Thinking Aloud... With Muka Popoola July 12: Now That Our Candidates Have Emerged

Let me start this way. 

From this day, Friday, till Sunday, we're going to have a great weekend together as members of the Lagos Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). At least the attack dogs who have not had anyone to bite for some time now, especially since Jandor ran back to the APC with his own janjaweed, can feast on Muka. 

It makes it the more interesting when you react to what I write. Abuse Muka if you may. Even if you badmouth me in your typical uncouth manner, it will be fun for me and I promise I'll for a long time continue to give you something to chew in your mouth and screw your brains.

Now, let's look at the issue of the moment, which is the forthcoming July 12 local council elections in Lagos State.

Good to see our candidates have finally emerged. Congratulations to our undying patriots who will be contesting as our councillorship and chairmanship candidates in the elections. Thank you folks, you are doing this for us. You are running so our sick, famished Lagos PDP may live and I wish you the best that you wish yourselves.

I don't know if to congratulate the Lagos PDP yet. What I think I can say for now is, so far... NOT SO GOOD!.

Maybe I should also congratulate our leader, Chief Olabode George and the Lagos PDP State Chairman, Hon. Phillip Aivoji too. Just maybe, for some funny, bizarre reasons though. That's a story for another day.

There's a lot to gist about the processes for picking the Lagos PDP candidates, but I'll shelve some for now. July 12 is around the corner, we wait and look ourselves in the mirror.

In about two weeks of activities at the state secretariat, from screening of aspirants to primaries for the emergence of our candidates, I visited the venue at least five times. On each of the days that I visited I spent substantial time watching how things went.

From what I witnessed during my vigil under the tree in the secretariat premises, and I believe the committee members who handled the (s)election processes to pick our candidates also saw it, the whole thing was a naked sham. 

The atmosphere around the secretariat was very dull, more like a ghost yard. The near desolate spectacle was, at the time, unlike a major political party that was supposedly preparing for a crucial election. No activities at all.

Most members who came around for screening walked into the secretariat looking pensive, as if they were walking into a mortuary. No hustle and bustle. Nothing like the charm, hype and colour that usually heralded the presence of aspirants campaigning at an election time. 

Some chairmanship aspirants were accompanied with just two or three supporters. You could almost mistake the scrubby appearance of some who came for screening for the old-time devotees of the Guru Maharaji sect.

As I saw the gloom that has enveloped the party, I was bleeding inside that this was not the Lagos PDP that I once contested in for council chairmanship between year 2000 and 2002 before the administration of the then State Chairman, Alhaji M. M. Asorobi, truncated our aspirations. They made us go through a very strenuous primary election by Option A4 only to sit on the results forever. The party just went cold thereafter and never announced the successful candidates.

Anyone in the party at that time could remember that was the first brazen assault on members aspirations by the PDP leadership in Lagos State.

I remembered with nostalgia the days of "Operation win your Ward"; that was when we had true leadership in the Lagos PDP.

The leaders of the party at that time energised aspiring members to outdo one another and gain prominence only through great mobilisation efforts, thus strengthening the membership base of the party. Not through crude brinkmanship, not through violence. That was the golden era of the Lagos PDP. Not like today that we have leaders who assault fellow leaders and chase members out of the party with the band of thugs they breed as followers.

God bless the true pathfinder of the PDP in Lagos State then, Chief Dapo Sarumi; God bless the soul of leaders like the late Chief Olatunde Joseph. Those were great grassrooters who inspired real, dedicated followership, not today's leaders most of whom do not even know the boundary of their own political Ward. 

Thank God it's Friday, and I wish you a blissful weekend while we meet here again tomorrow.

© Muka Popoola

Senior member, Agege PDP