On Friday, 31st March, 2023, Seun Okinbaloye of Channel’s Television hosted former lawmaker, Senator Binta Garba in his popular Politics Today programme. Seun’s opening pitch highlighted the disturbing statistics about female representation in Nigeria’s National Assembly. On her part, Hon. Binta traced the history of female representation from 1999. At this point, the programme appears poised to be a rallying call for affirmative action towards improved opportunities for women if not in elective positions, then in appointive political offices.
Then all of sudden, what was originally supposed to be a very harmless advocacy talk-show gravitated into an all out partisan political mudslinging party where shots were freely fired at the opposition PDP in Adamawa. As a trained journalist, I was expecting Seun to do what all trained journalists are expected to do in such circumstances, which is take charge of the conversation and steer it back to the original theme, but I waited in vain. This is because Ṣeun, like a bull waiting to see red, joined Messrs Binta Garba to form a double team and together, they charged through the issue that is very much both an unconcluded process of an independent government agency as well as the courts should the matter get there.
In this blind charge, Seun urged her on as she assumed the position of chief reviewer of INEC, judge and jury on the Adamawa election that Aisha Binani is still contesting against the incumbent Governor, Fintiri. The programme director had to double up to keep up with the duo as he scrambled to change the theme of the programme from its original intendment of “Lower Representation in Next Class of Lawmakers to “ADAMAWA INCONCLUSIVE POLL: Assessing the Conduct of Poll”
Whether planned or hazarded upon, the turn of events in the programme smirks first of crass unprofessionalism on the part of Seun who ditched the original purpose of the programme thereby leaving it INCONCLUSIVE only to immediately cavort and give birth to a discussion on a process that’s is still ongoing. The greatest disservice that Ṣeun and his rabidly outspoken guest did to this nation, is to sell the narrative on live TV that there’s a conspiracy against Aishatu Binani because of her gender and by extension, the Nigerian WOMAN.
Nothing could be farther from the truth. The conduct of the election in Adamawa is, for all who cared to investigate, out there in the public space. It becomes rather disheartening that Senator Garba who can’t be said to be oblivious of the ramifications of her wild claims could go on live TV to spew all that emotionally charged half truths all in the name of advocacy for women. I have always maintained that Nigerian women do not need to be spoon fed through the instrumentality of affirmative action. It is a matter of value creation for which people like Senator Binta have yet to mainstream. In the earlier part of the show, she mentioned approaches for women inclusion including discussing with first ladies of states to put modalities in place to ensure at least one woman emerges one of the three Senators from the state and a commensurate number for the National Assembly and so on. What Binta Garba is trying to say is that, women leaders should simply be voted in as a matter of fairness, equity and social justice and not because the common man finds them worthy of holding that position.
The dangerous position above is not only absurd, it is shocking and laughable coming from someone who has been voted by the people – men and women to represent them at the national assembly. And, I’m sure it is this absurdity that she relied on in making her closing pitch in that confused programme with Seun where she concluded by saying … “They should give it to this woman (referring to Aisha Binani) for crying out loud” as if power is simply to be given away like Kola nut at a wedding, before going ahead to list the woman’s worth and closing with the most childish emotional hypocrisy I have ever heard by claiming that people are not comfortable with a woman trying to aspire to the highest position of power. Yet, she like Aisha Binani had aspired to the National Assembly, a fact she alluded to and were massively voted by the same people she’s dismissing as being abhorrent to a woman’s aspirations.
Everything about Binta Garba Masi’s emotionally charged and outrageous claims on that programme are exactly the problems with Nigerian politics. Politicians who have enjoyed the goodwill of the people turning around to despise them simply because things didn’t seem to be working out for them right now. Take the Adamawa election for instance, people like Binta Garba Masi are trying to railroad Nigerians into believing that the election was only credible in places where her candidate won, the same credibility of which is lacking in places where she lost.
These are the kinds of careless statements that are capable of tearing the already overstretched fabric of peace in Nigeria. Ever wonder why Seun and his Channels Television are the only ones so far found guilty of enabling unpatriotic, insurrectionist and incendiary comments capable of setting this country ablaze on National TV? It is as if Channels and Seun Okinbaloye have made it an in-house objective to always stand against officialdom and are therefore on the lookout for elements who they can enable to achieve their sensationalist journalistic aims.
At this juncture, I believe it is pertinent that I reiterate the official position of what happened in Adamawa as far as anyone without a vested interest is concerned. According to INEC elections were held and in their assessment of the conduct of the exercise, have declared it inconclusive. Precisely, INEC have elected to hold supplementary elections across 69 polling units with a total voting strength of 37,706. As it stands, Ahmadu Fintiri of PDP currently has 421,524, while Aishatu Binani trails with 390, 275. From these numbers, it means Fintiri only needs 6,458 votes to seal his victory assuming the election was able to achieve 100% voter turnout.
Forgive me if I come off as the harbinger of bad news, but I don’t see how the supplementary election will achieve 100% voters turnout. It has never happened before and I don’t see it happening now. By implication therefore, assuming the election were to achieve 80% turnout or below, it will automatically mean victory for Fintiri even if no one votes for him which is impossible considering he’s the incumbent governor of the state.
In light of all these realities, it is literally impossible for Aishatu Binani to overcome the 31,249 votes advantage currently enjoyed by Governor Fintiri NO matter the depth of her political machinery. This is why I believe the most sensible thing for her now is simply to concede her impending defeat, congratulate Fintiri and wait for next time. In the alternative, she and her acolytes like Binta Garba Masi can wait for the process to play out and approach the courts as every responsible democrat will do rather than transacting in unfounded claims and a grandiose victory suggested by the numbers bandied by Social Media collation officers.
Najeeb writes from Kaduna
