TheCable

Portuguese footballing great Luis Figo was once asked what he thought of the football player called Lionel Messi. And this was his response: “For me, to watch Messi play is a pleasure – it’s like having an orgasm – it’s an incredible pleasure.” Were Luis Figo monitoring the buildup to Nigeria’s 2015 presidential election, there are chances he would offer the same compliment.

Supporters of the two leading candidates – Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) – will stop at nothing to puncture the marketability of the opposing candidate. Over the past few days that the presidential campaign rallies of both candidates were flagged off, the two camps have been studying each other’s rallies.

‘FORGETFUL BUHARI’

It was Jonathan who threw the first jab at his opponent, claiming at a rally in Enugu on Friday that since Buhari could not remember his phone number, there was no way he could improve the economy.

Three days later, Buhari himself seemed to validate Jonathan’s assessment of his recollection capacity. At a campaign rally in Owerri, Imo State on Monday, where Governor Rochas Okorocha gifted him the middle name ‘Okechukwu’, Buhari was to speak; but first, he needed to observe protocols.

“The chairman of our great party, Chief Oyegun… Your excellency, my vice-presidential candidate, Professor Yemi Osungbade…,” Buhari said.

It was a most embarrassing moment for Osinbajo whose name was mispronounced and other members of APC, who, to their credit, nevertheless managed to wear nondescript faces that served to downplay Buhari’s faux pas.

But the keenly-watching Jonathan supporters would not let the moment slip by and immediately made a mountain of the mole hill, populating the social media with the General’s goof. Their message to the public was simple: a potential president who forgets the name of his potential vice president should be allowed to remain ‘potential’. Such presidential tenure would not be supported by requisite intellectual presence.

‘FORGETFUL JONATHAN’ 

While Jonathan’s men were busy making clippings of Buhari’s gaffe, Jonathan was himself empowering Buhari’s supporters with the arsenal to strike back. The president had campaigned in Ibadan, capital of Oyo state, on Monday – the same day Buhari rechristened his running mate – and then proceeded to Abeokuta, the Ogun state capital.

At some point in his campaign talk, he needed to refer to an occurrence in Ibadan, where he had campaigned earlier in the day.

“We were just coming from… em… em… em…,” the president murmured. He had forgotten the town he left some two or three hours earlier. Until one of his aides murmured ‘Ibadan’ into his ears, the president had nothing to say for five seconds or thereabouts. Nobody has monopoly of forgetfulness, after all.

At the same rally, Jonathan was mentioning something about the similarities between Ekiti and his native Bayelsa state, which were two of the six states created by late former head of state, General Sani Abacha, in 1996.

He was going to list all six states, but he had forgotten Ebonyi, Nasarawa, Zamfara and Gombe. Stuck and fumbling for words, his aides again bailed him out, whispering to him two states that he, in turn, fed into the microphone.

So, as the campaigns continue, expect a camp to say the opposing president is forgetful, and expect a swift counter-attack. Both of them have evidences.

When Nigerians go to the polls next month to elect their president, they may not only just be voting for the more popular of the two main candidates, they may as well be opting for whoever they consider less forgetful.