TheCable

It is noteworthy that there is not a single image on the internet that shows the four leading candidates in the 2023 presidential election together in one place and at any one time. This is telling.

In 2015, there was a famous image of Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari together ahead of the election. In that picture, both men were seen hugging and laughing hard after signing the Peace Accord. It is etched in our memory.

For 2019, we got multiple images of Buhari and his fierce rival, Atiku Abubakar. They left the peace accord till a few days before the election, but it happened, and that image of Buhari sharing a handshake with a smiling Atiku was also a good symbol of peace ahead of the election.

The featured image for this article is arguably the only picture on the internet where you get to see Bola Tinubu of the APC, Peter Obi of the Labour Party, and Atiku Abubakar of the PDP together. The three candidates have not been together in any place and at any time: Not at a debate, not at a peace accord, not at any political meeting.

The image above was taken in September 2016, at the investiture ceremony of the president of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS), Oluseyi Emmanuel Abe, in Lagos.

We still have three days before the election, I am holding my breath that the National Peace Committee will make that image happen before election day.

The Prophecies for Nigeria’s next president

As is my culture, my last column before the election is about prophecies and the morning after. But let’s start with the data, before the prophecy. According to the Stears Poll, when Nigerians are asked if religion is important in making their decision on who to vote for, most of them say no. But when they state who they are eventually voting for, a huge percentage of Nigerians align with candidates of their own faith.

According to the poll, only three percent of Muslims say they will vote for Peter Obi, the only Christian among the top four presidential candidates. Only eight percent of Christians say they will vote for Atiku. Another nine percent of Christians say they will vote for Bola Tinubu. This means religion will matter in Saturday’s election — perhaps more than it has ever mattered in this republic.

As you will also have noticed, a number of Christian leaders have endorsed Obi for President. Just last night, Pastor Paul Eneche of Dunamis International Gospel Centre, arguably the biggest church in Abuja, endorsed Obi for president. Many more Christian clerics have and are still endorsing.

For Atiku, what I wrote in 2019 still stands: In 2015, a minister in Buhari’s government told me Atiku was going to run in 2019, and perhaps 2023. I said, “how can you be so sure, seeing that he would have gotten older over time”. The response was simple; “Atiku is running on a prophecy”. Atiku has been told he would someday become president of Nigeria, and as long as he had strength and breath, he would keep running — and that has been the case.

For Bola Tinubu, the case is not entirely different. Just last night, Tomi Arayomi, a Nigerian prophet, who predicted the victory of Kenyan president William Ruto, said Tinubu will win the election. According to Arayomi, his preferred candidate is Peter Obi, but he would not put his patriotism over what his spirit says. “David and Saul” is also trending on Twitter because of a video by Paul Adefarasin of House on The Rock, who said “Saul will come before David,” telling his Church that the election may not go the way they want, which is the way of Peter Obi.

Many more prophecies and clerical endorsements will come in the few days left. All cannot be right, and in the midst of it all, there will come a morning after.

The morning after

By Monday morning, February 27, 2023, Nigerians will have a fairly good idea of who the next president will be. That is the morning after. The winner may not be your candidate, your predictions and prophecies may find no bearing. But the country will still be your country. You may be angry, bitter, and even feel defeated, but as a patriot and believer in project Nigeria, you have to keep it moving.

If you decide to fight and stir up trouble, pain, and despair, what would you gain on the morning after? If you’re paid an “influencer’s fee” on Twitter or Facebook to push misinformation and disinformation, to discredit the result, to incite citizens to violence, please remember the morning after.

If you’re on the fortunate side of the divide, please be magnanimous in victory. Let grace flow from you to all parties involved in the election. Do not make your victory an avenue to gloat; we get it that your candidate won, you were right. But be gracious.

In the next 72 hours, we all have the time and opportunity to influence the election by voting and getting other Nigerians to vote for our candidates. But when the elections are done; please, let us come together and get Nigerian working again.

Weeping may endure for a night, but joy should naturally come in the morning. But if joy refuses to come for you and your candidate, be kind to make joy for the peace and stability of our country.

All the best at the polls.

Reach ‘Mayowa on Twitter @OluwamayowaTJ.