By SOLA EBISENI

‘POLITICS is  war by other means” is a statement credited to Carl Philip Gottfried von Clausewitz but which is yet fiercely disputed among scholars who believe it is actually a corruption of the real statement and intendment of the Prussian General (1780 -1831). His intention and preoccupation, as a military strategist, was actually that war is the extension of policy (politics), the former being an instrument deployed in furtherance or achievement of the latter.

Our intention is not to join in such intellectual dispute which we are neither trained nor prepared for but to deploy the aphorism as an apt definition of politics, especially of the Nigerian genre. In the peculiarly complex web of Nigerian politics, war may be the best way to describe it, thanks however to democracy which tempers the thinking of its practitioners and its lethal ferocity.

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General Ibrahim Babangida, self-styled military President of Nigeria, it was who often sought to cow his bloody civilians subjects by not only letting us know that military personnel were trained to dominate their environment but also that they were in government and also in power. One of the greatest weapons of war as in politics is propaganda, which is a euphemism for permissive half-truths, exaggerations, fabrications or outright falsehoods employed to buoy one’s efforts but undermine the prowess of the enemy.

Launched February 13, 2013 the APC instantly took the nation by storm and gave us no respite till they won the 2015 elections. The greatest weapon at its disposal and most strategic deployments was its gamut of communication machinery. The government of President Goodluck Jonathan was labelled clueless and made a lame duck in some instances   and at some others, the devil responsible for Nigeria’s woes. 

The citizens were bombarded and their psyche tormented with the promise of an Eldorado wherein the Dollar would exchange less than the Naira or worst scenario at par. The 2014 National Conference was dubbed a waste which hosting cost, though marginal in comparison, could have been used to settle university teachers. I remember the late Professor Tam David West and his theory that a litre of petrol should not be more than N40 under whatever circumstance. 

Their candidate and current Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari was packaged the messiah with whom all problems were solved. Nigerians bought it and would swear by his name. In all of its objectives, the APC succeeded in pushing the government of Gentleman Jonathan aside, assuredly marked him for the guillotine. Here we are today; such has become history.

There appears to be no meeting point yet among the three components of the Labour Party, the overwhelming hordes of the Obi-Dient army and the presidential candidate. The unorganised army of mostly enthusiastic youths have no rivals on social media. They are militant both online and wherever you meet them physically for the person of Peter Obi but largely not still harnessed for effective electoral delivery. Nonetheless, our concern for now is the area of information management and how the parties are faring.

The PDP seems deliberately and strategically reticent to avoid fighting in many fronts simultaneously. The unending internal squabble over the presidential ticket combination requires uncanny tact to deal with it. In such a very hazy situation, it appears wise to avoid undue politicking, particularly as a result of the sensitive nature of the subject.

The strategy of constructive engagement behind the scene seems better advised than attempts at explanation on the flat screen. The issues are like a three-edged sword, none of the angles thereof is friendly to handle. 

The fallout from the Arise Television interview of the presidential candidate rather confirmed that some of the issues become hydra-headed the more you rationalise them publicly. For instance, the confidence with which the Waziri said the National Chairman would only step down after he had been elected President is absolutely indefensible.

The declaration of Dr. Iyorchia Ayu was that he would vacate the office of the National Chairman if a Northerner emerged as the presidential candidate of the party. That statement was made to douse the tension of throwing open the position of the presidential candidate with the possibility of a Northerner also emerging while the National Chairmanship office was already in the Northern grip.

The rather hysterical reaction of the APC to the issue of same- faith ticket combination is the most unimaginable of all. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his handlers did not take that decision on the spur of the moment or in the heat of passion. Discerning Nigerians were also not caught unawares. The possibility has always been there. So, whether counterfeit or genuine, as they say, the showcasing of clergymen at the unveiling of the vice presidential candidate was a cheap and most unimaginative decision any one could have taken. 

As if that was not enough, the rationalisation of such steps by saying they were Bishops, though not necessarily popular ones, was arrant hogwash. As it turns out in the current race towards 2023, the APC which admirably boasts of some of the best hands in mass communications and excelled in the art of political propaganda which was its most lethal weapon, within the short period of its formation, to boot PDP out of power, appears a complete shadow of itself in the current war.

It seems to me now very true the words of our elders that no one should boast being a man until he finds himself at the receiving end of battle. I am not speaking in parables. Nigeria! We hail thee.

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