Why Abia North Must Vote Candidate, not party for Senatorial Seat
By Gambo Jagindi
December 20, 2022
It is a known fact that People support candidates for different reasons, and not necessarily because of party loyalty.
There are those who vote rationally, and there are those who are guided by primordial sentiments.
A candidate who won a previous election in what was a landslide, could also lose a subsequent election in what was also a landslide to another. That is the beauty of democracy and the right of voters to change their minds on a periodic basis.
For instance, erstwhile President Goodluck Jonathan won the 2011 election in what his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), celebrated as a landslide. In that particular election, there were hundreds of thousands of voters, especially in the south-west geo-political zone, who ignored candidates of political parties they ordinarily identified with in order to ensure the election of Dr. Jonathan.
People support candidates for different reasons, and not necessarily because of party loyalty. There are those who vote rationally, and there are those who are guided by primordial sentiments. A candidate who won a previous election in what was a landslide, could also lose a subsequent election in what was also a landslide to another. That is the beauty of democracy and the right of voters to change their minds on a periodic basis.
Similarly, the candidate of today’s majority party – the All Progressives Congress (APC) – could possibly not have won the 2015 election in the manner it did were he or she to have been any candidate other than President Muhammadu Buhari. There were not a few Nigerians who said the only reason they voted in that election was because Buhari was not as corrupt as his main rival or opponent. Of course, he was also a beneficiary of primordial sentiments in some regions of the federation.
Those who vote blindly for party have been in decline in most democratic nations of the world, including Nigeria. Today, those who decide the outcome of elections are the independent voters, floating voters or undecided voters. It is principally because of this category of voters that we have presidential or governorship debates, aimed at convincing them that the candidate for election is worthy of their support.
It is laughable when it is suggested that votes cast for a particular candidate, or joint candidate, based on merit, can be transferred to another person – all in the misguided assumption that votes cast in an election are for the political parties!
When electing a president, for instance, the theoretical assumption is that we are electing someone who would be above party. An independent candidate can successfully seek to be president. The President is Head of State as well as Head of Government; hence the nation is his or her constituency. Any suggestion that vote is for party, and not candidate, contradicts the very essence of the presidential system. The institution of the presidency is diminished by such a suggestion.
Our democracy in Nigeria is still in its infancy and there would be no need for us to rigidly hold onto jaundiced submissions. New challenges creep up from time to time, foreseeable circumstances we may not have foreseen while writing our constitution. The beauty of a flexible constitution is that we can always improve on it.
Political analyst have speculating that 2023 election is coming with alot of surprises
It was also speculated that one of such surprises is the likely to be the change of Batton between a heavyweight politician and a heavyweight wrestling champion who is determine to wrestle power from the heavyweight politician
The Abia North Senatorial district is the wrestling venue for the likely change of Batton which many have described as a battle between David and Goliath
Former heavyweight champion Dr Osita Offor, popularly known as ultimate commander has been nominated by African Democratic Congress (ADC) to wrestle a position currently occupied by former Abia State Governor, Orji Uzo Kalu of the All Progressives Congress (APC)
Dr Offor who was described by many as humanitarian and a philanthropist of repute
Offor became popular in his community and the entire southeast region because of his incredible displayed of strength into the sporting world of wrestling
He won the English wrestling Federation, Global Wrestling for peace Ambassador and several other titles
He is the undefeated and undisputed All African Heavyweight champion and retiring to serve the people of Abia North Senatorial District in the National Assembly
Gambo Jagindi is a youth leader and a political analyst, writes from Abuja, Nigeria