Humour, Theatrics of 2023 electioneering campaigns

Tope Adaramola

Politics in the view of Harold Lasswell is who gets what when and how. This belief about politics makes the game suffuse with intense competition amongst political actors or gladiators in an attempt to worst one another to win.

It is not strange that in playing the political game, politicians believe, like in war fare situation, that every strategy is fair, provided one wins, putting it in the frame of thoughts of that iconic French Philosopher, Nicolo Machiavelli, who opined that “in the action of the Prince, the end justifies the means”!

Nigeria’s democracy is without a doubt becoming stable, having had this strand of governance uninterrupted since 1999, after power was wrested from the jackboots. With the 2023 General elections, the entire nation was again enraptured in frenzied emotions, occasioned by voters’ crave to make choices amongst politicians wooing them for votes.. This particular Presidential election was remarkably different from previous ones, little thanks to the intense injection of sentiments of religion and ethnic sentiments into the game.

It makes no news that the election was also characterised by unprecedented upstages, as strongholds of political lords or sectional demagogues were rattled, especially by the Labour Party. As against the  two political parties that we used to have in the political  race, Nigerians had a choice in pitching their tents this time around with either APC, the ruling party, PDP- main opposition party, or the newly emergent third force, the Labour Party.

It makes no news that the Labour Party under its Presidential Candidate, Peter Obi,  literally shook the table, rooting out the two traditional parties even in some of their captive zones. Though unable to gather the required numerical strength to become the winner, Labour Party came third in the contest, but not without giving the APC and PDP bloodied nose.

But while the campaign and election lasted, some pundits like this writer did not miss the theatrics that made the game interesting. The dramatics and humour that characterised this campaign seem a  resurgence of what we used to have during the first republic and partly second republics when political jibes and  humorous comments by political gladiators  ignited the  political atmosphere while the political campaigns lasted.

The likes of Sam Mbakwe, a.k.a the Weeping Governor; was often reported at throwing verbal javelins at his opponents, even in their domains. He does this to provoke them to anger and by so doing making them lose balance. He had the slogan “Onye si Mbakwe agaghi achi, obu nna ya ga achi?” translating “Whoever says Mbakwe will not rule will his father be the one to rule”?  Akintola; Adelabu, Penkelemesi  et al, would not also be easily forgotten for humourising their campaigns with sarcasms and anaecdotes, many of which are still in history books till date.

Bashorun MKO Abiola was also legendary in humour and rich anecdotes with which he laced his campaign during the botched “Hope 93” campaigns. The business mogul was noted for saying “no man can shave a man’s head in his absence”, “no one should tell a blind man that the market is over, after all if he could not see, he could hear when there is no more noise in the market place” as well as “no bird has the grace of flying with one wing”.

Without a doubt Nigerians had some fun-filled campaign again as new words were added to their lexicon and humour arsenal, particularly coming from the Presidential candidate of the APC, who has been declared President-Elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Someone averred before the election

That even if Asiwaju Tinubu fails to win the election, he was deserving of a garland for his ingenious fabrication of humour and adjectives which livened up the political game, notwithstanding the sarcasm that it left sore tastes in the mouths of opponents and those with differing views. Despite the alleged flurry of bitter darts hauled at his ambition, Asiwaju, like the bull in the enemy’s territory fought his way through with brain, brawn and oratory.

From his declaration of his ambition to his party faithfuls  in Abeokuta, Asiwaju spewed venomous attacks at his presumed political traducers whom he believed were planning to put a wedge on his path to victory. Speaking about the serial attempts by President Mohammadu Buhari to become President for under another party for which he often failed, Asiwaju Tinubu could not find a better way to express his roles to help Buhari become President than by using the Yoruba expressions of “Ose ekini, olule; Ose ekeji Olule; Ose iketa, Olule” Meaning President Buhari made first attempt and failed, he made second attempt and failed..”

It was at the same meeting that he justified why he must be the president of the country, somewhat as a compensatory logic for his stoic support for many whom he had helped politically to actualise their mandates in the past even at the risk of self-abnegation. Asiwaju  came up with the “Emilokan” (it’s my turn) slogan and in a jiffy, this also provoked and gained currency all over the country, to the extent of becoming good content and rave for musicians and prayer warriors. In what some referred to as a strategy of distracting his opponents, as contained in the 48 Laws of Power, Asiwaju, in one of his campaigns was reported to have muttered an incomprehensible sentence Bala blue, Blue Bala, a sentence that his opponents held against  him to prove that he was already suffering from old age dementia.

Other gaffes that became good comic relive were Asiwaju’s “Vote PDAPC” apparently uttered on the rostrum to urge voters to vote for his party-APC., this is without forgetting another bombshell he threw at the same Abeokuta a second time. Reacting to the inclement environment being created by the Naira swap by the Central Bank of Nigeria and the raging fuel scarcity, Asiwaju pointedly addressed his enemies to do their worse, bellicously noting that “egbe epo pmo, egbe naira pamo, ama dibo, ama wole” translating “you kept naira, you kept petrol, notwithstanding, we shall shall and we shall win”!

There were other interesting moments and utterances such as the one made by Iyocha Ayo, Chairman of the PDP at a campaign rally somewhere in a Northern State. Ayu who ostensibly painted to justify why no voter should foist the party on Nigeria again for all his perceived evils, Ayu substituted PDP with APC in his vituperations in what many saw as a self-shot on the foot being the Chairman of PDP!

The humour game is not complete without a mention of tantrums of Rivers State Governor, Wyesome Wike. Wike, who along with four other Governors of the PDP fell out with the leadership and some party members for their alleged collusion to install Alhaji Atiku Muhammed as Presidential candidate of the party, in deference to the zoning of the position to the South, often used every avenue to entertain Nigerians. The mercurial politician authored the sound bites of “as it dey pain dem it dey sweet us”! This did not only become sweet slogan to wipe political foes, it is now another addition to lyrics of some musicians and irredentists.

The conclusion of the matter is that the 2023 General elections brought back a bit more of the homor and glitz that were characteristic features of our politics of old. These do not only enrich the game, they also lightened the atmosphere, diluting the tension that comes with the game of politics.

Tope Adaramola is a PR professional and Political analyst   . [email protected]

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