I observed was that many of them went into the elections with serious image problem. The general public had very bad impression about many of them. Perception they say, in Public Relations parlance, is reality. To have bad image is not the problem, the challenge has always been how to manage it. Former President Bill Clinton had a very serious bad image towards the tail end of his first term in office (Everybody still remembers the Monica Lewinsky saga), a serious scandal that almost cost him the second term in office. His publicists sprang into action, knocked down ugly stereotypes about him and began to tell everybody who cared to listen how he stabilized and improved the economy. Of course, superior argument won. Clinton won party nomination and went ahead to win the second term in office, the Lewinsky saga notwithstanding. That was the power of public relations! 

However, in this political clime such P.R stunt is still missing. At a minimum, I expected the P.R experts working with Gen. Buhari to organize series of interviews on national televisions at prime time for their principal. The man would have had opportunity to correct and trash some of those brutal and despotic images some people had of him. It is true his followers up North perceived him as a progressive populist, but what about the South where the generality of the people perceived him as a religious bigot and ethnic jingoist. Even, the post election violence that consumed some part of the North, people still blame him for it. 

Mallam Nuhu Ribadu also was perceived to be a master of discriminative and selective justice, of double speak and a willing tool in the miscarriage of justice if the price is right. People frowned at his association with the same corrupt politicians he condemned in very damning terms when he was the anti-corruption czar. The Mallam went into the Presidential contest with this weighty moral question and expected to win.
  

The second mistake I observed was in the area of alliance. No Boxer will tell you he won a fight all alone without an input from any quarters. As a matter of fact, the quality of his corner decides whether he wins or lose any bout? Sam Walton says, “Individuals don’t win in business, teams do.” As it is in business, so it is in politics, no individual wins, teams do. Prior to the election, I expected politicians to build alliances across Nigeria. I expected Gen Buhari for instance, to deliver  public lectures in places like University of Lagos, Anambra state university, University of Ibadan and so on. I also expected him to hold business meetings with the business moguls, the doyens and captains of industries and interact with the major shakers and movers in the entertainment industry. While meeting and interacting with these eminent personalities, he would have had the opportunity of presenting his vision and mission, and gain friendship and followership across the nation. As far as I am concern, Gen Buhari’s popularity is more skewed towards the  Almajiris in the North than anywhere else in Nigeria. To win an election, especially Presidential contest in Nigeria as presently constituted, one has to shed his puritanical toga and be seen to be friend to all.

Another mistake I observed was in the Presidential and governorship debates. Only few of the candidates were adequately prepared for the debates, perhaps they didn’t think they were so important to their successes at the poll. During the governorship debate held in Lagos, Mr Fashola, the incumbent governor showed the world that it is not for nothing that he is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. The man sold himself and vision to the Lagosians, little wonder the landslide victory recorded at the poll.  As the NN24 Presidential debate showed, only Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau shone like a million stars. His eloquence and preternatural composure in front of television camera was legendary. The Mallam swept everybody off their feet by his oratory and 21st century carriage of a President. If debate is all it takes to win election I am so sure Alhaji Shekarau would have won the Presidential contest so convincingly. Gen Buhari, who held out much hope and nursed the ambition of upsetting the ruling party, was so incoherent on one of the most important nights in his checkered civilian life.  The man seemed to be so bereft of ideas to govern Nigeria that one wondered if he really prepared for the presidential debate. 

Party structure is another issue worth mentioning. Many of the political parties lack the structure and the mercenaries to win elections. Of all the parties, only Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, seem to have the spread and the structure to win Presidential election in Nigeria. The Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, for instance failed very woefully in the Southern part of Nigeria because it lack the structure. As a matter of fact the party was built around one individual.

 Lastly, many of the parties had no clearly defined action plan to win elections. An action plan as I know it is nothing more than a set of long-term strategies and short-term tactics. Again, take CPC as a party for instance; it concentrated much of its effort and activities in the Northern part of Nigeria (Little or nothing was happening in the Southern part of Nigeria). A tumultuous crowd attended its campaign rallies in most parts of the North; Gen Buhari who was synonymous with the Party had a cult followership. Of course, all these gave the party the delusions of the grandeur, that it can give the PDP a run for its money at the poll.  But it was mistaken. 

There was even a time when CPC alliance with Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN was on the cards. However, inability of both parties to concede grounds and reach a happy medium stalled the much touted  partnership.

Naturally, one would have thought that all the opposition parties would close ranks, rally behind one candidate and confront the elephantine PDP that had the spread and structure. But that was not to be. The PDP waxed stronger and trounced the oppositions in what has been dubbed a landslide victory.

ADEDAYO G. FATOKI writes from Lagos.