BY BRIGHT JACOB
The world over, politicians are known to be foul-mouthed, and occasionally spew profanity-laced words to score political points and undermine the credibility of those who stand against them. In Nigeria, this practice has come to stay, as expletives and denigrating remarks are freely used by men and women who aspire for elective positions in a manner observers describe as “unacceptable.”
Very weird, too, is the situation where an “errant” politician goes on a blaspheming spree or starts a smear campaign against his opponents, to the admiration and entertainment of his followers.
Even the United States of America with all the hype and catchphrases about being the home of democracy have also had multiple incidents of brickbats among its politicians.
From former President Donald Trump, who referred to some African countries as shitholes over immigration worries, to current President Joe Biden, who used the f-word, as well as a host of other high-stake politicians in the US who put non-allies under fire and didn’t spare them from their venomous spat, the use of derogatory, or sometimes, too, the f-word, goes to show that when shove comes to push, the words of these “role models” may trigger bouts of depression.
Small wonder the political atmosphere in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, was charged last week Tuesday, after the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the 2023 general election, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, declared that members of Labour Party would labour in vain until they died.
Tinubu made the declaration at the mega rally of the APC for the just concluded July 16 governorship election, where the candidate of his party, Gboyega Oyetola, slugged it out with Ademola Adeleke (PDP), Lasun Yusuf (LP) and Goke Omigbodun (SDP) for the right to pilot the affairs of the state.
He told party faithful and supporters, “I ask you to please do the same thing you did in Ekiti (handing electoral victory to the APC). Come out with your PVCs and vote overwhelmingly for the APC.
“The voting is now in your hands. Be very vigilant. Be watchful. You will not do it in vain,” he said.
Continuing, Tinubu said, “Think about your children and vote accordingly so you can see the future. Come out in larger numbers. “Don’t mind PDP and the other mushroom parties, like Labour Party. They will labour in vain till they die.”
As expected, Tinubu’s statement has elicited a debate whether he referred to all the political parties in the contest or specifically to the Labour Party since emphasis was on “labour”.
He was also widely condemned by many in the opposition who called on their supporters to oust the APC with their votes.
The former governor of Anambra State and presidential flag-bearer of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, was among those who reacted.
At the Labour Party’s mega rally to garner support for Lasun Yusuf, Obi said that the Labour Party would show love, not hate, and there was dignity in labour.
“I listened to our chairman when he said that somebody said ‘they can labour till death’.
“When they show you hatred, the Labour Party will show them love. There is dignity in labour,” Obi said.
Many Tinubu loyalists have come forward to defuse the former governor’s utterances and tried to play down its seriousness, insisting it was just a political remark that was made.
One of such die-hard supporters is Reginald Anene, an author and pastor.
He told The Point that political campaigns could be tailored to be either offensive or defensive, and there could be statements in the form of “jabs” usually made to weaken the resolve of opponents.
He also said that Tinubu called members of the Labour Party labourers because he didn’t want the people to get involved with the party since they (party) chose “labour” as their slogan.
Anene was also of the view that those Tinubu addressed understood his train of thought perfectly.
His words: “This is campaign season…though it hasn’t started officially. You see, the whole idea is that the campaign is just two ways. You either have an apologetic campaign or what they call polemic campaign.
“Polemic is when you go on the offensive. Apologetic is that you’re trying to defend your position.
“And in politics, you jab at your opponents continuously to weaken their resolve, and so that statement, he was particularly referring to the Labour Party and the fact that they have adopted that slogan.
“That jab was particularly directed at the Labour Party. He was telling the people not to get involved and labour till they die.
“And again, another angle to this thing is the fact that he is Yoruba, and Yorubas have their idioms. They have how they communicate, just like every other culture.
“So, the people he was addressing, they understood perfectly what he was saying, but we know these are just political jabs. Could his choice of words have been better? Maybe. But they are just political jabs, nothing more,” Anene said.
Asked whether Tinubu was probably desperate and uncomfortable with the growing presence of Peter Obi’s supporters known as “Obidients,” hence the tactics in castigating the Labour Party, Anene said desperation was far from it.
In his assessment, Tinubu wasn’t new to making such pronouncements as he made similar ones when he campaigned for Nuhu Ribadu and Muhammadu Buhari during their respective presidential runs.
Anene said Tinubu feared no rival and had rubbished the unflattering notion he was a desperate man after he told his Senator-wife, Oluremi Tinubu, that if the President gave all the presidential candidates from the APC a level playing field, he would “go home” if he lost the primary.
He posited that contrary to widely held views, it was the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, Atiku Abukakar, that Tinubu considered to be an opponent, and not Obi.
Our correspondent sought the opinion of Anene regarding the position of Obi about there being dignity in labour. We asked whether such “dignity” as it relates to labour existed in the Nigerian lexicon, and he said, “It depends on the individual. Society unconsciously has placed premium on the end rather than the means. So, we say the end justifies the means.
“But we all know that the man who does not have money…because that statement (dignity in labour), that’s what it connotes, really.
“When we use the word “labour”, we are talking about those who are at the lowest rung of the ladder when it comes to wealth.
“And in politics, you jab at your opponents continuously to weaken their resolve, and so that statement, he was particularly referring to the Labour Party and the fact that they have adopted that slogan”
“And the truth is that people want to know what you’re bringing home after you work. But we know there’s dignity in profitable labour, because there are some labour that are not profitable at all,” he said.
About the word “labourer” being somewhat a derogatory term in Nigeria, Anene said the misconception and imagery about “labourer” came about because people thought about, for instance, cart pushers and bricklayers when the word was mentioned as it was, to them, about people who do menial jobs in the Nigerian context.
He said it was the same way people used the word “Aboki”, a word which means “my friend” in the Hausa dialect, but applied to someone who was dumb
Explaining further, he said anyone who worked hard, but not smart may also be considered a labourer, too, since such work doesn’t usually fetch so much money. He, however, added that it wasn’t peculiar to Nigeria only, but a “global thing.”
Anene said he supports Tinubu based on his performance from 1999-2007, and beyond. He said Tinubu was a man who came to office and immediately set up a think -tank whose members came up with a 50-year blueprint for the development of Lagos.
He said all his life he had been resident in Lagos and knew “what Lagos was pre-Tinubu era.”
According to him, refuse dumps took over the whole of Lagos, and “Tinubu came in and worked wonders.”
Anene also recalled how Tinubu’s government in Lagos offset the WAEC fees of students in the state, their tribes notwithstanding.
He said it was under Tinubu that the first non-Yoruba, an Igbo man from Anambra State, Ben Akabueze, was appointed as a Commissioner for Budget and Planning.
As for the fear generated because of the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the APC, Anene said Tinubu was not a religious bigot.
He sighted the yearly annual thanksgiving service the Lagos generalissimo instituted and hosted for eight years, which the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Enoch Adeboye, was “a constant feature there.
“For the eight years Tinubu was in government, they had an annual thanksgiving, and Adeboye was a constant feature there.
“Raji Fashola came in and sustained it. The person who stopped the whole thing was Akinwunmi Ambode, a Christian. And then Babajide Sanwo-Olu, a Christian, too, has not been able to reactivate it. Yet they say Tinubu is a bigot,” he said.
In an unfolding development, supporters of Peter Obi who took umbrage at the statement credited to Tinubu started a #Labourchallenge on Friday which trended on Twitter, to showcase their talents and skill as a token of their defiance against the ambition of Tinubu and as a response to his statement about them labouring in vain until they died.
Probably sensing the challenge was gaining momentum and likely conscripting more youths for the Labour Party, Tinubu bought into it, and sent a tweet with the labour challenge hashtag.
In the tweet, he posted a picture of himself with some youths he eulogised for their hard work, and said, “Working hard to secure our future, one for all Nigerians, for our families and our great nation. Hard work is Nigerian. Proud to be working hard with Nigerians by my side. #labourchallenge #BAT23.”
The message didn’t go down well with the supporters of Obi who vented their displeasure on the social networking site.
They berated Tinubu for joining the challenge after he “insulted” labourers in Osun State.
One Twitter user, OBICENTRIC queen with the twitter handle @CMoseschucks said, “Mr. Bola Ahmed Tinubu, there’s dignity in Labour, it’s only a man whose source of wealth is questionable that goes round saying, those whose work are legitimate will Labour in vain.”
