Dr. Chinedu Jideofo-Ogbuagu
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An ally of President Muhammadu Buhari and former presidential aspirant on the platform of the defunct All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), Dr. Chinedu Jideofo-Ogbuagu, has said the lose by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Osun State off-season governorship election has thrown up eight big and timely lessons for the party ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Dr. Jideofo-Ogbuagu, who is the Convener/National Coordinator of South-East APC Integrity Group, said “APC, my party since 2014, must learn certain lessons from the Osun State off-season governorship election that held on Saturday, 16th July 2022.”
He enumerated the big and timely 2023 lessons to include “limits of incumbency factor”, saying “APC is today party of government at the centre and in Osun State, yet, it has lost the off-season governorship election with all the powers of national and state incumbency at our disposal.
“We must learn that incumbency is not all-powerful and does not guarantee electoral victory. We must not take the electorate for granted because of incumbency”, he said.
Another lesson, according to him, is the limits of voter-inducement, insisting that “Not only is monetary and material inducement of the electorate illegal, it did not work in Osun 2022.
“It had not worked in Edo and Anambra for us, but we failed to learn that lesson then. Hopefully, we will now learn it ahead of 2023 general elections”, he said.
He noted that there is primary versus general election is a what the party must learn a lesson from, maintaining that the general election “is quite unlike primary election.
“The formula of wooing and even compromising a few persons at primary election to win ticket cannot always work in a general election situation where the electorate is much larger and more complex.”
Dr. Chinedu Jideofo-Ogbuagu who contested in ANPP presidential primary in 2003 but stepped down for President Buhari at the time said among the big and timely lessons his party must if the APC intends to perform well in the forthcoming 2023 general elections has to do with “Intemperate language.”
He lamented that “it is regrettable that certain frontline APC leaders” believe that “anyhow language” is a “winning language”.
Dr. Jideofo-Ogbuagu added, “When they speak bombastically and provocatively, there is hardly any difference between their manner of speech and that of a typical lunatic or a street urchin.”
The fifth big and timely lesson for the party, he said, centers on around arrogance.
“Humility is a lesson that we must learn as a party. We cannot take decisions – such as choice of electoral candidate and/or running mate – regardless of how majority of the electorate and even our fellow party members feel.
“We cannot expect victory when by our body or spoken language tell those who don’t agree with us to go to hell”, he said.
The APC chieftain who has galvanize critical mass of supporters over the years in the South East of Nigeria, said the party must also learn a lesson about “Presumption”.
“By our choice of presidential candidate and his running mate, we have presumed things that are not founded on even commonsense.
“Unless we wear our thinking cap and eschew discriminatory mindset ahead of 2023, the electorate will punish us – as they did in Edo, Anambra, FCT Abuja and Osun.
“Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket will cost us not just the presidential election but also other 2023 elections. We can still make amends and should if we truly want to win 2023”, Dr. Jideofo-Ogbuagu warned.
For him, one of the big and timely lessons, he said, centers on “Dismissiveness and disrespect.”
According to the South East APC leader, “2023 is not a two-horse race. APC, PDP, LP, NNPP, ADC, SDP and other parties are in the race, and none must be underrated, disrespected or dismissed by our party.
“Pomposity will not help us. We must campaign respectfully, intelligently and vigorously to win”, he counselled the party.
Lastly, he said one big and timely lesson the party my learn ahead of the 2023 general elections centers on “Playing God.”
He noted that “APC people given to claiming power of God (the people) for themselves must stop that nauseating posturing.
“No one person makes anyone anything. All powers belong to God; anyone who thinks otherwise will sooner or later be humbled by the people (God)”, the APC Chieftain averred.
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