Election Consequences: Ungodly Alliances and Strange Bedfellows, by Zainab Suleiman Okino

In politics, there are no permanent friends or enemies, and it would be naïve of me to expect anything else in the run-up to the 2023 general election and its aftermath. Perhaps what we hadn't considered was how the outcome of the election would deeply divide and pit people against each other; people seen as heroes in some neighborhoods have suddenly become villains in the eyes of those who once revered them as if there would never be another election in Nigeria.

Nor was it conceivable that the hitherto united voice of the South against its perceived Northern hegemons could crumble even after the election was won by a Southerner. In the absence of sportsmanship, here we are with uncertainties and violent outbursts on a competition which must make a winner and losers. They say, if you can't stand the heat, don't go into the kitchen. Conversely, if you can't stay the course and in the long term, don't get into politics or run for any elected office, because this job is a marathon, not a sprint.

A man ran for president for the first time and posted an impressive record, but all hell is unleashed by his supporters because he didn't win. This man is Peter Obi from the Labor Party. President Muhammadu has contested elections three times and was lucky the fourth time. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar is ridiculed as a serial presidential aspirant/candidate, having done so five times and losing each time. In 2019 he would have won the election but the cabal around President Buhari floundered and the man was denied this unique opportunity but Atiku didn't bring the roof down. This is leadership.

Why the outcry about Obi not being declared the winner in the last election? Is there more to his involvement in the election that we don't know? Could it be a religious war he talked about in his phone conversations with Living Faith Church overseer David Oyedepo? Who was he bidding to? Why the loss of PO has become the most talked about anywhere and the biggest talk in the limelight in Nigeria, turning former enemies into friends and vice versa. And why has the struggle become a religious war and an ethnic narrative? What about Obi supporters who are neither Christian nor Igbo? How do Obi devotees make them feel?

Now the famous elite consensus before the election has only succeeded in producing a setback in an elite conspiracy against Tinubu, and the Obedient are at the forefront of the new frontier of a endless struggle for power. You don't have to be his supporter to see through. there is already a litany of cases pitting politicians against each other and the winner of this election.

The election may not have been perfect - I didn't even expect it to be despite INEC's assurances, but it was largely peaceful, even though it has caused unexpected upheavals in places like Kano, Lagos, Zamfara States among others. Labor has not labored in vain either; it now has a governor and at least 40 legislators including six elected senators, contrary to the expectation that the election would be a battle between the APC and the PDP only.

Small parties like the YPP and SDP now have nationally elected legislators. The election also proved that individual merits matter more than political party membership and voter awareness is growing. It is a sign that our democracy is maturing. Why can't we look at the big picture instead of wanting to be president at all costs. If that's not progress, I wonder what is. Should democracy be about winning a particular person?

As interesting as it may be, it's not just when the underdog beats the incumbent that we should rejoice. Other wins as listed above should also be taken into account. In the meantime, the APC/Asiwaju Bola Tinubu cannot be blamed for having taken advantage of the confusion within the opposition. I strongly believe that Tinubu was, still is not a popular candidate or an elected president, but the opposition handed him victory on a golden platter due to his failure to rally.

So it became a joke when the first act of the opposition after Tinubu was declared the winner, was a joint press conference between LP vice-presidential candidate Datti Baba Ahmed, and the PDP's vice-presidential candidate, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, seeing their ball rolling, and realizing that they might come together to contest Tinubu's victory, an afterthought and the loveless relationship lost that lasted before the 'election; this spirit of cooperation should have been established before...