Since Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State and formerly the most important economic centre in Nigeria’s North-East became the epicentre of terrorism activities, first in 2009 and resurged from late 2010, President Goodluck Jonathan visited the city only once as Acting President seeking the votes of the people of the state.
Even while bombs were raging and people were being killed, the President did not deem it fit to step foot in the city. The excuse his handlers gave was that he could not visit due to the ‘exigencies of security’, or in simpler English, because it was not safe. Ironically, he visited the city of Kano twice, both immediately after major terrorist attacks in January 2012 and June 2012, while there was still palpable tension in the city.
This led the people of Borno State and its neighbour state, Yobe, also greatly affected by terrorist activities, to believe that the reason the President had never visited was because the states were controlled by the opposition. Infact, these two states and Lagos State are the only states to have never been governed by the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party since 1999. It also led to the feeling of abandonment, by the people, including this writer considering the fact that Maiduguri is my hometown as expressed in this article of mine.
However, in the light of political events since the beginning of this year that has seen the merger of major opposition parties, namely the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the All Nigeria Peoples’ Party (ANPP) and a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to form the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nigeria’s politics has rarely ever been this more intense since 1999. There has been a lot of back and forth between the APC and the PDP on which one was the party to lead Nigerians to the promised land.
The APC governors then decided to take the game of political chess to the next level by picking Maiduguri as their venue, even against security advice. As a matter of fact, during their meeting, at least four explosions went off in Maiduguri, killing about six people.
The aim of the opposition governors was to first, send a message to the electorate that no part of Nigeria was a no-go area for them being leaders; and secondly, to put the Presidency on the defensive with regards to visiting Maiduguri. Both aims were achieved as most Nigerians were impressed, or at least, noticed the audacity of the governors of visiting a city in Nigeria that has become a byword for terrorism. Also, the Presidency, in a face-saving measure, hastily announced that President Jonathan would be visiting the state on Thursday.
This trip has also shown three additional things for me:
Firstly, it is the hypocrisy of the Presidency when it comes to the issue of visiting Maiduguri. I find the excuse that the safety of the President cannot be assured if he should go to Maiduguri. Yet, he has no qualms visiting Kano, a PDP-controlled state in the heat of a terrorist attack. This (in)action of his has reduced the chances of his party winning the Presidency in the state. If it was true that his inability to visit the state was due to security issues, then the Presidency needs to clarify to us whether those threats are no longer existing, or if they have suddenly had an epiphany on how to neutralize the threat.
Secondly, it also shows how necessary a vibrant opposition is in our democracy. The APC governors did not just rant about the President’s inability to visit Maiduguri; they put their words into actions by visiting the city. If each party would strategize on political issues in the country and acted as they did here and force the other party to act to counter them, our political system is for the better.
Thirdly, despite all their utterances about not being scared of the APC, the PDP is very afraid of the new party. If she wasn’t, she would not even bother to dignify the visit with anything more than a statement. The APC should increase the heat on them by analysing and contributing to every policy issue at the federal level rather than ranting and commenting on the activities somewhere.
As we await the visit of President Jonathan to Maiduguri, let us also look forward to a better political system courtesy of the arrival of a vibrant opposition party with national spread.